Hand Car Washes Vs Valeting Vs Detailing

With hand car washes the attractiveness for customers is a very quick service at a low price. However, these quick services and lost costs will always result in damage to paintwork, trim pieces, wheels and interior surfaces and finishes.

Those cloths and sponges that are used car after car, dropped on the floor and picked up and put straight back onto your paintwork can cause severe damage and swirling. The TFR that is sprayed on is super strength and in the sun will bake into the trim and your wheels, particularly diamond cut which causes irreversible damage.

In fact so much damage on cars that I've worked on have had to replace the trim before handing back to the dealership at the end of their lease. Or, even worse had to have the wheels recut.

Detailing is a term that has been muddied in recent years. Particularly with covid, every man and his dog was a detailer but in reality very few owners understood the core principles of detailing and what's required to take that car as close to perfection as possible.

The tools, techniques and chemicals I use when performing both a valet or detail are skills that I've honed over the past 18 years or so and various training courses. Detailing aims to ultimately fix the problems with your paintwork and car where possible by correcting defect marks.

Detailing is trying to bring out the best finish whilst doing everything you can to avoid causing any swirl marks or damage to paintwork or finishes. The time taken to detail a car is considerably longer than valeting one because there is usually double the amount of preparation steps to reach that end result.

Most of my customers who go for that Ultimate Detail, or, Paint Correction choose these options for their cars or motorbikes because they are their pride and joy, or their weekend toy, or hold such a significant emotional value to them they want them to look the best they possibly can.