Bought a new car from a car dealership, enjoying the beautiful shiny new car that you have, takes a couple of selfie with it for the gram, smelling the fresh “new” smell from the interior, pumps a full tank on your new baby, drives your way back home, stopped by a mamak shop to tapau lunch before heading home. Sounds like a normal thing to do right? But do you know how these normal everyday activities may cause harm to your car’s paintwork without you realizing it. From minor scratches to UV rays, bird stools to rain waters, not to mention petrol spills or exposure to certain chemicals, all of which can cause damage if your car is left unprotected. As the old saying goes, prevention is better than cure, it is better to protect your car right from the beginning instead of looking for ways to fix the damage after.

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Traditionally, we may have heard of polishing and waxing your car. But what do they actually do? While waxing makes the car shiny and has water repellence effect, the downside to it is it does not last very long. This is due to the materials used for waxing generally does not hold its bond to car body for a very long time and it does wear off easily. A normal waxed car would last for a couple of months at best. Polishing on the other hand is actually part of a necessary prepping process no matter if we want to do waxing or coating. Polishing removes the top layer of the clear coat on a body and that removes the surface imperfections such as minor scratches, swirls, some oxidation and dirt. So polishing and waxing traditionally gets the job done to showcase a shiny and water repellent car. However, after a while when the wax layer wears off, the defects and imperfections will resurface again.

So what is coating? Basically coating is applying a second layer of coat on top of a car body. The materials used for coating is much more different in a way they form stronger and longer lasting bonds to the car body paint. The durability of coating is much greater than of waxing. This is why it lasts longer and could even last up to years with proper maintenance.

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Is waxing cheaper than coating? On the surface, yes, waxing is cheaper per session but if you are a long term thinker, that might not be the case. Getting a decent quality coating may incur a higher initial cost, but it lasts for years and do not need to be re-applied constantly. If a coating simply costs you RM3500 for example, but if it lasts for 6 years, that’s less than RM600 a year. Waxing on the other hand needs to be done again and again, probably 3-4 times a year to maintain the all year round aesthetics. Unless you’re doing your own polishing and waxing in your garage, it is probably not worth it. A basic waxing and polishing would cost you 300-500 per session or even higher for “better” quality ones. You do the math. Besides, a repetition of polish and wax would slowly thin your car body paint over time, causing it to be more prone to oxidation.

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Why is coating so expensive? First of all, the materials used for coating are of higher grade, thus, higher cost. The chemical compound for a decent quality coating that has the properties to bond with each car material is very specific. So a blanket coating of one product for all parts would be more economical in a business sense, but questionable in terms of the effectiveness. Secondly, the tools and skill needed to apply a correct coating is probably underrated. Taking the amount of training and practice aside, the concentration on one vehicle for a full coating takes hours, at least 6-8 hours. If done too quickly or in a rush, it might even lead to unevenness of the coating. The sheer effort and time spent on coating alone is very tedious. This explains the higher cost of a proper coating.

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So, should you coat your car? If your goal is long term, long lasting protection for your car, the answer is definitely a yes. Coating helps to protect the original factory paint preventing the need for repaints which comes with its own imperfections/risk in the first place. A coated car is also much more easy to clean and offers protection from minor scratches, swirl marks, UV damage, water spots, bird stools and other harsh environment. Not to mention the water beading effect and the general shiny and glossy aesthetics coating can provide is generally the main reason why others opt for coating. After all, why wouldn’t you want to maintain the new look of your car even after several years?