The Devil Is In The Detailing

[Bikeman315]

My vote is to just let them wash the car and either blow dry it or leave it wet and deliver that way.

The damage starts the second they put a wash mitt on it. Leaving it wet can create water spots which can be tough to remove (unless they are using filtered water).

Best recourse is to talk to your dealers service manager. Express your concerns and learn how they do things. Only them can you make an educated decision as to how to proceed.

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[hbash]

The damage starts the second they put a wash mitt on it. Leaving it wet can create water spots which can be tough to remove (unless they are using filtered water).

Best recourse is to talk to your dealers service manager. Express your concerns and learn how they do things. Only them can you make an educated decision as to how to proceed.

I told the service manager to not wash the vehicle unless it is caked in mud and then only to wash it and not dry it. I plan on foam washing it as soon as I get home. Foam and blow dry that's all. In about a week (depends on detailer scheduler), I get Ceramic Pro coating.

 

[Charlemagne]

I'm thinking about doing the ceramic myself, can't be that much more difficult than carnauba wax I did many times. 50 ml bottles of Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light with EXO on top will cost 5-7x less than what the detailer would ask for, plus separate preparation. Think manual polishing will do with a new car, I don't have the electric polisher.

 

[Les]

I was at a Ford Dealer a few days ago to see if they had any new brochures (they Didn’t). When I got back in my car I could see the wash bay where they wash new cars. I was just ready to press the start button when they drove a new black Mustang GT in. I decided to procrastinate for a minute. They had a bucket with soapy water and brush with a long handle. The guy sticks the brush in the bucket, runs the brush over the the front tire and rim then on to the hood of the car. Goes to the other side, runs the brush over the other front rim and tire then over the roof! (He hasn’t run water over the car with a hose yet!) Runs the brush along the bottom of the car then up side and so on! He took all the break dust from the rims and dragged it all over the car! I had this sick feeling just watching this Happen. My car sat in Michigan for 3 months before it shipped and it was really filthy when came in. I told the dealer DO NOT WASH IT! I took me about 6 hours my first time cleaning it. Then another 10 doing paint correction. If the dealer had washed it the way that guy washed the black GT I can’t imagine how long it would take to correct the mess he created! (If it could be corrected) Just my opinion, Don’t Let the Dealer Wash Your Car...... EVER!

 

[Bikeman315]

I was at a Ford Dealer a few days ago to see if they had any new brochures (they Didn’t). When I got back in my car I could see the wash bay where they wash new cars. I was just ready to press the start button when they drove a new black Mustang GT in. I decided to procrastinate for a minute. They had a bucket with soapy water and brush with a long handle. The guy sticks the brush in the bucket, runs the brush over the the front tire and rim then on to the hood of the car. Goes to the other side, runs the brush over the other front rim and tire then over the roof! (He hasn’t run water over the car with a hose yet!) Runs the brush along the bottom of the car then up side and so on! He took all the break dust from the rims and dragged it all over the car! I had this sick feeling just watching this Happen. My car sat in Michigan for 3 months before it shipped and it was really filthy when came in. I told the dealer DO NOT WASH IT! I took me about 6 hours my first time cleaning it. Then another 10 doing paint correction. If the dealer had washed it the way that guy washed the black GT I can’t imagine how long it would take to correct the mess he created! (If it could be corrected) Just my opinion, Don’t Let the Dealer Wash Your Car...... EVER!

 

[Bikeman315]

I'm thinking about doing the ceramic myself, can't be that much more difficult than carnauba wax I did many times. 50 ml bottles of Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light with EXO on top will cost 5-7x less than what the detailer would ask for, plus separate preparation. Think manual polishing will do with a new car, I don't have the electric polisher.

I would strongly suggest that you do a lot more reading on ceramic coatings before you proceed. It’s not rocket science but it’s not as easy as waxing a car. Prep is key, and just because your car is new doesn’t mean it will not need major prep work. Just keep these things in mind. Mistakes with these semipro coatings can time consuming and costly.

 

[hbash]

I'm thinking about doing the ceramic myself, can't be that much more difficult than carnauba wax I did many times. 50 ml bottles of Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light with EXO on top will cost 5-7x less than what the detailer would ask for, plus separate preparation. Think manual polishing will do with a new car, I don't have the electric polisher.

Check on youtube. There are several steps, including clay bar and orbital polishing.... I think beyond that, you have to do the application in a garage that's dust free and warm. It take a day or two to get it all done.

Also, I read something to look into regarding new paint and if one needs to wait some amount of time to apply the ceramic coat for the paint to dry/cure. Don't know for sure though...

 

[Charlemagne]

I still have months of time to read up on it

I don't have garage, hm. Might do it at cousin's place in the end, he did ceramic 5 times already, has polisher and offered to do it on mine but I wanted to do it myself than letting him touch my car, lol. Or suck it up and pay the price for 3 years lasting ceramic and save the time and effort...

 

[Bikeman315]

I still have months of time to read up on it

I think by the time the car finally gets to you the paint will have had time to cure. Funny that USA owners always complain about delivery times. Cannot image what you overseas chaps need to go through. I guess patience is really a virtue.

 

[hbash]

I still have months of time to read up on it

I don't have garage, hm. Might do it at cousin's place in the end, he did ceramic 5 times already, has polisher and offered to do it on mine but I wanted to do it myself than letting him touch my car, lol. Or suck it up and pay the price for 3 years lasting ceramic and save the time and effort...

To have it done here, the prices I have heard for Ceramic Pro (supposedly the best to use) range from 800 to 2000 USD. I'm going for 1500 and the detail is including a tint (not sure how much to tint yet though).

 

[Charlemagne]

The more time I have to think (thanks Ford...), the more expensive solutions I come up with, lol.

I think I'm almost decided for full car PPF using Magnus Pro. Stone chips and other scratching protection with self-healing layer with super hydrophobic nano layer and it doesn't require ceramic overcoat, might use my quality carnauba wax, but shouldn't be apparently necessary, 10 year warranty is great too. I want to avoid machine polishing and ceramic every few years and put saved money to this which will protect the paint better.

Anyone has experience with Magnus Pro or Xpel Ultimate Plus?

 

[hbash]

The more time I have to think (thanks Ford...), the more expensive solutions I come up with, lol.

I think I'm almost decided for full car PPF using Magnus Pro. Stone chips and other scratching protection with self-healing layer with super hydrophobic nano layer and it doesn't require ceramic overcoat, might use my quality carnauba wax, but shouldn't be apparently necessary, 10 year warranty is great too. I want to avoid machine polishing and ceramic every few years and put saved money to this which will protect the paint better.

Anyone has experience with Magnus Pro or Xpel Ultimate Plus?

What do you expect to spend? Also, I'm in NYC, where is an installer?
Thanks.

 

[Bikeman315]

What do you expect to spend? Also, I'm in NYC, where is an installer?
Thanks.

Howard, Unless Nick has moved recently I think he is in the Czech Republic.

 

[Bikeman315]

The more time I have to think (thanks Ford...), the more expensive solutions I come up with, lol.

I think I'm almost decided for full car PPF using Magnus Pro. Stone chips and other scratching protection with self-healing layer with super hydrophobic nano layer and it doesn't require ceramic overcoat, might use my quality carnauba wax, but shouldn't be apparently necessary, 10 year warranty is great too. I want to avoid machine polishing and ceramic every few years and put saved money to this which will protect the paint better.

Anyone has experience with Magnus Pro or Xpel Ultimate Plus?

So, to use Mangus Pro (It looks pretty good on their website) you need to wrap the entire car. Other wise you will still need to coat it to keep the wrapped sections and unwrapped sections looking the same. Are you now thinking of doing this? I cannot image this would be cheap.

 

[Charlemagne]

Yes, I'm thinking about full wrap. I'm waiting for a quote. Imagine it'll be 3-4k USD without VAT for Magnus Pro which I'd be willing to pay, but not much more, lol. Durability for 10+ years makes it sound better. Quality two layer ceramic with 3 years durability is almost 2k here too and provides no protection to chips.

I found discussion about Xpel on BMW forum, seems like combination of Xpel and ceramic is waste of money and the self-healing properties of Xpel sound really great from their experience.
https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1130745&page=2#30

Magnus Pro seems even better than Xpel actually since it's thicker and provides UV protection to paint as well, plus self-healing and hydrophobic.

I'm in Europe, we have detailers who do it here, from their contact page it looks like they're mostly oriented on the world than Western Europe but they have US headquarters. Not many reviews online. But you guys definitely have the Xpel available (which is more expensive, BMW forum says 7k for full wrap, damn).

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