Imagine your Porsche years from now, sitting patiently in your garage, waiting for the big moment that’s soon to come. As the garage doors open, your son steps in. He’s confused, but as you hand him the keys to the Porsche and tell him it’s his, his face lights up. You have passed on your prized possession to your living legacy, as many Porsche owners do. To prepare for this moment, you’ve had to keep the vehicle in immaculate condition. Keeping up with the wear and tear of any car takes work, but it’s not impossible. A good place to start is the paint.
Fortunately, you can protect your Porsche’s paint effectively and efficiently—with paint protection film (PPF), ceramic coating, and proper Porsche car-washing procedures.
Do you protect your smartphone’s glass with a screen protector? Paint protection film is like a screen protector for your car. It prevents flying rocks and road debris from chipping your paint.
PPF is best applied when a Porsche is brand new. However, you can apply it to a car you’ve been driving awhile, and some vehicles with thousands of miles are still great candidates for PPF. But you can only protect a new-car finish if you have a new-car finish.
PPF is a clear polyurethane film; it’s virtually invisible. PPF is engineered to be removable years after application—revealing the brand-new, factory-finish paint that’s been protected below.
PPF is composed of several layers: a release liner, then a layer of adhesive. Then there’s a thermal plastic impact layer, a layer of clear coat that offers UV protection, and a hydrophobic top coat. Finally, all of those layers are topped off by a gloss enhancer. The clear coat is self-healing, which means your vehicle will always look freshly polished!
A ceramic coating, also sometimes called quartz, applied to your car gives it amazing shine. It also makes your car easier to wash—saving you time and money. You won’t have to wash your vehicle as often, and when you do, it’ll be easier to clean. Ceramic coating also protects your Porsche against UV damage.
Professionally applied ceramic coatings last for years, compared to a wax or sealant that might protect your Porsche for a few months.
Traditionally, ceramic coating is a silica dioxide (SiO2)–based material that’s carried in solvent and applied onto the vehicle. The coating cross-links, or chemically bonds, to the porous clear coat, filling in the microscopic pores.
After having a ceramic coating applied, keep your Porsche dry for 14 to 21 days, ideally in the garage, to allow the coating plenty of time to cure. Sunlight helps too.
Washing Your Porsche’s Paint
How do you wash your Porsche? Very carefully!
Even if you protect your Porsche with PPF and ceramic coating, it can still scratch with dirty sponges, snow brushes, and other paint hazards. The best rule of thumb: Anything that touches your Porsche could scratch it. Most important: Don’t use anything that’s been in your kitchen sink on your Porsche—no scrub pads or scratch rags, ever.
Don’t take your car to an automatic car wash (except possibly a touchless one), and never allow your service center to wash it.
If you take your Porsche through a touchless car wash, don’t apply any of their sealants because you already have a coating on your Porsche and these car washing sealants will mask or override the benefits of the ceramic coating. (If you’ve done this in the past, a decontamination wash will remove those.)
Instead, wash your Porsche yourself, using the two-bucket method. This is universally accepted as the best method to wash your vehicle. You use one bucket with soapy solution and one with clean water to rinse the wash mitt.
Use the least amount of pressure possible to wash and dry your car. Drag the wash mitt and towel across the Porsche, using the weight of the towel to dry; don’t press. If you find yourself rubbing to get rid of something like a bug or tar, stop! You are going to scratch the paint. You need a special cleaning agent, such as Gyeon Tar, for whatever it is you’re trying to rub off.
If you ever drop a wash mitt or towel on the ground, STOP, set the towel aside, and go get a clean one. Never use a dropped mitt or towel on your car.
If you use these tips to wash your Porsche, it will look better than 95 percent of the vehicles on the road.
More car-related education information can be found at www.immaculatepaintprotection.com. (please link to https://www.immaculatepaintprotection.com/)
About the author: Bill Fetter’s passion for cars started at an early age, as he loved anything with wheels. Through his childhood, Bill observed his dad’s work as a mechanical engineer turned marketing manager and proud lifelong employee of General Motors. During high school, Bill honed his passion for cars by hand-washing and detailing his neighbors’ vehicles. Knowing he wanted to be in the automotive industry, Bill earned a degree in industrial engineering from Kettering University in Flint, Michigan. He’s worked as an engineer in the automotive manufacturing, medical device, steel industry, and pharmaceutical manufacturing fields.