I just wrapped up my first experience with OCDetailing and with paint protection films in general. At the beginning of the process, I literally knew nothing about the materials, processes, various providers in the Bay Area, or who were the top folks.
For several weeks, I essentially went around to more than six shops and asked a lot of stupid questions.
My learnings: -The top guys don’t do precut PPF as their top offering for customers. Precut leaves about an 1/8″ space at the edge that is exposed to rocks and other debris, dirt, etc. Most of the groups I checked out provide precut because it’s faster and easier. Granted, many are cheaper than the top guys, but because they are competing on price, not necessarily on quality. I’m highly judgmental here, but after waiting 1+ year for my Model 3, I didn’t understand why I’d spend a lot of money and leave the edges of every panel and hood exposed. It was not for me so it was easy to disregard ~80% of the local providers who were otherwise well rated on Yelp.
-Book early! Once you find your top provider, get on their calendar! They are booked out for months because of the demand from new Model 3 owners. Over the course of the 2-3 weeks that I was visiting and speaking with shops, their calendars booked out another 3 months. They are slammed with demand. Get your deposit in and lock in your date. Just as an fyi, I had to garage my new Model 3 before getting it to OCDetailing because of their long list of customer reservations. I did this to ensure that I didn’t suffer any paint chips, etc. before my reservation date. It was painful to see it in my garage everyday, just sitting there…
-Understand the benefits of the various film offers for PPF and quartz sealer, tints, chrome delete and other options. If you are not sure, ask. They are happy to educate customers and the options vary.
Now for OCDetailing specifics – Joe, Alex and team were great. I must have stopped by 3-4 times with questions. Each time, they politely and professionally taught me about the different film and coating options, tint options, etc., as well as the processes to put them on and pricing. All of the other shops were polite and helpful as well, but as I learned more and looked more closely at everyone’s work, the differences became more clear to me and I wanted the OCDetailing team to work on my Model 3. Don’t expect this as a given for your car, but Joe was kind enough to come out to the Tesla service center when I picked up my Model 3.
Joe’s trained eye picked up a few issues that I absolutely would have missed, and I had Tesla fix each on the spot. I’m still incredibly grateful for Joe taking time to do this. Again, not a given that he can do it with your car, but it was valuable to me.
When the time came to bring my Model 3 into OCDetailing, I slowly took the backroads to their shop (anxious does not begin to describe my worry of a SUV kicking up a rock or bolt on the way.) The team took it in and got it back to me completed pretty quickly.
The car looks great, and I’m now comfortable driving it around the Bay Area with all of the rocks and junk that are on the road. It was a great process with Joe and team.
From start to finish, they communicated clearly and did everything that they said that they would. Very straightforward, professional artisans that take a raw sheet of plastic and protect beautiful cars. I highly recommend them.
For reference, I had them perform a full wrap with Suntech Ultra, coat it with CQuartz Finest Reserve, and then add crystalline tint on sides and back.
Also, just an fyi – they like Krispy Kreme donuts. Those guys work hard and appreciate a little extra fuel now and then.