Over time the paint of a vehicle is exposed to UV rays, dirt, rain, and other elemental factors causing the paint to lose it’s original shine and depth, even when garage kept. To try and restore the shine you have to polish and correct the clear coat, slowly over time taking more and more of the clear coat off the vehicle.
Over the years the vehicle’s clear coat is stripped away. Making the thinning clear and paint more susceptible to damage. So what can you do to restore the depth and gloss from the showroom floor?
Ceramic Coatings
The decision to have your hotrod or classic vehicle ceramic coated should really be a no duh. It is essentially adding an additional and 10x harder clear coat to the vehicle.
Ceramic coatings essentially bond with the porous paint to harden the surface. It’s about 10x stronger than a new vehicle’s clear coat. Offering better protection against road rash and the elements. It also boasts a hydrophobic quality that makes maintenance washes much easier. It can still chip and swirl, but is more resistant than normal automotive clear coats are. And if the vehicle needs paint correction you will be correcting the ceramic coating and not the original clear coat. Helping to prevent damage over the years.
It adds a truly invisible layer of added protection to the vehicle. Enhancing the gloss and shine of the paint. Making the car show ready. Ceramic coatings make the vehicle far easier to maintain and prep for shows and meets. The hydrophobic quality of it lets dirt and water slide right off. Beading water off the surface of the vehicle. Making maintenance washes easier.
Ceramic coatings also offer UV protection for the paint to help prevent “sun-bleaching” to your paint. Many hotrods or classic vehicles are custom painted, and very expensive if it needs to be repainted.
Paint Protection Film
Paint protection film offers the best protection, especially for high impact areas on the vehicle. Classic cars and hot rods will require a custom installation instead of the installer using a plotter cut kit. The installer will lay a large piece of material straight off the roll onto the car and hand trim everything.
Some of the body lines on classics and hot rods also means that there will need to be seams and relief cuts in certain areas. While good installers do everything they can to hide these as best as can be done, some still might be visible. All of these are hand done and make installing paint protection film a very time-consuming process.
The added benefit of the paint protection film is adding not only hydrophobic qualities but also its self-healing quality. Meaning that swirl marks and light scratches can be “healed” when exposed to heat. Making maintenance of the vehicle that much easier. There is no need to wax and polish the vehicle regularly or before a show. A wash and spray detailer would be enough.