After investing in a Ceramic Coating with The Detailing Specialists, ensuring you have good maintenance processes and understand the dos and don'ts is important. Below is everything you need to know!
Dos & Dont's
✔ Hand Wash Regularly ✔ Use Ceramic Safe Products
✖ Avoid All Brushes & Automatic Car Washes ✖ Avoid Traditional Chamois For Drying
✖ Don't Let Dealers/Service Agents Wash Your Vehicle ✖ Don't Use Abrasives (No Polishing Or Sanding)
Washing Your Vehicle
Click here or scroll to the bottom of this page for complete step-by-step instructions on washing your vehicle, or the main steps are abridged below. 1) Start by washing your wheels and dirty areas first (tyres, wheel arches). 2) Rinse your vehicle thoroughly using high pressure from a water blaster, or consider using snow foam as a pre-soak solution.
3) Hand mitt your vehicle using a ceramic-safe shampoo, a two-bucket method and a quality wash mitt - working a few panels at a time and rinsing as you work. 4) Dry thoroughly using a microfibre drying towel - ensure not to use the paint drying towel on your dirty areas or wheels. 5) It's good process to occasionally use a ceramic top-up spray to bring out a brilliant shine and add superficial protection properties.
✔ Use quality detailing products and scroll down to see a full step-by-step instruction guide ✔ Take your time and avoid sunny days to ensure the best results ✔ Remember: good maintenance will prolong the life of your coating and the appearance of your paint - ask The Detailing Specialists for help when you need it ✖ Don't use sponges, brushes or chamois on your paint ✖ Never clean just with water; always use car shampoo or quality waterless/rinseless wash ✖ Never dry wipe the paintwork with a microfibre to remove dust or bird droppings - as you will inflict scratches into the surface
Professional Maintenance We offer professional maintenance packages for your ceramic-coated vehicle. Our standard maintenance detailing starts at just $140 for exteriors or $260 for exterior/interior. We also offer discounts for clients on a repeat service setup too! We highly recommend our maintenance detail every 4-8 weeks for daily driven vehicles to maintain that 'as-new' feeling.
Fireball Ceramic Coatings should be professionally checked and maintained every 12 months to ensure the bond is topped up. Get in touch to book your ceramic-coated vehicle checkup or maintenance service.
Repairs & Insurance If your vehicle is damaged, we must reapply the ceramic coating to any panels that require repair. Whether the repair is a cut/polish or a repaint - we will need to reapply to the entire panel. If you encounter any paint damage, please get in touch with us initially for advice.
We deal with all major insurance companies when repainting or panel repairs occur. Ensure you let your insurance company and panel beater know to book us for the reapplication of the ceramic coating as part of your repair. this will come at no additional cost to you when added to your insurance repair bill.
Anything Else?
✔ Remember that a ceramic coating is an extremely effective protection layer but still needs maintenance. Following this guide will set you up for success!
✔ Need help stopping service centres and third parties from washing your vehicle? We have some 'Do Not Wash' hangers available, which you can hang from your steering wheel or mirror. Get in touch with the team to get one today.
✔ We periodically offer classes to show you how to wash and maintain your vehicle. Get in touch if you would like to go on our waitlist to attend. ✔ While we don't 'enforce' the use of our products - Fireball products are readily available and designed to be used in conjunction with our ceramic coatings. You also help out our small business, which we appreciate.
STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS 1) Start by washing your wheels and dirty areas first (tyres, wheel arches). We recommend using Fireball Wheel & Tyre for most vehicles with dirty wheels and tyres or Fireball Iron Burn on European cars or those with heavy brake dust/performance brakes. Ensure to follow the individual product instructions carefully when cleaning your wheels - as these products can be harsh if used without care. Why? By washing the dirty areas first you avoid splashback of dirt onto the rest of your vehicle - and you avoid having rinse water dry up in the sun if you were to rinse your entire car down first.
2) On a shady day (never wash in the direct sun), rinse your vehicle thoroughly using high-pressure from a water blaster or consider using snow foam or bug cleaner as a pre-soak solution. We recommend Fireball Snow Foam for ceramic-coated vehicles and also Fireball Bug Cleaner for those open-road drivers. It's important to rinse extremely well and remove as much heavy grit as possible. If using the Snow Foam, apply the product dry first and rinse thoroughly after a few minutes. If using the Bug Cleaner, spray it onto the front end and rinse off after a few minutes. Why? By rinsing off grit before you begin - you have less chance of inflicting swirls and scratches when you touch the paint. It also makes your job easier as less scrubbing means an easier clean. Keep in mind - every time you rub your paintwork with dirt on the surface; you can cause damage, so aim to remove as much grit as possible.
3) After a thorough rinse, it's time for the hand wash. Start with a two-bucket method - one bucket filled with shampoo and water (the wash bucket), and a second bucket with just water (the rinse bucket). Dunk your wash mitt into the soapy bucket first and clean one or two sections/panels at a time - working top-down and regularly rinsing your wash mitt in your second (rinse) bucket before placing it back into the soapy (wash) bucket and continuing on. Ensure you keep rinsing the surface to keep it cool and wet, and rinse the soap regularly to not it dry up. We recommend Fireball Pearl Shampoo or Fireball Hydro Shampoo for washing your coated vehicle; and pairing that with a Fireball Wash Mitt or Fireball Wash Pad. We also recommend good quality Fireball Buckets and Fireball Grit Guards to protect your paint. Why? Using a two-bucket method and quality grit guards in your bucket helps to stop you re-introducing dirty water back onto your paint. A quality wash mitt or wash pad will work to softly remove the grit/dirt from your vehicle instead of rubbing it against the surface - all in all, cleaning the surface thoroughly while stopping from inflicting nasty swirls and scratches.
4) After you have washed and rinsed the entire vehicle, it's time to dry it off. The best method is to use a microfibre drying towel or an air dryer. We recommend a Fireball Twist Dry Towel or Fireball Pin Dry Towel. With drying towels, it's best to work top-down and watch for any areas you might have missed. Don't use your paint-drying towel on your wheels or you could cross-contaminate it. Want to make it easier? Use a low-pressure hose to 'sheet' the water first and remove the bulk of the water before you use the drying towel - you can see a video on how to 'sheet' water by clicking here. The drying process can inflict swirls and scratches if you rub dirt into your paint; so make sure that you have thoroughly cleaned the car first and always use a clean drying towel.
You're all clean and dry! See a few additional steps below.
5) If you want to leave the tyres looking black and new; we recommend using a high quality tyre dressing after washing. First wait for your tyres and wheels to dry completely and then apply the tyre dressing. For a natural black look you could try Fireball Tyre Coating or Fireball Trim & Tyre. Top tip: After application of a tyre shine, wait for around 10 minutes and give the tyres a very gentle wipe with a microfibre towel to remove excess product and avoid 'slinging' when you drive away.
6) Finish off the door jambs by drying the wash water off and wiping away the dirt. Clean door jambs keep your entry into the car fresh and detailed. We highly recommend using the ceramic-coating safe Fireball Pirouette matched to a Fireball Jet Towel to wipe away the dirt and water. You can use the same product and towel combination to wipe away drips from your wheels or engine bay too!
7) A Fireball Ceramic Coating should get a top-up ceramic spray periodically to aid the shine and general repelling of dirt and water. We recommend doing this every 6 months or bringing the vehicle to us for maintenance to have it done. If you're a DIY sort; we recommend getting Fireball Pirouette to top-up the ceramic coating and using this after a full wash process with a soft microfibre towel. Fireball Pirouette can be a bit streaky so always use the product sparingly and never apply it on warm days or in direct sun. You only need one or two sprays per panel; less is more!
There are many other steps you can take even further to detail your vehicle and keep your ceramic coating maintained; so feel free to get in touch with our team if you would like to. learn more. More of a visual learner - check out the below video...
Want to see this in action??
See a video we made through our sister business, United Car Care, below.