Ceramic Coatings: For Much More Than Just Cars!
There’s almost no end onto that, which you can apply a ceramic coating! In the detailing world we talk about applying ceramic coatings to darn near every single square inch of your vehicle. That includes the interior as well as the obvious exterior. I’m here today to tell you that if you think you can coat it, you probably can.
First, let’s talk about the coatings themselves from an automotive standpoint, as that’s what Eagle Custom Detailing is primarily in business to work on. In the automotive world ceramic coatings are produced with one primary purpose, and that is to protect the surface of the objects they are applied to from the environments they are in. That means there are ceramic coatings created for specific purposes to protect virtually any surface you can think of on a vehicle of almost any sort.
Ceramic paint coatings protect painted automotive surfaces from UV damage, pollen, tree sap, tar, bird droppings, acid rain, and more. Ceramic coatings for glass help you have clearer vision in the rain, sleet, and snow creating a low friction surface allowing the moisture to fly right off the glass, which addresses potential safety issues. Ceramic coatings for headlights protect the clarity of your headlight lenses from UV rays preventing them from become faded and fogged up. That means your lights will shine as brightly as always and allow you to see as far as always alerting you to potential hazards ahead in the proper amount of time. There are trim coatings that will keep your black or grey plastic trim as well as your dash and other interior hard surfaces from becoming faded and damaged by harmful UV rays. There are also ceramic coatings to help protect suspension and brake components as well as wheels, which are subjected to higher temperatures than the rest of the vehicle.
You can also protect the interior of your vehicle as I alluded to in the last paragraph. The dash and other plastic hard surfaces can be coated to protect from UV rays as well as minor damage incurred by daily usage of the vehicle. Ceramic coatings for leather can protect from those pesky UV rays as well as repel food and beverage stains and dye transfer from clothing like jeans. It can also protect against minor scratches and scrapes caused by getting in and out of the vehicle. Finally, fabric coatings can protect against food and beverage stains from all the snacks and meals we eat while on the move. Cleanup of related messes are much easier as food and beverage aren’t allowed to cling to the carpet and upholstery fibers bonding the stain causing materials to bond. Not only that, but you will be able to handle salt and soil stains so much easier. No more rock-hard white ring on you carpets that take way too long to remove otherwise. In addition, many of the automotive ceramic coatings can be applied to motorcycles, bicycles, boats, RVs, UTVs and more.
That covers the bulk of the coatings you can find offered by most installers. Now, if you take a moment to think about it, the materials and surfaces we find in the automotive world can be found in your homes and workplaces as well.
Let’s look in the kitchen first. Many of our appliances are painted or have some sort of enamel covering the exterior surfaces and may have a ceramic coating applied to them to help keep them looking good and easy to clean. Even stainless-steel appliances can be coated making those infuriating fingerprints super simple to wipe off. The solid surface countertops (marble, granite, quartz, and engineered surfaces) can be coated to seal and protect them from damage they might incur. Tile back splashes are the same.
Moving to the living areas, your cloth furniture and fabric window coverings can be protected using the fabric coating. Your leather couches and recliners can also be protected with the leather coating. They offer the same protection as in your vehicles, plus they last much longer than normal retail stain repellants. In many cases your living rooms, dens, and home theaters are often the hardest used with many snacks, meals, and beverages being consumed while watching TV or while our faces are glued to our mobile devices.
In the bathroom your bathtubs, showers (tile and fiberglass) and shower doors can all be coated to make it a breeze to clean and even help prevent some of the soap scum and other filth from accumulating on these surfaces. Vanity/countertops in the bathrooms can also be coated just like the kitchens.
Keeping with the home or domestic surfaces that may be coated, let’s think about clothing and bags. Many of us own several leather goods like shoes, designer purses and handbags, satchels or computer bags, and leather coats and jackets to name the most common items. These items can all be protected like our seats and couches with a leather coating. Considering many of these items can cost us well over $1,000 in some cases it makes perfect sense to protect them to keep them looking their best. Athletic shoes and baseball caps can be protected with a fabric coating.
What about the outside your home? You better believe there are several items that can be coated! The wood of your deck or wooden patio furniture (think Adirondack style chairs and the like) can be coated with ceramic coatings for wood and porous surfaces. The same product can be used to coat your pavers on your patios and retaining walls as well as your concrete walkways. The exterior of your home’s windows can be coated just like the windshield of your vehicle making it easier to see out of them in bad weather. The fabric coatings can be applied to the fabric on the umbrella to your patio furniture or the fabric awnings over your swinging love seat or patio doors. Your grill or BBQ can even be coated! People can get very fanatical about their Weber charcoal grills, which is a perfect thing to coat! What about those nice metal sheds we put up in our back yards that end up getting all rusty after a few years? You got it! They too, can be coated to keep them looking amazing year after year.
Most of us work for a living and it isn’t necessarily out of our homes. We most often go somewhere to earn our living. Our workplaces can be protected as well. Businesses spend a lot of money to create attractive work, break, and reception areas. Just like your home and vehicles, the surfaces in your work environment can be ceramic coated. Break rooms can be badly abused but applying ceramic coatings to refrigerators and other surfaces make them easy to clean up and keep looking newer longer.
Keeping on the workplace theme, many workplaces are in industrial settings, or the buildings have mechanical rooms. At any rate, most if not all these environments have areas where there may be a lot of water or moisture buildup that can cause rust and corrosion to many of the metal components like valves and pipes for water, steam, and even coolant lines. There are highly specialized coatings for such a thing. This kind of coating, which is more of a super durable, sprayed on clear coat system can be used on just about anything industrial or commercial that is prone to rust and corrosion. This kind of coating replaces the need to constantly repaint these items saving money on constantly buying more paint and paying someone to do the painting. This coating from one manufacturer has a durability rating so long, it will outlast the useful life of many objects it is applied to. Talk about lasting protection! This product can also be used to protect your construction equipment, job boxes, and the utility beds for commercial pickups as a few examples.
A rapidly growing market in the coatings industry is that of protecting agricultural implements. Different tractors, harvesters and combines, sprayers and spreaders, cultivation implements, mowers, trailers, and more. When some of these items can cost as much as a Lamborghini (who also makes tractors for farming) or more in some cases, farmers are all too eager to make sure their investments into their livelihoods are thoroughly protected.
As you can see, ceramic coatings and other relevant coatings have a truly expansive array of applications. So much more than your vehicles. In most cases, if you think it can be coated it most likely can be coated. As Eagle Custom Detailing continues to develop new skills, learn, and grow as a company we will look to add more than automotive and household oriented ceramic coatings. If you or someone you know has interest in any of these coatings, please give us a call or send us a message through this website. My goal is to educate everyone on protecting their investments and well earned valuable possessions.