[maverhick]

In Mumbai how does one decide between Kamyo & 3M esp for high end vehicles ?

Thanks

[Tejas@perioimpl]

I usually decide based on recommendations. Thats how most people do in any city.

Probably another factor would be cost to help your decision.

[Tanveer_2558]

Originally Posted by maverhick

In Mumbai how does one decide between Kamyo & 3M esp for high end vehicles ?

Thanks

I am confused for the same, Cant decide to select either of them. Specially when both have mostly good reviews and both are almost similarly priced.

[lamborghini]

For me, Kamyo was easy to choose:
- Excellent reviews!
- Comes home
- Great post-service attitude. In case anything is missed out and noticed later, I believe he is happy to rectify the same.

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by maverhick

In Mumbai how does one decide between Kamyo & 3M esp for high end vehicles ?

Thanks

I have tried both and preferred Kamyo purely based on end result. That being said 3m could also be good depending on the location you get it done from. I did mine from Andheri once and the only other close one is Worli where GTO got his beamer done that didn't turn out good enough.

3M has hiked it's rates too of late for high end cars and it's not worth the price. Frankly, I find Kamyo pretty pricey too especially since he does not use any branded products like 3m does to somewhat justify their pricing which used to be at par or cheaper than Kamyo.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by Sahil

I have tried both and preferred Kamyo purely based on end result. That being said 3m could also be good depending on the location you get it done from. I did mine from Andheri once and the only other close one is Worli where GTO got his beamer done that didn't turn out good enough.

3M has hiked it's rates too of late for high end cars and it's not worth the price. Frankly, I find Kamyo pretty pricey too especially since he does not use any branded products like 3m does to somewhat justify their pricing which used to be at par or cheaper than Kamyo.

The BMW, Merc, Audi and VW paints are hard whereas Maruti,toyota ,nissan etc are soft. 3M uses a single cutting compound for all the paints irrespective of their hardness. On hard paints this results in incomplete swirl removal and on soft paints it results in too much paint removal. That's why one should avoid them like plague if you own a high end car!

You can ask Kamyo on what products he uses. If he is using genuine high quality well known brands then he should not have any problem in disclosing the details. If not then there is something fishy. Also check if he is actually removing the surface defects completely or just doing a partial swirl removal followed by filling up the swirls with Glaze. Why i have this doubt is almost all the cars on this thread detailed by him have a very wet look . A glaze gives that kind of wet look. But it will just wash off after a single wash!

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

The BMW, Merc, Audi and VW paints are hard whereas Maruti,toyota ,nissan etc are soft. 3M uses a single cutting compound for all the paints irrespective of their hardness. On hard paints this results in incomplete swirl removal and on soft paints it results in too much paint removal. That's why one should avoid them like plague if you own a high end car!

You can ask Kamyo on what products he uses. If he is using genuine high quality well known brands then he should not have any problem in disclosing the details. If not then there is something fishy. Also check if he is actually removing the surface defects completely or just doing a partial swirl removal followed by filling up the swirls with Glaze. Why i have this doubt is almost all the cars on this thread detailed by him have a very wet look . A glaze gives that kind of wet look. But it will just wash off after a single wash!

He's defiantly not using any branded stuff as he claims they are his own formulations. Hence my sketisicm.

Your observation of soft and hard paint maybe valid but I am yet to come across a detailer that takes that into account and uses the best suitable product accordingly.

[devilwearsprada]

Originally Posted by Sahil

He's defiantly not using any branded stuff as he claims they are his own formulations. Hence my sketisicm.

Your observation of soft and hard paint maybe valid but I am yet to come across a detailer that takes that into account and uses the best suitable product accordingly.

Slightly OT, but Dazzle, a detailing studio run by Jaspreet aka Notorious on the forum is on the right step in that regard.
I have got my friends shifted from 3M to his studio after seeing his brilliant work.
The correct steps as far as I know are:
1. Paint Coat Tester to check how thick is the paint in microns, and what panel requires what level of swirling.
2. Basic wash and clay down.
3. Cutting Compound depending on the levels to be used, for different panels.
4. Sealant/Wax.

If your detailer is following this step, its on the right path.
However, most indian detailers(they call themselves that) do not even check the paint thickness hence end up detailing all panels the same way.
And 3M sadly is on top with using the same compound for detailing both a swift and a CGT.
The sad part being swift is painted with dupont/2K and the CGT with Standox/Glasurit which are two completely different paints.

P.S. : No commercial affiliation. Just what he told me once and I saw.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by Sahil

He's defiantly not using any branded stuff as he claims they are his own formulations. Hence my sketisicm.

Your observation of soft and hard paint maybe valid but I am yet to come across a detailer that takes that into account and uses the best suitable product accordingly.

For Euro cars and other high end cars with a harder clear coat, he does use a German product, I forget the name though. Its for the other cars that he uses a product of his own formulation. Do note I am talking about the polish itself, the compound and glaze used are his own.

Honestly they seem to last long enough. Or rather as long as my car washer lets them.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by Sahil

He's defiantly not using any branded stuff as he claims they are his own formulations. Hence my sketisicm.

Your observation of soft and hard paint maybe valid but I am yet to come across a detailer that takes that into account and uses the best suitable product accordingly.

Originally Posted by akshay1234

For Euro cars and other high end cars with a harder clear coat, he does use a German product, I forget the name though. Its for the other cars that he uses a product of his own formulation. Do note I am talking about the polish itself, the compound and glaze used are his own.

Honestly they seem to last long enough. Or rather as long as my car washer lets them.

If he is not using any branded stuff then i would not be comfortable dealing with him . Detailing product manufacture companies put in a lot of R&D effort with chemists to formulate the right product . A simple formulation by hand wont come anywhere near the rightly formulated products.

There are professional detailers who consider the aspects of hard and soft paint and use the pad + polish combo accordingly. There are few in Mumbai too. Using a single product and pad combo across paints is like going to RFC challenge with H/T tyres and thinking of getting pole position. Also one should be wary if the detailer is using a wool pad across cars. Wool pads are the harshest and remove defects quickly.But they also cause micro marring on the surfaces which need to be corrected using a finishing polish step. Hence wool pads must be used only on heavily neglected paints after ensuring that the foam pads are not correcting the paint. I can go all day on the detailing steps but there is a dedicated thread to that. Summarising

1. Pad + Polish combo must be used after inspecting the paint condition and trying out a test spot. There is no magic combination that works across paints.

2.A proper detailing session should have the steps :Wash->Clay->Compound(Remove major defects)->Finish(remove marring left behind by compounding) ->Sealant .

3.Glaze SHOULD NOT be used. Easy way to test this is to wash the car a week or two after detailing. After wash and dry the car and spray water over the bonnet. If the water does not bead up then there is nothing on the surface protecting your paint and the detailer has pulled a fast one on you. That is why it is important to know what products the detailer is using for each of the steps mentioned above.

[manish84]

I used Kamyo interior+exterior detailing services for my 2.5 years old Maruti Dzire this week. This was its first ever detailing in past 25,000 km. I am very happy with the results - the car looks brand new!

Background
I have been using this Dzire from past 18 months. Since I have to park it roadside 5 days a week, it was in dire need of detailing. Add to the fact that since the car cleaner uses the same water bucket, there were innumerable marks on the door panels.

I had used 3M detailing (Borivali W) for my Ikon and was very happy with it. However, after I shifted to Colaba, the only 3M service center nearby was in Worli. I visited the Worli franchise to get an assessment of the car. They had only one bay for work and gave an estimate of 8k for interior+exterior detailing. I was neither impressed nor convinced and hence decided against it. Since I was keeping super busy this week, I thought a home detailing would be a perfect solution. Talked to Jehangir and he gave a much lesser quote for the work. So booked an appointment for Thursday.

Workmanship
A team of 4 arrived at the scheduled time. The total time they took was 5 hours. Since I was not present, I could not check on the material and products used. However, my parents tell me that the 4 of them were very sincere and hardworking. The price seems to be justified for 20 man-hours and the end result.

Pictures

The doors had the maximum scratches to be cleaned out:


The above image edited for maximum shadow to show the level of scratches that were removed in detailing:


Beige door panels had lots of dirt and shoe marks which were cleaned:


Alloys and nuts were cleaned:


Beige leatherate were very dirty and were cleaned immaculately.
Driver Seat:


Rear Seat:


Some more pics of post detailing:








The next day Jehangir chatted with me for a feedback. He was eager to hear both the good and the bad part of it. Told him about my impressions. With the increased prices of 3M, Kamyo prices are at an advantage. However, Kamyo's website state extra charges (1500-3000) for dark colors which is a downer. So for a dark color car, their services would be more expensive/at-par with 3M.

All in all, I am very happy with the work . Will definitely use their service again for my GT Polo which comes tomorrow

[Tanveer_2558]

Originally Posted by manish84

I used Kamyo interior+exterior detailing services for my 2.5 years old Maruti Dzire this week. This was its first ever detailing in past 25,000 km. I am very happy with the results - the car looks brand new!

Background
I have been using this Dzire from past 18 months. Since I have to park it roadside 5 days a week, it was in dire need of detailing. Add to the fact that since the car cleaner uses the same water bucket, there were innumerable marks on the door panels.

I had used 3M detailing (Borivali W) for my Ikon and was very happy with it. However, after I shifted to Colaba, the only 3M service center nearby was in Worli. I visited the Worli franchise to get an assessment of the car. They had only one bay for work and gave an estimate of 8k for interior+exterior detailing. I was neither impressed nor convinced and hence decided against it. Since I was keeping super busy this week, I thought a home detailing would be a perfect solution. Talked to Jehangir and he gave a much lesser quote for the work. So booked an appointment for Thursday.

Workmanship
A team of 4 arrived at the scheduled time. The total time they took was 5 hours. Since I was not present, I could not check on the material and products used. However, my parents tell me that the 4 of them were very sincere and hardworking. The price seems to be justified for 20 man-hours and the end result.

The next day Jehangir chatted with me for a feedback. He was eager to hear both the good and the bad part of it. Told him about my impressions. With the increased prices of 3M, Kamyo prices are at an advantage. However, Kamyo's website state extra charges (1500-3000) for dark colors which is a downer. So for a dark color car, their services would be more expensive/at-par with 3M.

All in all, I am very happy with the work . Will definitely use their service again for my GT Polo which comes tomorrow

Thanks for the pictures and to share your experience The car looks like new! As you mentioned their site mentions extra charges for dark colors, And i feel the tempest metallic blue would mostly fall in that catagory, The prices would be really close to 3M and this is where i can't makeup my mind and select either of them.

[Akshay1234]

Just something I learned a few days ago. Kamyo now uses branded products like Meguiars and Instafinish. Apparently they have been using them for a few months.

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

Just something I learned a few days ago. Kamyo now uses branded products like Meguiars and Instafinish. Apparently they have been using them for a few months.

Finally! This was my biggest issue with their service. I will schedule an appointment with him this month.

Hope he hasn't hiked his rates because of the branded products?

[maverhick]

Originally Posted by Sahil

Finally! This was my biggest issue with their service. I will schedule an appointment with him this month.

Hope he hasn't hiked his rates because of the branded products?

No, they haven't. Used them late December