[Artyom]

Originally Posted by Totoro11

Hi Experts,

I am planning to go on a long highway trip this weekend. A detailer i was talking to, mentioned that there are lot of micro particles/tar from vehicles head of us, that damage the white paint when we are on the highway. (true/false?)

Is there any precaution i should take (wax polish/ceramic coating etc) prior to the trip so that the paint does not suffer? I am not looking for an expensive solution

PS: i have a daily car cleaner who washes the car with tap water and dries with a combination of micro-fiber and normal soft cloth. I can't monitor him daily for using the wrong water or cloth and cannot control his quality. This is what has stopped me from getting any polishing done so far, as the effect wouldn't last beyond 2-3 days of regular cleaning.

Based upon my experience and limited knowledge Tar and micro particles will not make a significant impact on the paint.

Rather the chipping of metal particles or gravel which flies off from vehicles on highway & is micro size causes more damage to the paint and glass(Front Wind Shield) especially.

We are talking automotive grade paint which is robust enough to tackle day to day impacts from Tar or oil.

All these deposits can be easily removed using specific cleaning agents if required without damaging the paint.

Having said that these so called impacts are not going to give you sleepless nights as their impact is very less overall.

Once the trip is over get the vehicles washed from a reputed car wash and you will be good.

Since your vehicle has been maintained by the car cleaner I have my doubts that any protection you apply( Wax or Sealant ) will hold on for more than few days .

This is based upon the assumption that your paint is not clean to the extent that any protection can hold onto it.

Ceramic coating will offer you long term protection (Provided its maintained as per some basic rules) but it will be a relatively expensive affair.

Any good coating will cost you around 30-40 K .If you can get the coating done then your paint will be well protected and will take care of any spots.

Since we are short on time I would suggest to get the vehicle washed and complete the trip.

Once back evaluate and get some coating done to protect the paint for future trips.

[AJ56]

Originally Posted by Totoro11

A detailer i was talking to, mentioned that there are lot of micro particles/tar from vehicles head of us, that damage the white paint when we are on the highway. (true/false?)

Is there any precaution i should take (wax polish/ceramic coating etc) prior to the trip so that the paint does not suffer? I am not looking for an expensive solution.

True for rock chips and gravel, false for tar/ferrous or other form of contamination. As a rule never tailgate cars/trucks on the highway as your front end will get pitted with debris thrown up by their tyres.

Just put any wax you can find, it will make bug and tar cleanup much quicker after the trip.

Originally Posted by Sid13

So by spending 25K plus on these coating what are we achieving? Ease to wash?

Kindly do throw some light as I might be purchasing a new vehicle soon and is trying to deicde if I have to take the coating route.

Yes ease of washing is a huge plus, still not the main benefit. The main benefit is paint protection, which was traditionally achieved by carnauba waxes and later polymer sealants, these had much shorter lifespans and needed frequent reapplication, they also didn’t have the thickness and extreme chemical resistance a ceramic coating has.

Why do you need to protect paint?

Cause every car leaves the factory with a certain clearcoat thickness, around 40-60 microns. This top transparent layer slowly wears down and thins out, you can check this yourself with a DFT paint depth gauge on older cars, the original clearcoat is a good 30-40% thinner due to UV and all the other elements that attack it. You will also notice patches of oxidation and haziness where the clearcoat has failed, this can happen in under 10 years, specially if parked in the open. By applying a sacrificial layer over your clearcoat, you are essentially sealing the paint from the corrosive elements.

Why isn’t it done at the factory itself?

Cost. The paint shop is already the most expensive process in new car mfg, using a high quality ceramic coating will add millions of dollars to their overall cost of production. Plus, car makers are smart enough to realise through experience that the original paint system will last at least 5-7 years before showing any signs of breaking down, this covers their warranty period on most mass market cars and after that they are not concerned.

If you change cars every 5 years and don’t wash them yourself, I’d say don’t even bother with a wax. But if you keep your cars longer, at least put a consumer grade DIY type coating on it like Carpro UK 3 and reapply as and when water beading feels lacking (once a year normally). Ceramic coating doesn’t have to be expensive.

I might add, oxidation and UV damage occur to all clearcoated surfaces, including your headlights. Notice how my headlights aren’t yellowed out or hazy. My car is almost 11 years old, and I’ve not had to restore the lenses ever. Almost every other car you’ll find on the road with 11 year old original lights will show varying degrees of oxidation and yellowing. Why are mine still clear? Cause I applied paint protection to them from day 1, and I went on to wash safely and not abuse my paint protection by swirling it up by giving it to my daily cleaner or driver.

Originally Posted by Cresterk

it's very common to have cheap chinese crap imported in bulk and rebranded before being passed off as high end products to people who don't really know any better.

Not every coating made in China is cheap and crap, our iPhones are also made in China as our many high quality, precision products, it all comes down to the type of company that’s getting it made. China is very much capable of producing some very high quality products, coatings are no exception.

Still, if you do research you’ll see most big name coatings are not made in China, Carpro has production facilities in South Korea, Kamikaze is made is Japan, Koch Chemie is german (inc mfg) and SystemX is made in the US.

Originally Posted by Cresterk

Most of the affordable bottles from known brands like turtle wax etc will cost you some 1-3k to buy and a single application will last you about a year before it starts losing its hydrophobic properties.

Some of the best coatings such as CQuartz UK or Ceramic Pro 9H installed professionally by their shops will last you maybe 2.5 years regardless of gold / diamond / 2/ 5/ 7 whatever warranty package you buy from them. Repeated application or 'top ups' are required after that.

If you’re getting a year out of basic turtle SiO2 spray sealants, you’ll easily get 4-5 years (more likely) out of a proper pro coating without toppers. Ceramic Pro in my testing yes, it needs constant boosters. Not a high quality coating in my repeated experience. Carpro CQuartz no, it’ll last well into 4-5 years with a basic strip wash and chemical decon done once a year. No toppers needed.

Originally Posted by Cresterk

They tell you that this factory finish paint is some magical thing that can never be achieved or colour matched again and then in the very next sentence they will tell you why your brand new car right out of the showroom needs a 'paint correction'

It is borderline magical when not a single paint shop (car dealer and outside) in Delhi, Gurgaon or Mumbai has been able to achieve it for me on my cars over the last 15 years, and still counting. Now there are next level painters that do Pebble Beach Concours type paint jobs in the US but they are mad expensive ($80-100k per car) so not realistic to count them.

The reason detailers say new cars need paint correction is because by the time you get your car delivered it isn’t as new as it was when it left the factory. It’s handled by dozens of people like the loaders, unloaders, dealer washing crews, sales guys, PDI guys, dealer drivers and many more. It spends weeks to months on a dirty dealer lot having its paint swirled and contaminated due to improper washing and corrosive elements attacking it.

Also most cars come with fine sanding scratches from the factory, some makes are better than others but I’ve yet to see a single car that didn’t have imperfections that we had to fix even when delivered straight from the factory. Paint correction in detailing means light machine polishing, not re application of the paint itself.

Originally Posted by Cresterk

PPF makes sense for exotic or classic cars like a Ferrari F40 which is basically an art piece. You repaint a Ferrari F40 and lose the factory paint honeycomb pattern and your car will lose an insane amount of value since it won't be as valuable to collectors anymore. Putting it on mass market or commuter cars is just ludicrously overkill.

Ironically, the last type of car I’d want PPF on would be an exotic. It ruins the beauty of the original paintwork by adding excessive orange peel and film texture, distorting reflections and clarity. Not to mention it’ll start yellowing after a year, and I wouldn’t want any shop dismantling a new F40 for a perfect install, clips always get broken and you get blade scratches on the original paint, which will definitely lower resale value if that concerns you.

Originally Posted by Cresterk

These automotive coating markets are very lucrative and these companies spend a lot of money advertising their warranties and making you believe that it's going to be just as good as new for all the years mentioned. The truth is sadly different : https://Youtu.be/xtyr9wjv738

If you listen to what Scott is saying carefully, he’s taking about coating mfg. warranties, and he’s completely right. Getting a mfg. to honour a warranty on their coating is harder than getting blood out of a stone.

Whenever buying any coating, always remember the real warranty you get is from the detailer actually doing the install, they have a relationship with you and if they are credible, they will stand behind their warranty assuming you have not abused the paint.

Originally Posted by Cresterk

Also, the lion's share of the price of ceramic coatings come from the labour costs charged by good workshops. In America etc, physical labour is expensive and minimum wage is much higher. In India, physical labour is cheap and even trained workers are paid peanuts in comparison so it's best not to get carried away with comparing prices.

with the caveat that I baby my car around and hope no one else crashes into it (impossible in our road conditions).

Not at all, labour is not more than 20-25% of the total cost of a coating, hardly lions share. There are many other major costs involved, the kit for one, shop rental is another 30% roughly + utilities and products and equipment used, IR lamps for eg. run into lakhs alone.

In India (and the US), detailing crews are paid much more than just minimum wage, here minimum wage is under 10k/month but workers are paid 2.5x that amount. Similar ratio for US, depending on worker skill and experience.

And many things are much more expensive in India, due to import duties. All products from major brands used in detailing are more expensive, the same pro ceramic kit that costs $125-150 over there costs $220 here.

[Born 2 Be Wild]

Originally Posted by ROCKY700

Hi all, this is my first post here on team BHP and very glad to be sharing the platform with you all I just got my new car XUV 700 in midnight black, i have been searching for options regarding ceramic coating in Hyderabad and have found a few detailers listed below
1. Detailing Mafia- 77k
2. Autotriz- 48k
3. IGL coatings- no call back (very annoyed)
4. 3M coating- only 2 yr plan for 24k
I am thinking of getting a 5 year plan with exterior coating including alloys, windows and glass area. Please suggest and give your opinions.

Detailing mafia is better established out of the 4 options listed by you. 77k is robbery honestly please negotiate as well as check on services offered. 3m is useless compared to the competition! Please avoid, Igl Kenzo is a superior coating far better then lab cosmetica that detailing mafia offers, however the issue is that they have very few certified detailers or franchisees in most cities.

[Artyom]

Originally Posted by ROCKY700

Hi all, this is my first post here on team BHP and very glad to be sharing the platform with you all I just got my new car XUV 700 in midnight black, i have been searching for options regarding ceramic coating in Hyderabad and have found a few detailers listed below
1. Detailing Mafia- 77k
2. Autotriz- 48k
3. IGL coatings- no call back (very annoyed)
4. 3M coating- only 2 yr plan for 24k
I am thinking of getting a 5 year plan with exterior coating including alloys, windows and glass area. Please suggest and give your opinions.

My Vehicle has been coated with IGL Kenzo which is their top of the line coating.
Its been more than an year and I am fully satisfied with the protection it is offering.
If possible get in touch with the franchisee again in Hyderabad and get the quotes. Negotiate hard for IGL kenzo as its a 5 year coating and in my opinion best of the lot.

Here is my experience :-

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/showt...errerid=574755 (Getting Artyom shielded again with IGL Kenzo (Graphene infused ceramic coating))

In fact there are so many franchisee in Andhra and Telangana.
Contact others and get a quote

https://www.iglcoatings.in/find-a-kenzo-master/

[Cresterk]

Originally Posted by AJ56

Yes ease of washing is a huge plus, still not the main benefit. The main benefit is paint protection, which was traditionally achieved by carnauba waxes and later polymer sealants, these had much shorter lifespans and needed frequent reapplication, they also didn’t have the thickness and extreme chemical resistance a ceramic coating has.

Cause every car leaves the factory with a certain clearcoat thickness, around 40-60 microns. This top transparent layer slowly wears down and thins out, you can check this yourself with a DFT paint depth gauge on older cars, the original clearcoat is a good 30-40% thinner due to UV and all the other elements that attack it. You will also notice patches of oxidation and haziness where the clearcoat has failed, this can happen in under 10 years, specially if parked in the open. By applying a sacrificial layer over your clearcoat, you are essentially sealing the paint from the corrosive elements.

That's all well and good but the maximum thickness possible from a ceramic coating is just 1 micron. That is 0.0001 cm. It is not going to protect your car from anything other than chemical damage like UV, oxidation or maybe the smallest of scratches. In your own words, PPF is needed for any kind of reasonable protection from physical damage.

https://www.nanopro-group.com/articl...ramic-coating/

Plus, car makers are smart enough to realise through experience that the original paint system will last at least 5-7 years before showing any signs of breaking down, this covers their warranty period on most mass market cars and after that they are not concerned.

5-7 years which is coincidentally the same amount of time that most ceramic companies warranty their coatings on a new car. Your car's paint isn't going to fail in that time regardless of whether it is coated or not unless the paintjob was defective from the factory like in the case of hyundai's infamous white paint.

Not every coating made in China is cheap and crap, our iPhones are also made in China as our many high quality, precision products, it all comes down to the type of company that’s getting it made. China is very much capable of producing some very high quality products, coatings are no exception.

I did not say that everything made in China is cheap. It is the manufacturing capital of the world which means that you can get all quality
of goods there, from cheap and terrible to excellent and well made. But if you do want to bulk import cheap crap so you can rebrand and sell them for maximum profit margin, China is the way to go. You will see the same is true for every other imported good as well, from mobile chargers, LED headlights, door knobs etc. I have nothing against cheap chinese products since they are generally still better than some of the cheaper indian products but there are also many unethical companies who will also try to market them as "premium" offerings for 2-3x more when their actual purchase price is barely 10% higher.

If you’re getting a year out of basic turtle SiO2 spray sealants, you’ll easily get 4-5 years (more likely) out of a proper pro coating without toppers. Ceramic Pro in my testing yes, it needs constant boosters. Not a high quality coating in my repeated experience. Carpro CQuartz no, it’ll last well into 4-5 years with a basic strip wash and chemical decon done once a year. No toppers needed.

I was thinking of getting one of these :

https://www.amazon.in/Turtle-Wax-Sol...ef_=ast_sto_dp

or

https://www.amazon.in/Turtle-Wax-Sol...ef_=ast_sto_dp

or

Yes, I know graphene is mostly just a marketing term and there is probably barely any graphene content in them but the graphene labeled products also tend to be better quality ceramic coatings made by the particular company.

I believe something like this along with applying a sealant every 6-8 months should be enough to maintain the coating and hydrophobic properties without breaking the bank by paying twice the cost of applying a professional ceramic coating for warranty and service gold etc packages which come with their own terms and conditions.

I am aware that it won't be as good as a professionally done job but it definitely won't be 50x worse since that is what they charge. 50x more.

It is borderline magical when not a single paint shop (car dealer and outside) in Delhi, Gurgaon or Mumbai has been able to achieve it for me on my cars over the last 15 years, and still counting. Now there are next level painters that do Pebble Beach Concours type paint jobs in the US but they are mad expensive ($80-100k per car) so not realistic to count them

https://www.thedrive.com/news/13470/...he-911-turbo-s

Is this your car? I doubt any of the mass market cars here have paintjobs so special or unique that they can't be matched by a good garage to the extent that it can be told apart just by the naked eye. Even used car dealers who have been in the business for decades need to use paint thickness gauges to ensure that a car or panel hasn't been repainted.

https://youtu.be/vUdSUDObwVc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj9VqSnT-bs

Just some examples about how even paint that has been damaged so badly can be restored to decent condition and that's not even at a specialised garage. I'm sure it's not perfect but I think it's good enough for most people. I doubt anyone is paying 100k usd to fix the paint on a car that costs 30k. Nor does it make any financial sense to do so even if you do have a spare million lying around.

Ironically, the last type of car I’d want PPF on would be an exotic. It ruins the beauty of the original paintwork by adding excessive orange peel and film texture, distorting reflections and clarity. Not to mention it’ll start yellowing after a year, and I wouldn’t want any shop dismantling a new F40 for a perfect install, clips always get broken and you get blade scratches on the original paint, which will definitely lower resale value if that concerns you.

The F40 has been out of production for decades. I doubt any of them exists which haven't been dismantled to some extend just for repair/fixing, maintenance etc. It's impossible to keep something in factory perfect condition for that long unless it's being kept in a temperature controlled museum.

But anyway, then why are people being told to put PPF on their BMWs, Mercedes etc over here if it is going to be ruined in a year or two? From my understanding, it's yet another thing that you don't really need being sold purely on marketing hype.

If you listen to what Scott is saying carefully, he’s taking about coating mfg. warranties, and he’s completely right. Getting a mfg. to honour a warranty on their coating is harder than getting blood out of a stone.

Whenever buying any coating, always remember the real warranty you get is from the detailer actually doing the install, they have a relationship with you and if they are credible, they will stand behind their warranty assuming you have not abused the paint.

I will agree with you here.

Not at all, labour is not more than 20-25% of the total cost of a coating, hardly lions share. There are many other major costs involved, the kit for one, shop rental is another 30% roughly + utilities and products and equipment used, IR lamps for eg. run into lakhs alone.

In India (and the US), detailing crews are paid much more than just minimum wage, here minimum wage is under 10k/month but workers are paid 2.5x that amount. Similar ratio for US, depending on worker skill and experience.

And many things are much more expensive in India, due to import duties. All products from major brands used in detailing are more expensive, the same pro ceramic kit that costs $125-150 over there costs $220 here.

True, they are probably being paid 2.5x more than minimum wage.
But 2.5x 10k is 25k.
and
2.5x 90k is 2.25L.

Which is a massive difference to the end user / shop owner when comparing prices between 2 countries on a labour intensive job.


Overall, I'm sure professional shops do a better job but it is way overkill for most mass market cars here or anywhere.

[AJ56]

Originally Posted by Cresterk

5-7 years which is coincidentally the same amount of time that most ceramic companies warranty their coatings on a new car. Your car's paint isn't going to fail in that time regardless of whether it is coated or not unless the paintjob was defective from the factory like in the case of hyundai's infamous white paint.

Again plenty of pro coatings now come with 10+ year warranties (lifetime in some cases). By this logic, you shouldn’t be doing any maintenance on your car, if you assume that it’ll fail completely in 5-7 years, don’t do any of the 5 year service items and just junk it after that time is up. Also ceramic warranties aren’t only for new cars, it starts when a person has it installed on their car, no matter how new or old.

Originally Posted by Cresterk

I was thinking of getting one of these :

https://www.amazon.in/Turtle-Wax-Sol...ef_=ast_sto_dp

or

https://www.amazon.in/Turtle-Wax-Sol...ef_=ast_sto_dp

I am aware that it won't be as good as a professionally done job but it definitely won't be 50x worse since that is what they charge. 50x more.

Get the second one, paste is more durable.

Pro shop will charge 11-12x more (1700 vs 20000) not 50x. You’re paying for all the labour that goes into decontaminating and correcting your paintwork before application + the pro kit. Doing it yourself will take close to 8-10 days, 8-9 hours a day with a polisher (yes I’ve done it, around 100 man hours).

Not to mention all the equipment you’ll be buying and technical know how you’ll need to get similar results. Even if someone gave you all the materials for free, ones time would have to be worth less than 200 bucks an hour (20k divided by 100 hours) for it to make sense financially, if yes then by all means go ahead.

Originally Posted by Cresterk

https://www.thedrive.com/news/13470/...he-911-turbo-s

Is this your car? I doubt any of the mass market cars here have paintjobs so special or unique that they can't be matched by a good garage to the extent that it can be told apart just by the naked eye. Even used car dealers who have been in the business for decades need to use paint thickness gauges to ensure that a car or panel hasn't been repainted.

You’re again confusing new car paint options with a high quality repaint, totally different things.

As far as repaint by local garages/dealers go, apparently the paint jobs on mass market cars are special enough that not a single shop/dealer has been able to even come close to matching the factory finish, be it texture (orange peel) or surface imperfections like pinholes, solvent pop, fish eye or good old colour mismatch, and I’ve seen hundreds by now. To me the difference is visible like chalk and cheese, before I even use my gauge.

Used car dealers, almost all of them will immediately tell you which panels are repainted/replaced, no gauge needed (most don’t even have a DFT gauge).

Originally Posted by Cresterk

https://Youtu.be/vUdSUDObwVc
https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=Hj9VqSnT-bs

Just some examples about how even paint that has been damaged so badly can be restored to decent condition and that's not even at a specialised garage. I'm sure it's not perfect but I think it's good enough for most people.

But anyway, then why are people being told to put PPF on their BMWs, Mercedes etc over here if it is going to be ruined in a year or two? From my understanding, it's yet another thing that you don't really need being sold purely on marketing hype.

These are rattle can type spray paint jobs on junker cars done in the open, it won’t hold up anywhere near as well as a high quality job with a spray gun in a paint booth.

It’s not good enough for most people as it’s downright horrible to look at it real life, try it yourself you’ll see what I’m saying. If these were half as good, everyone would just rattle can their own paint/body repair and never go to a pro body shop.

Second part, it’s good marketing that’s all. Agreed.

Originally Posted by Cresterk

True, they are probably being paid 2.5x more than minimum wage.
But 2.5x 10k is 25k.
and
2.5x 90k is 2.25L.

Which is a massive difference to the end user / shop owner when comparing prices between 2 countries on a labour intensive job.

Sure, that’s why I said ratios not actual dollar amounts. Both countries have massive differences in purchasing power and standard of living, among other things.

Originally Posted by Cresterk

That's all well and good but the maximum thickness possible from a ceramic coating is just 1 micron. That is 0.0001 cm. It is not going to protect your car from anything other than chemical damage like UV, oxidation or maybe the smallest of scratches.

https://www.nanopro-group.com/articl...ramic-coating/

Please stay vigilant against misinformation online, most coatings are much thicker than just 1 micron. I don’t know why this site claims otherwise, you can test yourself easily with a DFT gauge.

For SystemX for eg, most of their lineup is 2-9 microns thick, with the flagship Max coating going upto 22 microns or 0.9 mils. For reference, the total clearcoat on a new Suzuki is around 40 microns, so this is over 50% of the total clearcoat thickness on a new Suzuki.

It will protect against physical damage to quite some extent, again it can’t stop scratches (neither can PPF) but it can save the paint underneath.

Screenshot of the technical data sheet for the SystemX Max for your reference-

Boeing certification-

[Cresterk]

Originally Posted by AJ56

Again plenty of pro coatings now come with 10+ year warranties (lifetime in some cases). By this logic, you shouldn’t be doing any maintenance on your car, if you assume that it’ll fail completely in 5-7 years, don’t do any of the 5 year service items and just junk it after that time is up.

But do you pay 50% of the engine's cost when you change engine oil and filters? Or 50% the cost of the steering rack and suspension every time you do a wheel alignment? I would have no problem if it was priced proportionally and people weren't being oversold something way too overkill for their needs.

Pro shop will charge 11-12x more (1700 vs 20000) not 50x. You’re paying for all the labour that goes into decontaminating and correcting your paintwork before application + the pro kit. Doing it yourself will take close to 8-10 days, 8-9 hours a day with a polisher (yes I’ve done it, around 100 man hours).

Mate, if you can actually do all the things you mentioned + a provide warranty for just 20k, I am coming to wherever your shop is tomorrow.

[AJ56]

Originally Posted by Cresterk

But do you pay 50% of the engine's cost when you change engine oil and filters? Or 50% the cost of the steering rack and suspension every time you do a wheel alignment? I would have no problem if it was priced proportionally and people weren't being oversold something way too overkill for their needs.

I don’t follow, why are you paying 50% after a coating is installed? Maintenance is generally under 3000 for a strip foam wash + chemical decon, this is needed maybe once a year, sometimes once every 2 years

Originally Posted by Cresterk

Mate, if you can actually do all the things you mentioned + a provide warranty for just 20k, I am coming to wherever your shop is tomorrow.

We do run up at least 80-90 hours and on some cars well over 100 hours in labour, depending on condition. With the 20k treatment yes you get a 2 year minimum warranty (limited warranty subject to basics like no repaint, scratches, etc). I only reference real world prices. You are welcome to drop by anytime

[Mustang Sammy]

Thanks all for the detailed information sharing.
I am being offered Waxoyl ceramic coating by my dealer, which does not seem to be a popular option on this forum for the past several years.
Any feedback?

[finneyp]

Originally Posted by Mustang Sammy

I am being offered Waxoyl ceramic coating by my dealer, which does not seem to be a popular option on this forum for the past several years.
Any feedback?

Better to avoid the Ceramic coating at the dealership, get it done at a good detailing center outside.

[Mustang Sammy]

Am talking to a couple of detailers in Pune.
Most keep the car for 2 days for doing a ceramic coating, and are acting coy about the brand that they use (claim it is a special formulation they have had made for Indian conditions

One guy did guarantee he will have the car back within 24 hours, which makes me wonder about the quality of his work.

Detailing Mafia is hard selling their PPF, and claims to use an Italian brand called Labcosmetica for ceramic coating. Anyone have experience with these?

[lxskllr]

Originally Posted by Mustang Sammy

Am talking to a couple of detailers in Pune.
Most keep the car for 2 days for doing a ceramic coating, and are acting coy about the brand that they use (claim it is a special formulation they have had made for Indian conditions

Don't take their word for it. It will likely be crap. Here's an independent tester on YouTube. He has an Excel sheet in the video description. Would urge you to stick to the name brands.

Video link:

https://youtu.be/Fwg6-VOHiHg

Excel sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...BP1mN/htmlview

Would strongly urge everyone to look at the different categories and his testing is fairly rigorous.

[manu7781]

I am posting after a long time so I apologize if it is a wrong thread. I am based out of west coast Canada and will be picking up a silver XUV700 AX7L in delhi (mid Apr 2023). This vehicle will be used only 4 month every year (Mar - Jul) for rest of the time it will be parked in an underground parking and will be out every week for few KM just to keep everything in working order.

Now in order to keep the paint in good condition I am thinking of getting front end and boot scuff plate PPF'ed (bonnet, fenders, side mirrors, rocker panels, boot scuff plate) and whole car ceramic coated. I have done exactly same to my car here in Canada with expel and ceramic pro.

Since I am completely out of touch with NCR after market car services can someone suggest good place to get this work done. Any suggestion on which product (PPF and coating) is also appreciated. I will be in town in first week of May so ideally trying to schedule the work around then. Again I apologize if it's an incorrect thread for this question/discussion.

Regards,
MC

[RRM]

Originally Posted by Mustang Sammy

One guy did guarantee he will have the car back within 24 hours, which makes me wonder about the quality of his work.

24 hrs is correct and my car was delivered within that time.

I was once told that it takes 8 days for ceramic coating (proper curing etc) in Bangalore. It was long back and don't remember the name. Then with reference from a friend I met Esperto in BTM layout and since then they have got good references from me. After 5 yrs warranty, I did a complete top coating a month back.

[AJ56]

Originally Posted by Mustang Sammy

Am talking to a couple of detailers in Pune.
Most keep the car for 2 days for doing a ceramic coating, and are acting coy about the brand that they use (claim it is a special formulation they have had made for Indian conditions

One guy did guarantee he will have the car back within 24 hours, which makes me wonder about the quality of his work.

Detailing Mafia is hard selling their PPF, and claims to use an Italian brand called Labcosmetica for ceramic coating. Anyone have experience with these?

Shops will always push services with the highest margins and PPF is no exception. I’ve never heard of that ceramic brand to be honest. Better to stick with a better known one in the market given the abundance of choices you have.

Regarding time, it will take well over 2 days on most cars given the shop is doing proper machine work and coating multiple surfaces like paint, glass, wheels, plastics, etc. even on a brand new car with minimal machine work it will still take about 2.5 days minimum assuming they put at least 3-4 people on it.

It takes around 4 hours just to wash, decon, clay, mask and take DFT readings of the car before machine polishing. Add another 8-15 hours for machine polishing (depending on condition), 2 hours for the final wash and IPA wipe, 2 hours for coating application (more if multiple coats) and you’re already well past 2 days, a good shop will ideally leave it indoors for an additional couple of hours before delivering it to the client.

So around 3 days on avg. for most cars, depending on how badly swirled they were from the showroom (all new cars have some degree of swirling.)

Anybody doing it any faster than the schedule above is cutting corners in or more major steps. Best avoided.

Also, anybody who’s not forthcoming with what brand is being used is basically using a cheap Chinese no name coating, there is no reason I can think of to hide the brand otherwise.

Originally Posted by manu7781

Now in order to keep the paint in good condition I am thinking of getting front end and boot scuff plate PPF'ed (bonnet, fenders, side mirrors, rocker panels, boot scuff plate) and whole car ceramic coated.

Any suggestion on which product (PPF and coating) is also appreciated. I will be in town in first week of May so ideally trying to schedule the work around then.

Don’t put PPF on a silver car it’ll visibly yellow in under 2 years, applies to all the big name brands currently in the market. Regarding partial PPF, if you’re happy with your existing car then go ahead no issue.

The reason I don’t recommend it is the PPF panels will have a much greater optical distortion (also called orange peel) compared to the non PPF panels, where the fenders meet the doors for example.

Expel is the best brand for PPF, for ceramic brands like Carpro, SystemX, Kamikaze, Gyeon, etc. make some of the best pro coatings.