Detailing / Ceramic costs

[Popey]

Looking at having my zed machine polished, 3 stage and then a ceramic coating.

Been offered the above for £500 which sounds reasonable. However the product is Ultimaxx… never heard of them and even the name puts me off.

What is the average cost for something like this?

[Beedub]

Thats cheap for a 3 stage correction and a ceramic. Also that coating isn't the best, look for something abit more known and that comes with a proper guarantee.

£500 quid is still a lot of money and i OFTEN am fixing or re-doing when the client just hasn't been properly educated / or doesn't have the knowledge to understand the process. Remember your clear coat isn't infinite, unless your car is heavily degraded theirs no need to 3 stageing it... we want the best result for as minimal polishing as needed. The skill in detailing works is getting the result with minimal impact to the clear coat AND making sure the vehicle can be polished numerous times over its life. Polishing a car to glass with little regard for the vehicle / its owner is my pet peeve.

FYI - i'm not saying the shop in question is doing so but make sure your asking the right questions.

Experience - Gtechniq accredited, official suntek PPF centre and invisiframe centre for central birmingham and 5X award winning in the sector. Paint work preservation / restoration / enhancement is literally my bag.

[Popey]

I’m an avid watcher of your videos on the gram.

The paintwork in not the best to be honest, quite dull.

Can you say what you would charge on here?

[Beedub]

I’m an avid watcher of your videos on the gram.

The paintwork in not the best to be honest, quite dull.

Can you say what you would charge on here?

Oh man thanks for following i appreciate it, Its important i dont muddy the water and tout for business as that's not really my style so hopefully no-one will take it as such but for a good 3 stage and a solid ceramic on a small car like this id expect this to cost a good few hundred more maybe nearly double ( we are VAT registered which doesn't help the cause and the bigger shops will be too). Even if the paints quite dull id LOVE to think you could start with a microfibre pad with minimal working area on that first cut then refine to a get a fantastic result and miss that final stage and save abit of money, i may be wrong but not often in this sector.

[Popey]

I full understand I will drop you a dm on the gram.

[pvr]

For comparison, my fully resprayed Porsche costed £800 for defect correction after the respray (before ppf).

[JakeS76]

Beedub, , with machine polishing I think you are saying that you need to be careful that the detailer doesn't remove too much of the clearcoat layer as while it will look really glossy for a while this will mean you can then only do it a few more times before ruining the paintwork? If I've misunderstood let me know. Cheers.

[Beedub]

Beedub, , with machine polishing I think you are saying that you need to be careful that the detailer doesn't remove too much of the clearcoat layer as while it will look really glossy for a while this will mean you can then only do it a few more times before ruining the paintwork? If I've misunderstood let me know. Cheers.

pretty much yes! You want minimal polishing needed to get to the standard, 3 staging has its place of course but often its unexperienced companies glass the paint for the gram when it can be done in much less work resulting in cheaper costs and most of all keeping the integrity of the paintwork.

[JakeS76]

Cheers