[Tanush03]

Today(5th November, 2022) it’s been exactly 2 years since I took delivery of my black Creta SXO Turbo petrol DCT. This post will be regarding my experience with ceramic coatings in the past 2 years.

Even before I got my car I had started my research regarding different paint protection options as my preferred car colour was black (To be truthful I had no idea how difficult maintaining a black car really is, never again &#128517.

After going through all the options I decided to go with ceramic coating as I couldn’t justify the cost of good paint protection films for a car which can be repainted for half the price and I didn’t want to go with cheap unknown ppf brands.

After watching quite a few detailing YouTube videos I thought that all that mattered was a good product as the process seemed quite simple. I decided to go with Avalon king Ceramic coating but In my arrogance I thought why pay extra to detailers , even service centre guys do polish and compounding. So I ordered Avalon king ceramic coating online and went to my local Hyundai service centre convinced that anyone can do this.
The service manager agreed as they were also quite excited to try ceramic coating. He just asked me to guide the cleaning and polishing guys through the process (After having watched a plethora of detailing videos I was convinced that this was going to be a walk in the park).
We spent the whole day in the work shop but couldn’t get the finish that I saw in those detailing videos ( I understood later that the service centre guys only had rotary polishers and to get the fine mirror finish you need Dual Action polishers and even that needs multiple passes of different levels of compounding , polishing and finishing). As the sun began to set I thought that maybe ceramic coating will cover the flaws and give a nice final look but to my dismay even after the coating had cured the micro scratches were visible under the coating and looked really bad under the sun.
I kept on using my car but I was not satisfied, I kept on researching and slowly understood that not just the product but the detailer also matters a lot. In fact I was surprised to find out how many known franchise detailers just use Chinese products, put their brand on it and sell it as premium detailing services. I finally understood why known brands of ceramic coatings have authorised installers.
After a lot of patience and research 10 months had passed , I finally decided to go with an Internationally well known brand CARPRO. I mailed them enquiring about an authorised installer in Kolkata. To my surprise PRIME CAR CARE ( Carpro authorised detailer in Kolkata) was about to open up their studio in few days. I contacted the owner, Mr Ashu Agarwal and ended up becoming their first customer.
Ashu, who very quickly became a good friend helped me understand the process and made the whole ordeal a pleasant experience. I decided to go with the flagship product Carpro Finest Reserve.
It’s been a year now and I’m really pleased with the coating. The gloss is still unbelievable, water still beads like crazy and keeping the car clean has been a lot easier. People find it hard to believe that my car is 2 years old now. I still turn back and look at my glossy car after I have locked and walked away. PRIME CAR CARE has become sort of a friends place whom you visit just to chat n chill. Ashu has done a fantastic job running his business with a very friendly and comforting vibe.

I’m attaching some before and after pictures as well.

[batish]

Could you share the amount you paid? Also, the after images of the paint with flash just like you have posted the first picture and your cleaning and maintenance routine.

It would be great if you could also share the images of the car when it is not dusted for some days. This would paint a picture of how it fares in real world conditions.

If you can, please also share a video of water beading effect. It would be nice to see how it is after months of coating and helpful for lot of black car guys like me.

[Tanush03]

Originally Posted by batish

Could you share the amount you paid? Also, the after images of the paint with flash just like you have posted the first picture and your cleaning and maintenance routine.

As mentioned, I was the first customer so got the opening offer and my cost was around 45k now the same would cost around 50k. I got a 4-year warranty which includes another layer of ceramic coating and a maintenance visit.

For maintenance, I usually go to Prime car care for washing, if I’m out station I make sure that I carefully watch over the car wash. I give them my own microfibre for wiping and washing also I have a bottle of Carpro car shampoo RESET which I use when getting my car washed outside.
As it’s a black car, so dust definitely shows up quite easily but from far the car looks glossy. I will try to share pictures of a dirty car as well as a shot of water beading.

An additional -close-up pic

[nomad47]

Hi, can you please share your routine care schedule of the car? I assume you don't wash your car daily, how do you take care of the dust?

[Tanush03]

Originally Posted by nomad47

Hi, can you please share your routine care schedule of the car? I assume you don't wash your car daily, how do you take care of the dust?

I use a jopasu duster for dusting if it’s a light layer of dust. If there are water spots or bird poop I use Carpro ech2o waterless wash(this comes as a concentrate and can be mixed with distilled water in a 1:10 ratio for using as a waterless wash or drying aid). This acts as a lubricant so the microfibre or dust doesn’t scratch the surface. In fact when I get my car washed outside, I spray it on the washed car before drying. This prevents any scratches from the microfibre used for drying the car.

[iamitp]

Just came across this. I bought my Black Creta DCT SX(O) almost on the same date! Got a Modesta BC08 ceramic coating on the same day.