Stage 1 polish

[Mr Freeze]

Hi all

My 2019 Audi S3 turned 3 years old in march and has swirl marks all over it from three years of car wash cleans
I have been to a local detailer to get his opinion and he recommends a stage 1 polish and wax for £350 or stage 1 polish and ceramic coating for £500 .
Is this a good price ? I know little to nothing about detailing and wanted to get peoples opinions .
Also can anyone recommend a good detailer in the Manchester area .

Thanks
Damien

 

[NHN]

Detailing is a job that takes time, allot of time, anyone thats worth their weight would easily cost that price, its a meticulous job, so its actually mostly down to reviews of their work tbh, but thats cheap in real detailing realms.

 

[Mr Freeze]

Detailing is a job that takes time, allot of time, anyone thats worth their weight would easily cost that price, its a meticulous job, so its actually mostly down to reviews of their work tbh, but thats cheap in real detailing realms.

Thanks for the reply the detailers reviews are really good and go back to 2007 with pictures of every jobs he as done to the present day .

 

[NHN]

Then make your choice, if the work is detailed, no pun, then sounds fair price tbh, its not just time, its experience to know how much to polish, depths, compounds, machine etc etc.

 

[AlS3BE]

Was quoted £1k for single stage and ceramic including face of alloys.
my car isn’t that bad so decided to maintain it myself.

 

[Frizzley]

Cost can vary enormously and dependson the amount of correction needed, the size of the car, the paint (some are hard and some are soft) and the ceramic coat being applied all impact on thevtime it takes to do the job.

£500 could be an absolute bargain and a complete waste of your money. The best thing is to talk to the detailer and ask them exactly what they are proposing to do, what the stage 1 polish will and won’t achieve, ( it wont remove every mark) and how long it will take. Have a look at the cars currently being worked on and see if youd be happy with the result.

If your looking for a recommendation then try Matt at Obsidian Detailing. He’s based in Saddleworth so just down the road from you and his work is top notch. A stage 1 correction starts from £300 and then a ceramic coating on top would be extra. Matts a top guy and has done a couple of my cars - example of his work below.

 

[John Pilkington]

Matt did a great job on mine.new car correction plus ceramic coating.

 

[Mr Freeze]

Cost can vary enormously and dependson the amount of correction needed, the size of the car, the paint (some are hard and some are soft) and the ceramic coat being applied all impact on thevtime it takes to do the job.

£500 could be an absolute bargain and a complete waste of your money. The best thing is to talk to the detailer and ask them exactly what they are proposing to do, what the stage 1 polish will and won’t achieve, ( it wont remove every mark) and how long it will take. Have a look at the cars currently being worked on and see if youd be happy with the result.

If your looking for a recommendation then try Matt at Obsidian Detailing. He’s based in Saddleworth so just down the road from you and his work is top notch. A stage 1 correction starts from £300 and then a ceramic coating on top would be extra. Matts a top guy and has done a couple of my cars - example of his work below.

View attachment 253278 View attachment 253279 View attachment 253280 View attachment 253281

I plan to leave the car with him for a week as i'am off on holiday so time isn't an issue
He did mention it will need around 5 hours of machine polishing does that mean the paint work condition is good or bad I'am not sure .
The company is called finer details in Heywood .

Thank you for the recommendation I will look into it

 

[pelhamsdetailing]

Cost can vary enormously and dependson the amount of correction needed, the size of the car, the paint (some are hard and some are soft) and the ceramic coat being applied all impact on thevtime it takes to do the job.

£500 could be an absolute bargain and a complete waste of your money. The best thing is to talk to the detailer and ask them exactly what they are proposing to do, what the stage 1 polish will and won’t achieve, ( it wont remove every mark) and how long it will take. Have a look at the cars currently being worked on and see if youd be happy with the result.

If your looking for a recommendation then try Matt at Obsidian Detailing. He’s based in Saddleworth so just down the road from you and his work is top notch. A stage 1 correction starts from £300 and then a ceramic coating on top would be extra. Matts a top guy and has done a couple of my cars - example of his work below.

View attachment 253278 View attachment 253279 View attachment 253280 View attachment 253281

That looks amazing.

5 hours for a stage 1 is about how long it took me to do an E46 3 Series BMW, with a full wash, iron fallout removal and clay bar taking an additional 4 hours before hand. Saying that, I think I need to start upping my prices..

 

[tcardio]

TBH...the majority of people on this forum are educated and I have no doubt that with some time and effort and looking at you tube videos, everyone can detail a car. To pay somebody else to do it is fine but buying the equipment and DIY allows you to keep the equipment and pay the same price as the detail. DA polishers are so good now and if you are patient and enjoy doing it then DIY. You also don't need to do the entire car in one setting. Panel by panel is just fine, less arduous

 

[........]

TBH...the majority of people on this forum are educated and I have no doubt that with some time and effort and looking at you tube videos, everyone can detail a car. To pay somebody else to do it is fine but buying the equipment and DIY allows you to keep the equipment and pay the same price as the detail. DA polishers are so good now and if you are patient and enjoy doing it then DIY. You also don't need to do the entire car in one setting. Panel by panel is just fine, less arduous

Couldn't have put it better myself £500 bangers buys a top notch DA and pads and compounds l am a self taught man myself aided by John from Forensic detailing .....but you gotta have some ambition