Is the concensus in? Does a ceramic coating really improve the operation of the snowblower in all snow conditions or, does it only provide marginal value?
I’m prepared to ceramic coat the surfaces of my snowblower if it is truly going to help manage all snow types, including but mostly wet. However, I don’t want to expend the investment in both the ceramic coating product itself and the labour to apply it if its only going to offer marginal improvement in throwing performance and/or will wear off after a short period of time.
If you are convinced that it worked for you, please let us know. Also, can you please identify the product that you used and any suggestions you may have beyond the application instructions of the product itself.
If on the other hand you ceramic coated your snowblower and were disappointed in the results, please make a comment on that too.
My results were marginal. I’m not convinced it really helped that much and is worth the effort of applying, buffing, etc. I’m going to apply another coat this year and see how it goes. I used Turtlewax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Spray Coating. I will most likely stick with silicone.
On my Ariens I usually just spray it with Molykote Silicone Spray every few uses and that works great. No need to buff or polish. I just spray it and may wipe it down real quick but that’s not necessary. In a pinch I have used PAM cooking Spray which also works but can cause buildup.
Scott Grams swears by using Adam’s ceramic coating on the S1 and it making a difference. I can tell you with my climate we get a lot of wet sticky snow when we do get snow. Snow blowers in general don’t do well with that. I wish I had applied the ceramic coating prior to. Yarbo does recommend this. Co-Founder Ken K also has recommended it. If you have a lot of dry powdery snow most of the time, you’ll most likely be fine. When I had those snows it was glorious. When it was wet and sticky, I had to unclog the chute a few times. One other thing Ken mentioned was that keeping the unit outdoors in the ambient temperature helps keep the snow from melting and sticking. If you store it indoors after it takes a while for it to chill back down and in that time it can lead to some clogging. But periodically it doesn’t hurt to bring it in and thaw it out, just get it back out on the dock to cool before sending it back out again.
I have no basis that any of that is beneficial, but that’s what I’ve heard and what I will be doing this year.
My experience is based on living in Western New York (Buffalo) for over 50 winters. We get every kind of snow that nature can make. I’ve tried all kinds of solutions. I’ve tried ceramic coating in that past (both very expensive and cheap brands) and always reverted back to silicone spray. The ceramic coating isn’t worth the extra effort. Just my opinion.
I tried the product “Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Spray Coating”, which I had plenty leftover from my vehicles, on my snowblower blades and inside the shoot last winter. Two coats. Was hoping this would help with wet snow but unfortunately I saw no difference, it seemed to still stick like crazy and need regular manual clearing.
Thank you for all of your thoughts. I’ll have to ponder this more a bit more.
I found this snowblower spray test conducted by Bob Vila’s website group. I think I’ll try the DuPont Snow & Ice Repellent Nonstick Clear Coating which was their number one choice for sprays.
I’ve never really been sold on anything. Temperature seems more important, wet snow chute above freezing no problems, cold snow chute below freezing no problems. Wet snow chute below freezing, problems if you don’t have high velocity, and moderate to heavy discharge.
I bought the Adams Ceramic w/ the UV light. $150 investment and I applied it before it was ever used. I don’t think that it does anything. If it does, I cringe to see how bad it would be without it.
I think that a Teflon spray would be just as effective.