When should I get a ceramic coating?

The best time to get a ceramic paint protection is when the car is brand new, before it has a chance to age.

If your car is already beginning to show signs of ageing with wash marks, dull paintwork and a few scratches, all these things can be rectified by a car detailer who can use paintwork correction and machine polishing to remove them. The best time to get a ceramic coating is as soon as possible.

You can get the coating done any time you want, from when the car is new or from when you get it, or even if you’ve had it for a few years and decided on keeping it for a few more years. Basically, ceramic coating will protect the condition of the paint work as well as having quite a few other benefits.

We usually recommend people have a ceramic coating if they are going to keep the car for a few more years, or certainly at least one year. Along with doing a few other things like cleaning regularly, it will help you maintain that new car feeling.

What this question is really about

“When should I get a ceramic coating” usually means “at what point does it make sense to spend proper money on long-term protection”. Underneath that is a simple trade-off – you want the paint in good condition before you lock it in, but you also want to protect it before day-to-day use has done too much damage.

The sweet spot is when the car is in the best overall condition it is realistically going to be, and before you start racking up years of wear and tear.

Good times to apply a ceramic coating

A coating is not something you do every few months, so it helps to pick a moment that sets you up for the next few years.

• Early in ownership – within the first few months of buying a new or nearly new car, before swirls and etching have had much chance to build up.
• After correction work – straight after machine polishing or a light restoration, when the paint looks its best and you want to keep it that way.
• After body repairs – once fresh paint has fully cured and been checked, so you are not coating panels that are about to be repainted.
• Before a change in use – for example, when a weekend car is about to become a daily driver, or a company car is coming off lease into your ownership.

In each case, the idea is the same – get the paint right, then protect it while it is still right.

Times when it is better to wait

There are also moments when coating straight away is not ideal, even if the car feels new to you.

• Fresh bodywork and resprays – most modern paints need a proper cure period before you trap solvents under a hard coating. Your detailer or bodyshop can advise on timings.
• Obvious defects or damage – deep scratches, poor repairs or heavy swirling should be assessed and corrected first, not sealed in for years.
• Pending repairs or warranty issues – if you already know panels may be repainted or replaced soon, it is sensible to wait until that work is finished.
• Unsettled ownership – if you are not sure if you will keep the car, a full correction and coating package may be overkill for now.

Delaying a coating for a short while can be the right choice if it means starting with a stable, known-good surface.

New versus used cars

A ceramic coating is not just for brand-new cars. It can be just as valuable, sometimes more so, on well-chosen used cars, modern classics and vintage vehicles.

• Brand-new cars - ideal if any factory defects are corrected, and you want to protect immaculate paint from day one.
• Brand-new vans - It is important to keep work vehicles clean, as they represent your company image. Especially for food related industries. Sealing them will help them to stay looking new, and cut down on time spent cleaning them. 
• Nearly new and approved used - a good time to have defects tidied up and then coated, especially if you plan to keep the car longer than the first owner did.
• Older but cared for cars - if the car has solid paint and responds well to correction, a coating can effectively “freeze” a restored finish for years.
• Restored Classic Cars - if the car has undergone a full restoration with full respray, it may be in better condition than when it left the factory. 

The age matters less than the condition and your plans for the car. A tidy three-year-old car you will keep for five more years is often a better candidate than a new car you will hand back in two.

Season, storage and timing through the year

You can coat a car in any season, but timing it around weather and storage makes life easier.

• Before winter – a popular choice, as a coating helps through salt, grime and constant wet roads.
• After winter – a good moment to decontaminate, correct any marring and then coat ready for a cleaner spring and summer.
• Allowing for cure time – ideally you want a few days where the car is not hammered by heavy rain, grit or washing while the coating is fresh.
• Using available storage – if you have a garage or the detailer can keep the car indoors during curing, timing becomes much less stressful.

If you can, avoid booking major coating work the week before a long, filthy motorway trip where the car will be impossible to avoid abusing straight away.

Planning around repairs and other work

Because a coating is a semi-permanent sacrificial layer, anything that disturbs the paint will disturb the coating too.

• Try to schedule the coating after any planned smart repairs, dent removal or wheel refurbishments so you are not paying twice.
• If you are considering paint protection film on key panels, discuss the order of work so coatings and PPF are applied in a sensible sequence.
• Let your insurer or repairer know the car is coated if you have accident damage in future, so re-coating can be factored into the repair.

A short conversation and a bit of planning usually saves money and avoids awkward gaps in protection later.

Questions to answer before you book

Before you pick a date, it helps to be clear on a few practical points.

• How long do I plan to keep this car, and how fussy am I about how it looks over that time.
• Is the paint in a state I am happy to preserve, or do I need repair-and-paint first?
• Are there any repairs, warranty issues or changes (like PPF) that should be done beforehand.
• Can I give the car a relatively gentle first week after coating so it can cure properly?

Once those pieces line up, that is usually the right moment to stop talking about ceramic coatings and actually get one fitted.

Written by Danny Argent. Last updated 02/12/2025 17:58