A brand new Volvo V90 covered in tree sap that had etched into the soft factory paintwork. Six-stage machine polish, dry sanding on the curved areas, Fireball Dok Do 7-year ceramic coating. Gary talks the customer through the options live -- including the honest "95 percent is good enough for most people" conversation.
A brand new Volvo V90 that had been parked under a tree -- a tree that produces a particularly heavy sap. That sap had not just landed on the car; it had etched its way into the paintwork. New-car paint is soft; it cures and hardens over time, but in those first months it is more vulnerable to acid from decaying organic matter. Combined with the sap itself, what you get is what James calls "spottage" -- a speckled, dimpled surface across all the upright panels.
This video was filmed with the original Fireball Dok Do formula. The current version is Fireball Dok Do Dual Titanium -- reformulated with a titanium compound for improved hardness and deeper gloss.
The Options -- Explained Live
Gary talks through the options with the customer on camera rather than just doing the work without consultation. Three choices: wet-sand the entire car (full flat-and-polish treatment, an extra day's work, approximately £700 on top of what was already agreed); do two more machine polish passes -- six total instead of four -- for around £120 more; or coat it at the current stage and accept the remaining imperfections.
After the six-stage polish, 90 percent of the car looked essentially perfect. A few panels were not quite there -- particularly around the fuel cap area and the worst wing. Those needed dry sanding (sometimes called block sanding, but because the damage was on curved areas, a block could not be used). Gary's offer to the customer: £80 at half price, given the amount already spent. The honest conversation: "I'm afraid I'm ringing you to say more, more -- but I don't want to coat it and then look at it and think, why didn't you address this."
The 95 Per Cent Philosophy
A lot of ceramic coating companies in the industry target high-end supercars and enthusiast customers, making a very big deal about how many polishing stages they do and how close to perfection they get. Not everyone has a Ferrari and very deep pockets. Gary's view: perfection can be the enemy of the good when it comes to price. Further work gives diminishing returns. Unless you are a car enthusiast and perfectionist, practically nobody will ever notice a few remaining blemishes in places they are not looking at directly. 95 percent is good enough for most people.
The Coating and the Leather
Once the paintwork was at the right standard, Dok Do ceramic coating went on the bodywork, wheels and glass. The leather interior also got a nano-coating. Leather coatings do several things: provide a degree of protection, help prevent the leather drying out, and stop dye transfer from clothing. The last one is more relevant than people realise -- the dye from jeans transfers to cream leather over time, giving it a blue tinge. A coating keeps the leather looking as it should.
How to Tell If Your Car Has a Ceramic Coating
A ceramic or graphene coating will repel water -- but so will a fresh coat of wax. The difference is the pattern. With a genuine ceramic coating, the water beads up very uniformly; on flat surfaces you can often see the droplets forming hexagonal patterns. More importantly, it should do this for years. If you bought a ceramic coating at a dealership and your car is not staying clean and water is not rolling off a few months later, you probably did not get a professional-grade product. If you buy from a reputable application centre, there should be no doubt. See our Fireball Dok Do Dual Titanium coating.
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