It does not stop scratches
9H is a pencil-hardness rating for the coating itself, not armour for your car. Trolleys, keys, stone chips and automatic wash brushes will all still mark it. Anyone who says otherwise is selling, not explaining.
Ceramic coating,
explained honestly.
This is the most oversold product in the detailing industry. Below is what a 9H coating actually does, what it definitively does not do, and the specific situations where we will tell you to save your money.
From $1,290 5-year written warranty Applied in your garage
What it actually is
A hard glass layer that bonds to your clear coat.
Not a wax, not a sealant, not a spray-on. It is a liquid polymer that chemically bonds to the paint and cures into a semi-permanent layer roughly two microns thick. Wax sits on top for eight weeks and washes away. This does not.
- Hydrophobic. Water sheets off instead of sitting. Rain does most of the washing for you.
- Chemical resistant. Bird droppings, tree sap and road salt cannot etch paint they never reach.
- UV stable. Slows the oxidation that turns red paint pink and black paint gray.
- Genuinely easier to wash. The most underrated part. Most owners report a 15-minute wash where it used to be an hour.
5 years
Written warranty, with a free annual inspection
The part nobody advertises
What ceramic coating does not do.
If a detailer claims any of the below, walk away. These are the three things that generate almost every disappointed coating customer.
It does not fix bad paint
Coating is clear. Every swirl, every scratch, every bit of haze underneath gets sealed in and magnified for five years. That is exactly why correction is built into the price rather than sold as an upsell.
It does not mean never washing
You still wash it, just far less often and far more easily. Go back to the tunnel and the brushes will grind the coating down inside a year — and the warranty does not cover that.
The straight answer
Should you actually get one?
Probably not, if
Save your money
- You are selling or handing the lease back within a year
- The paint needs bodywork, respray or has failing clear coat
- You will keep using automatic brush washes — it will not survive
- The car lives in a garage and comes out twelve times a year
- You want it to stop scratches — it will not, and you will be disappointed
In these cases a Full Detail plus paint correction gets you 85% of the look for a third of the price. We will tell you this on the phone before you book.
Genuinely worth it, if
Go ahead
- You are keeping the car three years or more
- It parks outside, under trees, or does a Long Island winter
- You hand wash, or use touchless — no brushes
- The paint is in decent shape, or you are correcting it anyway
- You are tired of spending Saturday morning washing a car
Over five years the coating costs about $258 a year. Waxing properly twice a year at $180 a time costs $360. The coating is cheaper and it works better.
Two days, step by step
Where the money actually goes.
Roughly 80% of the price is the preparation. The coating itself takes about ninety minutes to lay down — everything before it is what determines whether it lasts five years or eighteen months.
- Day 1, morning
Strip & decontaminate
Snow foam, two-bucket wash, iron fallout remover, tar removal, then clay bar across every panel. Anything left on the paint gets sealed under the coating permanently.
- Day 1, afternoon
Measure & correct
Paint depth gauge on every panel before a machine touches it — you cannot put clear coat back. Then a full machine polish to remove the defects that would otherwise be locked in.
- Day 2, morning
Panel wipe & coat
An IPA wipe-down removes every trace of polishing oil so the coating can bond to bare clear coat. Then the coating goes on panel by panel and is levelled within its flash window.
- Day 2, then overnight
Cure & hand back
Garage overnight, dry, no rain. We come back to inspect in daylight, hand over the aftercare kit, and book your free twelve-month inspection before we leave.
PrepCoated SUV · Great NeckCorrection + 9H coating · two days · $1,450
What the owner gets afterwards
Everything below is written into the warranty document, not just described on a website. You get a physical copy plus a PDF.
- Five-year warranty against coating failure and loss of hydrophobics
- Free annual inspection with a top-up on any panel that needs it
- Aftercare kit: pH-neutral shampoo, two microfiber towels, drying towel
- A one-page card on how to wash it — mostly a list of what not to do
- Maintenance details at $50 off the standard price, for as long as you own it
Coating pricing
One price. Correction included.
Most shops quote coating and then add correction once they have seen the car. Ours is one number because you cannot do one properly without the other.
Included in the price
- Full decontamination & clay
- Single-stage paint correction
- 9H coating on all paint
- Wheels, glass & trim coated
- Full interior detail
- Aftercare kit & warranty document
Ceramic Coating
Everything above, one number, no surprises.
$1,290
Two days, garage required overnight
Works out at about $258 a year over the warranty period.
Book a coatingOptional extras
- Interior fabric ceramic guard — $180
- Headlight restoration & coat — $90
- Engine bay detail — $75
- Trim restoration — $70
Two-stage correction, for paint that needs more than a single pass, is quoted after inspection — usually $250 to $400 on top.
Coating questions
What people ask before committing.
Is ceramic coating actually worth it?
Worth it if you are keeping the car three years or more, you park outside, and you hand wash or use touchless. Not worth it if you are selling within a year, the paint needs bodywork first, or you will keep going through automatic brush washes.
We turn down roughly one coating enquiry in five for exactly these reasons. It is not a hard sell — an unhappy coating customer costs us more than the booking is worth.
Does it prevent scratches?
No. 9H refers to the hardness of the coating itself, not your car's resistance to damage. It resists light marring and chemical etching. It will not stop a stone chip, a trolley, a key, or a tunnel wash brush. Any detailer who tells you it will is overselling and you should be sceptical about everything else they say.
Do you need my garage?
For the coating stage, yes — it has to go on in a covered, dust-controlled space and then stay dry overnight while it cures. The correction on day one can happen in the driveway. About nine in ten of our coatings are applied in the customer's own garage.
No garage? We can arrange indoor space at a partner unit in Westbury for an extra $120 to cover the day rate.
How do I wash it afterwards?
Two buckets, pH-neutral shampoo, a clean microfiber mitt, top to bottom, dry with a plush towel. Roughly every two to three weeks. Touchless automatic washes are acceptable when you are short on time. Brush tunnels are the one thing that will genuinely destroy it — and using them voids the warranty.
What exactly does the warranty cover?
Coating failure — delamination, premature breakdown, and loss of hydrophobic performance. It requires the annual inspection, which is free and takes twenty minutes. It excludes stone chips, accident damage, and anything caused by brush car washes. The full two-page document is handed to you at completion, and we will email it in advance if you want to read it before booking.
Talk it through first
Not sure it is right for your car? Say so.
Send a couple of photos and tell us how long you are keeping it. If a Full Detail and correction is the better spend, that is what we will tell you — it happens roughly once a week.