Niagara · St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Grimsby, Lincoln and Niagara-on-the-Lake
Niagara, Ontario.
Brine on the Garden City Skyway, dust off the fruit belt and a tourist season that runs May to October. Permanent paint protection for cars and boats, from a certified ICON Rocklear shop serving St. Catharines and Niagara Falls.
As featured in
The specification
RK / ON-11Film thickness
Built in a single application, not a stack of layers.
63microns
Tensile strength
Measured against a ceramic coating under laboratory conditions.
75x
Independent testing
Third-party ASTM methods across adhesion, impact, abrasion, salt spray and UV.
12ASTM tests
Automotive warranty
Written coverage on painted exterior surfaces. Marine gelcoat runs 7 years.
15years
Re-application
One install, then you drive it. One inspection at 18 months keeps the coverage active.
Oneapplication
Applied by certified installers only · Est. 2016
A Niagara car collects three different jobs at once.
The QEW crosses the canal on the Garden City Skyway, high and exposed and lifted straight into the wind off Lake Ontario. That deck is brined early, brined often, and never really dries in February.
Then the escarpment. The fruit belt roads through Grimsby, Lincoln and West Lincoln put a different film on a car: soil tracked out by tractors, spray drift in the growing season, gravel car parks at every second winery. Add a Niagara Falls summer spent stopped in traffic and parked in concrete structures, and one vehicle here is doing three jobs a year.
- 63 microns bonded to the factory paint, in one application
- Salt spray, UV and abrasion among 12 independent ASTM tests
- Corrected or re-coated on the panel, often on site
- 7 years on marine gelcoat for boats off Lake Ontario
Skyway brine. Escarpment dust.
GLOSS RETENTION · COATED BONNET
How it compares
SPEC / CMP-01| Attribute | ICON Rocklear | Ceramic coating | Paint protection film | Wax or sealant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Film thickness | 63 microns | 1 to 3 microns | 150 to 200 microns | Under 1 micron |
| Application | One pass over existing paint | Correct the paint first, then coat | Cut and fitted panel by panel | Applied by hand |
| Repairability | Corrected or re-coated on the panel | Removed, then reapplied | Damaged film is replaced | Reapplied |
| Scheduled service | One inspection within 18 months | Annual inspection to hold coverage | Replacement at end of life | Every few months |
| Warranty | 15 years automotive, 7 years marine gelcoat | 6 months to lifetime | 5 to 10 years typical | None |
Ceramic coating
- Film thickness
- 1 to 3 microns
- Application
- Correct the paint first, then coat
- Repairability
- Removed, then reapplied
- Scheduled service
- Annual inspection to hold coverage
- Warranty
- 6 months to lifetime
Paint protection film
- Film thickness
- 150 to 200 microns
- Application
- Cut and fitted panel by panel
- Repairability
- Damaged film is replaced
- Scheduled service
- Replacement at end of life
- Warranty
- 5 to 10 years typical
Wax or sealant
- Film thickness
- Under 1 micron
- Application
- Applied by hand
- Repairability
- Reapplied
- Scheduled service
- Every few months
- Warranty
- None
ICON Rocklear figures are from independent ASTM testing. Other columns are typical industry ranges.
Niagara, road by road.
The Skyway, the QEW and the canal crossings
The Skyway is the most exposed road anyone here drives regularly. It climbs over the canal with nothing either side, so wind off Lake Ontario carries the brine onto the paint rather than leaving it on the deck. The crossings underneath collect the same spray at idle.
ICON Rocklear bonds permanently to the factory paint instead of sitting on it as a sacrificial layer, and it was tested to ASTM B117 salt spray for 1,000 hours with no visible change.
Fruit belt and wine roads, Grimsby to Niagara-on-the-Lake
Regional Road 81, the Niagara Parkway and the concession roads between the wineries carry orchard and vineyard spray drift, soil dropped by tractors and harvest trailers, and loose stone out of gravel car parks. It bakes on in the sun and does not rinse off cleanly.
A hard, closed 63-micron surface releases that film far more easily than bare clear coat, so the car comes back to gloss with a wash rather than a machine polish.
Tourist season in the Falls, border queues at Fort Erie
From the May long weekend to Thanksgiving the tourist district is stop-start all day: queues on Falls Avenue, hours in concrete structures with tight ramps and painted kerbs, valets outside the hotels. A season like that is a hundred small contacts, not one dramatic event.
Fort Erie and the Peace Bridge approach add long idling behind commercial trucks, and the exhaust film that settles on a bonnet there is closer to industrial fallout than to road dust. Where a panel does take a serious scratch, it is corrected or re-coated in place, often on site.
Boats on Lake Ontario, and which shop to book
Port Dalhousie, Jordan Harbour and the Niagara-on-the-Lake sailing water put plenty of hulls afloat and plenty of trailers on the QEW. ICON Rocklear carries 15 years on automotive paint and 7 years on marine gelcoat, fresh water or salt, so the boat, the trailer and the tow vehicle are one job at one shop.
This shop covers eleven of the region's twelve municipalities: St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Grimsby, Lincoln, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Pelham, Port Colborne, Thorold, Wainfleet, West Lincoln and Fort Erie. The twelfth is Welland, its own territory with its own certified shop and its own page. Heading north-west on the QEW, Hamilton is the next bay in the network.
The rest of the Ontario network
NETWORK / ONNiagara is one of thirteen certified Ontario shops and one of two working in this region. Every shop is trained on the same standard and writes the same warranty.
Book your Niagara installation.
Tell us the vehicle, or the boat, and whether you are on the lakeshore, in the Falls or out toward Fort Erie. The shop serving Niagara takes it from there.
Installation starts at $1,799 Final price depends on vehicle size and paint condition
Book an installation