Pristine auto detailing team constantly gets asked what really is “detailing”, so here, we tried to brief it out for you. everybody washes their cars or has their cars washed. Whether it’s because it’s illegal to drive around in a car where your number plates are that smudged, you’re unable to read your registration number, or since you really care about your car and your paint.
There are levels to cleaning a car, even though. Tiers, in case you will. So, when does cleaning your car become ‘detailing’?’ The method of cleaning your car can be known as a simple wash, a valet, or a detail, but what’s the difference?
Your common, generic car wash will take up the form of a wash and vac, which will include a shampoo wash (of the total car including wheels and tires), a dry off using a towel to stop any water spots or streaks, and in some cases a spray wax. That’s pretty much as far as it goes unless you go to a fancy car wash and they offer you an air freshener that, more frequently than not, smells like cheap lemony household cleaning products.
Valeting
Car valeting may be a step up. It’s essentially any additional offering you see at a car wash. There will be different cost levels from the wash, dry and wax – much like the above, but with more attention to detail… and we mean ‘a little’. The door shuts will also be included, in case you’re lucky.
There may indeed be vac and dash polish within the blend, which will cost you a bit more, but you’ll get a full hoover and a wipe down of all surfaces including leather seats. In case any of you have ever had this done, you’ll know the quality of products used; they can regularly be slippery and greasy (you can make sure there is no such thing going on in Pristine auto detailing) – not what you need on your leather seats or steering wheel.
In case you choose a top-of-the-range valet, you’ll frequently get a polish to the paintwork, as well as a clean to the windows (inside and out).
Detailing
So, where does it all overlap into ‘detailing’? Just like the sort of detailing we do here at Pristine auto detailing? Well, detailing is when it goes far more profound than what’s on top of the paint.
How we do it in Pristine auto detailing
exterior
Following a snow foam, like Avalanche (to remove any loose contaminants), and a great thorough wash (utilizing the two-bucket method and a great quality shampoo like Lather Car Shampoo), full paint decontamination can start. We utilize a 3-stage method including utilizing Iron Out Contaminant Remover to break up ingrained metal particles, taken after by Tar and Glue Remover to eradicate any sticky residues.
Finally, a clay bar, or Clay Pad, with a suitable lubricant will be utilized to remove embedded contaminants within the paint, such as tar, tree sap, or anything that’s buried deep enough not to have already been picked up.
When cleaning wheels, our detailers at Pristine auto detailing will regularly take it one step further and remove the wheels from the car enabling them to get to the back to clean hard-to-reach regions. They will also clean up the brakes and inner components such as internal arch linings.
Attention to details in Pristine auto detailing
Even with the wheels on the car, at the very least they will clean and decontaminate wheels utilizing professional products like Iron Out Contaminant Remover, Imperial Wheel Cleaner, and Revolution Wheel Soap. A genuine detailer will continuously brush-in the correct product for the specific type of wheel to remove grime and corrosive brake dust in each break.
Much like a valet, there are diverse tiers to a car detail. Depending on the level of detail you require, you may even choose to go down the compound route to further adjust and perfect the paint finish. This may involve hand polishing, but most often will include the use of a machine polisher.
This system helps to remove any blemishes while polishing the paint’s surface, clearing out a swirl-free finish. Machine polishers remove fine lines in paint, swirl marks, and even orange peel, making the car look indeed better than when it left the production line, as we first promised that Pristine auto detailing would.
Once all this is done, a detailer will finish all paintwork with the application of a great wax or ceramic coating. This is not only to protect the work conducted but moreover increase the life span of the finish they’ve just spent so long on achieving.
Interior
On the interior, detailers will vacuum all zones, as well as employ the use of a carpet cleaner to remove any stains. upholstery, trims, headlining, and other places will also be wet cleaned. we will regularly utilize special brushes, much like our hog hair ones or compressed air, to clean any vents or dials found within the car. Seats, whether leather or cloth, will be worked on with very specific products to the fabric. If leather, our detailers at Pristine auto detailing often finish with a leather protector.
There’s also an entire finishing process involved, a true detailer will use the right product to finish and protect each surface, whether that’s restoring plastics with Revive Trim Dressing, Using Tripple All Purpose Polish to clean and secure door jambs, dressing tires with Satin Tire Creme, or basically making sure your windows are sparkling using Crystal or Ceramics Glass Cleaner.
