The case against multi-year ceramic paint coatings - Road Grime = Surface Staining Daily Drivers by Mike Phillips

[Rsurfer]

What's a good polish to clean paint/coating without removing the coating or is that possible. Say a year in one polished to just clean the paint.. and as you guys say 'boost' the coating without reapplying. Say Polish Angel Cosmic or CQuartz UK 3.0


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Car Pro's Essence Plus was designed for this purpose. It has no abrasives thus will not remove the coating, but has durable resins that will hide very light marring.

[dlc95]

Very interesting.

The take away for me is - at least it's probably not affecting the paint itself?

[Mike Phillips]

Very interesting.

The take away for me is - at least it's probably not affecting the paint itself?

When you use the word,

it's


Do you mean the road film that builds-up on your car's paint?

[dlc95]

When you use the word,

it's


Do you mean the road film that builds-up on your car's paint?

Yessir.

[Mike Phillips]

Very interesting.

The take away for me is - at least it's probably not affecting the paint itself?

When you use the word,

it's


Do you mean the road film that builds-up on your car's paint?

Yessir.

That's what I assumed but I hate to assume.

Then the answer is probably not. I like to put scenarios in EXTREMES. That would look like this,


Is a layer of road film impacted onto your cars paint helping the paint?


The answer is no. What's the opposite of the word helping?


I don't think a layer of road grime or oily road film bonded to the surface of your car's paint will harm it, by the time it gets to the paint it's been diluted in most cases. The pictures in my article here show where road film comes from, some of the liquids our cars drip are probably caustic or corrosive to some level but when mixed with rain and splashed over your car over time, there's probably no real damage taking place. Plus theoretically, in the case of a ceramic paint coating, the coating would be between the paint and the road film doing its job - protecting the paint.


I know some people are too busy to click the link and look at the pretty pictures to tie what I wrote together, so here's the article and the pictures. This is where road film comes from.



Road Film - If you drive your car in the rain your car has road film


Driving in the rain - For most of us it's unavoidable






Road Film
Road film is the oily film splattered all over your car when you drive in the rain.

Where does Road Film come from?

Oils and other fluids that drip out of cars, truck and suvs accumulate on roads and highways over time.

When it rains, these accumulated oils and other fluids mix with the rain and are then splattered all over your car in effect staining you're entire car from top to bottom. The highest concentration of road film accumulates on your wheels, tires and lower body panels.


Just look in the parking space of any parking lot...







Motor Oil, Transmission Fluid, Gear Oil and other fluids

These outlined areas show where fluids have dripped off engines and transmission, even radiators and accumulated to the point that the pavement has been permanently stained.







It's also on roads and highways...





The oil stain line that runs down the middle of the road...




The dark line down the middle of the road
It's the darker, line down the middle of roads and freeways where most of the oily fluids accumulate as car, truck and suvs drive down the road.

Now that you've read this article and looked at the above pictures, you'll remember this every time you look down the road you're driving on.


Remember, oil and water don't mix
When it rains, the cars in front of you spray the rain water mixed in with these accumulated oils onto not only your car's paint but the wheels, tires, glass, plastic, cloth tops and vinyl tops.

If it's on the outside of the car then it's getting coated with oily road film.


Road Film builds up over time..
Oily road film builds up over time and because this film is oily or sticky it attracts dirt. This can be the dirt in the air or also in rain water that's splattered onto your car from the cars driving in front of you.


Can't always be seen...
Because the dirt staining effect caused by road film build up slowly over time it's not always easy to see, especially on black and dark colored cars, but don't be fooled, if you drive in the rain your car is getting coated in road film.


The solution to the problem?
Washing your car will remove any topical road film. The problem is the dirty, oil film will tend to migrate into any voids, pits, pores or interstices in your car's paint at least to the point that normal car washing won't remove it.


It's pretty easy to remove road film, all you have to do is periodically use one of the below approaches,

Use a quality cleaner/wax or AIO. The cleaning agents and/or abrasives in the cleaner/wax will remove any road film that washing could not remove.

Use a dedicated polish by hand or machine. Any high quality polish will effectively remove any built-up road film. Just be sure to apply a wax, sealant or coating afterwards to seal the paint.


Road Film... if you drive your car in the rain it's on your car...

[showbbq]

What if a car has ppf with a ceramic coating? I'd be wary of polishing any type of ppf but would a light polish with a finishing pad be feasible? I imagine polishing by hand would be the safest approach especially to minimize any heat.

[SWETM]

How about useing degreaser and traffic film remover TFR on a regualar basis? To get the most of the road film off that tend to bond to the paint at a minimum build up. And on especially coatings as they are very chemical resistant and to some sealants too.

[2wookies]

No pro here, total amatuer but, aside from Carpro Essence PLUS, there is no polish that won't degrade/remove the coating. Essence+ I think is marketed to be a coating 'fixer' product...dunno, never had the chance to use it.

Boost/maintain is done periodically with something like Carpro Reload.

Others can likely elaborate more/better.

I tried this on my car that had UK on it, used a white pad and removed quite a bit of the coating. The following wash after it was painfully obvious the coating was gone. Used zero pressure on the machine, not sure what happened...pretty bummed. Not sure if I'll re-apply or not yet.

[The Guz]

I tried this on my car that had UK on it, used a white pad and removed quite a bit of the coating. The following wash after it was painfully obvious the coating was gone. Used zero pressure on the machine, not sure what happened...pretty bummed. Not sure if I'll re-apply or not yet.

If I recall correctly you used regular Essence and not Essence Plus.

Essence = Abrasive polish, hydrophilic

Essence Plus = Non-abrasive polish, hydrophobic

[2wookies]

If I recall correctly you used regular Essence and not Essence Plus.

Essence = Abrasive polish, hydrophilic

Essence Plus = Non-abrasive polish, hydrophobic

No I used this
CarPro Essence Xtreme Gloss Enhancer 250 ml