[jfxavier]

I had got this car pre-owned.
When I did the pre-purchase inspection, I knew that I had to do something about the paint as well as the plastics etc.

The car has been cleaned/ washed by the drivers etc. of the previous owner.

It showed up as the various scratches on the paint & plastics which you see when you inspect closely only.

I must say overall the car was in good condition for an untrained eye. Many of the flaws can only be seen if you know what you are looking for. The fact that no denting/ painting job was done on the car made me feel more comfortable as I knew that there has been no major incidents with the car.

After purchase I chose Travancore Auto Spa for doing the detailing inside/ out.

Gireesh (Travancore Auto Spa) is very thorough and maintains high standards.


Gireesh is passionate about car detailing and does this as his project apart from the regular job that he has at Technopark.
In my case he was not satisfied with the results in one particular area and did the coating again to rectify the flaws.

Based on my experience with them I would recommend them highly.




Here is a step by step description of the jobs done
(Also included the links to actual products used to give a clear idea, Thanks for Gireesh for providing the details)

First and foremost activity is to begin with is the eco snow wash, which includes


1. Brush and clean the tires with curved shape tire brush to get an effective cleaning
http://www.autogeek.net/tire-scrub-brush.html
2. Clean Alloys with an APC (All Purpose Cleaner) and foam first

3. Use 'Wheel Brush' to clean inside of the alloys. which is chemical resistant flexible brush
http://www.autogeek.net/ezdebrfca.html
4. Use wheel lug nut cleaning brush with drill tool to clean the wheel nuts
http://www.drillbrush.com/drill-brush-for-lugnuts/

5. Wash well with high pressure washer
6. Spray tar removers on alloys to remove tar deposits, followed by high pressure washer
7. Spry Gyeon IRON on all alloys to get a deep clean
http://www.gyeonquartz.com/product-guide/q2m-iron
8. Wash with high pressure water


After this before going to full car wash, "polishing" of all windows glasses and windshield was done. This was done before wash to avoid cleaning the car again after the polish job.
First step to only wash the glass parts with high pressure washer and foam. Once cleaned they secured all plastic, paint parts edges with masking tape to avoid running over then when doing the glass polishing.
After completing all glasses with machine polishing, a full car wash was done with eco friendly foam. After wash and dry, the polishing activities started.

Before deciding on the kind of treatment an inspection of the paint condition was carried out. They also did a test spot to see how well the paint responded to the polishing compounds and pads, starting with the least aggressive product and pad. In this case they decided to do "sanding" on the bonnet and boot and started with machine sanding those areas. Some of the scratches were not getting removed with compounds and the defects where more in the these places and also wanted to make sure of a perfect finish in these highly visible areas. 3M sanding disc and Flex DA machine were used for sanding and Flex DA machine for polishing.

Other parts of the areas were clayed and sanded based on the issues found. Sanding was done in couple of places to remove some deep scratches, other places they did claying to get a smooth finish. Also used carpro flash pad to do some spot corrections on the paint. Have used lake country CCS foam pads.
Used Waterspot remover to remove the heavy water spot deposit noticed in the back of the hood.

Polishing was done with Menzerna FG400 & SF4000 polishing compounds, topped with "CarPro reflect"

http://www.carpro-us.com/paint-polis...-polish-500ml/
http://www.autogeek.net/menzerna-fast-gloss-fg400.html
http://www.autogeek.net/menzerna-super-nano-polish.html

Also used chrome polish to polish all chrome parts, like around the window glasses, front grill etc

Microfiber towels were used to have a scratch free wipe down and polish removal after every layer of machine polishing.
http://www.greenzcarcare.com/cobra-gold-plush-deluxe

Once the polishing is done, a polish wipe down was done using Gyeon Q2 Prep, to remove any oily residues.
http://www.gyeonquartz.com/product-guide/q2m-prep

After the final cleanup was done, started with coating of Gyeon Q2 Mohs, one panel at a time using the 'SUEDE CLOTHS' (use and throw). Wiped any excess products after every application in 1-2 minutes to have a uniform coating without any streaking. For this they used regular microfiber cloths with edges folded inside to avoid scratches.
http://www.gyeonquartz.com/product-guide/q2-mohs

Had to wait for an hour+ before next layer was applied and repeated the coating of the next layer using new set of suede cloths. Left the vehicle for more than a day (Recommended : at least 12 hrs) before using the Gyeon Cure. In this case they had applied the cure on Monday morning and the coating was completed at Saturday evening.

Other procedures(a parallel activity).

Alloy coating :

Wiped with a clean microfiber cloth to remove any dust, Clean with Gyeon Prep to remove any oily residues etc. Applied coating of Gyeon Q2 RIM. Did the coating on one alloy and moved to the next, came back and wiped the previous coating.
http://www.gyeonquartz.com/product-guide/q2-rim

Plastic parts coating:

All plastic parts are already cleaned as part of the wash process, including the engine bay area using APC, Used Gyeon Q2 TRIM with suede cloths to apply TRIM on all plastic parts, including Engine bay, Rear mirrors, Plastic parts below the windshield, Front grill, fog cover, mud flaps and finally Headlight and tail lamps.

http://www.gyeonquartz.com/product-guide/q2-trim

Coating on the windshield and side glasses:
They had used a glass cleaner to clean front windshield, rear windows and side mirrors.

Applied the coating in cross motion first and then circular motion over the first layer to have a uniform coating to cover all glass areas.
http://www.gyeonquartz.com/product-guide/q2-view


Tyre coating:

After applying Gyeon tire, heated the applied area lightly using Bosch heat gun to make sure it got cured fast for a long life.
http://www.gyeonquartz.com/product-guide/q2-tire

Interiors:

Cleaned with Leather cleaner and Foam cleaner and left to dry.
http://www.autokrom.com/prod_Int_Uph...yCleaner.shtml
http://www.autokrom.com/prod_Int_LeatherCleaner.shtml

Interior leather areas are protected with Gyeon Q2 Leather coat - which was done on Sunday night and left to dry.

http://www.gyeonquartz.com/product-guide/q-leathercoat


As a final step, on Monday morning, used GTechnique T1 to protect all rubber parts which are there in the door jams and other areas, plus a layer over the plastic parts.


http://gtechniq.com/products/t1-tyre-and-trim

I am attaching some before / after pictures for easy ref.


Engine bay



ORVM



Beadings


Likes:
Very nice work atmosphere. Neat workshop.
Thorough work on the paintwork & trims of the car.
Uses quality products.

Dislikes:
Bit higher on the pricing.
Could be a bit more thorough on the final inspection.
(Found a bit of the old glue still remaining on the inside of the glass - from removal of the sunfilm the car came with.)

The most important factor of the whole job is durability, and that is something which has to be seen after a few months of use.
Will update on the same in due course.

Pricing:
I was charged 20,000/- for the jobs as described above

Contact information:
Gireesh,
Mob: 9995500024
E-mail : care@travancoreautospa.in
Address: Travancore Auto Spa, Maruthankuzhi, Thiruvananthapuram

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Team-BHP Directory. Thanks for sharing!

[anilagdr]

Thanks a lot for this information. The pictures spoke a thousand words. Please keep updating in between.

[deathwalkr]

Good review. I went there once for a normal foam car wash and was pretty happy with their service. Cost was Rs.400 in and out. Also ended up buying micro fiber towels from them [They have a good range of them]

[jfxavier]

The major test for any coating will be the durability.
Right now, the car is on the road in the middle of a 7000 km long trip.
Washing mostly done by the hotel staff. Cannot be worst.
Will update after I get back home and do a proper cleaning and waxing etc.

[govigov]

I had visited them in the past and I was pretty happy with their service. They also have a wide range of products.

I believe they also stock the 'chemical guys' series of products as well.

[jfxavier]

After the long 7000 km trip, the car was inspected and found that some of the over-enthusiastic cleaners (probably at some hotels) has caused various scratches.
After cleaning properly, they can be seen.
Girish was not happy at all with the way the car had been treated.
He offered to re-do the entire coating for just the material cost.
I agreed and told that will take the car back at a suitable time in the near future.

[jfxavier]

The coating was repaired sometime back (maybe three weeks ago).
Here are some pictures of the car after three weeks use (pics. taken after washing by myself).

Water beading off the tyre


Water run off after wash


After a wipe down


Boot after water wash


Rear after a wipe down

[greyhound82]

Does anyone have any recent experiences with them? I'm curious how they are in 2024.

[Kkumar]

Originally Posted by greyhound82

Does anyone have any recent experiences with them? I'm curious how they are in 2024.

Yes. Last month I did the detailing of my car (Tata Safari) and the result was very good. In fact I have been using his service since 2015 and it's worth every penny spent. Apart from detailing I also carried out Garware heat resistant sunfilm installation which helped to reduce the temperature inside by a great extent.

[Nanolover]

Just used the interior cleaning services for my indigo xl. The interior was in a real shabby state post the paint job and years of neglect.

They did a thorough job and it's back to its shining former self. Will post pictures later. Was charged 2000 bucks ( 2500 is the going rate) after a bit of negotiations, since i didnot need interior and carpet vacuuming.