SB3 Coatings “Alpha” – Five Year Ceramic Coating – Demo & Instructions Serving the Killeen Area

SB3 Coatings “Alpha” five year ceramic coating is a ceramic coating that can be applied to paint or clear bra/paint protection film/PPF, vinyl, and other surfaces, and fits perfectly between SB3 Coatings Thirty3 (three year ceramic coating) and Trinity (seven year ceramic coating). This is probably our most popular ceramic coating duration that we offer.

Many people who are looking for ceramic coating are keeping their vehicles for only 3-4 years, even though the national average is somewhere around 11-12 years of age for vehicles that are on the road. There is conflicting information on how often people keep their vehicle at a time, but given that many finance options, including leases, are in that time frame, we have noticed many people change out their car after about three to five years. A five year ceramic coating generally protects the vehicle for the length of many finance options, just about every lease option, and really covers most lengths that owners keep cars. 

SB3 Coatings Alpha five year ceramic coating is a great fit for that time frame, and we often will charge a marginal upgrade fee to add a layer of Omega on top (warrantied for five years, but that extra duration should push to seven years of ceramic coating, plus add that additional deep shine) if that seems most appropriate for the client and their situation.

Like all of SB3 Coatings’ offerings, Alpha five year ceramic coating is easy to apply, and easy to wipe off. It doesn’t have the same difficulty that you see with many companies that cause rags to catch in the ceramic coating, sometimes even leaving behind fibers when leveling. Alpha, and for that matter, most all of SB3 Coatings’ choices in ceramic coatings, are almost if not as easy as SB3 Coatings Solo.

You may hear that to install a ceramic coating, you have to conduct paint correction/paint enhancement prior to install. This is not true at all – at a bare minimum, however, you should use SB3 Coatings Ready panel prep spray, and SB3 Coatings Decon Iron & Fallout Remover (as necessary). This ensures that the ceramic coating is bonding to the paint, and not hindered by contaminants, oils, waxes, or other things.

Installation Instructions

1. Step one: prepare the surface for coating, either by conducting a full auto detail with clay bar, iron and fallout remover, paint correction/paint enhancement, and panel prep spray, or, at a minimum, wash/dry/panel prep spray (we recommend using SB3 Coatings pH Neutral Soap in a foam cannon & SB3 Decon).
2. Step two: load the applicator (we use Autofiber Saver applicators and Quadrant Wipe towels for leveling) a little more heavily on the first application, working from a center section of a panel outwards, ensuring optimal coverage. Do not be concerned about the direction of application, or cross-hatching the application of the ceramic coating – just ensure that you have coverage on all areas.
3. Step three: wait approximately two minutes to level the product, adjusting for humidity/heat in your conditions. Watching for a rainbow in worse conditions is a good indication of the ceramic coating being ready to be leveled. Use the two minute window or the rainbow, whichever comes first, again adjusted for your situation.

Tip: if you get a high spot that you notice after a couple panels that does not seem to wipe off, you can attempt to put the ceramic coating back on top of that spot, wait, and level. If it is close enough to the original application, it should allow you to repeat the process successfully.