Ceramic coating in the UK (London) - recommendations?

[BigBob]

Are there any recommendations for detailing companies in (West) London who do ceramic coating?

Google has come up with a few but I am somewhat mystified as to what/who to go for. Some seem to offer a process taking 3 or 4 days and some in just 1 day and a price spread to match. Some with 1 or 2 coats and some with up to 9 etc. Any brand of products that are best?

The companies that seem to most fit the bill I found are:
Topaz
GVE
EDP
Ceramic Pro.

Appreciate your thoughts & recommendations. Thanks.

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[darth_maul_80]

I’d say Topaz and NVM

Both round the corner from each other and both really good.

Maybe pay them both a visit and see which you like more

 

[mandoyoda]

Try Auto Forensics in Addlestone, Surrey, who use GTechniq. Process takes a couple of days, but check in with them.

 

[Deleted member 7514]

I’m picking my car from West London Porsche - i removed the Swiss wax £599 charge. Can i get a detailer to go into the dealer when car comes and detail this on site i wonder ? Don’t know which detailer to use. Rather not have to go to one and be without the car for a day or so.

 

[Speuk]

I’m picking my car from West London Porsche - i removed the Swiss wax £599 charge. Can i get a detailer to go into the dealer when car comes and detail this on site i wonder ? Don’t know which detailer to use. Rather not have to go to one and be without the car for a day or so.

Good call! £599 is crazy I thought BMW £484 was a nonsense lol. Reading tried to get me to swap free all weather mats and boot liner first the "more valuable Swiss wax" I politely declined saying I would not want them to be out of pocket lol. One dealer admitted they only allow an hour and 20 mins labour to apply the hard wax!!

Some BMW dealers are happy to accommodate detailers in their prep bays I suspect PRG might be a "no"

I would go for something like the Gtechniq. I will probably do mine myself over a few weekends if the paint looks OK and doesn't need much correction.

 

[BigBob]

I’m picking my car from West London Porsche - i removed the Swiss wax £599 charge. Can i get a detailer to go into the dealer when car comes and detail this on site i wonder ? Don’t know which detailer to use. Rather not have to go to one and be without the car for a day or so.

I went and looked around NVN and Topaz - Both in Park Royal. Both looked very professional/impressive. I didn't get it in the end as dealer put swissvax on by mistake, so i thought i'd let that do its trick for a while. That and i didn't want to lose the car of about 1 week! As aside, I didn't get the impression PRG did the ceramic / sent it off for you to have it done.

As for detailing on site - no chance. Go have a look at the 2 above and you'll see its very specialised. I knew nothing about it before coming on here!

 

[MTGBUK]

I went and looked around NVN and Topaz - Both in Park Royal. Both looked very professional/impressive. I didn't get it in the end as dealer put swissvax on by mistake, so i thought i'd let that do its trick for a while. That and i didn't want to lose the car of about 1 week! As aside, I didn't get the impression PRG did the ceramic / sent it off for you to have it done.

As for detailing on site - no chance. Go have a look at the 2 above and you'll see its very specialised. I knew nothing about it before coming on here!

Most dealers for high end cars will now have a preferred partner detailer on top of their in house “valet”.
Car is collected usually in covered transport from the dealer by the detailer. Once work is completed the car is returned to the dealer for handover. Usually adds an additional week or two wait. Hatfield (PRG) use Azuri car care. East London (Jardine) use Topaz.

 

[Stewartt997]

Price differences are very signiifcant when I've been looking as well. Each argue their product is better than the competitor when it comes to the ceramic coat. I tried contacting Topaz 3 times with no success .......so I wouldn't choose them, if they are too busy to worry about customer service. Out of interest you can see quotes I received for XPEL and ceramic coat attached. All That Gleams in Chilworth near Guildford was significantly less, but out of London.

 

[MTGBUK]

Did you specifically ask to be quoted for CS light? Personally I’d be asking for CS ultra for parts of the car where you don't have PPF. CS light is a consumer usable product whereas ultra can only be applied by gtechniq accredited detailers. I'd be weary using a detailer that will happily recommend and apply light but not able to offer Ultra.

 

[Stewartt997]

Did you specifically ask to be quoted for CS light? Personally I’d be asking for CS ultra for parts of the car where you don't have PPF. CS light is a consumer usable product whereas ultra can only be applied by gtechniq accredited detailers. I'd be weary using a detailer that will happily recommend and apply light but not able to offer Ultra.

As not much of an expert on ceramic I went back to look at the quotes:

Autoprotek say:
Exterior Paint work Protection
All painted surfaces are cleaned, clay bar decontaminated, stage 1 polished and Ceramic Coated using Gtecniq CSL. This will enhance the finish by adding gloss and protecting the panels up to 5 years.

We would also recommend adding Exo v4 on top of the ceramic coating for the ultimate protection.

Exo V4 (2 coats LSP) - £139.00 extra
EXO v4 delivers a hard film that makes water-spots easy to remove, offers great resistance to all wash chemicals and can help withstand micro-marring. It produces a high-gloss hydrophobic finish for up to 18 months.


All That Gleams say:
We use a few Labocosmetica products over Gtechniq based on pure performance and quality; Gtechniq is getting quite outdated now and there are 10+ brands that provide better products. And Labocosmetica Blindo & HPC is so much more advanced and durable than Gtechniq Crystal Serum & EXO that a lot of customers have used and switched to it for these reasons.

And same for the glass, Gtechniq is good, just that Labocosmetica, Titan and many others provide better durability nowadays.

For PPF we offer Gtechniq Halo over EXO as it’s designed for the flexibility of PPF and likewise; Titan Vulcan & Labocosmetica HPC offer really good results for this, with Titan quality over Gtechniq being worlds apart. Titan is approved detailer only so only known by professionals but is now used by every one I know across the UK with only 1 or 2 still using Gtechniq due to the advancement in other brands for quite a few products.

And yes alloys are fully coated, for this we have Gtechniq C5, Titan Pyro & Carbon Collective Platinum Wheels for this as are all products (like everything we use) that is tried and tested to make sure they work in real world situations than just pretty labels!

GVE don't say which product they are applying in their quote.

 

[Sand dancer]

I used REEP Southern in Cranleigh near Guildford,; their workshop looks out over the track they used on Top Gear.

They made a great job on my 911.

 

[Deleted member 7514]

I went and looked around NVN and Topaz - Both in Park Royal. Both looked very professional/impressive. I didn't get it in the end as dealer put swissvax on by mistake, so i thought i'd let that do its trick for a while. That and i didn't want to lose the car of about 1 week! As aside, I didn't get the impression PRG did the ceramic / sent it off for you to have it done.

As for detailing on site - no chance. Go have a look at the 2 above and you'll see its very specialised. I knew nothing about it before coming on here!

Did you buy from Porsche west London ?

 

[Deleted member 7514]

Good call! £599 is crazy I thought BMW £484 was a nonsense lol. Reading tried to get me to swap free all weather mats and boot liner first the "more valuable Swiss wax" I politely declined saying I would not want them to be out of pocket lol. One dealer admitted they only allow an hour and 20 mins labour to apply the hard wax!!

Some BMW dealers are happy to accommodate detailers in their prep bays I suspect PRG might be a "no"

I would go for something like the Gtechniq. I will probably do mine myself over a few weekends if the paint looks OK and doesn't need much correction.

I’ve not got a garage and so I’d rather pay someone else to not mess it up !

 

[BigBob]

Did you buy from Porsche west London ?

Mayfair. WL didn't return my phone calls

 

[Deleted member 7514]

Mayfair. WL didn't return my phone calls

It’s hit and miss i think - i had a callback and no one called me from WL until i persisted and spoke to one guy and then went in. Now just do it all by email.

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