Car Detailing near London

What is Car Detailing and other FAQs about Car Detailing

Car detailing is often mixed up with valeting and car washing, and while all 3 terms are categories of car care it’s important to understand the difference between them, to know which service is right for your car and when.

Car care can be broken down into 3 categories: car wash, car valeting and car detailing.

Car Wash – also referred to as wash and wax or the £5 car wash is a quick and cheap wash of your car’s exterior (sometimes including a quick hoover inside and a cheap air freshener). Often completed by low-skilled, minimum wage staff. We advise against these cheap car washes. They commonly use cheap and harsh chemicals such as TFR and reuse clothes without washing them, then rub those dirty clothes over your paintwork. In the worst case you risk scratches and swirl marks in your paintwork. These services usually take 15 – 45 minutes, and cost between £5 and £25. You can usually find a car wash close to the supermarket, in a car park, or on busy roads.

Car valeting – valeting services can be broken down by interior valeting and exterior valeting which focus on cleaning and protecting your car. These services usually take between 2 to 4 hours and cost between £25 to £75. Most valeters provide their services on your drive, or roadside, operating from mobile valeting vans. However like the car care industry there are levels to valeting.

Car Detailing – detailing is the top tier of car care for a number of reasons including the time taken, range of services, the care and attention paid to your vehicle and the range of specialist detailing products used, to name a few reasons. Car detailers like Daryl at Offset Detailing are experienced professionals who take pride in their work, and have years of experience perfecting their art. In Daryl’s case detailing started as a passion, perfecting his own cars for car shows where he won numerous awards. Detailers often follow meticulous processes when detailing, and the easiest way to explain detailing, is to explain the process we follow at Offset Detailing. See the next question “what is involved in car detailing?”.

For a visual explanation of this, check out this helpful guide by Auto Finnese: what is car detailing.

What is involved in car detailing?

To further explain car detailing we’ve shared the process that we follow at Offset Detailing.

Stage one – A thorough wash and decontamination of your vehicle.

First the wheels are cleaned with an acid free wheel cleaner and iron deposit remover, such as Pyramid Car Care’s Fallout Remover, dissolving brake dust, road grime and dirt. Soft wheel woolie brushes are used to agitate first from the inner barrels and the face of the rim. After this is rinsed clean, a hand wash on each wheel is carried out using a PH neutral shampoo.

The car itself is decontaminated using acid free traffic film removers usually citrus prewash and fallout remover. This includes all door shuts and wheel arches. Once the existing dirt, road film, bugs and iron filings have been removed safely the entire vehicle is covered in a Ph neutral snow foam using a snow foam lance. This breaks down the dirt stuck to the surface, which is then safely sprayed away using a pressure washer. We often use gentle soft bristle brushes to agitate dirt in hard to reach areas such as grills.

All of this is completed without making any contact with the paint’s surface to avoid scratching the paintwork.

We then wash the car with a Ph neutral car shampoo, and microfibre wash mitt, following the two bucket wash method. The first bucket, is full of suds from the shampoo, while the second bucket is used to clean the wash mitt in between contact. In both buckets we used a grit guard that helps to separate the water we pick up in the wash mitt from the dirt and grit at the bottom of the bucket.

After the wash process the car is dried using 300kph warm filtered air courtesy of a BigBoi Air Blowers. 

The cleaning stage can often include removal of tar and glue, removal of existing waxes and sealants, and clay barring, which is the process of removing microscopic contaminants in the paint work, by gently rubbing clay across the paintwork.

Stage two – car polishing to enhance and correct the paintwork

Your car picks up scratches, swirl marks, marring, holograms and other surface defects. There are a range of causes from normal wear and tear, poor wash technique, cheap car washes, contact with bushes and trees. We’ve even seen (and fixed) car’s that have been covered in wedding ribbon that has rubbed against the paintwork and caused scratches.

Car Polishing is what really sets detailing aside from car washes and valeting services.

Car Polishing is the process of removing those scratches, swirl marks and other defects in a car’s paintwork. It’s not just paintwork, car polishing can be completed on gloss black trim, headlights, exhaust tips, chrome and even glass. Car polishing is basically resetting a car to factory settings.

It’s not that simple though, every car is different and every paint job is different. Car polishing is not a one size fits all service and the approach we take isn’t either.

We combine the right polishing tools and pads, with the right polish, for the make, model, colour and condition of your car, as well as the paint depth.

A new car, with only minor swirl marks from poor wash technique at a dealership and a few light scratches would usually be completed in a single stage polish, which is enough to bring it back to factory new – this is what we call an enhancement detail.

Whereas a 5 year old car, with 50,000 miles on the clock, might require a multi stage polish which includes cutting back the clear coat, refining the paintwork and finishing to make it look new again – this is what we call a correction detail.

Typically the older the car the worse the condition, and therefore the more “detailed” the polishing job is to enhance or correct the paintwork.

Stage three – paint protection most commonly using Ceramic Coating

Once the paint work has been polished and is looking it’s best, this is the perfect time to apply a paint protection product – to keep the paintwork looking it’s best for longer and to protect the paint from further scratches and swirl marks.

Over 70 cars made it to our portfolio in 2020 and 90% of their owners chose ceramic coating.

The most popular choices were ceramic coatings manufactured by Pyramid Car Care, Titan Coatings and Kamikaze.

Unlike traditional waxes and sealants, which commonly last up to 6 months, Ceramic Coatings harness nanotechnology to provide up to 5 years paint protection.

Ceramic Coatings also enhance gloss and create a hydrophobic surface that repels water which actually helps to keep your car cleaner for longer.

Potentially the biggest benefit of a ceramic coating is in it’s scratch resistance.

For more information, read our full guide on Ceramic Coatings.

What’s the real difference between car detailing and valeting?

Car detailing originated in the United States, where it’s more commonly referred to as Auto Detailing. Whilst the phrase Car Detailing has grown in popularity in the UK, car detailing and car valeting are often used to refer to the same services, as explained by DetailingWiki.

How much does Car Detailing cost?

Car detailing prices vary by place, detailer, your car’s condition, the products used and the services you are interested in.

Call Daryl at Offset Detailing 7 days a week on 07843 201313 – to discuss your requirements.