What finally swayed my decision to go for this Ulgo Glass coating was the better resistance to hard water spotting.
BHPian old_dude recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Body coating for my Kodiaq – A bit of an unconventional route:
Protecting the new car gloss and feel is something most Team BHP members identify with, unlike my wife who gives me a hard time for me spending unending hours taking care of my car. So the research for the right protection started even before I booked my new car.
I have always taken pride in being known as the guy with one of the best maintained cars in my circles, through my 25 years of car ownership across the different cars I have owned since 1996. The last one I owned ( and still own) is my 2009 pre facelift Honda Civic VMT in Harbenero Red, which I still personally maintain. (My wife gives me a hard time for personally cleaning my car daily before the apartment guy shows up and essentially paying him monthly to NOT touch my car, unless for a full wash after a rain. With the hard water in our area, I found the finish gets dull very fast with regular wash, not to mention dried up water marks turning to scales in all the crevices.) I bought this Civic pre-worshipped in 2012, with 24K Kms on board and as of today, it has done 1.3L KM still giving me a grin behind the wheel every time I take her out for a drive, and has been an absolutely lovely, reliable car to own and is still a delight to drive. Anyway, to cut the story short, I got the paint correction done from 3M when I bought this in 2012 and has been maintaining myself using regular wax polishing using Meguair’s ultimate wax polish ( once in 4-6 weeks) and ProKlear waterless car wash daily ( after dusting with the original California car duster / Jopasu). About two years back, I switched to Turtle Wax Hybrid Ceramic paste wax from the Meguair, which I found lasts longer and have since reduced the waxing frequency to once in 3 months, and the ProKlear waterless wash almost daily.
By 2023, PPF films, Ceramic Coatings and Graphene coatings have become household names and the default choice for anyone buying a new car ( the buzzword was Teflon coating when I bought my Civic in 2012, which I did not do). Reading through the threads on Team BHP, watching umpteen videos on YouTube, checking out user experience within my friends and colleagues circle, and visiting many ceramic coating / PPF applicators across Bangalore – my research was deep, and had decided to go for graphene coating for the body and PPF only for the bumpers. That was when I stumbled upon a wild card entry called Ulgo Glass Coating on YouTube, reviews locally only by a Kannada YouTuber. There were few other short videos on this product, mostly from Malaysia and Japan, with limited information. More Google research followed and at the first glance, it seemed it’s the same as Ceramic coating having SiO2 as the infused compound, with a different name. However, a deeper search and a day long visit to the applicator Dabler Auto in Bangalore revealed the following key differences – The Ceramic coat cross links and bonds chemically with the clear coat, while the Glass coating bonds physically through an adhesive compound mixed in the coating. Ceramic coating provides a deeper colour shade, whereas the Glass coating not so much. Glass coating is better resistant to water spots than Ceramic, and hydrophobic nature is similar. Ceramic coating cures at elevated temperatures, whereas the Glass coating is room temperature curing. Longevity of the coating seemed to be better with the Glass coating ( claimed 5 years with annual maintenance spray coat). What finally swayed my decision to go for this Ulgo Glass coating was the better resistance to hard water spotting, given the water quality in our area and seeing cars that had done this coating 3 years back and speaking to those owners, and helped by the passionate and patient approach of the father-son duo who run Dabler Auto.
It’s been 4 months and 15 days since I got the Kodiaq coated with Ulgo glass coating, PPF (Shieldpro, with 10 year dealer warranty) on the bumpers and piano black parts including interiors. Below are my observations and comparison to my maintenance experience of my uncoated Civic.
Pros:
- The coating has held up good and don’t see any degradation in the mirror like gloss or hasn’t developed any swirl marks in the past four and half months of daily cleaning.
- Water beading is still very good.
- It is easier to clean than my uncoated Civic.
- Hard water marks are easy to get rid of ( though haven’t let a dried in mark stay for more than a day) – Have been getting quite a few daily as I have to drive through metro construction area where water from construction drops from overhead construction areas.
Cons:
- Only one – I have a nagging feeling the colour after coating is not as deep as the ones with Ceramic coating, though I never got to compare another lava blue vehicle next to mine and lava blue is one colour that looks vastly different in different ambient lighting.
My cleaning routine:
Daily: Blow off the dust using an electric blower first, followed by dusting with the Jopasu / California duster. ( Average time: 10 mins)
Once in 2-3 days: ( Average time: 30 mins on week days, 1 hour on weekends) After dusting as above, Spray Meguiars hybrid Ceramic detailer on to a soft micro fiber cloth and gently wipe down one panel at a time and gently buff off with a 600 gsm micro fiber cloth.
Monthly once: ( Average time: 2 hours) Pressure wash ( cordless one from Amazon) and shampoo once a month, dry off with Shinepro micro fiber drying cloth and use a blower to blow any residual water from all the crevices to avoid forming hard water stains.
Will provide another update after one year of use in how this coating holds up.
On a related note, doing PPF on the piano black is an absolute must – and do not dry wipe – The same ceramic detailer works magic on PPF too. Not a single swirl mark on the exterior spoiler / Door B / C pillar area inserts, or interior door inserts and dash board storage lid. The installers recommended not to do PPF on the console area around the gear shifter as there are electrical switches and water will get in during PPF installation, so applied the same glass coating on this console piano black inserts – so far been able to keep it swirl mark / micro scratch free.
Posting some pics of my Uncoated 2009 Civic with 1.3L Km and the Glass coated Kodiaq for your reference.
Keyword: My 2023 Kodiaq gets a ceramic coating: My observations post 4 months