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Sacramento Taxing, I paid 800 for ceramic and 2500 for PPF on the front and doors in LA
same. $799 here in SD. and that is for every exterior surface including wheels. they were nice enough to do the windshield too and i’m very curious if that will keep the glass from looking so pitted and old over time. right now i can’t believe how clean and new the glass looks! like getting a brand new pair of glasses lol
Thanks for clarifying PPF. I've not done much research on films because what I have done, it just seems like something I don't want to attempt myself, and like you say, to pay someone to do it, is very pricy. I'm a hands-on, DIY kind of guy when it comes to car cleaning. I've always been one to wax my cars 3x per year using Carnauba waxes, but they are only good for about 4 months. I discovered ceramic coating a few years ago once my kids started driving and I had more than 2 vehicles to wax throughout the year (5 vehicles in family at present). I went the do-it-yourself route after reading all kinds of reviews and decided on and was very happy with the results of the CarPro product. Since I hand-wash my vehicles about every 1-3 weeks it really does make cleaning much easier and shortens the time it takes to do it. Now when I get a new vehicle I ceramic coat immediately upon getting it home. The prep process is a whole lot easier with a new vehicle.
Do it yourself for about $100 total using CarPro CQuartz UK 3.0. Avoid the cheap ceramic coat products because I tried a $20 one once and it lasted only a few months. CarPro lasts 2 years and is worth it if you like a shiny, clean-looking car.
The detailer I use when I don't feel like washing it says he will do it for $450. I'm going to have him do it just waiting for the weather to get a little better here.
Thanks for the info I'll look at that product and see if I wanna tackle it myself save some more money.
I should mention that it's a 5 year warranty and includes a maintenance wash every 6 months. The process took about 4 hours and several coats were applied. I'm all for doing it yourself, but over 5 years the reapplications and time spent rubbing the lotion on your car will add up.
There is some technique involved when it comes to applying ceramic. It's not like waxing, and requires greater attention to detail. It's time consuming, especially the wheels. And the wheels are where you really want the ceramic because it makes them so much easier to clean.
2k seems like a lot up front, but it saves me valuable weekend time over the long run. I wish I would have known this years ago. I didn't adopt ceramic until more recently.
For those of you who paid < 1k to get a ceramic coat, what kind of warranty did you get?
Shops that specialize in this sort of thing typically offer warranties of varying lengths. That's what drives the cost. I could have gotten a 1 year warranty for a lot less, but I plan on owning the car longer than that so I went with the 5 year.
For those of you who paid < 1k to get a ceramic coat, what kind of warranty did you get?
Shops that specialize in this sort of thing typically offer warranties of varying lengths. That's what drives the cost. I could have gotten a 1 year warranty for a lot less, but I plan on owning the car longer than that so I went with the 5 year.
$2,400 for PPF back to front doors, ceramic coating for entire car. 7 year warranty but I take warranties on products like these with a grain of salt. (In Sacto for you SoCal guys)
To be clear, it’s not ceramic costing that gives off that nice shine to the car. It’s what’s done in the paint PRIOR to adding ceramic coat. That usually means paint correction which includes but is not limited to: claybar, compound, polish, and finally, coating. If the first few steps are done correctly, then all the ceramic coating will do is to protect the finished and corrected paint.
I used to DIY, but paint correction is very time-consuming and takes a lot of skill- esp on a black car. I using CarPro C Quartz UK in the past, I tried Glassparency Graphene Coating initially on the eTron. Super slick, but if you don't have the proper tools, lighting, garage, and a lot of time- it's better to take it to a pro. I finally took it to a Pro when I wasn't happy with the high spots and there were still some swirls.
In LA, the top Ceramic Pro dealer is Polished Protection in Signal Hill. I didn't get PPF on the eTron since it was a 2 year lease, but I had a ton of rock chips up front when I finally turned it in last week. eTron was treated to Ceramic Gold package with 2 stage paint correction 3 times in 1.5 years since 2 Audi dealerships chose to ignore my writtent and verbal request for NO CAR WASH. Initially, I got push back from all the wash damage (aka swirls) they put in, but they made it right where I took it back to Polished Protection to have paint correction and recoated with Ceramic Pro. $2450 on eTron.
I leased a new black/black optics Q5 for my mom last month and immediately took it to Polished Protection. It makes it so much easier to clean. A little less expensive than eTron since it's a small car and I'm a repeat customer. Well worth it. I skipped PPF on this lease too. (though I'm sure when the rock chips start showing up, I'll be pissed that I did~ $2200 for full front end wrap).
Polished Protection isn't cheap, but they do excellent work. Elite Finish Detailing in San Diego is another top-of-the-line shop that I've worked with in the past when I lived there and Bay Area OCD Detailing is another place in Northern CA.
I used to DIY, but paint correction is very time-consuming and takes a lot of skill- esp on a black car. I using CarPro C Quartz UK in the past, I tried Glassparency Graphene Coating initially on the eTron. Super slick, but if you don't have the proper tools, lighting, garage, and a lot of time- it's better to take it to a pro. I finally took it to a Pro when I wasn't happy with the high spots and there were still some swirls.
In LA, the top Ceramic Pro dealer is Polished Protection in Signal Hill. I didn't get PPF on the eTron since it was a 2 year lease, but I had a ton of rock chips up front when I finally turned it in last week. eTron was treated to Ceramic Gold package with 2 stage paint correction 3 times in 1.5 years since 2 Audi dealerships chose to ignore my writtent and verbal request for NO CAR WASH. Initially, I got push back from all the wash damage (aka swirls) they put in, but they made it right where I took it back to Polished Protection to have paint correction and recoated with Ceramic Pro. $2450 on eTron.
I leased a new black/black optics Q5 for my mom last month and immediately took it to Polished Protection. It makes it so much easier to clean. A little less expensive than eTron since it's a small car and I'm a repeat customer. Well worth it. I skipped PPF on this lease too. (though I'm sure when the rock chips start showing up, I'll be pissed that I did~ $2200 for full front end wrap).
Polished Protection isn't cheap, but they do excellent work. Elite Finish Detailing in San Diego is another top-of-the-line shop that I've worked with in the past when I lived there and Bay Area OCD Detailing is another place in Northern CA.
This thing attracts rocks for sure, I noticed 2 chips on my hood and a few on the bottom of my grill and 2 windshield chips and im only in my 4th month of driving. I think the Windshield was my first month SMH.
i just completed the lease buyout and decided to get the showroom shine back on the etron. normally i don't bother with these things since we don't keep cars for this many miles, and the cars are garaged almost all the time. i think the ceramic coat definitely brings out the shine and metallic flake in Daytona Grey. the body lines on the etron are really great, it's such a handsome looking EV. can't wait to see how the water beads off after the next rain!
Did you coat all the trim, front grill, and plastics?
When I did my Grand Cherokee I coated all the blast plastics and trim with no issues but not sure about the Audi.
I planned on doing a proper cleaning, 1 stage paint correction, and to coat everything with two layers, including the windshield of my CarPro UK 3.0 can be used on it.
03-03-2023, 06:53 AM
