The secret lies in the details

Car detailing has become so popular that it has its own Wikipedia entry, which reads: “An optimized process of comprehensive cleaning, renovation and maintenance of a motor vehicle or its components, both inside and out, in order to improve the aesthetic and functional qualities of the vehicle and extend its lifespan.” However, this is not an exhaustive definition, and it certainly does not describe a service that is often priced at several thousand zlotys. .

One of my clients said that it is a service for people with a heightened sense of aesthetics, and I completely agree with him. Detailing is for people who see the beauty in details and love automobiles. We cannot force anyone to get into car detailing; it must come from our inner need to take care of our car. Detailing is also about extending the lifespan and care of individual materials, which are increasingly of inferior quality.

The pillars of detailing

To make it easier to understand the idea of detailing, I have divided it into four pillars:

 

1. Cleaning,

2. Polishing/Renovation,

3. Protection,

4. Care.

Contrary to popular belief and the photos on websites, cleaning is dirty and hard work. This is especially true when we are dealing with an older car and its comprehensive renovation.

Washing - that's where we start. The only limit may be the customer's time and budget. We start by cleaning the paint, all the gaps, the surfaces between the badges, and going deeper, we dismantle the wheels, wheel arches, wash the chassis and the engine. We can approach the interior of the car in the same way. It is common practice to remove the seats, plastic parts or the floor. Of course, the scope of this work is always tailored to the current condition of the individual vehicle components. What do we actually clean? After all, washing a car means rinsing off the sand and washing it with shampoo. Well, not exactly. A large amount of tar, tree resin, brake pad dust and other metallic impurities remain on the surface of the paint, rims, windows or other external components if you park close to a railway line or factories. Limescale builds up, especially if you do not dry the paint after washing. Looking at the interior, we mainly have cases of dirt related to food, drinks, sand stuck in the carpet, or grease on the windows and plastics. If we do not remove all this dirt, there is no point in going to the next stage, and we certainly should not protect such surfaces.

Polishing is not detailing

Polishing/renovation, and especially polishing, arouses the most emotions among people interested in detailing. I get the impression that for most people, detailing = polishing. As you can see, it is only one of the pillars, for me just as important as any other mentioned in this article. Why do we notice polishing so much? Probably because after just a few passes with a properly selected machine, polish and pad, we can see spectacular results on the painted elements. I deliberately used the word elements because we can polish not only the bodywork, but also the rims, windows, lights, as well as decorative elements inside the car covered with a glossy clear coat. Looking at the process, it doesn't look difficult. Only at first glance. When you look into the surfaces we work on and the machines, polishes, sponges and microfiber cloths available on the market, you can be overwhelmed. The key to success is to understand the process thoroughly. What actually happens when polishing a given surface and when does a specific polish work best? This is certainly a topic for another article. Renovation is not only about polishing, it is also about minor paint touch-ups, leather painting, or visual repair of other surfaces. In short, at this stage, we turn old into new.

Protection - A dozen or so hours spent cleaning, another dozen or so hours spent polishing. Now it is time to protect the results of our hard work. After all, we don't want to lose it after a few weeks and spend many hours cleaning or polishing it again. There is a wide range of protective products available. We divide them according to the surface they are intended for, the effect, and the durability. I will explain this using paint coatings as an example. I always conduct an interview when choosing a coating for the customer's car. The basis is the average annual mileage, whether the car is garaged, whether we wash it ourselves or maybe at random car washes (which is not advisable), and finally what color it is. Thanks to this information, I know how durable the coating I need to use and how often it needs to be serviced. The customer does not have to invest in expensive and durable products if the car is only used in the summer and has a very low mileage. The visual effect and the performance of the coating itself are important and here we often choose it according to the paintwork and the customer's habits of regularly washing the car. Some coatings darken the car very much, others give a glassy effect and emphasize the grain and pearl. Some have a higher resistance to chemicals, others a lower one. There are also coatings that have little self-regeneration properties. The subject is very broad, so you need the right experience, knowledge of the products and, above all, a conversation with the customer.

Care – We are well aware that using a car involves regular maintenance, changing the oil, filters and tires. The same goes for detailing. If you want to enjoy the effect for as long as possible, you have to take care of it. It is worth adding that it is easier to take care of a protected car. However, I will disappoint those who treat their car as a means of transportation and consider washing it a chore. It is not true that a car does not get dirty or scratched and that washing it is just a matter of rinsing it at a touchless car wash. No! It's not that magical, but on the other hand, people who see the difference after the detailing service and feel the need to drive a clean car will appreciate how much easier it is to take care of the visual aspect of their four wheels now.

Can Joe Public afford it?

The question of how long and how much the car detailing service costs certainly arises. It all depends on the scope of services and the condition of the individual surfaces and, of course, the size of the vehicle. A new car, which requires little cleaning and where the focus is mainly on protection, requires 8-15 hours of work. On the other hand, our record projects have reached up to 250 working hours. The price we pay for detailing is, of course, time, but also materials, which do not always have to be very expensive. On the other hand, if we need really durable protection because we use the vehicle intensively, the amount increases. We can certainly find services starting from 1500 PLN, the more demanding and durable ones cost around 4-5 thousand PLN. However, for long-term, comprehensive services, the price can reach even five-figure amounts.

The growing interest in detailing also translates into a high demand for training. I have often been asked how long it takes to learn it on your own. As in other professions, it is difficult to give a clear answer. If we are interested in increasing the efficiency of our work, we will see visible results after just one day of training under the guidance of professionals. The question is also at what stage to try to get detailing training. I believe that once we get the bug after starting detailing on our own, we begin to see that the effects of our work are visible, but unsatisfactory. When you can spend a whole day washing a car, but you are still dissatisfied with the result, it is probably a good time for professional training.

There is no shortage of training offers on the market - I personally conduct training courses both in our workshop in Warsaw and at the Profix Training Center near Poznań. For those interested, we offer a whole range of modular training courses so that everyone can independently determine and choose the scope of training courses they need.