Anyone else less than impressed with the scratch resistance offered by ceramic coatings?

S

Sonic Pilot

New member
Joined
Feb 3, 2017
Messages
212
Reaction score
0
While ceramic coatings do enhance the appearance of the paint surface and certainly offer much improved protection over conventional waxes or sealants, in my experience, they seem to offer relatively little in the way of scratch resistance.

I do understand the "Pencil Hardness" scale and how ceramic coating manufacturers use it (9H, 10H, etc.) to boast the "hardness" of their product. I also understand that no manufacturer is claiming their product is scratch-proof. However, I struggle to see a vast improvement in a surface's resistance to scratches coming from what most would consider "normal wear-n-tear. Things like towel scratches from wipe-downs or other similar scratches and marring.

Like I said, no manufacturer is claiming its product is scratch proof, but I am not impressed with the scratch resistance I am seeing thus far.
While proper wipe down procedures are always necessary to minimize any scratching, I kind of expected more protection from how most (non detailing) car owners would care for their car. By far and away, the evidence of this is most apparent on jet black paint. No mental flake or metallic, just pure black. I am frequently seeing cars with typical toweling scratches all over.

It would be one thing to see a few cars here and there with some scratches and chalk it up to either improper coating installation and/or improper after care by the vehicle owner, but in my experience, the vast majority of cars I see (in black) have almost as many fine scratches as any other car, or slightly less.

Anyone else seem to think the scratch resistance implied by ceramic coating manufacturers is not quite as good as they would have you think?

As for the other characteristics of ceramic coating, so far so good.
 
I think the main purpose of a ceramic coating is to take the abuse that your thin clearcoat would normally absorb. Coatings are not the magic bullet that they once were going to be. Coating are just better protection than wax or sealants. It’s hard to lump all coatings into one basket and hardness may not be as important as flexibility or a combination of the two. Some manufacturers tout hardness where others say it’s not important. The key is to have proper wash techniques to minimize the marring that comes from touching the paint/coating.

If you are seeing marring and scratches in your coating it could be the coating or it could be your wash media. Change one or the other to see if anything changes.
 
There are a couple self healing coatings out there that are pretty impressive.
 
Thanks for your response rimccarty2000.
It's not on my vehicle, its on vehicles coming in for routine detail services that have been ceramic coated. Like I said, I'm just not impressed with the stated scratch resistance from ceramic coating manufacturers. The other characteristics seem to be holding up well like shine and ease of cleaning, but as far as scratch resistance, I am seeing very little improvement if any at all. Still seeing plenty of scratching/marring that causes most people to pursue detailing services.
 
Scratch resistance is completely over rated with coatings. Proper care is still needed and improper care is going to scratch anything.
 
Thanks Guz,
I am in complete agreement (obviously) with your assessment on the overstatement regarding scratch resistance. Its a damn shame though. Just what our industry needs is more "overhyping" product capabilities!
 
IMO:
•The claim of “9H Pencil Hardness” is
nothing more than a marketing angle
used by Coatings’ manufacturers as a
means to sell their brand of Coatings:
{i.e.: “scratch resistance” is directly
correlated to Coatings’ level of pencil
hardness: the harder, the more scratch
resistant—becomes the mantra.}


•However...
-All we have to do—to put a reality check
on the above marketing model—is to keep
Newton’s Third Law of Motion in mind:
{”For each action, there is an equal and
opposite reaction.”}
-That is one sure-fire way of knowing that
“hard Coatings” are, in actuallity, very prone
to being scratched. {Think: “density”.}



Bob
 
Third law of motion? I was thinking more on the lines of the second law, but I could be wrong. Anyway, they do claim a pencil hardness rather than Mohs, which is a bit misleading and indeed doesn't mean anything in terms of scratch resistance.
 
Sonic Pilot said:
While ceramic coatings do enhance the appearance of the paint surface and certainly offer much improved protection over conventional waxes or sealants, in my experience, they seem to offer relatively little in the way of scratch resistance.

I do understand the "Pencil Hardness" scale and how ceramic coating manufacturers use it (9H, 10H, etc.) to boast the "hardness" of their product. I also understand that no manufacturer is claiming their product is scratch-proof. However, I struggle to see a vast improvement in a surface's resistance to scratches coming from what most would consider "normal wear-n-tear. Things like towel scratches from wipe-downs or other similar scratches and marring.

Like I said, no manufacturer is claiming its product is scratch proof, but I am not impressed with the scratch resistance I am seeing thus far.
While proper wipe down procedures are always necessary to minimize any scratching, I kind of expected more protection from how most (non detailing) car owners would care for their car. By far and away, the evidence of this is most apparent on jet black paint. No mental flake or metallic, just pure black. I am frequently seeing cars with typical toweling scratches all over.

It would be one thing to see a few cars here and there with some scratches and chalk it up to either improper coating installation and/or improper after care by the vehicle owner, but in my experience, the vast majority of cars I see (in black) have almost as many fine scratches as any other car, or slightly less.

Anyone else seem to think the scratch resistance implied by ceramic coating manufacturers is not quite as good as they would have you think?

As for the other characteristics of ceramic coating, so far so good.
Click to expand...

No. The idea of the scratch resistance is to prevent the most common type of scratching one car: Micro-marring. Once the car is coated, it will be much harder to create love marks on the paint when you clean the vehicle.

Those who advertize ceramic coating as a scratch resistant layer are abusing the term and mis-representing what the coating can do. If you take a key to the panel, you will scratch it no matter what product you put on it. If this is the type of protection you are looking for, it exists, just put a paint protection film on the car.
 
Agreed. They can still mar and get scratched up but like stated. If properly maintained and cared for the less marring will occur. I tell clients all the time with jet black daily drivers that it almost impossible to keep it 100% all the time and eventually little love marks will happen.


That being said the only coating I have legit had experience with that has unbelievable marring resistance is IGL Eclipse industrial coating. It's technically not for show cars ect but I have tested it on a few areas of my GTO and it is definitely much much tougher. But it's a royal PITA to install lol
 
"Scratch proof" = you're unable to scratch it
"Scratch resistant" = it's harder to scratch / less prone to getting scratched

Coatings are usually advertised as "scratch resistant", not "scratch proof". However, most people think of "scratch proof" even then when they're reading/hearing "scratch resistant".

Hope this explains the confusion.
 
So I have my new, jet black car protected by a pro-only coating that tosses about phrases like "diamond infused 10h hardness" and top with WG SiO2 spray that describes itself as "rock hard" and "hard as nails" only to find it getting marked up cuz my kid dried it after washing with his mother's finest Turkish terry cloth bath towel.

My paint is supposedly as hard as (take your pick) diamonds, rocks or nails but will still be gooned up with a plush bath towel.

Oops.

IMO, I dont really even consider scratch resistance as a true benefit of a coating, much less choose one based upon that marketing drivel. Besides, it would render all the money spent on air blowers and expensive drying towels pointless if there was any significant scratch resistance to be had

While I'm sure they do provide some minuscule measure of scratch resistance, it is (to me) more of a marketing tool.

Imagine having a certain pro only coating applied (5-10 layers) then going back a year later for a 'warranty' claim on swirled up paint, mentioning your bath-towel drying methods and getting laughed outta there. "Uh, so 10 layers of your super-nuclear coating wont protect me from a bath towel...great, thanks for nothing"

Additionally, if coatings were actually able to provide a significant resistance to marring/scratching, why the need/desire for 'self healing' coatings?

My personal hope for self healing is it will provide some remedy for self-inflicted marring, the kind that can occur even with the 'best' dedicated drying/microfiber towel in existence. I dont expect it to fix any scratches inflicted from my carelessness loading boxes into my trunk which have occasionally marked up my paint.
 
How about this for scratch resistant. I’ve been using Sonax Speed Protect for about 10 months now. I got it before AG started carrying it. I have seen it’s scratch resistant properties first hand. I stripped it in Sept to do a quick polish for the winter. The paint was still perfect. I just put another coat of Sonax Speed Protect back on with a Sonax BSD topper for the winter.

All from a spray wax. But it is much more substantial. I love it for daily drivers.

Naser Mustafa - Test new Sonax Speed protect
#SonaxProfiLine😉 | Facebook

Todd Brown - Ok everyone heres the Sonax Speed Protect...





Sent from my iPhone using Autogeekonline mobile app
 
Hmmmm... interesting. So many of you seem to also agree that ceramic coatings offer very little in the way of scratch resistance from typical day-to-day car operation and care.

My point I guess is the frustration consumers and customers must feel upon learning of yet another over-hyped product feature. Where does the misleading end when it comes to product performance in our industry?
 
I'm certain that it adds a degree of scratch resistance, however, it is the media hype of some companies that show it being virtually impervious to practically everything! Hit it with a hammer and set it on fire...no worries it will take it. It's all marketing and misleading IMO to the general public and wish it would stop.

"Caveat emptor"
 
Sizzle Chest said:
I'm certain that it adds a degree of scratch resistance, however, it is the media hype of some companies that show it being virtually impervious to practically everything! Hit it with a hammer and set it on fire...no worries it will take it. It's all marketing and misleading IMO to the general public and wish it would stop.

"Caveat emptor"
Click to expand...
:iagree::iagree::dblthumb2:
 
itsgn said:
"Scratch proof" = you're unable to scratch it
"Scratch resistant" = it's harder to scratch / less prone to getting scratched

Coatings are usually advertised as "scratch resistant", not "scratch proof". However, most people think of "scratch proof" even then when they're reading/hearing "scratch resistant".

Hope this explains the confusion.
Click to expand...

The term scratch should not even be used. In the mind of the average car owner, when he reads or hear scratch, he thinks of deep scratches done by rubbing something sharp against the car. A coating might help a little bit against that, but it's gonna be very little if it does. When people call me for a coating I always take the time to explain in detail what scratch resistance really means. I don't people to think I install a magical force field on their car like a lot of ads are showing.
 
Sonic Pilot said:
Hmmmm... interesting. So many of you seem to also agree that ceramic coatings offer very little in the way of scratch resistance from typical day-to-day car operation and care.

My point I guess is the frustration consumers and customers must feel upon learning of yet another over-hyped product feature. Where does the misleading end when it comes to product performance in our industry?
Click to expand...

It's only misleading if the installer doesn't explain what the coating actually does. Coatings are the best protection you can put on a car short of putting a paint protection film on. So while one aspect if overhypered, the product still remains the best one that can be used. So it's all in the way it is perceived.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top