[shreyansd]

For all the DIY-ers out here, am curious to know if anyone of you has tried buying the Drexler Ceramic Coating kit (https://www.us.drexlerceramic.com/collections/all) and doing it yourself (or hiring a local person who can apply this) on a brand new car? Any learning or experience that you can share? The quote from different car detailing is several times the cost of the kit itself (which I am sure is the labour cost plus the profit margins). But is it worth doing it yourself and are there any risks that I need to be aware of?

[AJ56]

Originally Posted by shreyansd

For all the DIY-ers out here, am curious to know if anyone of you has tried buying the Drexler Ceramic Coating kit (https://www.us.drexlerceramic.com/collections/all) and doing it yourself (or hiring a local person who can apply this) on a brand new car? Any learning or experience that you can share? The quote from different car detailing is several times the cost of the kit itself (which I am sure is the labour cost plus the profit margins). But is it worth doing it yourself and are there any risks that I need to be aware of?

It’s not a well known brand in the pro coating space in the industry. I’ve never used on my cars but the low pricing and multiple typos on the website don’t lend a lot of credibility to it. Also has outright misinformation stated on the site claiming it prevents swirls and light scratches.

As for application, you can apply it yourself without too much hassle (read up on the basics of ceramic application and flash time).

However as every new car is full of light to moderate swirls straight from the dealer in addition to other contamination like mineral deposits and iron fallout. The final finish/long term durability and gloss will depend largely on how well the paint correction was done.

Again, you can decon and machine polish the paint and glass yourself but getting comfortable with a DA/rotary polisher takes a few dozen hours of practice. Learning to finish down perfectly on soft paint can take longer.

Saying this as someone who’s been there, done that.

Risks are you’ll apply it improperly, leave a hazy finish and will have to get it machine polished by a detailer to remove the bonded coating. This is a reversible mistake.

The more dangerous and permanent risk is burning your paint due to poor polishing technique, specially the edges. Here you’ll lose factory finish as a repaint is the only fix.

It’s not just kit cost and labour that you’re paying for, it’s the overheads, products used in prep from decon to paint correction and the years of expertise a good installer will bring to the table.

Think of it like cooking your own steak vs going to a high end steakhouse, you pay much more than just the meat cost, but the results are difficult to replicate at home, unless you’re a pro chef yourself.

[shreyansd]

Wow, thanks for this beautiful explanation. Got my answer - really appreciate you taking out time and responding.

[mohilspectrum]

Hello guys, i want to paint protect my new innova hycross which is about to arrive after 1 week. I live in surat Gujarat. There are no international brands franchise detailing workshop available here for ceramic coating. I have shortlisted 3M , Carz spa , Detailing Bull. I want graphene coating to be done on my car. 3M doesn't offer that. Can experts from this thread help me choose brand? How is carzspa's Crystal shield graphene coating? Should i go ahead with it? Can anybody suggest any better brand? Carzspa is offering me graphene G10 coating in 25K with 4 years of maintenance. 3M 9H ceramic coating is being offered at 24k for 2 years maintenance. Please give valuable suggestions.

[Stoic Surgeon]

Hello Friends,

I wish to get Ceramic Coating done for my recently delivered Hyundai Alcazar. It’s colour is Ranger Khakhi.

The options I have in Bhopal MP are
1) 3M Car Care - 3M products (28500 for 3 years to be topped up every 6 months
2) The Detailing Mafia - Labocosmetica (15000 for one year package
3) Ceramic Pro - Ceramic Pro products (30000 for two year package to be topped every one year)
4) CarzSpa - CarzSpa products - Graphene Coating (yet to get a quotation)

Can anyone please guide which would be the best one to go with?

[Stoic Surgeon]

Hello friends,

I got Ceramic Coating done my new Ranger Khakhi Colour Alcazar at ‘The Detailing Mafia”, JK Road Bhopal. This was a single year package - just one time application

Their workmanship was extremely satisfying. Also got “glass coat’ done.

Total price was 14300/-

Let’s See how long the shine lasts

[theoldcamper]

Hi folks, just got a new car, VW Taigun 1.0 AT. Lava blue.

I had a concern regarding body, it has swirl marks all over due to poor washing and cleaning. It was not cleaned properly and had water marks.

This is the only thing I am unhappy about. I mentioned during delivery about this and didn’t want to pain anyone on delivery day. The SA said they will get the polishing and cleaning done properly in my next visit to service centre.

Can you folks suggest what is the right way to approach this. I want to do a ceramic coating soon, since keeping it clean is going to be issue.

Should I take SA’s advice on getting the job at service centre or get detailing as well as ceramic coating done outside? If I do the later, I want some cost of paint correction to be borne by dealership. I don’t to spoil my relationship with the people also by fighting on the issue.

Since I anyways want to do ceramic what would do you suggest?

Any thing I am missing here?

Also suggest ceramic coat brands and right places to getting it done.

[AJ56]

Originally Posted by mohilspectrum

Hello guys, i want to paint protect my new innova hycross which is about to arrive after 1 week. I live in surat Gujarat. There are no international brands franchise detailing workshop available here for ceramic coating.

There are 3 SystemX installers in Gujarat, and 1 of them is in Surat itself. Carpro most likely also has installers but you’ll have to confirm, just go to each brands India website and look up authorised installers in the finds us section. Modesta again you can check, Feynlab I don’t think has any there (yet).

Originally Posted by theoldcamper

I had a concern regarding body, it has swirl marks all over due to poor washing and cleaning. It was not cleaned properly and had water marks.

Can you folks suggest what is the right way to approach this. I want to do a ceramic coating soon, since keeping it clean is going to be issue.

Should I take SA’s advice on getting the job at service centre or get detailing as well as ceramic coating done outside? If I do the later, I want some cost of paint correction to be borne by dealership.

Since I anyways want to do ceramic what would do you suggest?

Any thing I am missing here?

Also suggest ceramic coat brands and right places to getting it done.

Over the years having seen thousands of new cars, I’ve yet to find one that didn’t come with fine to moderate swirls straight from the dealer, in addition to paint defects straight from the factory like pinholes, sanding scuffs, debris, fish eye, etc. some brands are better than others but none are even close to perfect. Across price points I might add.

VW has above average paint quality, although the newer MQB IN platform cars are a little worse than the earlier ones.

Do not let the dealer polish it or do anything to it as they will not do justice as it’s not their core area of specialisation, 99% don’t even have a DFT gauge to check how much paint they’re removing. Take it to an authorised installer of any of the big name coating brands (see above).

About having the dealer bear the cost, in an ideal world when we buy a new car it should get delivered with perfect, protected paint to us.

In reality we get thin and soft paint (due to cost cutting) which is naked (no protection) and has light to moderate abrasions in addition to hard water spots and sometimes bird poo etchings (as most dealer storage lots are not covered), it’s rather painful to wash a car safely and given the volume they operate with, it’s commercially unviable to do so.

If you complain he’ll simply point to hundreds of new cars in his lot and on every dark colour you’ll see swirls.

Or he will say they will fix it in house, no point in fighting with them over paying a third party to install a coating. Legally too, he is not obligated to pay, all he has to do is provide a remedy which he is doing (it’s a different issue that they’ll use wool pads and do more harm than good if you do give it to them.)

[blackbandit]

Originally Posted by shreyansd

For all the DIY-ers out here, am curious to know if anyone of you has tried buying the Drexler Ceramic Coating kit (https://www.us.drexlerceramic.com/collections/all) and doing it yourself (or hiring a local person who can apply this) on a brand new car? Any learning or experience that you can share? The quote from different car detailing is several times the cost of the kit itself (which I am sure is the labour cost plus the profit margins). But is it worth doing it yourself and are there any risks that I need to be aware of?

Drexler coating is decent. I have it on my verna. Esperto Car Care in Bangalore uses drexler. The guys at esperto provide very good service and value. The only problem I have with them is their final finish on the car leaves a lot to be desired. I have polish marring in some sections of the car. These are not visible to a normal eye but if you are someone who is actively looking for it you will find it.

[pragyaal]

I need some advice regarding ceramic coating over PPF. I have received multiple answers from different people. 3M informed me that if I apply a ceramic coat over PPF, then the self-healing property of PPF will not work. The reason is that self-healing happens because of stretching and contraction of the film, and if I apply a ceramic coat, then the film will only get stiffer.

Some others have said that to preserve PPF, one should apply coating regularly. The reason for this is that hydrophobic capability of the film improves, can someone shed some light on the correct procedure to achieve this.

[blackbirdnrd]

Hello Everyone,

I will be taking delivery of My Tata Safari Facelift in Galactic Sapphire on Saturday. I've decided to go with Ceramic Coating rather than PPF after we've had bad experiences with PPF yellowing and cracking on previous vehicles.
I would love recommendations for SystemX, Geyon, etc authorised installers that the community would recommend in Mumbai.
The information online is spotty at best.
Thanks in advance

[AJ56]

Originally Posted by pragyaal

I need some advice regarding ceramic coating over PPF. I have received multiple answers from different people. 3M informed me that if I apply ceramic coat over PPF, then the self healing property of PPF will not work. The reason being that self healing happens because of stretching and contraction of the film and if I apply ceramic coat then the film will only get stiffer.

Some others have said that to preserve PPF, one should apply coating regularly. The reason for this is that hydrophobic capability of the film improves, can someone shed some light on the correct procedure to achieve this.

Self healing doesn’t happen due to the film stretching and contracting, it happens due to a self levelling polymer that’s applied over the PPF, this ‘flows’ upon the application of heat and fills in minor swirls. In some films like Carpro Immortal, no heat is necessary to start the process.

This is why self healing comes with no warranty (irrespective of brand) as the self levelling effect is short lived (the polymer can only self level a finite amount of times.)

In my experience and testing I’ve yet to come across a film that lost its self heal ability after ceramic was applied. Including the 3M pro series I might add.

It’s true that adding a coating greatly helps with self cleaning and hydrophobic properties making washing and maintenance very easy. Also, you don’t need to apply a coating regularly, pro coatings last many years provided you wash safely.

In fact there are many brands like Expel that have launched their own ceramic coatings (Expel Fusion) to go with their self healing PPF. If the installer is claiming something incorrect, they are best avoided in my opinion.

[rving]

Originally Posted by blackbirdnrd

Hello Everyone,

I will be taking delivery of My Tata Safari Facelift in Galactic Sapphire on Saturday. I've decided to go with Ceramic Coating rather than PPF after we've had bad experiences with PPF yellowing and cracking on previous vehicles.
I would love recommendations for SystemX, Geyon, etc authorised installers that the community would recommend in Mumbai.
The information online is spotty at best.
Thanks in advance

Hi,

I strongly recommend OCD detail studio at Andheri, he's authorised for Artdeshine coatings. What matters more than the brand is the paint prep and requires experience and skills. He has loads of both and is honest and straightforward. Had used his services twice and can vouch

[F1amit]

Hello, I am in process of buying KIA Seltos in Mumbai.
I am planning to get Ceramic coating done on Seltos after delivery. I have already received quote from dealership for package that includes Ceramic Coating, Underbody Antirust & Silencer coating. But wanted to scout for various options available outside to get a better deal.

Any suggestions on good detailers in Mumbai especially in western suburbs between Santacruz and Goregaon?

Also if anyone of you has recently done ceramic coating for Seltos, appreciate if you can share cost for the same.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by F1amit

Any suggestions on good detailers in Mumbai especially in western suburbs between Santacruz and Goregaon?

I would recommend OCD Detail Studio at Jogeshwari near Infinity Mall for a ceramic coating. You could get in touch with Sumant on
+91 98200 94089.

No affiliation, just a happy customer.

Cheers