Different types of car coatings, what’s the difference?

Overview

The automotive industry has recently been completely swamped with all kinds of ceramic coatings. Many of these coatings come from the same manufacturer but are branded with their own. Cartec markets Ceramic Guard. This is a coating developed in its own laboratory and produced by Cartec itself.

What is a ceramic coating?

A ceramic coating is an extra hard protective layer on a car’s paintwork. This layer protects the paintwork from external influences. It adds colour depth and gloss to the paintwork. Street dirt also no longer sticks well to the paintwork. It makes the paintwork enormously water-repellent, which can be seen in the nice round drops of water when you spray off a car treated with Ceramic Guard.

Car coating of Silicon Carbon or Silicon Oxide?

Most ceramic coatings are produced on the basis of Silicon Oxide. Cartec’s Ceramic Guard is a coating based on Silicon Carbon. But why was the Ceramic Guard developed on this basis? There is an important difference between Silicon Carbon and Silicon Oxide. We are happy to explain both types of coatings in more detail below.

Car coating of silicon oxide
A Silicon Oxide Coating is a common type in the automotive industry. As may be recognisable from the name, Silicon Oxide contains a lot of oxygen. The moment a Silicon Oxide coating is applied, the oxygen vanishes from the coating and hardens the silicon layer on the car. A SIO2 coating is hard but also breakable. Due to the evaporation of the oxygen, the layer thickness is less than a silicon carbon-based coating.

Auto coating of Silicon Carbon (Ceramic Guard)
As mentioned earlier, Cartec’s Ceramic Guard has been developed on the basis of Silicon Carbon. The reason for this is that Silicon Carbon is strong, gives a better coating thickness and is much more flexible and bendable.
Think of the carbon fishing rods that can bend enormously when tension is put on the fishing rod. This is similar to Cartec’s Ceramic Guard. The coating will bend with it if there is movement in the paint or bodywork.