Detailing vs. Washing

If you want mechanized brushes, clothes detergent and water hitting your car’s paint with a force that is what you will get with the car washes. If there are employees present to dry your car after it comes out of the wash, you may think this is a professional detailing of your car. Some of these washes also vacuum the interior. Though this type of wash down may produce a relatively clean car at an economical price, this is not detailing. The car wash process, even with the extras is not a thorough cleaning. Such cleaning can also cause damage to your car’s paint job. The clothes and brushes can cause damage as well as the towels used in the drying process if they are dirty or contaminated by other parts of the car and then used on the paint.

When your car is washed by a qualified detailing company, it is hand washed. Each section of the car is carefully cleaned. The wheels, tires, the paint job, all carefully washed by hand. The quality towels never touch any other part of the car. The car will be coated by a professional detailer. This will both protect and enhance your car’s paint. The nano ceramic products protect the paint from UV damage and prevent foreign objects from bonding to the paint. Car washes washes offer wax services, but they are different from what you get at a detail shop. The wax is often sprayed on and then rinsed off. There is no attention to detail and the whole process is done wrong.

A dirty cabin not only looks bad but smells bad too, and can contribute or create operational problems. When the interior of the car is professionally detailed the same care is taken as is on the outside. Time will be taken to use the correct tools to get into the cracks and crevices. All of the plastic, leather and other hard surfaces will be carefully cleaned. It is likely that only a professional would know that certain surfaces, like expensive touch screens, could be damaged with the wrong products.

To sum it up, when you have your car professionally detailed, you will notice the difference. You will notice that they took extra time in the key areas and that care was taken not to do damage. What is the benefit? Your car will look and smell like new for many years to come.