How To Use Lavish Ceramic Foam

When it comes to installing, or topping up, ultra-hydrophobic ceramic protection for your paintwork, vinyl wrap, wheels and all other exterior surfaces, Lavish Ceramic Foam offers the easiest application method ever, up to 6-months of protection and acres of extra shine.

This advanced protection solution is ideal for those looking for the extreme water behaviour - including beading and sheeting - and easy-clean properties that come with a long-lasting layer of ceramic protection. And all without the effort of using a traditional ceramic product.

Lavish Ceramic Foam can be applied in seconds during the wash stages and, as well as protect surfaces from the elements, will always help your car stay cleaner for longer – the water and grime just can’t stick!

Proving infinitely popular with both detailing enthusiasts and trade professionals alike, Lavish is a detailing kit essential for everything from daily drivers to race and show cars all-year-round. But we’re often asked how it works and how the best results can be achieved. So, let’s take a look at how you can stop the water sticking like this…

… and get supreme hydrophobic performance like this…

How does Lavish protect my car?

Ceramic coatings are designed to create a smooth, shiny layer of protection that chemically bonds to all surfaces. Because this layer, essentially a coating of tight-knit molecules, is so tough, non-reactive and as smooth as glass, it’s impenetrable by foreign molecules such as water and grime. In other words, they can’t cling or bond to the surface, meaning they simply bead up and run off. This not only makes your car far easier to clean the next time around, but keeps it cleaner for far longer.

The super-smooth surface is what makes ceramic coatings super-shiny. The surface of your bare paintwork or clear coat is rarely smooth on a microscopic level, even after polishing. It will be made up of plenty of ruts and recesses. These imperfections not only let water and grime physically hold on but they reflect the light bouncing off in different directions. A ceramic coating essentially fills these rusts and smooths out the surface, levelling the optical finish. This means that light bounces back more uniformly giving the appearance of more depth and shine.

Ceramic coatings get their name because they’re made up of the ceramic compound Silicon Dioxide (SiO2), which is the main ingredient in glass and also known as silica. SiO2, once bonded, is extremely hard and resistant to cleaning chemicals and abrasion. And, because SiO2-based coatings chemically bond, rather than physically holding onto the surface like a wax or paint sealant, they’re extremely hard to remove. This is why ceramic coatings are the most durable protection solution.

How to apply your Lavish…

The application method is what makes Lavish not only unique, but extremally easy to use. Lavish is applied using your Snow Foam Lance, while the vehicle is still wet, immediately after rinsing away the residue from your contact wash. There’s no need to dry your car first as with traditional coatings. Lavish can also be used on every exterior surface from the wheels to the glass, so application doesn’t have to be targeted to specific areas – Lavish really does do it all!

Lavish is not designed to clean surfaces like a traditional snow foam, and should only be applied to clean surfaces, but the application process is identical. Your foam lance dilutes the solution and pushes it through a metal gauze to create the foamy consistency that stays on the surface during the entire application time. The only difference is that Lavish foam is slightly thinner than a pre-wash product like Avalanche Snow Foam, it doesn’t need time to dwell because it doesn’t have to break down grime. In fact, Lavish bonds almost instantly, and also works its way into any grilles and panel gaps, so they will be fully protected, too. With no dwelling required it means you can rinse away the residue straight away, and every surface will already be installed with hardy ceramic protection.

Application:

Pour a few centimetres of Lavish solution into your Snow Foam Lance Bottle and then top up with clean water. To stop the concentrate foaming up prematurely we recommend dunking the bottle in bucket of clean water.

Attach your foam lance to your pressure washer and apply to the car from the top down. That’s it – your Lavish is applied!

For even greater hydrophobic performance…

At this stage you can now rinse from top to bottom and dry your car if you wish, completing the simplest ‘apply and rinse’ method. The Lavish will be bonded, and you’ll get the all the amazing water behaviour that comes with an advanced ceramic coating. But, there is a way to get even more hydrophobic performance, and that’s by washing in your Lavish with a soft wash mitt or Plush Wash Pad.

Take your mitt and dip it into a bucket of clean water before agitating the Lavish foam in straight lines across every panel. This extra step essentially thickens the SiO2 layer left behind and helps to create a stronger bond.

When you’ve ‘washed-in’ the Lavish across all the exterior surfaces, you can fully rinse the vehicle from the top down. You can see how your rinse water now sheets off the paintwork and glass. This means that the coating has been installed successfully.

Once you’ve rinsed thoroughly, you can dry your car as normal using a super-soft towel such as our Silk or Aqua Deluxe Drying Towels. What you’ll be left with is a super-glossy vehicle that’s fully protected for the next 6-months. Easy, eh?

The Results

When water next comes into contact with your exterior, you’ll immediately notice the hydrophobic performance – why not spray on a little water and see for yourself?

What’s great about Lavish is that the water never makes physical contact with the paintwork, it simply beads up due to surface tension and sits on top of the coating (until the car moves) or runs off straight away. This slick, non-stick surface makes your car far easier to clean next time around - washing will require less water and milder cleaning products for the same results - and you can top up your Lavish quickly and easily during maintenance washes any time you choose.