Thank you for taking the time to have read through the services we can offer you. You may have read about some services or words and terms you’re not familiar with. You’ll find below short descriptions of some of them:
Two Bucket method – shampoo and water in the ‘wash’ bucket, clean water only in the ‘rinse’ bucket. The wash mitt is rinsed in the clean water to help prevent recycling the dirt taken from your vehicle, being put into the wash bucket. This is the safest way to minimise ‘swirl marks’ and scratches to your vehicle, but is more time consuming.
Grit guards – in the bottom of the wash and rinse buckets, will be a grit guard. This guard provides near total protection from the wash mitt coming into contact with the grit and dirt that has fallen to the bottom of the bucket.
Microfiber and Lambs wool wash mitts – Sponges are dead, long live the microfiber. Sponges hold on to water, they also hold on to dirt and drag it back over your paint work. Microfiber mitts help draw the dirt into it and away from the paint, as do Lambs wool mitts, which are also softer on your paint work. Both mitts release the majority of this dirt when rinsed, to help reduce contamination and swirl marks. I will never use a sponge on your paintwork. Not even a clean one.
Snow Foam – Snow foam is applied to a dry/nearly dry vehicle, to help penetrate and loosen any dirt on the surface. As this foam runs down the car, it helps break its bond with the paint, lift it, and remove it from the car by dripping to the floor. It’s important that the foam doesn’t dry on the car and is rinsed off thoroughly. It helps remove most dirt before you make contact with a wash mitt, when you shampoo. A snow foam alone will NOT clean your car, nor will it remove all dirt, but it will help minimise swirls. Just snow foaming your car alone would help keep dirt and grime to a minimum, but would not be an alternative to car washing.
Ph neutral, alkalies and acids – many cleaning products contain alkalis or acids, to help break down dirt and grime. These can have a harmful effect on paint, metal, wheels etc if used in the wrong doses or left on too long. Ph neutral products help break down grime, but in a less powerful and safer way, but also don’t strip off any recently applied products, such as waxes or sealants and don’t eat away at lacquers, alloys and metals.
Iron removers – our cars body work, and especially our wheels, get contaminated with hot brake dust, that then cools onto and into our paint and wheels. If you don’t remove this contamination, it can make your paint feel rough to the touch. It can also drag and carry when applying waxes, polishes and sealants etc (along with other contaminates, below) meaning that in some cases, applying protection can also be damaging your paint at the same time. A very brief 1m30 video on an Iron Remover here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi_sMRX0H40 Not all cars will require this. Some cars will be more covered than others. Older cars will definitely be more contaminated. We can always test a small area to see if you need it.
Clay Bars and other contaminates – clay bars are an abrasive clay that you rub over a vehicles paint, after a wash, to help remove contaminates such as overspray, tree sap, bitumen, oil, grease and dirt that may be actually embedded in the paint work. After a clay, as you will have more than likely stripped off any previous protection with it, it’s best to at least wax, if not polish and wax/seal your vehicles paint.
Polish and Wax – Don’t get the two confused, both do different jobs and act in very different ways. A polish is applied to a clean and decontaminated car (hopefully) and is an abrasive product that cuts through a cars clear coat (a lacquer that sits on top of you paint to protect it) to remove minor scuffs scratches and swirls. A polish helps give a car its depth of shine back by helping to remove these marks so the paint below can shine through. Hand polishing is safer than machine polishing as it’s less abrasive as less heat and pressure is applied, however it may not always remove scratches and swirls and paint damage, but it will help. A polish can help bring back the ‘depth’ of a cars original colour. Care has to be applied when polishing, as some areas of paint can be too thin to polish.
A wax is applied ideally after a polish, to help protect the new layer of lacquer that the polish helped expose. A wax doesn’t always have to be applied after a polish, it can go on a ‘clean’ (as clean as a car can be without decontamination) car, to act as a barrier to the paint. Think of it as suntan lotion on your body. Wax works in the same way, protecting the paint from UV rays and the elements, as well as providing some protection against other contaminates from sticking as easily to your paintwork. A wax should also provide some hydrophobia to your cars paint, and you will see your paint ‘bead-up’ water, for it to roll off and disperse easier, helping it stay cleaner and shine for longer (weather and road conditions dependent). It should also make your vehicle easier to maintain.
Sealants – car sealants are a synthetic, polymer based alternative to a more traditional car wax. They tend to provide more protection than the more traditional car wax, but may give a slightly different look to the paint.
If I have thrown up any more questions or queries or you want to know more or you’d like me to look at your car and recommend anything, please let me know.