{"id":43992,"date":"2025-07-21T15:25:41","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T19:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/?p=43992"},"modified":"2025-07-21T15:25:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T19:25:41","slug":"lessons-learned-from-graduating-to-professional-only-coatings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/lessons-learned-from-graduating-to-professional-only-coatings\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons Learned from Graduating to Professional Only Coatings"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have used well over 20 different coatings (counting paint, trim, wheels, glass) from several different brands for over several years.\u00a0I have been accredited now by 4 different companies.\u00a0My first time using a new coating can be at times seamless (more below) and also challenging.\u00a0 I do not want you to be intimidated, but I do not want you to be arrogant either when trying a new product, especially a professional only coating.<\/p>\n

\"Aquatek<\/p>\n

With respect to advancements in the formulations of ceramic coatings, the ease of use is better than it has been before.\u00a0 This is even more the case with consumer coatings.\u00a0 With professional coatings, your window of error or ease of use in general shrinks.\u00a0 What you use towel wise to remove the excess product often matters more than with consumer level coatings.\u00a0 Experience with a variety of coatings, even in a variety of environments matters.\u00a0 A few conversations with people more experienced than you who have experience using the coating you are applying is often going to help you tremendously as you gain experience.<\/p>\n

Your window of time in regards to addressing high-spots easily, decreases.\u00a0 Many people will mention the consequences of needing more aggressive methods to remove high-spots, but an understated consequence is the time window which those consequences changes.\u00a0 You have less time to catch a problem.\u00a0 You have less time for the appropriate step 1 or step 2 to 3 to fix a high spot.<\/p>\n

\"coating<\/p>\n

You need to care even more about heat and humidity, and also how to adjust amount and working area of the product.\u00a0 Subtle environmental shifts from a garage to even your shop may mandate sudden technique changes on the fly.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In conclusion, I am not one of these people who spends their waking days ranting about ego driven detailers, but this is a case where it is relevant.\u00a0 Do not let the narrative or talking points of other people to get you in an uncomfortable spot.\u00a0 The attitude of “you are good” when you are not.\u00a0 The attitude of “I only use two towels,” when that insurance towel at a minimum would be wise to have.\u00a0 Even a practice panel might serve you well.\u00a0 I cannot emphasize enough the value in having a healthy dialogue\u00a0 with your product representative and mentors who are accredited with the same coating as you.<\/p>\n

I have found from less experienced detailers many of the problems and frustrations that they lay on the coating come from being cheap in their methods.\u00a0 That includes but not limited to stretching a bottle’s contents a little more than recommended.\u00a0 This can lead application error, difficulty, and shortcomings in performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lessons Learned from Graduating to Professional Only Coatings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":45982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1151,1412],"tags":[1862,3402],"class_list":{"0":"post-43992","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-coatings","8":"category-running-a-detailing-business","9":"tag-ceramic-coating","10":"tag-mirror-reflections-auto-spa"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Lessons-Learned-from-Graduating-to-Professional-Only-Coatings.jpeg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1kPO7-bry","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43992"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45983,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43992\/revisions\/45983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}