Remember the name valeter? Well it seems more are now calling themselves a detailer. There is of course a little more to it than that…
Some of you will have spotted the trend some time ago, but, in my view at least, part of the challenge is that detailing is more scientific.
What’s even more interesting is that owners are wising up, too. You can’t just take a polisher to a panel, there’s multiple stages of decontamination before any machine work should take place. This is in part the reason for the post as the last few jobs we’ve take on have actually been where the owner or previous has tried to remove swirls and scratches elsewhere and hasn't been happy with the result.
Once the surface is prepared one can begin the scientific part – measuring the paint depth. This gives you an idea of what you have to work with ie the remaining lacquer or clear coat. From that number you can begin to give yourself and more importantly the owner an idea of the percentage correction available. There is no such thing as a full or 100% correction. Typically a 60% correction is achievable with an enhancement detail and you can often get into the 70’s, 80’s and even 90’s if you’re lucky with a two or three stage.
Often a good place to take an original reading from is just inside the door. From there you move around the car noting down and comparing the measurements – increments in the paint world are measured in microns.
Top consumer tip, you get more bang for your buck the less you spend. For example, when machining it’s natural for a detailer to want to remove the scratch and often we take a second or third pass simply because we enjoy it! Unless it’s perfection you’re after or money is no object my advice is take our enhancement detail and then add say, a wheels off arch clean and ceramic the barrels at the same time – much more therapeutic!
Up next is this rather lovely Estoril Blue E36 M3 (no it’s not mine!:) followed by a family owned Jaguar S-Type which I believe was his late fathers car. After helping see to the mechanicals via our local Jag Specialist the fun part can now begin!
For anyone interested in finding out a little more about our work feel free to give me a shout – would love to show you some in-store examples of what’s achievable.
