- What is the difference between a quality detailer and a production detailer?
A quality detailer works on a single car for numerous hours or days to perfect the paint and remove most to all defects.
A production detailer works on several cars a day to remove the major defects and hide the minor defects.
- What products does OCDetailing use?
Real sheepskin washmitt
Car Wash Soap - Dawn (on waxed cars to remove wax), Meguiar's Gold or Prima Mystique (on unwaxed cars)
Clay - Meguiar's Mild Blue
Polisher - Porter Cable dual action orbital polisher
Polishes/Waxes - Prima products
Interior Vinyl - Meguiar's Cleaner and Protectant, Prima Nero
Leather - Zymol Cleaner and protectant, Prima Nourish
Extractor - DurrMaid Super 1600
Glass - Prima Clarity with Prima Glass Cleaning Microfiber
Wheels - Prima Hydro
Tire Dressing - Meguiar's Tire Shine
Several Prima Microfiber Towels for paint work
- How long does a detail take?
Each car is different and reacts differently to the polish and pads. Soft paint makes removing defects easy, but increases the risk of adding new ones in the process, while hard paint takes longer and takes more work to remove the defects. The amount of defects also affects how long a detail will take. The amount of time it takes to detail is between 8 and 20 hours - I do keep the car garaged overnight.
- Do I drop my car off or can you pick it up?
I prefer to have the car dropped off the night before the detail so I can begin working on it first thing in the morning. If I need to pick the car up, it should have enough gas to get from your location to my garage and back.
- What is clay?
'Clay' is a specialized automotive detail clay to remove all contaminants that have bonded to your car's paint and can not be removed by a car wash.
- Should I be using automated or free car washes?
While it's nice to support free car washes, they care about getting a car in and out as fast as possible to keep the customers happy, which means your car will get dust and dirt washed off at your paint's expense. Automated carwashes with brushes (eventhough the brushes are improving in texture) tend to swipe at your car's paint and also cause minimal damage with each use. Both methods will cause swirls and scratches in your paint and should be avoided at all costs - if you must use an automated car wash, go brushless, otherwise wash by hand with TLC.
- What is the difference in a real lambswool washmitt and a fake?
Real lambswool washmitts have a soft, leathery feel on the interior and the mitt itself is soft and feels like real hair even when wet. These are best used on the car's paint and glass. The fake lambswool washmitts are sewn and rough on the interior and the mitt feels like artificial hair you would find on dolls. These are best used the wheels and license plate ONLY, they will scratch your vehicle's paint.