Ceramic coating a coastal daily driver (salt air)

The protocol

1. Wash thoroughly with pH-neutral soap.
2. Chemically decontaminate (iron remover); clay only if the paint feels rough.
3. Polishing is optional: it adds clarity, not protection. A clean surface is the minimum.
4. Coat: These directions are for Hydro Silk, the pad-applied wipe-on coating this protocol uses as its example — other products' tools and flash times differ, so follow your bottle. Prime the pad with two full pumps, pre-dab ~2.5 ft sections, spread thin and even, dwell 5–30 minutes, buff off. Keep dry 8 hours; no washing for 3 days.
5. Maintain: pH-neutral hand wash; no brush tunnels; a silica-safe detailer between washes.
6. Reapply: every ~5 months for this profile.

UV is the clock on an outdoor car: expect hydrophobics to fade at the front of the range and plan the reapply, not the funeral.

Frequent washing is fine — hand wash with pH-neutral soap. Brush tunnels are the exception: mechanical abrasion kills thin films faster than any calendar.

Specific to this setup

Salt film is constant, not seasonal: the weekly rinse matters more than any product choice, coated or not.

Prioritize horizontal panels and brightwork-adjacent paint — salt sits where water dries, and that is where coatings earn their keep near the coast.

Sources: goshineco.com