Vehicle Wrap Protection.
Here at Mad Monkey, we consider the care of a wrap even before we get a wrap on the car, but surface protection will be the basis of your plan to maintain your new car wrap. What surface protection refers to is what you intend to coat your wrap with after installation to aid in long term protecting, cleaning, and maintaining it.
You need some sort of surface coating if you expect to protect the wrap from everyday contaminants, light surface scratching and even your wash mitt. Just like paint, a slick surface is a lot easier to wash. Consequently, a surface that’s a lot easier to wash with clean water is a lot harder to scratch.
We recommend a ceramic coating for your car wrap or vehicle graphic materials so you can enjoy your unique graphics for years to come.
Why a Ceramic Coat on Your Car Wrap?
A ceramic coating is as modern as your car wrap technology. It might sound cliché but putting a traditional organic product such as wax over a much more technologically advanced product such a wrapping film is simply not your best option.
The thing with a ceramic coating is that it’s better for the long-term protection and maintenance of your car wrap in every single way possible. It is not like wax wins at some things. No, a ceramic coating completely obliterates any benefits of waxing your car wrap.
What Makes the Best Ceramic Coat for Vinyl
A ceramic coating based on nano-technology that infuses the vinyl wrap as if all the pores were microscopic anchor points for the coating to merge with. Even without as many of those tiny pores, Ceramic Pro still bonds with the surface permanently.
Tips for Washing a Car Wrap
While the protective ceramic coating is important, the second important point when it comes to caring for a car wrap is how you are going to clean it. A car wrap does change things a bit with washing methods as compared to paint. First, here are a few important details to remember.
Never take your car to automated car washes.
Don’t wash with isopropyl alcohol.
Don’t use a spray nozzle that is designed for removing paint on a house or stains from concrete.
If pressure washing, always use the lowest setting.
Always use mild detergent automotive specific shampoos.
Always use a clean microfiber cloth to detail small areas.
Take your time removing stubborn contaminants. Rushing can damage the vehicle wrapping material.
These details are vital if you’re not currently employing a strict professional detailing type of wash method on vehicle vinyl substances.
Why Automatic Car Washes and Car Wraps Don’t Mix
It’s a highly debated topic that with a ceramic coating you can get away with automatic car washes because the surface is hard to scratch. Now when it comes to car wraps, we REALLY DON’T RECOMMEND using automatic car washes. This applies whether you are using the most robust ceramic coating or a simple car wax. The reason for this is that no matter what you use to protect the top layer of that vinyl, the car wrap is still merely stuck to your car with adhesive.
The high-pressure water jets in an automatic car wash combined with the fast-moving mechanical brushes can often be enough to lift and pull off corners of a car wrap. No level of surface coatings for a car wrap can help you with that.
For this reason, it is always recommended to hand wash your car. If you use a pressure washer, be sure to keep it far away from the vinyl. Get too close and you risk lifting a corner or breaking the layer of vinyl altogether if the pressure it too high.
Wash a Car Wrap Using the Two Bucket Method
The same methods used to care for paint are recommend. Use two buckets, one for suds which is your clean bucket, and one to rinse off the wash mitt or sponge right after touching the car and BEFORE that mitt goes back into the suds bucket.
This will keep abrasive contaminants like dirt particles from marring your finish. While it is much harder to scratch a ceramic coating, you can still do it if you are careless enough. By employing the correct washing method, you can mitigate this risk and maintain a scratch-free car wrap finish for years.
We also recommend washing, or at least quick detailing, a wrapped car more often than a painted car. This is so that contaminants do not remain on the surface as long. This is important for proper care of any coated surface, but it’s essential on a non-coating or simply waxed surface. Remember, a vinyl surface is much more prone to staining than a painted surface is.