Getting rid of the narrative- Wax Vs Ceramic Coating

How often has someone quoted … That’s too expensive? Ever wondered why?

Most of sought-after expensive things are not worth a consideration for many people, especially those, who like to exercise control over every aspect of their finance. A similar myth that needs unravelling is what’s affordable for maintenance of your car – your regular wax polish or a one-time investment in ceramic coating.

In theory we can put together various qualitative reasons but, we will talk about that once we are satisfied with numbers.

Carnauba Wax is derived from a Brazilian Palm Tree, which secretes this substance on the palm leaves, hardens and leaves a hard, protective shelf-like an M&M – but we don’t recommend eating it. 

A typical car wax and polish detailing with ancillary services such as wash, vacuuming, mirror and trim cleaning and tyre cleaning would cost you about $150-$200 for a 3-hour work cycle by any detailer on an average. Now as for the results, this is where it becomes tricky since response of the job done will be highly varied.

There are a lot of factors that will crop up such as where the car is parked when not in use, how well it is looked after on a daily basis, what weather is it mostly exposed to and then finally the quality of the product used.

Henceforth to put it together your detailing could last a couple of weeks, a month or two at its peak. So, to assume we can say its shelf life will be 1-3 months so on a yearly evaluation you are spending a prudent $1200 for varied results with no guarantee of performance. Over a 5-year period this cost is $6000 that too if you have the ability to regularly make time for upkeep and book appointments. To be honest it can be a tedious job as with time we only get busier and new commitments rise up every now and then.

“Convenience costs money “- well most certainly but how can we put that to a constructive perspective?

A Nano ceramic coating is essentially a liquid-polymer that is derived from silica and is commonly used in the manufacturing of ceramic or glass products. Like carnauba wax, there are several unique combinations, molecular structures, and quality that yield different results.

A ceramic coating costs you about $3000 for its best quality ensured and includes 20 hours of multi-stage paint correction with additional 3 hours of coating application. Roughly, a detailer spends about 30 hours per vehicle to get the job done. Life of ceramic coatings extend up to 5 years if the vehicle is maintained as per the instructions of the professional detailers which are not too hard to bite into as it is very basic and at most you will be asked to regularly wash off your car with plain water and wipe it off. In terms of results, they are easy to maintain and does not require the level of attention as in the cases of wax.

So, putting down the hammer, a cost of $3000 spread across its shelf life of 5 years is about $600 yearly, break it down further its $ 50 a month and $12.50 a week.

It’s amusing we spend more than that for a decent meal downtown.

Coming on to the qualitative parts mentions earlier have a look at what ceramic coatings offer you in large as compared to its counter:

Ceramic coatings have proven to be effective in safeguarding your paint for a longer duration against UV, Weather corrosion. Acid Rain, Industry powder, bird dropping and tree gum.

While we can make time to read about it, seldom we have time to think about all these things and at the end of the day we all want to be taken care of.

Well even that has been looked after and we will leave you in safe hands for that:

My top pick for the best ceramic coating is Kovalent certified coatings which come with a manufactures warranty, and they have been taking over the market just as you are reading this.

Hopefully that has been a lot of unravelling for one day and we hope that you are able to make smarter decisions around your finances by understanding “Quality beats quantity “any day.