Bad beading doesn't tell the whole story
People are taught to judge a coating by water beads. The problem is that soap residue, minerals, road film, and iron can sit on top and change the way the water behaves. Sometimes a deeper cleaning brings the coating back. Sometimes it doesn't.
We wash the car with coating-safe products, deal with the contamination we find, and check it again. We don't call it failed before it is clean, and we don't call it fixed just because a topper made it bead for a little while.
Tell us what was installed if you know
The product, age, mileage, storage, and wash history all help us understand what we're looking at. If another shop did it and you have no paperwork, that's okay. We'll still inspect it and start carefully.
If we use a maintenance product or topper, we'll tell you. We aren't going to spray short-term protection over a weak coating and pass the beading off as proof that the original coating is healthy.
Maintenance can't fix bad prep underneath
That gray Tesla we redid is a good example. It had been sold a long coating package, but water spots were coated over and the prep wasn't there. No maintenance wash could undo that. The car had to be corrected and coated again.
If the problem is contamination, we'll work on the contamination. If the coating is worn out or the original job was bad, we'll tell you that too.
Related services
Questions we hear about Ceramic Coating Maintenance
Why did my coating stop beading?
It may be dirty, clogged with contamination, covered in residue, worn down, or damaged. We need to clean and inspect it before calling it.
Is this the same as applying a new coating?
No. This is for cleaning and checking the coating already on the car. Recoating is a separate job.
How is this different from a Ceramic Maintenance Wash?
The wash is routine care. Ceramic Coating Maintenance goes deeper when routine washing no longer gets the surface acting right.