Hi guys,

For those who have done paint correction and ceramic coats on your XKs, how much did you end up paying?
I'm getting quotes locally and they seem to be all over the place. I'm trying to get an rough order of magnitude to help with the due diligence.
Cheers!

 

In Grand Rapids MI; for a full paint correction and ceramic coating, I paid around $550. I also spent additional money on having hte headlights polished and recoated ($50), dent removal ($200) and wheel refinishing ($400).

 

Anywhere from $300 to over $2k here, but a lot of it has to do with how much prep they do to the car and the level of paint correction which has nothing to do with the ceramic coating itself, how many coats, what parts of the car are included (trim, glass, calipers, wheels) etc. Some places take a day, some take 3 days. Some have no warranty, some come with a multi year warranty where they will do touch ups for free.

I believe you get what you pay for, hopefully. Look for reviews and referrals as well.

 

it will vary depending on what you have to start with and what you expect from the finished result.
You could be anywhere from a few hundred to a few grand.

Keep in mind once you coat it the imperfections under will be with you to stay.

 

I'm getting quotes at 2k on the high side and about 1k on the low side.
That's a pretty big delta considering the work.
I don't think the car is in terrible shape, but it certainly wouldn't win any concours events right now. No chips to speak of and only 3-4 minor scratches that don't even catch a fingernail.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

 

As many have said it depends on what you have to start with.

What may seem fine paintwork to the naked eye probably isn't to someone who is in that business and has a paint thickness tool.

For example my car when purchased in 2018 looked fine until you looked closer. It had been part of an estate/probate squabble and had sat outside for 14 months before being sold to a non-franchised car dealer.

My detailer was quite new to the trade and quoted me £1200 after viewing the car. With that I got:

Paint measurement readings in 20 places
Deep cleansing wash
Ferrous removal treatment to body and wheels
Wash
Medium clay bar to body
Wash
Fine clay bar
Wash
Stage 1 machine polish
Stage 2 machine polish
Hand polish
Wash
Dry inside in aircon con for 24hrs
panel wipe
Jack car
Remove wheels
Gtechniq ceramic coat
Dry for 24hrs
Treat removed wheels with Gtechniq C5 wheel armour
Treat leather interior and glass
Apply 2nd coat of Gtechniq and cure for 8hrs

Now the guy is GOOD so good in fact that he's secured the contract for the local AM dealership to prep all of their cars new and used.

His prices have quadrupled as a result and I can't afford him now 🧐

I just remember to top up the ceramic coat every 6 months with some 'Reload'

 

I have used the same detailer for several cars over 10 years, as has been noted there is a range depending on how much correction is needed. My Polaris White was a medium correction, think I paid around $900 for correction and ceramic coat.

 

Glad you got the deal when you did.
There is a lot of work involved in that list.

 

Agreed, but it IS the right way of doing things.

For me to do it that well I'd have had to taken a week off work as a minimum, and I do know how to detail and have all of the stuff to do it.

Just trying to demonstrate what a €2-€3k job should look like, in my case he even took a 30 sec video during the major stages

Now THAT is what I call professionalism.

 

I got 2 step paint correction service and a 5yr SB3 Alpha Ceramic coating package. It also received SB3 Vortex Ceramic wheel coating and SB3 Optic windshield coating. The convertible top was treated with 2 layers of Feynlab Fabric Coating. Seems like I paid $1500. He came highly recommended and I am completely satisfied.

 

You need a detailed quote of how many steps of polishing, etc they are doing. Which chemicals, and all the prep steps it took before the ceramic coating went on. Detailed quote if what they are going to do.

Are they they taking the wheels off, doing under the hood, engine bay, under trunk, calipers, etc??? Some don't even take the license plate off!

 

80srule,
Can you give me a reference on a Jaguar Dealer or Jag Service in GR, I''m up here in TC and thinking about getting my XK fully serviced this spring.
It's has 50K on it and I"d like to start with my ownership with everything being fresh. Thanks

 

I did it myself. $60 for d/a polisher and pads, $25 for Sonax perfect finish polish, and $150 for Kamikaze ISM coating.
The correction took about 14 hours, but I enjoyed the challenge and learning experience. The coating only took 45 minutes to complete
The results are STUNNING! The fact that my color is Italian Racing Red certainly contributed to the overall results.

 

So the ol' girl is booked in for a spa week at Pristine Auto Spa in Indianapolis
Paint correction and some wet sanding work on a couple of problem spots. 4 layers of 9H ceramic coat and 1 layer of top coat. Also putting on a paint protection film for all leading faces.
$3.5k for all of it.

The place has done a lot of the exotics in the area, so I have high expectations. Fingers crossed.

 

I'm full DIY on everything but I've heard that Community Automotive on Fulton is good, and the Sharpe Jaguar dealer is ok. I will say Euroautowerks in Belding is outstanding on anything, but their specialty is VAG/Porsche. I took my A8L W12 there when I needed a starter changed and I'd just had surgery preventing DIY; nothing but good stuff to say

I bought my 07 in 2018 with 50k and really recommend changing every fluid, filter and the belts. The ZF 6hp26 is solid if you fluid drain and fill every 60k; and the Sharpe dealer for sure has serviced tons because they use the unit in JLR and BMW cars (they are Jaguar/Land Rover/BMW/Mini).

I think an independent on all this should be like 2k to 2500 for all the stuff (obviously a little less for NA because no supercharger oil to change).

 

She looks great!! Hoping mine will sparkle once she's been worked on. Black is soooo hard to maintain though.

 

the ceramic coating will help minimize the need to maintain.