Coating compositions for producing sol-gel coatings that include: a) one or more alkoxysilyl-containing oxalamides of the general formula (II), ##STR00001## where R'' is hydrogen or an organic C.sub.1-C.sub.10 radical, R' radicals are organic, optionally oxygen-attached C.sub.1-C.sub.10 radicals, R is an oxygen-attached radical optionally containing one or more ether groups and having 1 to 30 carbon atoms and n is an integer between 0 and 2, b) optionally further crosslinkers, c) one or more catalysts and d) water. The sol-gel coatings are produced by a method that includes combining a silica sol and one or more alkoxysilyl-containing oxalamides. The sol-gel coatings obtained from the above-described coating compositions can be used to coat substrates.