[iamitp]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Be Wild

More then faith its the knowledge a consumer carries into the shop beforehand thats the most important criteria.

You can be sure that BHPians have spent way more than an hour on the Internet, reading and watching detailing videos. No amount of knowledge can guarantee that the service is delivered exactly as per what you expect, unless you spend a day standing at the detailers.

[iamitp]

Originally Posted by organicsuj

[list=1][*]What's the right method and interval to wash a car without damaging the paint?[*]What are the external treatments/detailing that are not just good to have but a necessity for one who does not intend to upgrade in a few years?
.

The higher cost method is to buy a pressure washer and a foam cannon. Then rinse, foam, contact wash, pressure wash, dry and treat the car with a spray/wax etc. This method works for almost all levels of dirt.

The cheaper method is to use a two bucket method with shampoo, and a grit protector. You’ll need to need to dry and treat as before. Works for low to medium dirt.

The cheapest method is probably the rinseless wash, i.e spray and wipe. Works for low dirt. All you need is microfibre clothes and a wash concentrate. Apart from your choice of treatment.

If you’re already getting rust on the door, maybe you should consider an anti-rust treatment at 3M?

[AJ56]

There seems to be some confusion in the recent posts, if I can add some perspective-

1) Ceramic coatings are not scratch proof, if you fail to wash the paint safely you will end up swirling the coating, of the dozens of pro coating mfg’s I’m aware of, not a single one will provide any warranty on user negligence or scratching.

2) Warranty is always limited in nature and excludes user abuse, repaint, use of any sort of abrasive, failure to come in for an annual inspection, etc. just like a car warranty.

3) If ones does swirl up their coating, the time and effort taken to fix it involves paint correction and re coating, which (assuming the same coating is used), is as expensive as doing it the first time, depending on the level of damage.

4) There are many ways to wash a car, but only one safe method - the multi mitt method. Even the 2 bucket method has some risk (sometimes certain debris do not rinse off the mitt, and in many cases it cannot be seen with the naked eye). I’ve tested this method over hundreds of washes over many years on perfectly corrected soft paint and it has held up without any swirling whatsoever.

5) Warranties are not to be confused with periodic annual maintenance. Warranty will cover defects in products and workmanship and any premature failure resulting from the same.

Annual maintenance is offered to coated cars to inspect and perform any chemical decontamination using tar and ferrous removers if required. A silica spray sealant may be used like Carpro Reload to boost hydrophobic properties if need be. Some shops will throw in a few years of complimentary maintenance, others might charge.

Neither of these cover paint correction and re coating from scratch. This is a completely separate service and it is always chargeable as it involves multiple days of heavy labour + product.

SystemX’s warranty terms for reference: https://www.systemx.com/auto-terms/

Gyeon:
https://gyeonservices.com/upload/fil...conditions.pdf

[Born 2 Be Wild]

Originally Posted by iamitp

You can be sure that BHPians have spent way more than an hour on the Internet, reading and watching detailing videos. No amount of knowledge can guarantee that the service is delivered exactly as per what you expect, unless you spend a day standing at the detailers.

No offence sir! If everyone here has researched detailing to the T no one would ever believe in the concept of a warranty period! Plus they will know that ceramic coatings can never be topped up or corrected without losing the coating itself! Ceramic coatings do not cover scratches and swirl marks ever! No one stands at detailers and no one needs to, in the age of tech one can simply ask for video footage of coatings applied and products used.

[SanjayChouhan]

Dear people, newbie here. Got my Slavia 1.0 TSI in January. Some kids scrstched the bumper...took a small chip of the paint off...thought I ought to get the ceramic coating done.
Approached the workshop through dealer (Stupid idea, I know!!) and sent the vehicle. Now the gentleman calls up and says that there will be a colour difference of the chipped part of it it touched up so he is insisting on repainting the entire number.
The question is: am I being played for a fool or is the guy actually correct in saying that the touched up part will show a difference from the rest whereas painting the entire bumper will not show a difference with the rest of the car?
Need advice!!

[xander]

Originally Posted by SanjayChouhan

Dear people, newbie here. Got my Slavia 1.0 TSI in January. Some kids scrstched the bumper...took a small chip of the paint off...thought I ought to get the ceramic coating done.
Approached the workshop through dealer (Stupid idea, I know!!) and sent the vehicle. Now the gentleman calls up and says that there will be a colour difference of the chipped part of it it touched up so he is insisting on repainting the entire number.
The question is: am I being played for a fool or is the guy actually correct in saying that the touched up part will show a difference from the rest whereas painting the entire bumper will not show a difference with the rest of the car?
Need advice!!

Ceramic coating won't protect against paint chips.

Paint chips if touched up with a brush, There will be an obvious color difference.

Solution is spray painting the area. An expert painter can paint around 1/4th of a bumper and seamlessly blend it to the rest of the bumper. Costs around Rs 1500 with my FNG painter. But dealerships never do that. They will ask you to paint the entire bumper and charge 5K+.

[SanjayChouhan]

Over the day, I have scared myself with yet another thought: what if the guy just paints the small chipped area and blends it into the original paint? How will I ever come to know if he has painted the entire number or has painted only that spot?��

Originally Posted by xander

Ceramic coating won't protect against paint chips.

Paint chips if touched up with a brush, There will be an obvious color difference.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by SanjayChouhan

How will I ever come to know if he has painted the entire number or has painted only that spot?

If you can't tell, that would be a Success!

[SanjayChouhan]

Checked out the colour in the daylight... can't make out any difference..so I guess that money's well-spent.

[kedar_GT]

Hi,

I picked up a white XUV7OO in Bangalore and looking at options to take care of its paint. I don't plan to ever ask the apartment car wash guys to touch the vehicle and plan for only foam-based exterior washes (that leaves out automated car washes with those huge brushes) maybe once a month or so.

I was thinking of doing a DIY and just using a liquid ceramic spray (a la ShineXPro Ceramic Guard) or the Turtle Wax 53409 Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Spray Coating. I was also thinking if I need to use something like an Armour Nano Materials 9H Nano Ceramic Coating (https://www.amazon.in/Armour-Ceramic...B07HF4CQFL/ref) prior to doing the ceramic spray but I am scared of getting this all wrong.
I think a liquid ceramic spray ought to be just fine but I just wanted an affirmation of my plan of action.

Or should I just ditch all of this and just approach a detailer like Keystone to get this done for me?

Very confused. My car will not be a garage queen - rather it will be a tourer - so infrequently used for long distances. I am against the idea of PPF on a white car. So - just looking for some basic protection against the elements.


Also - are there any options for wrapping the interior piano black bits? How does once take care of these as these would be very prone to scratches.

[AJ56]

Originally Posted by kedar_GT

Hi,

I was thinking of doing a DIY and just using a liquid ceramic spray (a la ShineXPro Ceramic Guard) or the Turtle Wax 53409 Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Spray Coating. I was also thinking if I need to use something like an Armour Nano Materials 9H Nano Ceramic Coating

I think a liquid ceramic spray ought to be just fine but I just wanted an affirmation of my plan of action.

Congratulations on the new car. That armour stuff is a cheap Chinese coating being rebranded and sold on Amazon I’d suggest stay away as you won’t get the hydrophobics and long life of a higher quality coating. Same for ShineX, Turtle is much better any day.

Whether you want to get a pro coating or not is upto you, simply check your paint under a bright flashlight and look for imperfections like swirls and haze (most new cars come with fine swirls). If you’re happy with the finish, you can get a good DIY coating like Carpro CQaurtz Lite /Gyeon Cancoat that’ll last over a year with proper washing and apply after a simply IPA wipe.

If you’re not happy with the paint condition then give it to a detailer and get a pro coating that’ll last many years with proper washing, learning to correctly machine polish yourself needs a lot of time and patience, so unless you want to put in at least 100 hours behind the machine, avoid.

Also keep in mind, a pro coating adds 5-8 microns (some can be as much as 20 microns+) over your factory paint, this acts as a sacrificial barrier against very light swirls and abrasions during normal use. For reference, on most Mahindras your factory clearcoat is ~60-70 microns thick. You don’t get this thickness bump with spray coatings.

For piano black interior trim just don’t touch it without lubrication and super plush microfibres and you’ll be fine. You can put clear PPF to protect it but you’re trading gloss and clarity for protection (as film adds orange peel), also the PPF itself is super soft and will get swirled at the same rate as your original trim if you’re not careful. You can ceramic coat these but you still need to take care when touching them. Cheers.

[kedar_GT]

Originally Posted by AJ56

Turtle is much better any day.

Whether you want to get a pro coating or not is upto you, simply check your paint under a bright flashlight and look for imperfections like swirls and haze (most new cars come with fine swirls). If you’re happy with the finish, you can get a good DIY coating like Carpro CQaurtz Lite /Gyeon Cancoat that’ll last over a year with proper washing and apply after a simply IPA wipe.

If you’re not happy with the paint condition then give it to a detailer and get a pro coating that’ll last many years with proper washing, learning to correctly machine polish yourself needs a lot of time and patience, so unless you want to put in at least 100 hours behind the machine, avoid.

Also keep in mind, a pro coating adds 5-8 microns (some can be as much as 20 microns+) over your factory paint, this acts as a sacrificial barrier against very light swirls and abrasions during normal use. For reference, on most Mahindras your factory clearcoat is ~60-70 microns thick. You don’t get this thickness bump with spray coatings.

.

AJ56, thank you for your inputs mate- I have no plans on spending 100s of hours behind the machine :-). I thought it would be as simple as a wash, liquid wax spray and then buff a bit.

Coming to the detailing bit a nearby detailer has offered to do a Graphene coating for 30k - He told me that subsequent washes would need to be done with a graphene-friendly shampoo (so 20% more expensive than a regular wash) - does that sound reasonable?

[AJ56]

Originally Posted by kedar_GT

AJ56, thank you for your inputs mate-
Coming to the detailing bit a nearby detailer has offered to do a Graphene coating for 30k - He told me that subsequent washes would need to be done with a graphene-friendly shampoo (so 20% more expensive than a regular wash) - does that sound reasonable?

Happy to help.

Thats bs I’m afraid, there is no requirement to use graphene specific shampoos to maintain a graphene coating, which is basically a ceramic coating with some marketing and a 0.01% additive thrown in. Even graphene coating mfg’s don’t make any mention of this.

You should use a gentle, high lubricity, pH neutral car shampoo designed for mild cleaning in your foam cannon/bucket and you’ll be fine. Look up contactless/multi mitt methods for safe washing, use a blower to dry, etc. and you’ll have a healthy, glossy coating for many years to come.

[kedar_GT]

Originally Posted by AJ56

Happy to help.

Thats bs I’m afraid, there is no requirement to use graphene specific shampoos to maintain a graphene coating, which is basically a ceramic coating with some marketing and a 0.01% additive thrown in. Even graphene coating mfg’s don’t make any mention of this.

You should use a gentle, high lubricity, pH neutral car shampoo designed for mild cleaning in your foam cannon/bucket and you’ll be fine. Look up contactless/multi mitt methods for safe washing, use a blower to dry, etc. and you’ll have a healthy, glossy coating for many years to come.

Thanks for that info as well. Seriously there is such a trust deficit in this market. Not sure what needs to be done, why it needs to be done and the downsides/upsides of any approach unless one does a mini diploma on this topic. I will pursue the Graphene coating lead while I wait for the quote from another respected (on TeamBhp) Bangalore detailer.

[ankitbko]

I am going to get Carpro coating on my Astor. Is there significant difference between Pro and Elite versions of coating?