Car detailing at Farba Guard in Dubai

Car detailing at Farba Guard in Dubai


There I was, letting my Jeep collect dust as I tested various other cars. Then I hear from a friend of a friend about a new detailing shop that he’d opened in Dubai recently, and was looking to make his mark in the industry. The place is called Farba Guard, and after speaking to Mohsin, the owner, and seeing his passion for detailing cars, I figured I could give the new place a shot and hand over my stagnant Jeep for a complimentary full detail for this story.

Judging by the pictures, you can see that my Jeep is in pretty good condition for a 10-year-old car. But look closely, and you’ll find dust and dirt in every nook and cranny, in the vents, in the grille, in the door edges, and in the buttons. The alloy wheels are yellow on the outside and black on the inside, while the engine compartment always has a layer of dust on it.

The place in Al Quoz is certainly set up more nicely than other detailing outfits I’ve used, with a bright waiting area and a vehicle-handover area at the entrance. Inside, there is a corner where the cars get a thorough wash, which is where my Jeep first got a foamy shower and a scrub-down, taking the better part of an hour. They even used some sort of gel on the outer-window rubbers and also started brushing behind the wheel-spokes during the wash.

Then the Jeep got wiped down and moved to a dry area, where the real work began. Working under spot-lights, a whole team of men started working on various parts of the car.

The hard-to-reach places, such as the door hinges and the a/c vents, got scrubbed with a toothbrush, while the carpets got a shampoo wash using a specialised machine.

The entire interior was vacuumed or blown with compressed air, the leather seats and plastics were treated, and the engine compartment was wiped down with solvents till it was shiny. The tyres sidewalls got a wet wipe, and the paint went through the usual cleaning, polish and wax using professional tools. They also finally got rid of the white stains left on the door-edge rubbers left by the previous detailing outfit.

They even polish headlights and remove seats for cleaning on request, but we didn’t require either of those services, considering we changed our headlights a year ago and we don’t eat inside the car.

The end result was a car with no swirl marks on the paint whatsoever. The bigger scratches remain of course, and our ancient Jeep has its fair share of those, but it looks brand new from a few metres away. Most of the formerly-black plastics became black again, although a few did look grey again by next morning, while some of the interior bits felt a bit slippery due to the spray-on treatment as they took a little longer to dry off, but neither is worth whining about really.

Farba Guard, which opened only this year, has been the best detailing shop we’ve used so far, with a knowledgeable owner who has many years of previous experience, is ready to explain the process to customers, and go the extra mile to build his reputation in the industry. They offer pick-up and drop-off services and plan to offer paint-protection and window-tinting soon. I even went through their past customer feedback forms, all of whom were satisfied customers except for one or two who whined about having to pay Dhs 50 extra for getting their larger SUV detailed using a “Cobone” voucher, which I hear was among the most successful campaigns of its kind on that group-buying website.

If you missed out on those vouchers, you can still look forward to trying out their Dhs 950 full-detail as we’ve made a deal with Farba Guard to offer discounted services for our MyRide forum members. Keep track of the various upcoming offers as they happen on the forums.

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Comments

  1. Author

    Call Farba Guard at 04-3403434 to set an appointment. Location is near Times Square Mall.

  2. Is DHS950 the discounted price?

  3. I have a cobone voucher for washmeautospa which I will use this saturday.

  4. so mash, now ur grand cherokee wud fetch few grand more now….

  5. do they use a clay bar before polishing?
    what polish and wax do they use?
    ive used many detailers and they all give my black car back with atleast a few light swirls and white wax residue in all the panel gaps. tired of experimenting.
    if fabra guard is as good as you say they are, lets just hope they maintain their commitment to do a great job and not just concentrate on volumes but rather quality.

    • Author

      No swirl marks or wax residue. They use Meguiar’s products, although soon they will switch to something a bit more pricier.

  6. I tried Farba and personally found them very disappointing. The pictures all look quite professional but in reality the work they did was sub-standard and that’s coming from someone that isn’t even particularly fussy. Internal cleaning was terrible and their polishing left a lot to be desired plus they left a decent amount of polish stuck in several areas which I had to point out to them along with several other things.

    • Author

      Can you please put up pictures (either in the forums or link to it elsewhere) of what you are unhappy with. I’ll pass on the feedback if you give more details.

  7. I got my 2008 Edge detailed from Farbaguard on Thursday at a drivearabia special price of aed 383. They have done a good job and I feel like I got a new car for the new year. My car wasn’t in a bad shape so it was probably not very difficult for them, still I can say they did a better job than the detailing I got done from ford service centre earlier at a higher price. Thank you drivearabia for arranging the offer.
    PS: One tip to someone who wants to go is, pick up your car at least at 5 so that you can check it in detail and the boys there can rectify any shortfalls if you point out the same. I picked up mine at 550 and they were closing at 6 and it was dark, still the boys gave their spot light asked to check thoroughly.

  8. I am with Omar on this. I used a Cobone voucher I bought mid last year for my girlfriends car. The guys at Farba looked professional but below the surface their work was definitely sub par in my opinion and their polishing seemed very lackluster as it had no effect at all in removing the swirl marks from the car’s exterior. Anyway when I collected my girlfriends car and complained about the swirls that didn’t seem to show any marked improvement they didn’t even attempt to try to and remedy it and doing it again. I was prepared to wait for them to do this but instead I was given a bunch of excuses why it wasn’t possible to polish them out and ushered towards the exit. Her car is a 2008 blue BMW so not that new but definitely not that old either and there is plenty of clear coat left for them to buff. The swirls were not deep and while I didn’t expect them to perform miracles I did expect them to try to work on those areas and reduce them. I will get some pictures and post even though its been a while since the detail was done.

    Also I think its worth mentioning that in my opinion the guys at Farba need some overall training. Apart from my own experience with the polishing when I went to collect her car one of they guys was using detailing clay car (thankfully on someone else’s car) and he accidentally dropped it on the floor and then picked it up and starting using it again with all the grit stuck to it!!! I can’t even describe how destructive this is for a car’s paintwork. I pointed this out but it didn’t seem to be taken seriously.

  9. @Cardemon & Omar:

    Please email your Invoice number or any details with which we can confirm that you are our customer.

    Upon confirmation you will recieve a complimentary services if applicable.

    Thank you for your feedback and will focus on the suggestions

    FARBA GUARD

    • Author

      The two complaints seem to be originating from the same IP address. Hard to say if they’re legitimate.

  10. How can i get the drivearabia discount at farba gaurd? I Have read your thread on the Renault safrane and own the one since last month.

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