Services
Wash
- Hi-Foam Shampoo
- Microfibre Hand Dried
- Windows & Mirrors
- Tyres & Rims
- Clay Bar Decontamination
Correct
- Machine Buff
- Finishing Polish
- Cut & Polish
- Scratch & Scuff Minimisation
- Paint Transfer Treatment
Protect
- Protective Wax Coating
- Or Paint Sealant
- Tyre Shine
- Plastic Dressing
- Rubber Dressing
Before & After Car Exterior Detailing
Car Care Services
Buff, Polish & Shine
There’s nothing more satisfying than the wet-look gloss of your car on a nice sunny day, squeaky clean enough to mirror your reflection. Better yet, brush your hands along the sides of your car and feel that smooth paint finish. You don’t have to buy a new car to get that new car feel, all it takes is a well-deserved exterior detail.
Benefits Of Car Exterior Detailing
- Minimise light scratches & blemishes
- Maximise car’s worth and value
- Improve & protect paint condition
- Restore/enhance paint shine and gloss
- Provide a smooth feel & finish – clay bar
- Refine the finish and colour clarity
- Treat oxidation and paint fading/dullness
What Is In An Exterior Detail?
An exterior car detail is a type of car detailing service that focuses on the exterior of the vehicle. This service typically includes washing and polishing the vehicle, cleaning the windows and wheels, waxing the paint, and applying a protective coating on the exterior.
In addition to your traditional/regular car wash, using a clay bar ‘Cleaning Clay’ will remove what a car wash can’t. Before any paint enhancing techniques are performed, the surface must be cleaned of all contaminants, otherwise it can affect the end result – Clay Bar Paint Decontamination. In addition to preparing the surface, an IPA wipe down is a great way to remove any previous waxes to ensure that the next phase is carried out on a fresh non-treated canvas/paint.
Buffing is performed by machine to minimise any minor blemishes such as scratches and swirls, but has the main intention of bringing out the gloss of the paint. A particular and meticulous process that takes time and great attention to detail. Following this with a polish helps to smooth out micro-scratches to give it a nice clean texture and feel. How many stages of Polish/Buffing is dependent on the condition of your vehicle, obviously the greater the fading/damage the more stages that are required to fix this. Remember not to confuse a polish with a wax, the best way to understand this in short, is that waxes do not contain any abrasives whereas a polish does.
To maintain this finish and reduce wear and tear, a wax or paint sealant is applied to create a protective coating around the car. Although it’s main goal is to shield against environmental pollutants and can also create extra shine.
Also note, if your car has been a victim of overspray, whether it’d be paint and so on, it is always crucial to buff the car after the removal of contamination. This also applies to signage removal, as there tends to be residue and discolouration behind the overspray/signage, such that a machine buff will help to alleviate and reduce the discolouration while boosting the gloss back.
Any scratches beyond the clear coat or very deep, may need to be wet-sanded (a rather more aggressive technique), however we always do recommend to consider with caution. Ultimately, you are sanding down and thinning the protective clear coat layer slightly each time you polish – a trade off between aesthetics and protection.
Speaking of protection, the use of high-performance paint protection coatings such as ceramic and graphene coatings will add a far superior gloss and level protection unmatched by any wax or sealant. Which really speaks for itself, considering that they typically last years and not weeks or months like waxes/sealants. It’s almost as though they form a semi-permanent ‘glass-like’ layer on top of your paint.
When Do You Need Exterior Car Detailing?
Your car exterior is exposed to environmental pollutants on a daily basis – hot, cold, rain, wind and so on. If you can’t see it, you will definitely feel it. Brush your fingers across your paint one day and you will feel a roughness due to heavy contamination. Typically, these are the damaging contaminants that are very difficult to remove and in most instances, are not removed in a regular car wash, hence the need for premium car exterior detailing.
Effects of these pollutants, if left untreated, can really take a toll on your paint and cause it to oxidise and ultimately fade faster. Although it seems harmless, but contaminants like bug guts, bird droppings, rain water drops, tree sap and etc can cause permanent damage if left unattended, especially under harsh Australian weather.
That’s why we recommend an exterior detail 2-3 times a year and by this we are referring specifically to buffing/polishing, where a light layer of clear coat is conditioned (the layer protecting your paint). Month to month, a wax or paint sealant after a regular car wash is a great way to shield your clear coat from the above pollutants. Or if you are looking for the ultimate protection, with astonishing shine, be sure to have a look at ceramic coating/paint protection. On the flip side, one method of preserving the wear and tear or harsh effects of the sun and UV rays is having automotive tints installed for your car.
If you are someone who has their car parked outdoors often and open to environmental conditions such as tree sap, dirt, droppings and so on, it may be worth at the least, coating your car with wax. Wax is a great way to protect your car’s paintwork due to its hydrophobic (water-repelling) properties. Making it difficult for these pollutants to stick to your car’s paint.
Machine buffing is an effective way to remove most scratches from a car, but not all. The reason for this is because some scratches may be too deep, and if they are too deep, the machine buffing process would not be able to remove them. Nevertheless, machine buffing is still an effective way to minimise blemishes on the car, including minor scratches.
Although car exterior detailing includes the machine polishing step, it cannot guarantee the complete removal of all swirl marks for the same reasons it can’t for all scratches. It all boils down to the depth of these imperfections, how deep have they penetrated into the paintwork.
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We always recommend washing the car regularly, anywhere between weekly and monthly depending on how frequent you drive. Whereas, for detailing the exterior, this should be done twice a year to rejuvenate and recondition the paintwork. This is what helps to achieve that new car finish.
You can simply add-on the plastic trim application to your booking (given that your package includes the exterior eg. Pre Sale, Exterior detail etc). This allows for our Detailer to re-dye the faded plastic trims (not the rubber).
Clay bar paint decontamination is a process of using a clay bar to remove surface contaminants like tree sap, road tar and industrial fallout from the paintwork of a car. The clay bar acts like a magnet for these contaminants, and when it is rubbed over the paintwork, the contaminants stick to the clay bar instead of the paint. This step helps to prep the paintwork prior to a machine polish and helps to serve as a second line of defence when it comes to washing your car. Not all contaminants can be removed from the regular car wash and will at times need the clay bar.
Regularly wash your car, park in sheltered areas away from the sun and contaminants, apply paint protection, immediately wash bird droppings/tree sap as soon as they appear, dry your car properly with a drying towel (not by air – this causes water etching).
