[saurabhrai]

Can anyone recommend a good detailer for ceramic coating in Kolkata?

[IonHawk]

Originally Posted by AJ56

Go to someone who knows what they’re talking about, a quality pro coating on glass lasts well past 2 years, same for plastics (assuming it’s washed safely). Without any maintenance I might add.

Thank you. Found another detailer who would do Nano rubber (UNCR) coating for 30k and this would include all surfaces. Will probably go for that instead.

[Varun_HexaGuy]

Originally Posted by IonHawk

Hi all, enquired with Detailing Mafia (Whitefield Bangalore) on ceramic quoting for my Hyryder, they quoted 25k for 2 years (after discount 20k), 5 years for 40k but he says this doesn't cover glass, wheels, and plastic trim. All together it will cost 53k apparently, but he's also saying ceramic is not very effective on plastic and glass. Would like to get the views of the members as I've seen posts above talking about costing the plastics as well?
He's offering to do 5 years for 40k and additional Windshield and inner Piano black parts for free. Not sure if this makes sense. Would love to hear your suggestions please.

Sounds decent. I've however has mixed experiences from the Detailing Mafia chain. Since you are from Bengaluru, give Krithi Car Care a shot. Workmanship is something I can vouch for. The guys who run the place are knowledgeable. Take a quotation from them for comparison as well. A lot of BHPians from BLR have tried this and are satisfied. In my case, I drove down from Hyderabad to Bangalore for getting my car repainted. Sure enough, it was worth it.

Here are their contact details and location incase you need it:

KRITHI CAR CARE
091484 74707
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Jpu7wXkKGG56qJf29

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by saurabhrai

Can anyone recommend a good detailer for ceramic coating in Kolkata?

I often see their posts on Facebook and one R3 group member also mentioned this place is good.

Excellerate Motors

[thirdmainroad]

Having had ceramic coating done on my WRV over 4 years ago at a Ceramic Pro outlet - I can attest ceramic coats do work, but are a total waste, in my opinion.

I was an early customer to Ceramic pro, and they offered me the service at Rs 25,000 (in Jan 2019) with one year / 4 services. I bargained and said I’d take the 4 services over a course of 2 years and not one. Having the car come in every 2/3 months for a coat made no sense to me. They agreed.

Ceramic coating does keep your coat of paint in top shape. If you have any “glitter” finish, it enhances it. Think of it as a lightly protective layer over your paint. It does not do much to prevent scratches neither does the water repellent qualities last more than the initial couple of weeks. It does make it easy to pick up swirl marks while cleaning.

If you can keep your car scratch free, and get a top up coat every 6 months or so, ceramic coating is going to keep your car looking brand new for years. So this means after 4 free top ups, you have to “re subscribe” to the service by paying 30k or so again every year or two years depending on when your 4 services end.

And so - does it work? Yes! Can keep the exteriors in showroom condition for a long time!

Will I do it ever again? No! Makes sense to get the car repainted rather then getting the coat done.

Considering our driving conditions where small accidents and scratches are bound to happen, I do think ceramic coating and PPF are totally unnecessary and a total waste of money!

I do suppose it makes sense on high end cars! So if I ever get a Ferrari or Rolls Royce, this will be one of the first services I get for sure. But will I get this done on my brand new Taigun 1.5 GT? Nope!

[naga.sid]

Hello!

I spotted a ceramic wax spray by Turtle, alongwith a 3in1 spray.

Wanted informed opinion on whether either are useful and effective.

Wbr,
Naga Sid

[AJ56]

Originally Posted by thirdmainroad

are a total waste, in my opinion.

I was an early customer to Ceramic pro, and they offered me the service at Rs 25,000 (in Jan 2019) with one year / 4 services. I bargained and said I’d take the 4 services over a course of 2 years and not one. Having the car come in every 2/3 months for a coat made no sense to me. They agreed.

Whatever they were applying to your paint, rest assured it wasn’t a ceramic coating, as even entry level consumer grade coatings last well past 3 months, even paint sealants last longer than 3 months. Makes no sense to me why any shop would apply a coating, only to have it reapplied every few months, defeats the entire point of going for ceramic based protection.

Originally Posted by thirdmainroad

It does make it easy to pick up swirl marks while cleaning.

If you can keep your car scratch free, and get a top up coat every 6 months or so, ceramic coating is going to keep your car looking brand new for years. So this means after 4 free top ups, you have to “re subscribe” to the service by paying 30k or so again every year or two years depending on when your 4 services end.

I don’t understand how a coating makes getting swirls easier, if anything it reduces the risk of swirls by slightly bumping up the surface hardness.

You don’t need to pay anywhere near 30k or reapply the coating every 2 years, and one shouldn’t be polishing paint every 6 months even if cost is no object, it’s not healthy and reduces clearcoat thickness unnecessarily. I feel you were misled and not informed about safe washing technique by the guys who installed the coating.

Originally Posted by thirdmainroad

Considering our driving conditions where small accidents and scratches are bound to happen, I do think ceramic coating and PPF are totally unnecessary and a total waste of money!

Interestingly many folks would argue these rough traffic conditions are precisely the reason why one should get a PPF, to prevent the factory paint from being scratched and requiring a repaint.

If you wash and compare a coated vs uncoated car maybe you wouldn’t have that opinion, makes a night and day difference in ease of maintenance when you have a healthy coating on the paint, reduces time and effort by at least 50%.

Originally Posted by naga.sid

Hello!

I spotted a ceramic wax spray by Turtle, alongwith a 3in1 spray.

Wanted informed opinion on whether either are useful and effective.

Turtle Hybrid solutions ceramic wax is an excellent product, just IPA wipe and apply, easy wipe off too. The 3 in 1 detailer with SiO2 I’ve not used personally but it won’t be as durable as the spray wax, if you’re layering, use the quick detailer first followed by the spray wax.

[thirdmainroad]

^ Any coating shop offers 2/4 services where they reapply the coating. When I was at ceramic pro, they offered 4 services in a course of a year - which means a new coat every 3 months - which like you said makes no sense. So I got them to extend that to 2 years - a coat every 6 months which made more sense. And you definitely need to reapply every 6 months or so, failing which it’s as good as not getting it done. In other words, ceramic coating is not a permanent thing, but will fade away in 6-8 months.

Why ceramic or Teflon or PPF doesn’t make sense to me is however careful, you are bound to get a scrape or a scratch or a dent over the course of a year, especially if you run 20,000 to 30,000 km + every year like I do. PPF itself is more expensive than getting a panel repainted. PPF, Ceramic coating doesn’t really do much to protect scratches. Maybe they protect against minute scratches, but it’s not going to do anything to protect you from grazing another vehicle or pillar or post. Hell PPF hasn’t done much to protect my doors against brushing of hard twigs in wilderness roads. And even if it does, the PPF will take the damage leaving an ugly scar on it, and you have to replace it = more expensive than repainting the panel.

I don’t like dents or scratches on my vehicles and usually end up claiming insurance 2 times a year for body work. I always go for 0 depreciation with consumables cover, so my cost is Rs 1000 per claim. Body work is expensive and I usually end up claiming a lakh or so every year. I am happy to let go of my 10% or 25% no claim bonus as the savings in not big! Also note insurance is not going to cover PPF or other types of coating.

Ceramic coating will also lead you to some uncomfortable situations. Say you have a coating on and you get a scratch on the left side and you get that repaired. Now the left and the right are not going to look the same because the right side has the (old) coating. That means you gotta go in and get your left side done up.

I had the coating on my WRV, and not on my Ignis or i20. I found that under daily washing conditions of my gardener, the WRV with the coat was picking up swirls where as the other two with no coating were not!

[AJ56]

Originally Posted by thirdmainroad

In other words, ceramic coating is not a permanent thing, but will fade away in 6-8 months.

I don’t know what was applied to your paint, but see post #577 of mine on page 39 of this thread, that’s after 2+ years on a daily driver and no top up/maintenance done in between. Beads water like day 1 almost.

Pro coatings, when washed safely last well into the 3rd and 4th year without any reapplication. Anyone telling you otherwise is not being entirely honest. This isn’t my opinion, it’s my practical experience formed over observing hundreds of coated cars over many years.

I will add that if you dry wipe and ignore proper washing methods, you can ruin a 5 year coatings hydrophobic properties in well under 3-4 days.

Ceramic isn’t meant to protect against scratches, and it doesn’t. It protects your paint chemically from all the elements + UV damage and makes washing and drying a breeze. It’s like a paint sealant on steroids, if you don’t like coatings at least put a wax or polymer based sealant every 2-3 months on your car to protect the paint.

Originally Posted by thirdmainroad

Ceramic coating will also lead you to some uncomfortable situations. Say you have a coating on and you get a scratch on the left side and you get that repaired. Now the left and the right are not going to look the same because the right side has the (old) coating. That means you gotta go in and get your left side done up.

I had the coating on my WRV, and not on my Ignis or i20. I found that under daily washing conditions of my gardener, the WRV with the coat was picking up swirls where as the other two with no coating were not!

No they’ll look the same, as coatings are transparent and assuming your older coating is healthy and not swirled up there will be zero difference between the two panels assuming the body shop matched the left panel colour correctly to the rest of the body.

Unless your gardener followed different washing methods for the other two cars, I can assure you they would be as swirled as the WRV (Suzuki and Honda are both soft paints). You may not see the swirls as well on lighter colours that’s all.

[thirdmainroad]

Originally Posted by AJ56

I don’t know what was applied to your paint, but see post #577 of mine on page 39 of this thread, that’s after 2+ years on a daily driver and no top up/maintenance done in between. Beads water like day 1 almost.

Why do all shops offer a maintenance package on ceramic coating then? If you scroll up just a bit, there’s someone asking if he should go for a 2 year package or 5 years.

What you are saying about coating requires no maintenance has not been my experience. And that’s possibly why all shops offer maintenance packages on the coats. When you get your car back from ceramic coating, it will be shining and looking top notch. It then tends to slowly fade away and does require a re coat in about 6-8 months to get the shine back.

[quote=AJ56;5482917] No they’ll look the same, as coatings are transparent and assuming your older coating is healthy and not swirled up there will be zero difference between the two panels assuming the body shop matched the left panel colour correctly to the rest of the body.[quote]

Then you are effectively saying that ceramic coating doesn’t do anything or look different if a panel that’s got ceramic coating is going to look the same as a panel that doesn’t and has been newly repainted! Which also means that you don’t need to do ceramic coating in the first place!

In my experience Ceramic coating adds to the gloss and shine of the paint!

[AJ56]

Originally Posted by thirdmainroad

Why do all shops offer a maintenance package on ceramic coating then? If you scroll up just a bit, there’s someone asking if he should go for a 2 year package or 5 years.

All shops don’t, we don’t, and a few other credible ones I know personally also don’t offer periodic maintenance or mandatory top ups/reapplication.

For those that do, ask them every time they take a polisher to your paint and level the coating, will they open a fresh kit and reapply every time they do ‘maintenance’? Will 4-6 fresh kits be used when they’ve only charged you for one over the course of 2-3 years? Note I’m talking about reapplication/top ups and not the warranty/durability period on the coating, as certain more concentrate grades of pro coatings have longer durability, but it’s still a one time application.

Originally Posted by thirdmainroad

What you are saying about coating requires no maintenance has not been my experience. And that’s possibly why all shops offer maintenance packages on the coats. When you get your car back from ceramic coating, it will be shining and looking top notch. It then tends to slowly fade away and does require a re coat in about 6-8 months to get the shine back.

The reason it’s shiny is not because of the coating, it’s because of the machine polishing and paint correction done to remove swirls and ensure light reflects uniformly on the surface. You can apply the best coating in the world on swirled up paint and it won’t look anywhere near as good as paintwork that has been properly polished.

Why do new cars look shiny? There is no coating on them, but the paint is free of swirls and defects that take away from the gloss and clarity of the clearcoat.

The reason your coated cars lose gloss over time is due to improper washing that scratches the paint (and the coating), killing its hydrophobic properties and leading you to believe constant reapplication is necessary.

Originally Posted by thirdmainroad

Then you are effectively saying that ceramic coating doesn’t do anything or look different if a panel that’s got ceramic coating is going to look the same as a panel that doesn’t and has been newly repainted! Which also means that you don’t need to do ceramic coating in the first place!

In my experience Ceramic coating adds to the gloss and shine of the paint!

Yes, a panel that’s polished perfectly will look identical to a panel which has been coated. If you apply a transparent coating and the paint starts looking better, you did not polish and correct it properly. There will be obvious differences in water beading but if it’s dry, it will look the same.

If you only get a coating done for the visual aspects of it and not the long term protection and hydrophobic properties, then yes you’d be better off with a high level paint correction + sealant as it’ll be cheaper than a coating. Although not by much as multi step paint correction is a big part of the coating cost to begin with.

[AjayJoshuaN]

Just my thoughts:
Nowadays our mobile phones have gorilla glass, and are more scratch resistant, etc. But cars are made with delicate finishes and glossy which does not make sense considering the environment (road) in which they operate. They are definitely prone to scratches, bird droppings, mud, dust, scorching sun, rain, etc.

So I think they should be made with more tougher coatings? (I liked the idea of the Tesla Cybertruck using stainless steel, which sure is very tough, but it does not remove the problem of minor scratches though)

[Evyas]

Hi - have been recommended this ceramic coating by the car dealer - says he’ll get it done before delivery. Any reviews of this brand?

Getting it done for the first time so absolutely no idea about coatings whatsoever other than what I read on this great forum. Says it will cost 35K. Thanks in advance!

[Torq]

Originally Posted by Evyas

Attachment 2410535

Hi - have been recommended this ceramic coating by the car dealer - says he’ll get it done before delivery. Any reviews of this brand?

Getting it done for the first time so absolutely no idea about coatings whatsoever other than what I read on this great forum. Says it will cost 35K. Thanks in advance!

I don't know a lot about ceramic coatings and all but consider this.
My dealer used autotrek or something idk and charged 25k for ceramic coat (3 year bi-annual coats), silencer coat, underbody coat.

[Aakash29]

Hi Everyone,

Just got a new Kodiaq and turned down the dealer supplied 3m Ceramic Coat before delivery.

Now I feel that a coat might actually be required given the gloss black color.

DO we have a list here of which coatings are considered "pro grade" as referenced in quite a few posts on this thread.

Basically want to get an idea of which brands/ coatings to go for.

Also, looking for references for Good detailing shops in Gurgaon / Delhi NCR who know what they are doing and will go the extra mile in ensuring that the coating is properly done.

( PS; I had gotten a Crystal shield Graphene G10 Coat by Carzspa on my Tuscon 2 years back in Ahmedabad and felt it was worth it - The Ceramic Coat - Graphene was just a gimmik i feel)