Mind sharing how much the detail and ceramic cost you?

About 2k. He's using a a product called SystemX. He's the same guy that PPFed the M3 and it's been 6 years.

2k for essentially a wax ?!?!? Holy fuck

You know that ceramic coating is piss easy to apply and since your school bus is essentially new …there isn’t much, if any, paint correction needed. You basically giving him free money. You can buy a bottle of CSL for like 120 bucks and we could have done it in like an hour.

That crystal shifter has gone to your head

I buy into the ceramic thing, and this included a full detail. The car's paint was actually in poor shape despite being only 2.5 years old. The M3 has had it's ceramic done at the same time the wrap was done and it's held up the 6 years, so I'm drinking the coolaid.

The brand/quality of the ceramic and quality of the work matters as well. I've had some less stellar experiences with the X3

Hard disagree on this. Most new cars have terrible paint quality from the factory and it's even worse when the dealer's shop boys have taken their hard bristle brushes to them for a PDI wash. For example, Burrard Acura apparently takes their cars through the automated wash next door - that's just abuse and it'll take a 2 stage polish to get it right. I got a wash from Brian Jessel Pre-owned once and it was so bad I made them paint correct my car due to the damage.

The $2k gets you two things that you otherwise can't get when you DIY:

1. Pro level paint correction. I can get 80% of the way on my own but it's hard work and the pro's have the gear to get to all the hard to reach spots and small spots that I can't get to or can't do well.
2. Pro grade coatings. The pro grade stuff is a lot more durable than the consumer grade stuff and performs better in terms of self cleaning and beading qualities. CSL is one of the few exceptions for durability for a consumer grade product.

It's not worth $2k to everyone (just like I wouldn't get PPF) but with the right detailer it's way better than anything DIY.

you should have spent 4k more and put on PPF or a wrap. yeah ceramic coating makes washing easier, but so does a bottle of ceramic spray wax and reapplication every time you wash.

at least with ppf / wrap you get rock protection. this tiny bottle of ceramic coating always feels like such a huge rip off. especially when they charge you like 1k for the ceramic coating and no detailing.

I think PPF is great but my car isn't worth enough for PFF and it's not driven enough for it either. If I had a $125k car I would consider it but even then I'd only do it if I was going to drive it a lot or track it.

Ceramic spray wax gets you only some of the benefits of a pro coating - they both are easier to wash but one stays cleaner for longer, resists bird shit way better, has much better gloss, and resists paint damage (swirls etc) far longer. I'm 5 years in and my coating has kept the paint at showroom quality (other than few dings). It's not possible to do that with a ceramic spray.

re: $1k for a coating with no detailing - anyone doing that is stupid or getting ripped off. The money spent on getting a pro to do the coating is in the paint correction and prep - the good ones will spend 8-10 hours on that. Applying the coating is the easy part.

Considering the time it takes to DIY paint correct and the quality I get from it versus a pro the $2k for a coating is minor stuff - I can't justify spending 12 hours of my own time to do it.

The pro level coatings and consumer grade coatings are not the same, nevermind the spray wax BS.

On top of that, I don't have time to dedicate to it nor do I have the machine, my polisher broke and I never replaced it. I used to detail on the side during school so I'm also super picky about shit and this guy is worth my money.

He polished the X5 before coating it. I was actually going to PPF it, but he looked at it and told me, I want to make your money, but it's not going to be great because the X5 was from Langley and lived it's life on the highway, there's enough pitting and chips to make PPF not make sense.

Ohhh if it’s already chipped then yeah no point.

Maybe I missed it but which guy you go to?

Do you do anything special to upkeep the finish on your own? Like do you still do extra steps such as 2 bucket wash etc... or just sponge and soap or... shudder... automatic car washes???

All of those things lol.

For the first two years I sent it back to the original detailer for the coating for a refresh. He closed shop and moved away and I haven't done anything to the car since.

Zero upkeep on the M3. If I have time I'll single bucket wash the car with a grit guard. If I'm strapped for time or lazy then I'll just foam it and spray it off. If I really don't want to do it then I'll take it to Mobil1 on No5 and Bridgeport.

The guy that did the X5 did the PPF on the M3, now he does coatings as well so I sent him the X5 for inside/outside. He also does installs so he installed the hitch and he arranged for it to be tinted as well. He also removed the rear fender flare and sent it off to get painted because my wife shaved off the paint against our parking gate. Obviously all extra cost.

Not EvoFire but I have 3 types of washing I do to upkeep my ceramic coated car that might be useful for consideration:

1. Twice a year coating maintenance wash and deep clean - strip wash with CarPro Descale, decontamination with IronX, foam cannon soak and then 1 bucket wash with 4-5 mitts. Tires are cleaned with Retyre, wheels get the IronX treatment. Ceramic topper as part of drying process on everything. I'll also clean out the engine bay and do all the door frames etc with a soft bristle brush. This is a 3-4 hour job.

2. Summer wash is a foam cannon soak followed by a 1 bucket with 4-5 mitts wash (dirty mitts go into another bucket). Wheels first - they're ceramic coated too I use the same cleaner but in a separate bucket. This is a 1 hour job most days.

3. Winter wash is an ONR wash with a big red sponge. I'll do this during the summer if the car isn't too dirty or I'm lazy as I can bang it out in less than 20 mins if needed. I will use a touchless car wash if the car is really dirty and then do the ONR wash after.

I would love to have the time put the whole car up on the jacks and take the wheels off so I can clean all the wheel wells and suspension parts properly.

also just sharing how i upkeep my cars

daily driver, parked outside, dying ceramic coat:
hand wash twice a month using 1 bucket no grit guard and 10+ microfiber towels. foam cannon presoak followed by washing each panel with a clean towel. wheel spokes are fat enough that i dont have to worry about cleaning the barrel and brake calipers. then dry using a leaf blower. takes about an hour.

2-3 times a week im taking a pressure washer to spray off bird shit and pollen/dust. takes 5mins max.

summer car, garage kept, freshly detailed no coating
the plan is to just pressure washer spray whenever needed then deep clean before fall storage.

Man you guys are detailed (no pun intended)
I just use whatever cleaning products on sale at Costco in the automotive aisle lmao

What kind of shower gel do you guys use in the shower? Any coating recommendations?

2-3 times a week?

best place to get a battery nowadays? all this AGM crap has totally increased prices - is costco still a good deal? may attempt DIY .

Acura OEM AGM battery $450.

I always like Edmonds Batteries in Burnaby, bought probably 10 of them for my own and other people's cars over the years, no complaints

How dare you even ask!?!??!?!

Paging Badhobz!

LMAO I have the Le Labo, Aesop, etc all that

My fav is the Harry's Redwood body wash - it smells exactly like Le Labo's Hinoki but has a really nice/soft/thicc lather compared to the very lightweight feeling gel from Le Labo.

You guys use stuff other than bars of Irish Spring?

Omg omg omg !!! You run the battery for however long. Go return it when it dies and you get your money back (pro rated)

What do you mean is it a good deal ?!?! You find me another AgM for that price

Speaking of ppf, do your detailers do minor paint repairs, like chips, dents? Minor touch ups. There's no point of fancy ceramic or wrap if the paint has some damage but not to a point where you need full repaint.

Do you have a good soap guy?

My guy doesn't advertise that he does minor paint repairs though I'd bet he can handle stuff like applying touchup paint as the process is inline with paint correction work anyways. I don't believe he does dent repairs though. (https://www.rdidetailing.ca)

Ya he goes by target,