2725 N Nevada Ave · Colorado Springs
Coating, 3M film, 3M tint and interior protection — all of it in one building, in the only order that works. Tacomas, F-150s and Grand Cherokees are most of what goes through this shop, and this is the sequence we put them through.
Short answer: New car protection at our N Nevada shop is priced piece by piece, not as a bundle: Gtechniq ceramic coating $899 / $1,099 / $1,599, 3M paint protection film from $695, 3M window tint $375–$550, Gtechniq Smart Interior from $275. Correction, if the paint needs it, is $399–$899. Everything is installed at 2725 N Nevada Ave by our own crew.
Accreditation & materials
Anybody can print a label on a bottle and call it a nine-year coating. What you actually want to know is whose product is going on your vehicle, and who checked that we know how to put it there.
Gtechniq is a British coatings manufacturer, and Accredited is a status their factory grants to trained installers rather than something a shop awards itself.
Every piece of film that goes on a vehicle in this building is 3M — the paint protection film on the front end and the window film on the glass. One manufacturer, one set of warranties to keep track of.
Dana Starr, his two sons and a crew he has worked with for years. Licensed, insured and bonded. The same people quote the job, do the job and hand you the keys.
The order matters
This is the part shops get wrong, usually because the film and the coating are done by two different businesses on two different days. Here they are done by the same crew in one visit, which is the whole reason this location exists.
A new vehicle is not automatically a flawless one. It was washed on a dealer lot, moved by a lot porter and delivered on a truck, and under a light you will usually find fine wash marring on the hood and roof. We look at it with you before we quote it. If your paint is clean, we skip this step and you do not pay for it.
See the correction ladderThis is the base layer and it goes on the whole vehicle. Coating is a chemical bond to the clear coat, so it has to be applied to bare, decontaminated, corrected paint — before any film, never over it. Three, five or nine years, and we are a Gtechniq Accredited shop, which is the only way to get the nine-year Crystal Serum Ultra installed.
Compare the three coatingsCoating resists chemicals and makes the car easy to wash. It does not stop a rock. Film does. On I-25 and Highway 24 the damage lands in the same places every time — the leading edge of the hood, the bumper, the mirrors and the rocker panels. Film goes on after the coating and gets coated on top.
See the five film tiersColorado sits high enough that UV load is noticeably harder on an interior than it is at sea level. Tint is the cheapest thing on this list and it is the one protecting the dash, the door cards and the seats you are about to have coated. Four films, all installed in our showroom, same visit as the film.
Compare the four filmsEvery plastic and trim surface in the cabin plus one soft surface of your choice — carpet, cloth or leather. This is the one that pays for itself on a family vehicle. Additional soft surfaces are quoted once we have seen the materials, because Alcantara and finished leather do not take the same product.
What Smart Interior coversTap any step to open it.
Why now, specifically
Five reasons this is a today job and not a spring job. Take them one at a time — each one points at the service that answers it.
01 / THE PAINT
Modern water-borne clear coats are thinner and softer than the solvent-based paint they replaced. That is why a vehicle can roll off a dealer lot already carrying fine wash marring from the porters and the transport wrap. Protect it now and that surface stays the way it left the factory.
What it means for you: Under a strong light, brand new does not always mean flawless
Pricing
Published prices, no ranges hiding a quote. Film and coating pricing depends on vehicle size and panel count at the top tiers, which is why those two say “from”.
| Gtechniq ceramic coating | Coating |
|---|---|
| 3-Year | $899 |
| 5-Year — incl. Smart View glass | $1,099 |
| Ultra 9-Year — incl. C5 Wheel Armour | $1,599 |
| 3M paint protection film | Film |
|---|---|
| Entry Level | from $695 |
| Partial Front | $1,199 |
| Full Front | $1,999 |
| Track Pack | $2,500 |
| Full Vehicle | from $5,000 |
| 3M window tint | Tint |
|---|---|
| FX-HP | $375 |
| Color Stable | $400 |
| Ceramic IR | $475 |
| Crystalline | $550 |
Real ST6 work
Straight answers
At our N Nevada shop the pieces are priced separately so you can take what you want: Gtechniq ceramic coating $899, $1,099 or $1,599, 3M paint protection film from $695 up to $5,000 for a full vehicle, 3M window tint $375 to $550, and Gtechniq Smart Interior from $275. Paint correction, if the vehicle needs it, is $399 to $899. There is no bundle price hiding a markup — it is the same number whether you book one service or all of them.
The day you pick it up. Nothing has etched, nothing has stained, and there is usually no correction to pay for — which is the single biggest variable in the bill. Every month you wait, the odds go up that we have to polish before we can protect, and that is $399 to $899 you did not have to spend.
They do different jobs. Coating is chemical resistance and gloss — it makes bug guts, bird droppings and mag chloride far easier to get off, and it makes the car easy to wash. It does not stop a rock chip. Film is a physical layer that does. Most people here coat the whole vehicle and film the front end, because that is where the gravel lands.
Correction, then coating, then film, then tint. Coating bonds to clear coat, so it has to reach bare, decontaminated paint. Film is then installed on top of the coated panels, and the film itself gets coated. Doing it the other way round means pulling film off in a few years to coat the paint underneath.
Ask three questions before you decide: what product is it, who applies it, and what does the warranty actually cover. Many lot-applied packages are a sealant measured in months rather than a coating measured in years, and the paperwork is often an insurance product rather than a coating warranty. If you bring us what you were quoted, we will tell you honestly whether it is worth keeping.
Yes — that is the point of this location. Correction, coating, film, tint and interior protection all happen at 2725 N Nevada Ave, in our own showroom, by our own crew. One drop-off, one pickup, and nothing gets sent up the road to somebody else.
No. Most of what leaves this building is a Tacoma, an F-150, a Grand Cherokee or a 4Runner — vehicles people are keeping for ten years and 150,000 miles. A $695 film on the front of a truck you plan to keep that long is cheaper than one repaint of a hood.
Pick a starting point
Ready when you are
Year, make, model and what you are planning to do with it. If one $375 tint job is the right answer, that is what we will say. Same-day emergency service is available, and we take every form of payment.
ST6 Detailers — North Nevada · 2725 N Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80907 · (719) 517-7220
No deposit to book. You pay after the work is finished and you have looked at it.
Dana Starr has been detailing in Colorado Springs for 17+ years. He runs this shop with his two sons and a crew he trusts. Every job gets looked at before it goes back to you.
Gtechniq AccreditedAccredited installer in El Paso County