What does a new car ceramic coating include?
You choose one of three graphene-ceramic packages, and each coats a different list of surfaces. All three are quoted per vehicle, because the price depends on the car’s size, the package and how much the paint needs before the coating goes on.
| Package | Layers | Surfaces coated | Built for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | 1 | Paint | Daily drivers and lease returns |
| Performance | 2 | Paint, wheel faces, glass | Hand-washed cars their owners plan to keep |
| Signature | 4 | Paint, PPF, wheels, glass, trim | New exotics and cars with full PPF |
Performance goes on over a two-stage correction and Signature over a full correction. Add-ons cover wheels and calipers, glass, and interior leather and fabric. Price factors are explained on ceramic coating cost; the ceramic coating page has the package details.
Does a brand-new car need polishing before it’s coated?
Sometimes, and it’s checked rather than assumed. A coating seals in whatever it covers, so the paint is inspected and its thickness measured before anyone picks up a polisher.
If the paint is clean, it goes from decontamination straight to coating. If it isn’t, correction comes first and lengthens the visit, by roughly a day for a single-stage polish or up to two for two stages. Whether it’s likely on your car is the subject of do new cars need paint correction, and the prep job itself is on new car paint correction.
Why coat a new car before its first year is out?
Because droppings, sap and airborne fallout are damage that a new-car warranty can exclude, and a coating makes those deposits easier to wash off before they mark the clear coat.
A 2019 decision from BC’s Civil Resolution Tribunal shows how that plays out. The warranty manual for a car bought in 2016 excluded damage from “airborne chemicals, bird droppings, tree sap, other environmental conditions,” and the owner’s manual told owners to wash at once when sap or droppings were on the paint. Dealership staff judged the paint damage environmental, and the tribunal dismissed the claim because a manufacturing defect hadn’t been shown.
Mazda’s Canadian owner’s manual for the CX-5 makes the same point in plain terms: insects, tar, tree sap, bird droppings and industrial fallout “can damage the finish if not removed immediately.” A coating doesn’t take that job off you. What it changes is how fast the job goes, because deposits sit on a slick cured layer instead of gripping bare clear coat. It won’t stop stone chips; that’s what film is for, as whether a coating prevents chips explains.
Should a new car get PPF or the coating first?
Film first, coating second. LLumar’s PPF FAQ wants the paint left free of wax and coatings until its film is on, because either can weaken the film’s grip.
So on a new car getting both, the paint is prepared once, the LLumar Platinum film goes on the panels in your package, and only then is the whole car coated, film and unfilmed paint in the same session. Signature is the package that names PPF among its surfaces. The coating step on its own is described on ceramic coating over PPF, the sequence when tint is added on ordering PPF, coating and tint, and a whole new-car plan on new car protection.
When should you book a new car’s coating?
Book it so the car leaves the shop on a dry day, or so it can sit under cover for 24 hours after pickup. Summer makes that easy here; late fall makes it a planning job.
The seasons here are far apart, going by Environment Canada’s averages for the Abbotsford airport:
| Month | Days with 5 mm or more of rain |
|---|---|
| July | 2.8 |
| August | 2.7 |
| November | 12.5 |
| December | 10.2 |
Source: ECCC climate normals, 1981–2010. If your car is delivered in November, either wait for a dry forecast or have a garage ready; what happens if rain arrives early is covered in rain after a ceramic coating.
How do you keep a new coated car looking new?
Hand-wash it or use a touchless bay, dry it with clean microfibre, and keep it out of brush washes. The coating makes washing quicker; it doesn’t make washing optional.
Mazda is blunt about wash damage. Its manual says “Mazda is not responsible for scratches caused by automatic car washes or improper washing,” and it tells owners of uncoated paint to wax “when water no longer beads on the finish.” A coating is meant to do that job with far less upkeep, and beading is still the sign to watch: if water stops beading, have the shop look before you reach for wax. More on that is in how to tell if a coating is still working.
How do you book a coating for your new car?
Tell the shop the year, make and model, the delivery date, which package interests you and whether film is planned, on the ceramic coating quote form. Leave room for one to three days at the shop, more when correction is part of the job, plus a dry day afterwards. The bay is at Unit 312 on the Langley Bypass, open six days a week.
