How far car coating can protect your car?

How far car coating can protect your car?

For car owners, your daily routine may be damaging your car’s surface without you even realizing it. Driving to work, washing your car and even just parking your car out in unsheltered area can leave a long-lasting stain, scratches and even swirl marks on the surface of your car. That is why most new car owner is recommended to protect their car with car coating, that is if they want to maintain the perfect paint look and be as glossy as possible.

Every coating serves a different purpose, TEVO BodyGard S60 is proven to give the best chemical resistance while the Bodygard S36 is a thicker layer which able to withstand minor scratch and permanent watermark issue.

So today we will go even further to some extreme tests, to see how the coating surfaced perform under each torture and first up is my personal favorite, the flame test!

Does coating layer protects your car from the heat?

The only reason why we are doing flaming test is to simulate extreme temperature stress test on the coated surface comparing to the non-coated one, differently from the ceramic coating available in the market, TEVO BodyGard S36 doesn't crack nor smudge up under high heat. And of course, its always fun to sabotage and burn things up!

The bonnet is placed on the ground and 50ml of concentrated Isopropyl Alcohol is poured directly on both surface of the bonnet then immediately lit with a conventional lighter.

50m of 96% concentrated IPA is poured directly to the painted surface.

Lit up using conventional lighter.

The flame burns vigorously.

It took about 30 seconds for the flame to be completely extinguished. 

Burn marks on the bonnet.

When the fire has subsided, the bonnet is left for about 5 minutes to cool off and then it was wiped with damp cloth and it is time to see the result of the torture. The surface is still hot to the touch and water from the damp cloth vaporized immediately after contact.

At a very close inspection on every angle, the coated area is about 10% damaged with the burn marks, which is very difficult to spot and to be honest this is a very good result considering the high amount 96% IPA solutions used. On the other hand, the non coated surface have a very heavy burn mark and can easily be spotted estimated about 40% +- visible burn mark especially around the edge and the middle parts of the bonnet. This shows a clear higher durability on the coated surface compared to the uncoated one.

Conclusion: Uncoated surface is heavily damaged while the paint has cracked and de-bond

                    Coated surface has light visibility of burnt mark, no direct damage on the body paint

Moving on, we transition into the spray paint test, time to let the creativity flow.

Ever heard of anti-fouling?

You never know when tragedy is going is going to struck, sometimes lady luck is just not on your side and someone just happens to let out their anger on your precious car by spraying all over it. I tell you one thing, it ain't easy to remove those paint and just spraying water alone is not enough once the spray paint has grip through the car surface. Now let's see whether coating your car can help solve this problem.

The same bonnet that has been tested with the fire before, is tested again with a conventional spray paint.

Spray painted on the bonnet.

Additional test with graffiti is conducted by using permanent marker pen (yellow labelled) and white board marker pen (white labeled) is used to determine the anti-graffiti effect on the surface of the car bonnet.

The spray paint is left to dry for about 10 minutes. After that, a water jet is used to try and peel of the spray paint and the graffiti that is created using the marker pen.

On coated surface, the thick paint can be peeled of easily with a stream of water jet, but the thin area however require a much longer time to peel. The spray paint can be removed without damaging the original lacquer surface. Move on to the marker pen, the permanent marker needs a little bit of work to remove it by using higher pressure from the water jet, while the whiteboard marker can be removed easily with no problem.

On the other side of the bonnet, it's a different story. The uncoated surface is ruined, the spray paint cannot be removed or peeled off by just using the water jet. Even when you focus the water jet on one area for extended period, it won't peel away. The permanent marker also can't be removed while the whiteboard marker is removable.

After trying our best to remove the spray paint on both coated and uncoated surface using only water jet. We try cleaning it with 96% IPA, both surface is washable. No spray marks is traceable by using the IPA wash and even the stubborn  permanent marker stain is also removable. 

Now that's out of the way move on to the next test, which the acid test.

Why would I need acid protection?

I'm a nice guy, everybody loves me and no one could possibly hate me enough that they want to throw acid at me. Okay fair point, but acid does not come from one source and if you live somewhere near an industrial area, there's a high chance that any occurring rain is acidic.  The effect might not be as drastic as someone pour out a very corrosive acid on your car but over time it will eat away your lacquer surface corroding slowly without you even realizing it.

The test is conducted by using hydrochloric acid with 33% concentrated. A few drops is put on the surface of the car both coated and uncoated and left for an extended period of time.

The results are quite unexpected, despite the strong corrosive nature of the hydrochloric acid there is no visible damage can be observed after 10 minutes on both surfaces. A very faint smoke can be seen rising from the acid drip, and after a while it stopped. Based on the results it's safe to say that a conventional bonnet can survive a corrosion from a mild acid.

So let's wrap up everything that we've learned from all the test.

Conclusion from today's test:

No Damage : No visualize damage can be found.

Normal Damage : Minor damage can be seen at a certain angle.

Medium Damage : Damage can be easily spotted.

Heavy Damage : Damage that cannot be easily wipe off.

Broken : Damage that must be repaint the whole part.

In a nutshell, it is undoubtable that TEVO coating gives extra protection to the car surface, it might not be a complete invincible protection against all the possible damage, but those extreme damage will really ruin your car and leave a permanent mark if you did not coat your car. Overall, it’s totally worth it to spend a little extra cash for your car for the protection it gives for the long run, plus you also got extra glossiness, smoothness and hydrophobicity which is nice touch to your car.

So what are your thoughts about this test? Did you learn something new? or did you want see we test something else? Let us know in the comment below.

How to take care a ceramic coated car ?

Guide on how to care a ceramic coated car ?

Before we go into the detail, allow me to answer some overwhelming questions we received so far:-

Do we still need to wash a ceramic coated car?

Technically, a ceramic coating is a glass protection on the car painted surface and it is body armour to your expensive car paint. On your daily drive, contaminations will surely adhered to on the ceramic coating and if you leave it long enough unattended, it will definitely further deteriorate the performance of a ceramic coating. So, it is strongly advisable to wash the car to prolong the life span of the ceramic coating.

You will need to at least wash the car once a month although it is still visibly clean. This is because there will be watermark problems if you leave the stains over a long period of time.

Can i wash a ceramic coated car at an automatic car wash centre?   

Many have claimed that their coatings are 9H and some even 12H, why aren’t we still able to wash our coated car at an automated car wash. Are the coated cars not able to withstand these abrasions from the machines?

Ceramic coatings are not scratchproof and this is a major misconception of the public. A ceramic coating car able to resist minor scratches and stone chips while driving. And at the automated car wash centre, a continuously washing with high waterjet pressure at the same spot will create a noticeable swirl marks.

Of course when she dirty!
but but but even she is still pretty in your eye (blinded love), if the car daily drove, the car is still needed to wash at least once a month, there may having some particles and grease attached which hardly notice by our-self. This is why watermark appear if the stain leave over a long period.


OK, lets go into our topic of the day:

How to wash a ceramic coated car?

Firstly, do not wash outdoor under the scorching hot sun. Indoor cleaning is highly recommended and last but not least a sufficient water supply.

1. Water jet the whole car
-jet away the major mud, stain and debris off the car

2. Spray the BubbleMax Shampoo with foam spray gun
-make sure the entire car is covered with bubble and lubricant the surface

3. Use a soft newly washed microfiber cloth to clean the surface
-in this stage, prepare 2 pails of water, one pail is to wash the cloth after you clean the car to wash away sand and dirt on the cloth. Another pail is for the shampoo, this is to lubricate back the cloth.

-clean the car in the same horizontal or vertical direction (you do not want to create swirl mark by using the circular motion)

-Caution: Do not use the cloth again if you dropped the cloth accidentally to the ground.

-Always clean from top portion first then to the bottom portion of the car as the bottom part of the car contains more dirt. You may drag the contaminants to the top portion of the car.

-Use a different microfiber cloth to clean the rims.

-Do not let the foam dry on the surface before water jet.

4. Water jet the car and rinse of the foam
-Especially the front grill & cowl panel, left over foam may create stains.

5. Drying the surface
-Air blower can help you save a lot of time and effort in the drying process. Else, you can opt to use a dry soft cloth use to float pass the car surface without putting pressure on it. Since it's coated, water should be very easy absorbed into the cloth without any pressure.

6. Surface protection touch-up
-Recommended by using the TEVO UniGard-i01 by just spraying on the microfiber cloth, and then mop to apply on the entire car exterior surface, including the windscreen, car body paint, plastic parts and etc.

How to wash off those stubborn physical stains?

Bird drop, bug stain, tree sap, oily finger print and etc. are the most common dirt problems encountered by car owners.

Well, make it a good habit by washing your car regularly, if you leave the stain for too long, even a perfect ceramic coated car will having the mark which may start damaging your coating over a period of time. So it is highly recommend you to wash away that dirt ASAP.

You must first use water to wet the area, and than using shampoo to lubricant the surface then only wipe off those stain.


The physical stain may scratch the surface if you using the same side of the cloth, try to use another side or another cloth to clean the remaining area. Best way is just using tissue and after wipe off the dirt you can just throw away the tissue and use another new piece to wipe clean the lubricant.

Recommendation: Tevo Multipurpose waterless cleaner- UniClean
Highly recommend every owner get one and keep in your car. It can be your instant cleaner for either exterior and interior of the car, and it difference with normal shampoo, you do not need to worried too much of foaming or oily lubricant leave over the surface. With use a single wipe, you can found it immediate clean and leave no wet behind. GOOD , NICE & GREAT !



This product is cheap, very convenience and easy to use.
It can clean oil stain, mud stain, slight watermark, tree sap and it comes with a fragrance too.

Here some honorable mention:

BubbleMax Shampoo

UniGard i01

LeatherGard

Ok, now you at least to know how to treat your beloved car, every small mistake will lead to future unnecessary surface damage. Well, happy ride Guys!


Here some eye refreshing remedy after seeing dirt and stain:

Wash your car like a real man now!

Myth of the Coating Hardness

Myth of the Hardest Coating 12H ?!

There are a lot of rumor has it when you come across with car detailing service, when promoter offering you the package of the car coating. No matter it is Titanium Coat, Ultimate Coat or Superman Coat, you will always been educated with Hardness Level of the solutions they use. So, how to justify the hardness? most of them claim they are 9H, some of them even claim they are 12H ?! is that the higher the better?

First, we need to know what is this H mean, this is a measurement unit for the lab (commonly reference to ISO 15184:2012) to use as the Pencil Hardness Test on the subject. and below is a report from SGS (world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company) :

As you can see from the report, the test result is written:

No marking with 9H pencil (Tested subject coated with Tevo BodyGard)

Why the result is not straight forward as 9H ? and it no mark even on 9H, is that mean the hardness is actually beyond 9H ? Base on the SGS expertise explanations, the test is only able to carry out only maximum 9H pencil test, and anything beyond that is out of measurable range. Now here the questions....

Where did the 12H come from ?????? 

Lets go on with the deeper discussion:

 

The picture beside is the material hardness chart widely used as the comparison between coating. Most of them claim they are 9H which is almost at the par of diamond hardness. Public using this cart for public understanding about hardness easily and can be visualize.

If you want to study more on Hardness, there is more you need to know other than just surface hardness, because there is some hardness also refer to material hardness, which measurable by using:

Vicker Hardness Test [HV] - Pyramidal diamond indenter

Rockwell Scale [HR] - Depth penetration indenter

HV measurement is the most common and widely used to measure material hardness, not just surface hardness. And for your information, diamond consider 10000 HV and carbon steel is 120 HV. These are the real and practical hardness measurement unit which can be and widely use in physics calculations method.

In the nutshell, Mohs Hardness Scale is only for market evaluations reference, do not mean that 9H surface coating is as hard as corundum or diamond.

*Recall: even Mohs do not have scale for hardness above 10H

So, is that greater the hardness is better ? 

The answer is Yes, but no.

Yes, is mean with higher hardness, higher the scratch resistant, and it also somehow prolong the durability of your coating performance. higher sustainability on abrasion and the weathering issue.

Since there is so much benefit, than why no?

No, there is only one single cause, the coating base is not strong enough to support the hardness of the coating. It can be stimulate with your imagination with 2 scenario:

1. a super hard & thin layer of glass on a soft sponge, 

and compare to

2. a super hard & thin layer of glass on a metal plate,  

when both glass contact with impact , BOOM ! you can easily guess the first glass will be crack and turn into piece, and the second glass maybe still in one piece. This theory is totally same goes to car coating. Is your car lacquer is strong enough to be the base?

As you can study through Tevo or any other branded solutions provider, they are always differentiate the solutions for difference hardness/type of surface. Usually plastic as the softer flexible coating, and the metal/rim can be coat with the highest hardness coating. Last but no less, the car body coat, the expert will use only the coating hardness between 6-9H, which higher than car lacquer layer is good enough.

  

Erm, is that 9H consider scratch proof ? 

There is NO such thing as scratch proof, at least not by a single layer of thin glass coating.

Honest detailer only claim the coating can improve the scratch resistant level, even bulletproof layer can be scratch. There is a lot of marketing gimmick hitting the coated surface with "something" which is not very sharp or hard, and this actually can be done even without coat, as long as the impact is no go over deep on the surface, any mark from the impact can be easily wipe off with cloth.

Ok, do hardness really matter ? 

This is really a sensitive questions, for man, the priority is still the appearance, right? LOL
In the real case, car is mean to daily drive usage, with certain hardness is good for some damage prevention as you can see from the picture above. But how you justify the hardness is there?

The hardness is really hard to justify between each brand, as long as they do have certifications, i think that is all you can assure. Scratch warren-tee is a bonus add on for the package selections.

Last but no least,

The thickness is another contrast when comparing about hardness:

The thicker the coat, the higher the resistant can be provide, this is a basic knowledge of the physic, if you hardness is only minor difference between each one. So why don't we take a look at the other angle, thicker is for sure giving the better protection when come across with the physical damage/scratch.

And from the picture, which retrieve from a japanese expert detailer 東京都板橋区のCAR POLISH AUTHORITY (カーポリッシュ オーソリティ) tested with Tevo BodyGard S36 & S60, found the solid contain is actually higher than Brand A & B which is from some well known branded products. From the test result we found that the solid contain is up to 4 times more! which mean when it is coated and let dry/cure on the surface, it will be 4 times thicker than other brand too!

So, you know what you should choose now?