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Choosing a Car Detailing Service: 5 Questions to Ask
Finding a good car detailing service is a sure way of keeping your vehicle in showroom condition. Many such places offer cleaning and detailing services and you can go to a hand car wash, specialist service or auto store. Prices vary, so always ask about your particular vehicle and get an accurate quote for your desired package. You may have other questions to ask, so here is some idea of what people want to know.
1 – What Exactly Is “Car Detailing?”
Car detailing is basically a multiple stage operation designed to rejuvenate, clean and revitalize your car. The professional detailer will utilize many procedures in order to give your car a clean, high-end appearance. You car will be cleaned, polished and brought to a shine. The interior is vacuumed, cleaned, polished and fully removed of any evidence of human use to make it look like it just came from the showroom.
2 – How Long Do the Effects of the Treatment Last?
It doesn’t wash off straight away. The treatments that are applied to your vehicle during a professional detailing can have long term positive effects on your car. The varnish, paint and all exterior and interior parts are preserved, protected and sealed to last well into the rainy season and snow. Any tarnished paint is brought back to gleaming condition and sealants preserve the exterior and protect them against the elements.
3 – What Is Sealant?
Most professional detailers use a paste sealant, comprised of a synthetic wax or a resin. What this does is create a long lasting elasticized ‘shell’ on the surface of the vehicle, which cannot be seen, but offers very long term protection against harmful weather conditions and preserves the integrity of the paint surface. Sealant waxes normally last up to six months. You should have your car treated every five months to maximize the effect.
4 – What Does a Professional Polish Do?
The professional stage of polishing can actually contain as many as 13 stages to bring a car to showroom standard. The first stages will clear the surface of the vehicle of any outside contamination and offer a very thorough clean. Woolen buffers and sponges are used to create the shining process using various different waxes, minor abrasives and pastes. Polishing in this amount of stages can restore the original finished quality of the outside of your vehicle. Any imperfections in the paint work are filled or cut away and the final stages offer the protective shell layer.
5 – What Services Can I Get from My Detailing Package?
The specific needs of your vehicle are addressed when you opt for a car detail service. Most services will offer all of the above mentioned polishing options as well as thorough wheel washes, underside washes and full interior treatment. Seasonal treatments are also offered which protect against pollutants, tree sap, bird droppings, acid rain and UV sun rays. Depending on the season when you take your car in, the shop will let you know which treatments you are more likely to receive.
