Protective coatings can be confusing. You’re no chemist! But it’s worth your time to understand how to serve your car wash customer better and outshine your competitors. You want to be offering your customers the very best shine – thus encouraging word of mouth and driving repeat business. One key is to combine two of the top protectant products.
The usual suspects – wax, paint sealant and polymers – all play a role in keeping a car shiny and bright. But the real excitement today is around technologies such as ceramic and especially graphene. The level of long-lasting protection, strength and head-turning shine you can offer now is a whole new world compared to decades past.
Individually, each of these categories of products offers many benefits, but the best car coating protection by far comes from combining them.
Understanding Graphene and Ceramic Coatings
Ceramic and graphene are both protective coatings consisting of nanoparticles sprayed onto a car’s exterior. Let’s explore why they’re superior materials for car wash businesses.
What Is a Ceramic Coating and What Are Its Benefits?
Ceramic is a tried-and-true car wash coating that has been around since the 1990s. It’s a microscopic particle made of materials such as silicon dioxide. This glass-like particle fills in the microscopic pits and crevices that come with any paint job, providing a smoother finish, major shine and longer durability.
Car enthusiasts have long turned to ceramic car coating protection to seal their paint jobs away from water and UV damage, dust and scuffs. It’s a reliable defense that helps a car stay looking like new longer.
Among ceramic coatings, the Armor All Professional ceramic seal is one of the best. This high-quality, professional sealant offers superior strength and water beading and a nice, glossy finish with the durability to last.
What Is Graphene and What Are Its Benefits?
Graphene, the new kid on the block, has quickly been hailed as a “miracle material” in the carwash industry. Awarded a Nobel Prize for its groundbreaking properties, graphene delivers unparalleled strength and a magnificent shine.
Did you know that graphene, like diamonds and graphite, is a variant of carbon? Remarkably, it is just one atom thick yet boasts a strength 200 times greater than steel. Not only is graphene exceptionally durable, resisting chips and cracks, but it is also transparent, anti-static (attracting less dust), and highly hydrophobic, promoting increased water beading.
Though graphene coatings are fairly new to the market, they’re already available from recognizeable brands, including Rain-X. In addition to the water-beading properties Rain-X is known for, Rain-X Graphene provides enhanced durability, adaptive protection against chipping and cracking, and a glossy shine that will make the color on your customers’ cars really pop.
For a deeper dive on the many superior properties of graphene and how to market it at your carwash, check out our graphene marketing blog post.
Graphene and Ceramic Synergy: 1 + 1 = 3
If graphene and ceramic are so similar, what’s the point of using both? In addition to the slightly different benefits both provide, when layered, they enhance each other, providing unmatched durability, water beading and resistance to the elements. And the shine? Better get out your sunglasses.
3x the Protection!
• Best water beading available
• Unmatched chip, dust and UV resistance
• Protection measured in months, not days or weeks
• Superior richness, gloss and shine
With these products combined, the result is a surface so incredibly strong, water-repellent and shiny you almost run out of adjectives to describe it. Because the first layer of sealant does most of the smoothing, the second layer makes the car’s exterior practically flawless. Water doesn’t just run off the surface – it’s actively repelled.
Graphene’s properties also include those of resisting dust and dirt from clinging to your car’s surface. With every pit and pore smoothed over, dust just glides right by, keeping the car shiny and clean. This also makes washing much easier, since any dust that does manage to stick around gets picked up easily.
The Layering Process: A Step-by-Step Guide
Layering graphene and ceramic is a pretty easy way to achieve the best car coating protection. It only takes four simple steps to add this enhanced protection to any vehicle.
Step 1: Preparing the Vehicle Surface
The first step in any car coating process is a clean car. Any dust or particles left on the car can get trapped under the coating or cause imperfections that might make it less protective. That’s why the first stages of your car wash should wash the entire surface and give it a good rinse with cold water.
If you’re also layering with carnuba wax, add it here. This will provide a nice, level surface for the protectants to adhere to, maximizing the shine. Apply a thin, even layer of wax and let it cure before moving on.
Step 2: Apply Ceramic Coating
Apply your coating, such as the Armor All Professional ceramic seal. This layer serves as a sealant, locking in the carnuba wax and locking out dirt and debris. This base layer both protects the car and provides an even smoother surface for the graphene.
Use an appropriate applicator, such as a sprayer, that will spread a thin, even coating over the entire surface. Follow the manufacturer instructions to ensure the coating goes on smoothly and cleanly.
Step 3: Apply Graphene Coating
Next, layer on your Rain-X Graphene or other chosen graphene coating. The carbon nanoparticles form a honeycomb lattice that protects the car from dirt, scuffs and UV damage.
Make sure the graphene is applied thinly and evenly according to the manufacturer’s directions. Although the layers of graphene are meant to be microscopically thin, don’t let this fool you. They provide some of the best protection available.
Proven Revenue Boost With Rain-X® Graphene
Today’s wash customers are looking for the best value in a car coating protection they can rely on. With the world getting busier and busier, they want something that requires minimal upkeep for long-lasting effects. And they don’t want to waste their money.
They’re looking for a quick, understandable way to gauge the quality of your wash. Branded product such as Armor All Professional Ceramic and Rain-X Graphene provides that extra value they seek, especially if you market it well. The right logos in the right places convince car wash customers to stay, return or trade up to higher tiers.
Revenue Growth
According to recent case studies, branded chemistry raises average ticket value significantly.
An NCS case study with a major national carwash operator showed consumer-trusted brands lift ticket averages by $1.51. Obviously results may vary based on a variety of circumstances. But that’s still a head-turning number.
One of the biggest advantages of national consumer brands is awareness. Armor All, for instance, is the #1 most recognized brand in the auto appearance market, with 90% customer awareness and 85.8% positive perception. Rain-X® surface protectant stands as the industry leader in surface protection, boasting an impressive 80% brand awareness. 44% of conveyor car wash consumers upgrade their packages when Rain-X brands, for instance, are showcased.
Enhance Customer Loyalty With Layered Protection
If you’re looking for a way to enhance customer loyalty and offer a superior protective product, look no further. The layered protection of Rain-X Graphene and Armor All Professional ceramic will keep your customers’ cars looking like new and your customers coming back for more.
NCS has the graphene and ceramic solutions you need to add this sought-after service to your wash. Contact us and learn more about what these products can do for you and your customers.