FAQs : Ceramic Coating my Hyundai Tucson 2017 at Technical Details

I recently had my car (a 2017 Hyundai Tucson) coated with ceramic. I had it done at Technical Details at Marcos Highway, Marikina. What is the reason why I availed such service?

Pain of owning a black car

before the service, you can see the dirt and watermarks on the car hood

It was only after I got the car when I realized that having a black car is both a gift and a curse. Gift in a sense that the color is elegant, timeless and flexible in terms of style. However, black cars are a nightmare to maintain its clean looks. Why?

• Dust or dirt are very visible
• Even light scratches are visible
• Even hand prints or sweat and skin oil can be easily seen
• Watermarks are very prominent 

What really triggered me to have it coated very soon is when I had the car washed on a small Car Wash shop at Examiner St, Quezon City, the staff there didn't follow the correct procedure of washing cars, hence getting my car scratched in the hood and right door after drying (wiping of chamois type cloth).

That is why I decided to get the car coated. Getting it coated with ceramic will help me maintain the clean look of the vehicle because as per articles I see on the internet and the feedbacks I get from the friends : 

Water beads due to hydrophobic properties

• Hydrophobic properties, because of this, less chances of getting a watermark that is hard to remove
• Puts a protective coating on top of the clear coat, it will be much harder to scratch the paint during car wash as compared to a none-coated finish
• Easier to clean, because the first will just fall off along with water
• Shiny look, which will save me a lot of pesos by not having to wax it often.

Watermarks after it rained, 1 hour after leaving the detailing shop

One must take not that having the car coated doesnt not guarantee watermark-less surface or even scratch free surface. What the coating does is making it harder for watermark to dry up permanently or simple car wash scratches to go deeper on the paint's clear coat. It will also make it easier to remove watermarks by just using a soapy water. 

Cost

A compact SUV will cost Php 11,000.00 pesos and that already includes the exterior detailing as part of the preparation prior to coating of ceramic. 

Before deciding with Technical Details, I actually did some research on which vendor provides the best balance of quality and price. I've looked at Big Bert's Detailing, Ceramic Pro, Brila by Gman (If I have plenty of spare money, I'll definitely go for Brila by Gman),  Bluemile and more. It's just that Technical Details offers the perfect balance of work quality and cost as per my needs. It also helped that most of their customers were really really happy with the level of workmanship they apply and the great customer satisfaction they received. You can see it from their facebook page reviews. 

Customer Service is exceptional

I had my own first-hand experience on how great Ian (the owner of Technical Details) is when it comes to customer service. He explains all the process involved in doing the ceramic coating. The importance of each step and why they use a particular equipment or materials over others and depending on the vehicle being worked on. 

Accident!

I had a fair share of problems as well. All is not perfect and I understand that there are unplanned things that can happen to my car like what Ian told me when he called my phone several hours after I left the car at the shop. 

Scratch.. a long scratch...
Some sort of accident happened while they were polishing the grills. The foam or polishing pad took off the buffing machine,  thus, the machine scratching my grill. It is the last thing I want to hear when I get a call from the detailing shop where I left the car right? Nonetheless, I'm not mad because what's important to me is that they're very professional in telling me honestly the problem, and what they're willing to offer to compensate for the inconvenience. I'm so surprised as I know how rare this kind of establishments are, and being a person who appreciates this kind of gestures, I also offered my help to solve the problem.

To make the long story short, we internally agreed on some arrangements (I will share what I did in a separate post) as the shop is even the one whos very willing to bring it to the best shop that can fix the scratch at no cost to me, plus a hefty discount on the ceramic coating service that I availed. I may not went home as the happiest customer, but atleast I can say I'm one satisfied customer. Bilib ako!

My Observations

1. Dust will only roll off together with water if you regularly clean your car. 
2. If you let the car baked on the sun with dust after it rained rain followed by sunlight again plus a little bit of road or asphalt film (during everyday drive) on your car will lessen the capability of the hydrophobic coating. You still need to wash your car using mittens to completely remove the dust that sticks to the paint.
3. Detailing is important as it is a requirement to have a clean paint before applying the ceramic coating
4. It is true that there is somehow a harder coating on top of the paint when you have your car coated with ceramic. I have a recent incident where in pigeons climb on my car and slide on the window and panels. I was expecting deep scratches already knowing these birds has claws. To my surprise, the car just had some light scratches that I believe can be fixed by detailing.

I will update this post from time to time. 

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