Car detailing is a process that is often performed these days. However, this activity could have multiple meaning. In the United States, car detailing is often associated with general car cleaning. In the United Kingdom, the same activity is called “car valeting”. In general, detailing is used for cleaning activities with more thorough process. Car detailing can be described as an activity to clean, polish and protect any part of the car meticulously, from the top to bottom. In many cases, car detailing will require specialist tools and we may need to use products that are included in standard car cleaning activity. Sometimes, light restorative works are included in the car detailing process, but not including body and paintwork repairs. An example, stone chips can be repaired by proper rubbing and waxing. Car detailing could also eliminate swirl marks and fine marks. Unsightly cob webbing effects could also be eliminated. Before we undertake the process, the exterior must be washed thoroughly, so much of the contaminants and dirt can be removed.
During the detailing process, the exterior part of the car should be covered with foam. We should let it the foam to soak on the car surface. This should allow us to soften accumulated and encrusted dirt. During the soaking stage, brush with soft bristle can be used to agitate specific areas, such as badges, trim details, plastic grills and window rubbers. The soaking process could be determine by the surrounding the temperature. When the foam seems to dry faster, even if we put the car under the shade, we could rinse it sooner. The foam should carry with it grime and loosened dirt. After washing the paintwork, the last thing that we should clean is the wheels, arches and well. They are usually the most contaminated and the dirtiest area of our car. We will need wheel cleaning products and special brushes to properly remove baked brake dust and grime. The lug nuts, brake callipers and suspension components could also be cleaned. However, if the wheels are excessively dirty; we could clean them first, because the surrounding painted surface could be made dirtier during the process.
After we perform the washing process, we may need to use the special automotive clay, as well as special type of lubricant. We should apply them gently, so that any bonded contaminants on the surface can be removed by washing. It is an important step that we need to perform in the detailing process. Contaminants will definitely ruin the overall results of our work. We won’t be able to obtain the proper finish quality. Polishing needs to be applied, so we could remove swirl marks, light scratches, oxidation, hazing and other kinds of imperfections. We should be able to do this using dual or rotary action polisher. After we do this, it should be possible to make sure that all imperfections have been corrected. Paintwork should already be sealed and protected.