My Navarra Blue Audi A4: Why I opted for ceramic coating over PPF

For a car like A4, he said even a relatively cheap PPF will not come less than 1.2/1.4 lakh.

BHPian garyag79 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Update on my Audi: Ceramic Coating

I bought an Audi A4 Navarra Blue this May, while most of my cars have been of white shade but A4 looked best in this shade so went for it. However, with this color comes the problem of dust magnets, and with dust available in abundance and free for Delhi NCR residents keeping the car clean and shining was a hassle. I for two months maintained the car myself, cleaning with a bucket method once a week, microfibre cloth straight line wiping, etc. Still the car attracted dust and never felt that new. The dealer had done ceramic coating but I realized it wasn't the real thing ( more on that later).

Friends, family, youtube, and team-bhp posts led me into the world of PPF. This was a rabbit hole for me with mushrooming detailing agents in the neighborhood and the city. Varying quotes and all sorts of views. Personally, I was against the concept of putting a plastic film on a car that too a German!!. Anyhow the confusion persisted and I was looking for a sustainable solution. I am not worried that much about scratches, in Delhi NCR the car is bound to get scratched if not for you but for others' fault. All i wanted was to maintain the color and shine of the car and make it appear the German it is supposed to be.

In came my neighbor Dheeraj who is an automobile enthusiast himself and owns a multi-brand and Toyota workshop in Faridabad. Dheeraj like a true professional first studied the car, understood my driving style and my commitment to maintaining the car. He made me understand the difference between ceramic coating, and PPF and how dealers/mushrooming detailing set ups are fleecing customers. Some of his key insights were:

• There is nothing as one day/door step ceramic coating. Genuine ceramic coating is a proper process that involves base paint correction, coating and then settling in the coat. Moreover, it is important to let the coat further settle in by letting the car bake in the sun and avoid elements like rain/dust for initial couple of days
• PPF coating at 30k/50k is a sham where white labelled brands and local Chinese stuff are being sold off as XYZ and this whole sham of 6-month touch-up/ maintenance is on account of these PPF films not being durable. For a car like the A4, he said even a relatively cheap PPF will not come less than 1.2/1.4 lakh.
• NCR has hard water, car wash leads to further paint damage with salts getting deposited and he is totally against CR washes. According to him, it's better to wash yourself with a PH-neutral shampoo that too once in 3 months.
• Ceramic coating at dealers is a sham again, most of them do ceramic wax with the cheapest available brands.

Post my conversation with him I decided to go for ceramic coating. He advised me Sonax for the same which according to him is the best brand for ceramic coating and will last three years with proper maintenance. He asked for 3 days to do the coating including preparation, base paint correction, coating, and settling in. He advised against doing it on alloys given the heat that alloys have to bear which won't make the coating last.

At every stage of the process, I was regularly updated on why it was being done and how. All other details related to coating and preparation were shared on a regular basis and in fact an extra half fay was taken to balance out the coating highs under spot light.

I am very happy with the entire process and the final result is mind-blowing. The car looks better than what it looked in the showroom and I have been given tips to maintain the same shine for the next three years.

I would recommend all fellow BHPians who are in this dilemma of ceramic / PPF to speak with Dheeraj and take his unbiased suggestions. For those in and around Faridabad, I strongly suggest using Dheeraj’s services. His details are as follows.

Tel: 9810018218

Location: Regent Motors, 5L/161, KC Road, Near Police Chowki, NIT, Faridabad

Some pix for your reference:

Swirl Marks is just two months into ownership

Hard Water Marks

Sonax

WIP

Final Result

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