Can you put ceramic coatings on matte paintwork?
Quick answer: From our real-world testing, standard ceramic coatings work perfectly on matte paint. They don’t add unwanted gloss, just better protection, easier cleaning, and a cleaner-looking finish.
Until recently, the accepted wisdom was that you should only use a specialist ceramic coating made for matte or satin finishes - the reasoning being that standard coatings would add gloss and ruin the look. But, as with many things, real-world experience tells a slightly different story.
We’ve tested this ourselves on a few cars, and after speaking directly with our ceramic coating manufacturer, we were told that any high-quality ceramic can be safely applied to matte paintwork. So that’s what we did. The results were excellent. The coating didn’t turn the paint glossy or patchy, as people often fear. Matte finishes are naturally textured, and because the coating layer is so microscopically thin, it doesn’t level out the surface enough to create shine. If anything, it just made the finish a touch more reflective — cleaner, richer, and easier to maintain, but still unmistakably matte.
As a result, we’ve stopped using the specialist matte coating altogether and now use the same premium ceramic we apply to gloss paint. The finish looks fantastic, the protection is the same, and the proof, as they say, is in the pudding.
Written by Danny Argent. Last updated 13/10/2025 15:23