New car detailing

[Tywais]

I will probably be getting a new car soon and studying what to do after purchase. Most detailing forums or sites say not to rely upon the factory/dealership wax and have it done professionally right after getting the car. There is a detailing service center near me and they have pretty high end product lines. Here are some of my options.

1. Ceramic coating. The shop offers Gtechniq Crystal Serum Lite and Gtechniq Crystal Serum. The former with 3 year warranty and the 2nd with 5 years due to longer durability. They offer a basic package and a full package. The basic package is exterior paint only, the full package is everything on the exterior and interior including the glass.

2. Wax/sealant. They offer Meguiar's product line. Studying the difference between wax and sealant, the latter is synthetic wax with no actual organic wax in it.

3. I read about quick detailing spray so will probably get a bottle to keep in the car for those occasional bird or tree drops.

Both product lines seem to be highly rated. Which way would you recommend to go of the two above options? What advantage/disadvantage with each other than cost?

Also considering using V-Cool vk70 for window film, quite expensive but is it worth it?

I've read some caveats about ceramic coating and if not done properly can be a major issue. And it is very time sensitive between application and buff off.

This article that makes me nervous and don't really know how well the detail shop will do the job. How to destroy your paint in a few minutes with Crystal Serum

[JoeW]

There are no real disadvantages in getting your car ceramic coated from the start as it will protect your paint-job from scratches, etc.

However, do ask them to also remove the orange peel from the car if you want the best results.

Also go and look online for a few other shops in Bangkok to get a better idea of the price, because some shops can charge up to 45,000 baht for a small car.

While others charge half of that.

If you want a guarantee that the coating is done properly then I recommend glasscoatingclub (G2C) in Ekkamai.

Their staff are trained in Japan at Threebond HQ before they can start to work on cars.

[Tywais]

Also go and look online for a few other shops in Bangkok to get a better idea of the price, because some shops can charge up to 45,000 baht for a small car.

Thanks for the info. I forgot to mention in the OP I'm located in Chiang Mai.

Another question I forgot to ask and what kind of maintenance is required for the ceramic? The shop mentions that checkups 2 times a year is included in the cost.

[Ace of Pop]

The Window Film question isnt easy to work out. I have it because its nearly clear and i night drive. As for Heat, well any new ride is down to 25 very quickly so dont know what the benchmark is and cant say ive noticed better cooling. Main difference is distortion free side windows, and it doesn't go blury with age like Lamina and the cheap free stuff i had to take off to see in the dark safely. I will have it again though. It just feels right somehow.

[Tywais]

The Window Film question isnt easy to work out. I have it because its nearly clear and i night drive. As for Heat, well any new ride is down to 25 very quickly so dont know what the benchmark is and cant say ive noticed better cooling. Main difference is distortion free side windows, and it doesn't go blury with age like Lamina and the cheap free stuff i had to take off to see in the dark safely. I will have it again though. It just feels right somehow.

Looking at the specs on the V-Cool V70 it has 70% visible light transmission, which matches the 30% shading I planned on, 99% UV rejection and 94% Infrared rejection. The last number VKxx is the amount of light transmission. VK30 too dark but looks great on a black car. Prices I've seen from 29,000 to 35,000 Baht. Their FB page shows a pretty big reduction if you get it at the Bangkok Motor Show.

This lets you see what it looks like on your car and can select the color of your car - http://v-koolgroup.com/index.php?op=filmtest-index

[JAS21]

SolarFX now have a agent in your area.

Go for ceramic window film ...looks darkish from the outside but you can see out okay .loads of topics here if you search

[JAS21]

JoeW, on 19 Mar 2016 - 13:27, said:

There are no real disadvantages in getting your car ceramic coated from the start as it will protect your paint-job from scratches, etc.

However, do ask them to also remove the orange peel from the car if you want the best results.

Also go and look online for a few other shops in Bangkok to get a better idea of the price, because some shops can charge up to 45,000 baht for a small car.

While others charge half of that.

If you want a guarantee that the coating is done properly then I recommend glasscoatingclub (G2C) in Ekkamai.

Their staff are trained in Japan at Threebond HQ before they can start to work on cars.

Certainly removing the orange peel will give you the best result BUT orange peel also acts as a protector... the motorbike goes down the side ... with luck it will polish out more easily.

I left it on our EV and yes it doesn't look fantastic ... it's white anyway so will never look as good a dark colour. AND it takes hours to remove so is expensive.

[buythisdashcam]

Ceramic or any coating 3 years warranty isBS. Just pay for 1 time coating, around 10000, and know that you pay 3000 for the ingredients and 7000 for the labour (=very big profit for shop).

Paying for 3 years is like paying 1 or 2 more coating that you won't need before 3 years, so better pay for 1 time coating each time.

[IMHO]

It all depends on what level of finish you're looking for. Some are happy with the way cars look out of the showroom, some are prepared to spend time & money to improve upon that.

I'm assuming from the way you've posted that you're probably the kind of guy that takes your car down to the local car wash place every couple/few weeks and gets a basic wash. If that's the case, the top recommendation is glass coating - mainly because of it's resistance to scratches and swirls (the latter is almost inevitable if getting cheap car washes), but also because you can forget about your paint protection for the next 1-2 years.

The only time I'd recommend a wax or sealant for a new car is if you are/have aspirations to become a detailing DIY'r.

[IMHO]

SolarFX now have a agent in your area.

Go for ceramic window film ...looks darkish from the outside but you can see out okay .loads of topics here if you search

+1 for ceramic. I have used practically everything else before - ceramic wins, so long as you're happy with black and don't want some other color windows.

Huper Optik, SolarFX and Cardinal seem to be all respected brands in Thailand. Huper Optik seems to be the #1 choice of BMW owners worldwide, while SolarFX is very popular in the USA.

All of them are going to cost about half that price you've quoted.

http://huperoptikcorp.com/

http://www.solarfxthailand.com/

http://www.cardinalfilm.com/

Edited March 20, 2016 by IMHO

[Tywais]

It all depends on what level of finish you're looking for. Some are happy with the way cars look out of the showroom, some are prepared to spend time & money to improve upon that.

I'm assuming from the way you've posted that you're probably the kind of guy that takes your car down to the local car wash place every couple/few weeks and gets a basic wash. If that's the case, the top recommendation is glass coating - mainly because of it's resistance to scratches and swirls (the latter is almost inevitable if getting cheap car washes), but also because you can forget about your paint protection for the next 1-2 years.

I did another forum search on the subject and found quite a lot of good information that you had posted on the subject. Also thanks for the film recommendation, will look into the ceramic film.

Actually, I'm rather obsessive/compulsive when it comes to how my car is maintained and looks. It's split between a shop doing the washing and myself depending on the temperature outside. I don't have the stamina and energy I once had to do it, I end up dripping wet in sweat and beat. It's the shammying and drying that is the killer for me. This is the condition of my car taken today at 6+ years old. Actually for the first 2-3 years I wouldn't let anyone touch the car and did all my own cleaning, didn't trust them.

The hood has some rock chips and even a couple of places that peeled back a small strip. Will be taking it in for fixing those as I have 1st class insurance to cover it. Need to make it perfect for sell. The interior is nearly show room condition, as I said I'm a bit OCD on my cars.

[IMHO]

It all depends on what level of finish you're looking for. Some are happy with the way cars look out of the showroom, some are prepared to spend time & money to improve upon that.

I'm assuming from the way you've posted that you're probably the kind of guy that takes your car down to the local car wash place every couple/few weeks and gets a basic wash. If that's the case, the top recommendation is glass coating - mainly because of it's resistance to scratches and swirls (the latter is almost inevitable if getting cheap car washes), but also because you can forget about your paint protection for the next 1-2 years.

I did another forum search on the subject and found quite a lot of good information that you had posted on the subject. Also thanks for the film recommendation, will look into the ceramic film.

Actually, I'm rather obsessive/compulsive when it comes to how my car is maintained and looks. It's split between a shop doing the washing and myself depending on the temperature outside. I don't have the stamina and energy I once had to do it, I end up dripping wet in sweat and beat. It's the shammying and drying that is the killer for me. This is the condition of my car taken today at 6+ years old. Actually for the first 2-3 years I wouldn't let anyone touch the car and did all my own cleaning, didn't trust them.

The hood has some rock chips and even a couple of places that peeled back a small strip. Will be taking it in for fixing those as I have 1st class insurance to cover it. Need to make it perfect for sell. The interior is nearly show room condition, as I said I'm a bit OCD on my cars.

Drying should be the easiest part of the process..

If you have a good ceramic/glass coating, or an active good wax/sealant layer with hydrophobic properties, water should bead up on the paint rather than stick to it. Once you have this surface quality, all you need to do is run a slow stream from a garden hose over the wet car, and you can remove about 90% or more of the water. From there it's just a very quick "flash wipe" with a waffle-weave drying towel and you're done!

You don't have to move as slowly as this guy, but this is the basic technique:

And this is the drying towel that has no equal (IMHO):

http://www.meguiars.com/en/automotive/products/x2000-water-magnetreg-microfiber-drying-towel/#usJARfC8gDDSu1rK.97

Anyways, back to what to use - I still recommend the ceramic/glass coating. If you're not going to go to the lengths of orange peel removal it's a very easy/cheap DIY - not much different to applying and removing a good wax. It costs around 1000 Baht for enough product to do 2-3 cars in a mid range formulation (5-6H on the Mohs scale) with decent hydrophobic properties, or up to 6,700 Baht for my favorite 2-step formulation (Kessho Diamond) with super hydrophobic properties, and ultimate (10H) scratch protection - again, that buys enough to do 2-3 cars.

Edited March 20, 2016 by seedy
fotos

[bangkokairportlink]

Hello,

 

Do you know if Meguiar liquid wax can be used on coating ? Or is it useless to make the car more shiny ? Thanks.

[bberrythailand]

On 5/9/2017 at 6:07 PM, bangkokairportlink said:

Hello,

 

Do you know if Meguiar liquid wax can be used on coating ? Or is it useless to make the car more shiny ? Thanks.

 

It won't last long on a glass coating...