Graphene Coating Mercedes EQC400

This is a Mercedes EQC 400 4MATIC -- an electric SUV, brand new. The owner had been asked not to wash it before bringing it in; any scratches picked up from an ill-advised early wash would then be visible under the coating forever. He left it dirty and brought it straight to us.

Before any polishing or coating can go on, everything else has to come off. Dealers sometimes apply a spray wax or a protection product to new cars before handover. That has to be removed with a degreasing wash, not a standard car shampoo, otherwise the coating bonds to the wax rather than the paint. Gary also noted the trim: strong wheel cleaning chemicals on these Mercedes mark the body trim badly, and we see a lot of EQCs and other Mercedes models with those chemical marks permanently etched in. We use a product that strips wax without attacking the trim.

The wheels on this car are a complex design -- lots of intricate spokes and recesses that had to be cleaned by hand, into every small gap, then wiped down with alcohol to prepare the bonding surface. Gary did the wheels while James machine-polished the entire bodywork. By the time the polish was done, the car looked as if it already had a coating on it. That is the standard we aim for before a graphene coating goes on.

The coating went on the following morning: graphene coating on the bodywork, ceramic on the glass, ceramic on the alloys. Gary walked around the car several times at the end: self-cleaning paint, glass that throws water off at speed (useful coming up to a roundabout in heavy rain when the side windows are clear and everyone else's are smothered), and the practical winter benefit -- at just below zero the glass will not ice up. Every other car on the street is scraping, this one drives away.

The owner was happy. He was told to go and drive it to the seaside.