At Shelby's Detailing, paint coatings come in three tiers: a 1-year, a 3-year and a 7-year coating. Shelby's Detailing rates its 3-year coating for three years with normal maintenance, and how long it actually holds up comes down to how the vehicle gets washed and where it's parked. For comparison, wax typically lasts six to eight weeks. The 1-year coating is a $250 add-on to a Paint Enhancement Detail, the 3-year coating with a one-step correction runs $1,300 to $2,100 depending on the vehicle, and the 7-year coating with a two-step correction starts at $2,000.
What each coating tier costs
- 1-year paint coating: $250, added on top of the polish detail described below
- 3-year coating with one-step correction: sedans $1,300-1,600, SUVs $1,500-1,900, trucks $1,700-2,100
- 7-year coating with two-step correction: sedans $2,000+, SUVs $2,500+, trucks $3,000+
The Paint Enhancement Detail that the 1-year coating rides on is $399 for a small vehicle, $424 for a mid-size and $450 for a large one, and takes about 6 hours. The 3-year and 7-year jobs both include paint correction and take about 2-4 days. The full coating process is on our ceramic coating in Granbury page. Headlight restoration uses coating too: the lenses are sanded down and topped with a 4-year ceramic coating.
One customer had Shelby detail his black GMC truck inside and out and apply the 1-year ceramic coating in the same visit. According to the business's reply to his review, another customer also got a 1-year coating.
What makes a coating last its full rating
The three-year rating assumes normal maintenance, so after the coating goes on, how the vehicle is washed and stored decides how long it holds up. The prep decides how good it looks for that whole stretch.
Shelby hand washes the vehicle, removes iron and road tar, and clays the paint. Then he machine polishes out swirls, light scratches and water spots, because anything left in the paint gets sealed under the coating for years. The coating itself is Shine Supply ceramic, applied one panel at a time, then leveled and checked under proper lighting. In 2022 Shelby completed Shine Supply's Advanced Paint Correction & Ceramic Coating training in Ventura, CA.
The black GMC Sierra Denali above is one of Shelby's own finished jobs, photographed after a complete detail.
Because this is a mobile service, the coating has to cure under controlled conditions, so Shelby confirms the setup and the weather window when the job is booked.
A customer whose car Shelby coated several years ago says in her review that it "still looks incredible" and stays easy to clean. She gives the credit to the prep work.
Follow-up after a coating
Shelby's Detailing has booked follow-up visits after several coating jobs. One truck got a maintenance wash scheduled a month after its coating, and the business scheduled a maintenance visit after coatings on a new Rivian and a new car. Shelby's ceramic coating service also comes with a plain-English maintenance plan.
One regular customer got that plan in writing. After Shelby coated her Tahoe at her last detail, he made her a spreadsheet of what to do and what not to do with the coating. Her review calls it a "how to/don't do spread sheet."
Another customer had Shelby coat her new car after he had already coated vehicles for her son and daughter-in-law. A GMC truck owner, whose truck the business's reply notes is ceramic coated, says in his review that it looks better than it did new.
Lake water and boat coatings
In a reply to a tritoon owner's review, the business put it bluntly: the lake is bad for water spots, and that customer had described a lot of them. Lake Granbury leaves hard-water spotting along the waterline and chalky oxidation on gel coat, and a normal wash doesn't take it off.
Shelby has detailed one customer's Veranda tritoon twice at the customer's house on Lake Granbury, cleaning off cobwebs, insect droppings and marks. The boat Wash & Wax already finishes with a spray ceramic sealant, and a full ceramic coating for a boat is a custom-quoted add-on. Shelby details boats at the slip, in a storage lot or on the trailer; our boat and RV detailing on Lake Granbury page covers that work.
Getting your coating quoted
The two longer coatings are priced by vehicle type (sedan, SUV or truck). Shelby prices heavier defects and multi-stage correction once he has seen the paint, and he'll tell you when a lighter service gets most of the result for less. There's no travel fee anywhere in Hood County; outside it, travel is $25 for 15 to 25 miles, $50 for 25 to 40 miles, and a custom quote past 40 miles.
To pick a tier, compare it against every other package on our full services and pricing list and request a quote from there.