Review & How-to: BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating by Mike Phillips



BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating






Ceramic coatings have reached the Tipping Point, for any of you that have read the classic book The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, you now what I'm talking about. That is, ceramic coatings have gone mainstream.

While your dad and your grandpa know this to be the product you use to protect your car's paint,





The masses have finally caught up with pro detailers and serious car detailing enthusiasts, and now understand today's car wax comes in small glass vials.




And the clear, thin liquid inside these small glass vials easily out protects and outlasts traditional car waxes and synthetic paint sealants.



The key difference between ceramic paint coatings and the other two categories of paint protection products, car waxes and synthetic paint sealants, is the prep work you must perform to the paint in order for the ceramic coating to form a proper bond to the paint surface. If you do not do the paint prep steps correctly all your time, money and efforts are simply nullified to a form of exercise. In this article, I will go over the proper steps to correct and prep your car's paint for the application of a ceramic paint coating.


Coating Lingo

First - Let's talk about the new lingo that has evolved with ceramic paint coatings. Below are some traditional words used when talking about "waxing a car" and their new replacements when talking about "coating a car".


We use say compounding and polishing - now it's paint correction

We use to say applying a coat of wax, now it's installing a ceramic coating

We use to say wiping off a coat of wax, now it's giving the panel a final buff

We use to say, removing wax smears, now it's removing high spots



In reality, the action of doing any of the above for coatings is the same action when working with waxes, the only thing that has changed is the product and now the lingo. And when you start using the new lingo around the un-initiated, they are going to look at you as though you are from Mars!






Can you dig it?





Technical Information

  1. 9H+ hardness that is graded to last up to 2 years.
  2. Easy application
  3. Fast flash time
  4. Easy wipe-off
  5. Super high gloss
  6. Maximum clarity
  7. Incredible deep, wet shine
  8. Solvent and fluorine free formula



From the BLACKFIRE PRO CERAMIC Store Page


Perfect for the professional or the enthusiast!

BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating bridges the gap between entry level commercial ceramic coatings and professional-only industrial ceramic coatings, allowing everyone to achieve an extraordinary mirror-like shine! BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating was designed using a solvent and fluorine free formula to maximize its user-safety and ensure that it can be applied anywhere, even in enclosed environments. The thermoplastic component contained in the formula for BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating creates a flexible, cross-linked matrix that provides 9H+ hardness that is graded to last up to 2 years. The incredible structural integrity of this matrix makes BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating one of the most abrasion and corrosion resistant ceramic coatings on the market today!



My take on this Pro/Consumer Ceramic Coating

If you're new to ceramic coatings, the above is everything you want from a pro-grade ceramic coating. If you've tried a few ceramic coatings and they've left you with mixed feelings and/or mediocre results, then you're going to love BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating.


What - Who- Where - Why - When


What is it?
BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating is a high performance ceramic coating for automotive paints.



Who is it for?
BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating is formulated for the pro detailer who needs a quality coating that offers consistent results over a wide-spectrum of application environments. The fast flash time and easy wipe-off makes the BF Pro Ceramic Coating easy to use no matter what the temperature or humidity in your area. Drying time and sticky wipe-off are the most common problems with many ceramic coatings and this is mostly due to how the product dries and wipes off depending upon the temperature and humidity in the detailing environment. BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating flashes fast, within a 45 seconds to a minute, regardless of ambient temperature and humidity. Wipe-off is easy too as long as you're following directions and keeping your application area limited to the norm for all coating applications and that's a section no larger than 2' by 2'. Of course, for really hot areas you would want to work smaller areas due to the fast flash time.

Fast flash time is key to working fast. If a coating takes too long to flash, the waiting time adds up and increases the overall time to install a coating. So a fast flashing coating is desirable to decrease application time and increase profitability. The other part of flash time is wipe-off, if excess coating on the surface or high spots are difficult to wipe off this will increase the overall time to install a coating and just as bad, physically wear-you-out and it also increase the risk of marring the paint.


BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating overcomes both the slow flash time and sticky wipe-off making this coating perfect for professionals that understand the time-factor involved with application and wipe-off as well as the fatigue factor associated with many coatings.



Where
BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating is intended for use on automotive clearcoat paints.



Why use a ceramic coating?
Great question! Let me break it down into 2 answers, targeting two distinct groups.


Benefits for you customers

  1. Longer lasting protection – coatings won’t wear off like waxes and sealants.
  2. Helps prevent swirls, scratches and marring.
  3. Vehicles stay cleaner longer.
  4. Faster, easier and safer washing.
  5. Faster, easier and safer drying.
  6. Pride of ownership as you car will look showroom new longer.




Benefits to coatings

  1. Self-cleaning effect – vehicles stay cleaner longer.
  2. Dirt and road-film resistance – exterior is less prone to staining.
  3. Maintains factory finish which maintains resale or trade-in value.
  4. Creates a glassy look, more gloss than waxes and sealants.
  5. Dramatically outlasts both car waxes and synthetic sealants.




Benefits to your business --> Profitability

Coatings may be the highest profit margin activity in the business

Example

Paint Prep with = 30 minutes.

Coating install = 1 to 2 hours depending upon the size of the vehicle.

Total Time = 2.5 Hours.

Average Retail Price = $600.00

That's approximately $200.00 per hour. Where else in car detailing business are you making $200.00 per Hour?




When?
The best time to apply a ceramic paint coating is when a car is brand new, before any damage has occurred, (swirls and scratches are damage), and before the paint gets a build-up of road film or water spots. If you detail cars professionally then your best bet for coating customers are people that have just purchased a brand new car, truck or suv. The paint is or at least should be in excellent condition, requiring the least amount of time and labor to correct, polish or clean before chemically stripping. At this time, the owner is most concerned about protecting their new [major] investment.




Review

This is a super easy to use ceramic paint coating. As long as you do what so many don't do and that is follow the directions. The biggest problem I see people experiencing with ceramic coatings includes,

1: Trying to coat too large an area at one time.

2: Overusing the coating and ending up with excess coating on the section being treated.

3: Struggling to wipe-off the excess coating --> see number 1 and 2 above.


If you can practice patience and only work a small section at a time, you find that by slowing down you will speed up. Applying ceramic coatings is really an example of how the Tortoise wins the race while the Rabbit tires himself out and loses the race. Coatings are NOT car waxes or synthetic sealants. With a wax or sealant, because they are so forgiving, you can apply to an entire vehicle at one time and then wipe-off at your leisure. Not so with coatings.

The BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating is brand new to the market and as such, the chemistry used is evolutionary from both a chemistry aspect but also a user interface. Coatings have been around for over 10 years now and as such, a lot of data and feedback has been collected to help the chemist modify the formula for easier application and removal. From the chemistry aspect, we all know new technology is being introduced faster than anyone can keep up with so that's the new norm.



Glassy not glossy
Besides easy application or installation and easy buff-off of the panel and any high spots, the results are just like you would expect and hope for and that is a very glassy looking finish. A few years ago I attached the term glassy to the appearance results from ceramic coatings. My experience was that a quality coating did more than make paint look glossy, it took gloss to a higher level and created a glassy appearance AND a glassy appearance that hold up over time.



Extended protection and extended visual results
The secondary benefit to a ceramic paint coating is its durability. Actually, for some of you, durability is the primary benefit and appearance is the secondary benefit. Either preference is acceptable, it comes down to what you look for most and probably in part, the kind of car you drive and how you view your car. Some people view their car as transportation and look for durability, other people view their car as an extension of their personality and their priority is a show car finish.

It's easy to create a high gloss finish using a quality wax or synthetic paint sealant but even after a few car washes, the initial gloss fall off or is diminished because the act of washing these types of protection also acts to wear them off. Not so with a ceramic paint coating. The bond between the coating and the paint is semi-permanent, this means as long as you don't wash your car with a brick, it's not going to wear off, at least it's not going to wear off using quality wash mitts and quality car wash products plus an intelligent wash approach, that is don't scrub your car's paint but gently move the mitt over a panel for a few passes then then STOP and rinse.



If you're new to ceramic coatings or if you're not committed to your current ceramic coating, then give the BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating a test drive. Be sure to get the BLACKFIRE Paint Prep to correctly and properly prep the paint before application of the coating as well as a good supply of high quality prep towels and final buff towels.






This is the glassy look!