Should You Ceramic Coat Your Wheels? The Pros and Cons

Ceramic coating your wheels is almost always a great idea. It doesn’t mean you can avoid washing your wheels though – it just makes them easier to clean. Brake dust, tar, and road grime come off much easier.

I ceramic coated my own wheels over 5 years ago and I don’t regret it one bit.

A wheel coating will make life easier, especially if the design of your wheels is more intricate and time consuming to scrub. Let’s break down the Pros and Cons of ceramic coating your wheels.

What to expect after ceramic coating your wheels:

Before we weigh the benefits and drawbacks, we need to manage our expectations here. To be clear – your wheels will still get dirty. Probably just as dirty as if they weren’t coated.

Ceramic coating your wheels will not keep them clean all the time – it’ll help YOU to keep them clean all the time by, you guessed it, making it quicker to wash them! Rinsing them off might get rid of most of the dirt but there will still be times when you’ll need to scrub them.

After more than 5 years, I have rarely had to use a chemical wheel cleaner on my 4runner wheels. Just soapy water and some brushes.

That is a great example of what life is like with coated wheels. I have to clean them every time I wash the 4runner, but it takes very little work/chemicals to do so.

Pros to ceramic coating your wheels

Easy cleaning

This is the biggest benefit of a wheel coating. Contaminants that would normally embed themselves (or really stick on the surface) can no longer make as strong of a bond.

In the event that they need to be washed thoroughly, they’ll require much less scrubbing and agitation to get the grime off.

Deeper shine

Ceramic coatings can provide a long lasting shine on the painted surface. Part of this is because they stay cleaner and part of this is from the extra gloss they can add.

In some cases (like with matte finished wheels) this is actually a bit of a downside.

A coating will add a bit of extra sheen to the satin finish and some people don’t like this appearance. In my opinion, it was well worth it due to how easy they are to take care of now.

Avoid water spots on matte finish

Speaking of satin wheels, they can be tough to dry off with no watermarks or stains. Before I coated my Methods, I had to scrub and scrub to remove leftover watermarks after washing.

Switching to a ceramic wheel coating made it much less of an issue and I no longer need to use a drying aid (although I still use one to prolong the life of the coating). 

Cons to ceramic coating your wheels

Wheel coatings are awesome but they aren’t for everyone.

Price

The biggest downside to ceramic coating your wheels is the cost. Compared to a few drops out of a bottle of wax you likely already own, it’s very expensive. You can expect to pay at least $80 for a small bottle of a wheel-specific coating.

In the grand scheme of things, $80 to protect a $2,000+ set of wheels seems pretty reasonable.

The other thing to consider is whether or not you’ll be paying a professional to coat them or doing it yourself. That will add a lot to the cost. In most cases, a pro will charge at least $200 to do the job.

As with most things in detailing, that high price mostly comes from labor. They have to jack your car up, remove the wheels, thoroughly clean and prep, them, and apply the coating. It’s not exactly a 5 minute job.

Prep work

The performance of your wheel coating all comes down to the prep work done beforehand. If the wheels or the car are brand new, there won’t be much more required than a good cleaning and a wipe down with alcohol (or a product like Panel Wipe or Eraser).

For wheels that have been driven on, it’s going to take a lot more work to get them ready. Stubborn brake dust, tar, adhesive from old wheel weights, etc. all have to be removed.

It might require things like wheel cleaners, iron/fallout removers, tar removers, clay bars, and even machine polishing (just like your paint). It depends on the starting condition of your wheels and the longevity you’re looking for out of your coating.

How long a ceramic coating will last on your wheels

One of the biggest considerations when trying to decide if a ceramic wheel coating is worth it is its longevity. How long will it actually last in the real world? Paying this kind of money for a product that burns off a month later wouldn’t be worth it at all.

In my experience with my 4runner, a good quality wheel coating will last at least 2 years in real world conditions. This vehicle is driven year-round in all 4 seasons – so the wheels see extreme heat in the summer and road salt in the winter.

Here are a few tips to extend the life of the ceramic coating on your wheels:

• Don’t use harsh wheel cleaners unless required – in most cases, ph neutral soap works fine
• Try not to let brake dust bake on the surface too long – if they’re dirty, clean them
• Use an Si-02 detail spray at least every other wash to give the coating a boost

Cost to ceramic coat wheels: Expensive, reasonable, cheap, or …free?

The price of ceramic coating your wheels varies greatly from expensive to free. Yes, you might not need to pay for it at all! Allow me to explain:

Hiring a professional (Expensive)

Don’t have the time or confidence to remove your wheels? Taking your car to a professional is a hands-off approach. It will cost you though. Ceramic coating your wheels properly requires lots of prep work.

Most detailers will charge you at least $200 to coat your wheels. Everyone has their own pricing though so this can climb quite a bit depending on who you hire.

Some detailers will work this into the price of other services such as paint correction and coating your vehicle’s paint.

DIY wheel coatings (Reasonable)

Products like Gyeon Rim and Gtechinq C5 can be purchased by anyone. These are straightforward to apply and you can absolutely do it yourself if you’re handy.

With these coatings starting at around $80, you can save a ton of money and get similar results to a professional job. The trade-off is the amount of time required to do it right.

Spray coatings (Cheap)

You can use a ceramic spray coating like Lithium Ceramic Slam on your wheels too. It’ll be cheaper than a dedicated wheel coating and come in a much larger bottle (allowing you to use it on many other things).

This won’t perform as well as a traditional ceramic coating but it will still outperform a wax or sealant.

Using leftover ceramic coating for your paint (Free)

Any of the coatings you would use on your paint can also be used on your painted or powder coated wheels safely (it’s the same surface – the coating doesn’t know if it’s on a fender or wheel!)

It’s believed that the wheel coatings can withstand higher temperatures than regular paint coatings though. I haven’t experimented with it to be able to say whether this is true or not.

Matt from Obsessed Garage has adopted the use of Crystal Serum Light on wheels rather than purchasing a separate coating like C5.

The official word from Gtechniq is that Crystal Serum Ultra, their flagship paint coating, can withstand temperatures up to 250 degrees Celsius. In comparison, C5 – their wheel coating, is rated for 600 degrees Celsius.

So whether or not a paint coating will last as long is definitely in question. But if you’ve already paid for the bottle to coat your paint and have some left over (and you likely will), you have nothing to lose by applying it to your wheels. It costs nothing in addition!

Should you ceramic coat wheels before or after the tires are mounted?

This is a dilemma some people have trouble with. Of course, it would be nice to ceramic coat your brand new wheels straight out of the box. Once the tires are mounted, you’ll have to clean all of the soap and lube they use to stretch them onto the rim. Makes sense to do it before they get greasy, right?

Well, you should actually ceramic coat your wheels after the tires are installed. Yes, you’ll have to clean up the mess left behind by the tire shop. But here’s the bigger problem with doing it the other way – the wheel weights won’t stick to the inner barrel of the rim if it’s ceramic coated.

Remember, the coating’s job is to make the surface slick and harder for things to adhere to. That same protection will keep the weights from sticking properly which will, in turn, cause trouble for the tire shop when balancing your wheels.

Can you ceramic coat your wheels if they aren’t brand new?

Ceramic coating isn’t only for brand new wheels. As long as you clean, decontaminate, and prep them thoroughly, there’s no reason why you can’t coat wheels that are 10 years old if you want to. It all comes down to the prep work.

Brand new wheels are quicker and easier to coat, but the process can certainly be done to any wheel.