After buying my GTI about 8 weeks ago I, like many others, started investing in products to care for both the exterior & interior including a new marcher k4, foam gun & a various other bits and pieces. After a couple of washes I noticed a few stone chips & scratches so started looking into getting the car professionally detailed and ceramic coated. My thinking was that i was as well to get the paint work as good as possible and protected if I was going to invest time and money looking after it. Cleaning the car is something that I enjoy but it just felt pointless putting all the effort into the car if I was going to see the existing marks every time I cleaned it.
I spent a lot of time researching local detailers and some not so local as I was prepared to travel to find the right one. After many calls and emails I found a local guy who is certified with qtechniq and modesta and after spending about an hour in his workshop one day I choose a package of paintwork enhancement and modesta ceramic coating. He also invited me to come watch him/learn from him any day I was free while he was working on my car. His philosophy was that he wants the customer to learn what they are paying for and how to look after their car once it is coated. Also he would show me how to apply the ceramic correctly and let me do various items not included in the package myself in his shop using all his equipment. We agreed a price and the job was scheduled to take 4 days.
Then last week he rang to say he had a cancellation and could take my car if I wanted so off it went. My days off from work I spent in the garage watching him and learning how to “really” care for my car at a level way above I had ever expected. His attention to detail was meticulous and nothing was just “good enough” it had to be perfect even if it meant him having to spend hours and even a full day almost on just the bonnet sorting out a stone chip that had gone right down to the metal. While he had the car up on the lift I took the opportunity to fit a new rieger diffuser which he helped with. As the job went on he even did extra ceramic work not included in the original package. Basically everything is now covered in ceramic...bodywork, wheels,wheel arches, callipers, black trim,new diffuser,glass, even the plastic mounting bracket for the diffuser which sits in behind the diffuser that nobody will ever see.
In total the car spent 9 full days in his workshop & during this time it is the only car he worked on. I know this because I spent most of the days there with him and even when I was at work I’d drop down to visit and he spent most days from early morning until nearly 10pm at night in the workshop. He even offered fit xpel ppf to the black gloss pillars between the doors at no extra cost. Also as the job went on because the VW paint was very hard and some of the scratches were very bad he ended up doing paint correction instead of just enhancement which meant a lot more polishing work.
Photos or video do not do his work justice but here is a short video collection of the process. (Excuse my armature editing attempt)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6so3wugevzl1mgo/Ceramic%20Coating.mp4?dl=0