A ceramic coating is only as good as the prep. Bad prep → coating fails → warranty claim → you eat the cost. Here's the standard prep sequence that protects you and your customer.

Pre-install inspection (10 min)

Before any work:

Walk the vehicle with the customer present (or photo-document if drop-off)
Note any existing damage: paint chips, scratches, dents, swirl marks, oxidation, water spots, etc.
Have the customer sign the pre-install inspection — this can be captured either from the appointment's page in the web app or from the installer's phone via Job → Pre-install inspection in the mobile app
Photo the entire vehicle from 8 angles + closeups of any noted damage

If the paint is in worse condition than expected, flag now. Don't proceed with the install — call the customer, explain the condition, offer either a paint correction add-on or a "decline coverage of this area" rider.

Step 1 — Foam pre-wash (15 min)

Apply pH-neutral snow foam to the entire vehicle. Let dwell 5 minutes. Pre-foam loosens road grime, bug residue, light dirt. Use a foam cannon at 1:8 ratio for most products.

Recommended products: Gyeon Foam, Adam's Mega Foam, Bilt Hamber Auto-Foam. Skip cheap detergents — they leave residue.

Step 2 — Touchless rinse (10 min)

Rinse the foam off with a pressure washer (1,500-2,500 PSI). Don't touch the paint yet. The pre-foam should pull most surface contaminants off.

Step 3 — Two-bucket contact wash (25 min)

Two buckets: one with shampoo solution, one with rinse water. Grit guards in both.

Microfiber wash mitt
Top down — roof → glass → upper panels → lower panels → wheels last
Rinse mitt in rinse bucket between every panel
Two clean mitts: one for upper panels, one for lower (cross-contamination prevention)

Recommended shampoo: Gyeon Bathe+, Carpro Reset. pH-neutral. No wax. No "shine" additives.

Step 4 — Wheel wash (15 min)

Separate process. Different mitt, different brushes. Iron remover on wheels. Pressure-wash off. Don't use the same mitt that touched paint.

Step 5 — Decontamination (30 min)

Two passes:

Iron decontamination

Spray iron remover (Gyeon Iron, Carpro Iron X, Adam's Iron Remover) over entire painted surface. Let dwell 3-5 minutes. You'll see purple/red bleed where iron contamination is being lifted. Rinse off.

Clay bar / clay mitt

Lubricate panel with clay lube spray. Clay the entire painted surface + glass + wheels. The clay should glide smoothly after one pass. If still rough, repeat. Flip the clay frequently.

For high-volume shops, clay mitts (Carpro Polyshave, Adam's Mitt) are faster than bar clay.

Step 6 — Final rinse + dry (15 min)

Pressure rinse one more time. Dry with:

Air blower (Master Blaster, Metro Air Force) for crevices first
Plush microfiber drying towel for surface
Don't drag the towel — blot

Do NOT use a leaf blower or shop air. Compressors can blow water-line contamination onto fresh paint.

Step 7 — Paint inspection (15 min)

Bring the car under proper lighting (Scangrip Sunmatch, Brinkmann swirl finder, or proper LED ceiling lighting at 4000K). Inspect every panel.

Document:

Swirl marks (rate severity 1-10)
Scratches (location, depth — if you can catch a fingernail in it, it's deeper than coating depth and won't be hidden)
Holograms (machine marks from previous polishing)
Water spots (etched into clearcoat?)
Other defects

Photos document the pre-correction state.

Step 8 — Paint correction (60-300 min depending on tier)

Three correction tiers:

Single-stage — light-medium polish. 60-90 min for a sedan. Removes ~70-80% of swirls.
Two-stage — compound + polish. 2-4 hours. Removes 90-95% of swirls.
Three-stage — heavy compound + medium + finish. 4-6+ hours. Show-car finish.

Step 9 — Panel wipe (15 min)

Critical step. Wipe entire surface with IPA panel-wipe or dedicated panel prep spray. This removes any polish residue, oils, fingerprints. Without this, the coating won't bond properly.

Recommended: Carpro Eraser, Gyeon Prep, Gyeon WetCoat (lighter). Use a fresh, dedicated panel-wipe microfiber per panel. Don't re-use.

Step 10 — Coating application (per coating product)

Now ready for coating. Follow the manufacturer's exact procedure. Skip any step and the warranty is void:

Gtechniq Crystal Serum Ultra — Pro-only product. Single-layer panel-by-panel, ~60-90 sec dwell, level off.
Ceramic Pro 9H — multi-layer. Each layer requires 1-2hr cure between.
Modesta BC-04 — extreme prep + nano application, requires specific lighting + temperature.
Gyeon Mohs+ — DIY-ish but pro variant exists. Two-layer recommended.

Documentation throughout

SalesThumb doesn't gate on named ceramic-specific stages (there's no "decon photo" or "reveal photo" checkbox), but you can turn on general photo/sign-off requirements under Settings → Quality Control, on the QC Gates tab: "Require at least one pre-install photo," "Require at least one after-install photo," and "Require a signed post-install inspection." Those are shop-wide gates, not per-stage — so treat the full stage-by-stage list below as your team's own workflow discipline, not something the software enforces:

Pre-wash full vehicle
Decon stage (iron remover bleed photo)
Pre-correction defect inspection (under proper lighting)
Post-correction defect inspection (same lighting, same panels — proves correction worked)
Coating application start
Coating curing
Final reveal photo

Even without a per-stage gate, these photos protect both you and the customer — attach them to the job as you go.

Common skip-this mistakes

Skipping iron decon — coating bonds to iron particles, fails within months
Skipping clay — micro-contamination embeds under coating
Skipping panel wipe — most common warranty-voiding skip
Rushing correction — leaves swirls that show through coating
Coating in too-cold or too-hot environment — varies by product but generally 60-80°F, dry, dust-free

Ceramic coating prep checklist — wash to panel-wipe