A Ford Focus estate returns a year after its graphene coating for a wash and review. Gary shows the self-cleaning effect in dry conditions and demonstrates why jet-washing a coated car removes 90% of the dirt before a cloth goes near it.
This Ford Focus estate had a graphene coating applied just over a year ago. Gary washes it to show what the coating looks like in practice after twelve months of regular driving, and to demonstrate the self-cleaning effect before and after a proper wash.
The car arrived dirty -- it had been a dry spell and the self-cleaning could only do so much without rain to activate it. But the self-cleaning effect was visible even in dry conditions: around the door mirrors and handles, where condensation drips run down the paintwork, the panels below were noticeably cleaner than the rest of the car. The water running off those small surfaces was washing the dirt off as it went.
Gary started with a jet wash. He talks through what he is doing: blasting the grit off first, before any sponge or cloth goes near the paint. 90% of the surface dirt lifted just from the jet. That is the hydrophobic effect in practice -- the coating is so slick that grit struggles to bond, so the jet wash removes it cleanly. On uncoated paint the same jet wash would shift maybe 50% and leave the rest for the sponge to drag across the lacquer.
Gary is honest throughout: the jet wash is not going to get it to show condition on its own. You still have to wash every section properly with a mitt and rinse it off. What the coating does is make every part of that process faster and gentler. Less grit to scrub means less scratching. Less water left on the surface means faster drying.
After thirty-plus years of working with coatings, Gary's view: graphene is the best product he has used. Not because of the marketing, because of what he can see on cars like this one a year later.
Share this video