A question that is often asked of us is “Once my car is graphene ceramic coated, what do I do next?” This next video and article in our series will help answer that question, and give you a better understanding of what maintenance processes and products you can use to keep the ceramic coating performing well and looking great for the longest amount of time, before needing to do a more thorough polishing of the paint and reapplication of the graphene coating itself.

Some of the benefits of a graphene ceramic coating are excellent hydrophobic, water-repelling behavior, very high gloss and shine, and improved resistance to staining, etching, scratching, and so on, but the coating is still only a microscopic layer of protection and has limitations. If you’ve heard things like “Never wash your car again” or “bulletproof layer of protection”, we’re here to tell you those statements are false. Ceramic coatings still need regular maintenance to perform properly and last for multiple years. One quick test to see how the coating is performing is by rinsing the vehicle with a pressure washer or hose to see how the water behaves and interacts on various vehicle surfaces. Some areas like the hood, roof and trunk might be very water-repellent with lots of tight water beads evacuating from the surface, where other areas like the doors, lower fenders, and bumpers might have more flat behavior with the water sheeting or remaining on the surface in large flat sections.

When a panel appears to be “flat” like this, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the graphene ceramic coating is gone though. Over time, driving through harsh conditions like magnesium chloride, salt, and ash during winter months or a wet highway right after a rainstorm that pulls road oil films to the top surface of the roadway can cause all of this contamination to then travel onto the bumpers and sides of your vehicle. These oils and road films can essentially clog the coating, making it appear that the coating is gone or not allow it to perform as it should. No worries though - there are ways to fix this that are easy and quick to accomplish while washing your vehicle. We’ll go through these fixes next!

The first test will be to wash the vehicle with Adam’s Graphene Shampoo. Graphene Shampoo is a stronger citrus degreasing soap designed to help refresh a clogged or contaminated graphene ceramic coating, with a small amount of reduced graphene oxide resins mixed into the formula to improve the coating as well. The powerful cleaning properties of Graphene Shampoo will help to lift and remove some road grime, oils, and other film that build up on top of the ceramic coating and reduce its water beading and repelling behavior. Once you rinse the soap from the panel and re-do the water behavior test with the pressure washer, this might be all you need to do to bring back that exceptional water beading and impressive repelling action.

In some cases, such as if the graphene ceramic coating has been on the vehicle for 6 months to a year or longer without much maintenance, Graphene Shampoo alone might not be enough to fully cleanse the surface and bring the coating back to life. If the panel beading improves but still seems somewhat flat compared to other areas of the vehicle after washing with Graphene Shampoo, then there is most likely bonded contamination that will need to be removed with a Clay Mitt. Joe demonstrates this process in the video by re-foaming the panel with a light layer of foam from Graphene Shampoo in a Foam Cannon to use as a lubricant for the Clay Mitt. Then he lightly glides the Clay Mitt back and forth over the surface. The clay will have some tension at first and then begin to move across the surface of the panel more easily as it removes bonded contamination such as road grime and tar, overspray, tree sap, concrete dust, and more. As Joe rinses the door panel again, you can instantly see the water beading continually improve the more he rinses the clay and soap residue from the panel.

The performance and behavior of the graphene ceramic coating is now back to where it should be, but we’re not done quite yet. There is one more step that we would recommend that you do, especially after decontaminating a coating, and that is to extend the performance and water repelling nature of the coating even further by using a maintenance spray product. Like many other categories in our product line, we have a few different options here, since one application method and process may work well for some and may be a little more difficult for others. Having a few different options will allow you to determine which works best for your particular vehicle, environment, and any time restraints when detailing your car. Adam’s Graphene Detail Spray is the first option for adding some extra shine and protection to the coating as part of a maintenance program. After quickly drying the door panel with an Ultra Plush Drying Towel in this example, Joe then sprays a few light mists of Graphene Detail Spray onto the panel and then quickly wipes it away with a Borderless Grey plush microfiber towel. Graphene Detail Spray is an easy way to enhance the ceramic coating every few washes without much effort, but remember that less is more with this product - if you spray it on heavily, you will need to wipe more than necessary to eliminate any streaks on darker colored finishes.

If you are looking for a little more substantial protection that lasts for 2-3 months or more per application rather than a few weeks like Graphene Detail Spray, then Graphene Boost might be the option for you. Graphene Boost is essentially a much more concentrated formula than Graphene Detail Spray with a higher amount of reduced graphene oxide resins in the chemical makeup. Because it is more durable protection with an even higher water repelling behavior, it does require more effort to apply and remove. This is a product that you will need to use in smaller areas at a time and wipe it off of paint, glass, chrome, etc more quickly. For darker colors, we recommend using two microfiber towels - one towel to do the initial wipe, and then a second dry towel to wipe the surface again. The reason we do this is because the first towel that you wipe with will eventually become saturated with liquid after applying to several panels, so then this damp towel can streak the product more. Using a second dry towel will eliminate this chance of streaking. It’s a good routine to use Graphene Boost about every 3 months on the exterior of your graphene ceramic coating to keep it performing well year-round.

The last maintenance option we’ll discuss in this writeup is a super fast and easy product if you are limited on how much time you have when washing your car, and that product is Adam’s Rinse Aid. Rinse Aid is a unique product that is applied to the wet surface, that immediately reacts with the water creating huge amounts of water repellency, and is then very quickly rinsed off. This product works best when diluting it with water in a Foam Cannon and then applied and rinsed with a pressure washer. After adding about 2 ounces of Rinse Aid into a Foam Cannon filled with water, you will see that as Joe sprays it onto the clean and wet surface of the truck bed and cap, it instantly begins to bead and shed water from the surface. After 10-15 seconds, you must rinse it off quickly - if Rinse Aid sits for too long, it can leave streaking behind, so this is a product that you MUST work fast to rinse and remove it.

We recommend starting out by doing 1 or 2 panels max at a time with Rinse Aid before you rinse it, then once you get a little more comfortable with it, you might be able to quickly apply and rinse to a whole side of a vehicle at once. Rinse Aid is not a super durable product, but it’s a product that you can apply to a vehicle in under 5 minutes to add amazing water beading and extra shine. You can use Rinse Aid every other wash to keep continual beading and performance on your graphene ceramic coated vehicle. To recap, in this article we explained 2 different methods to decontaminate and unclog the ceramic coating on your vehicle, by either using Graphene Shampoo as a citrus degreasing wash or using a Clay Mitt after washing to remove heavier bonded contaminants on the surface. Then we explained 3 different options to maintain the coating after, with two different application methods - the spray and wipe options of Graphene Detail Spray and the more durable Graphene Boost, and then the Foam Cannon application and pressure wash removal of Rinse Aid for those looking to boost the protection and shine in as little time as possible. We hope you enjoyed this explanation of ceramic maintenance, and we’ll see you next time!