PATASKALA CAR DETAILING

PATASKALA CAR DETAILING EXTERIOR CHECKLIST

Everything our Pataskala Car Detailing company does for the exterior of your vehicle.

PATASKALA CAR DETAILING EXTERIOR PROCESS

Learn about how our Pataskala Car Detailing company cleans and protects the exterior of your vehicle.

PREPARATION

Before we begin the exterior detail of our Pataskala Car Detailing service, we have to prepare. We’ll hook up our hose and extension cord to the outlets provided by the customer and lay out all of our tools and products.

We use a 3-bucket system to reduce any chance of cross contamination. We have a bucket for Wheels only, a bucket for Paint only, and a Rinse bucket.

What do we mean by reducing cross contamination? Essentially, we want to reduce the risk of causing micro-abrasions to the paint. Micro-abrasions are inevitable and happen every time you touch your car. They add up over time and without the proper preparation your vehicle would end up covered with those swirl marks (or love marks as we call them) all over the place.

These are very light abrasions on the clear coat that are easily removed with a 1-step polish, however it’s better to avoid it all together.

You wouldn’t want to use just one bucket and use the same wash mitt and chemicals for everything. The wheels have their own dedicated bucket and cleaning equipment because of what’s on the wheels.

Not only is there just dirt and grime and whatever gets kicked up from the road, but there’s also brake dust. Break dust is metal. You wouldn’t want to have metal dust being scraped all over your paint.

This is the cross contamination we are talking about, so the wheels get their own bucket and cleaning tools that are only ever used on wheels.

We also use different cleaning products on the wheels than we do the paint. For the wheels, you need a product that can break down the brake dust, which is an aggressive cleaner. The paint cleaner acts more as a lifter that lifts the debris from the paint so we can wipe it off.

Then we move to the Paint and Rinse buckets.

As we wash the car, our wash mitts pick up the tiny debris from the paint of your car. We use the rinse bucket to remove this debris after a few strokes on the paint before dunking the mitt back into the Paint bucket that contains the soap. This again ensure that we are never dragging debris across the paint which would result in those micro-abrasions.

With our preparations complete, we begin the exterior detailing process.

Engine Bay Cleaning

Engine bay cleaning is an add-on for our Pataskala Car Detailing exterior services.

We begin by removing any large debris by hand that has settled around the engine bay; including leaves, pollen pods, etc.

With the large debris removed, we then use either a strong or mild degreaser depending on how dirty the engine bay is. We will let the degreaser dwell for about 1-2 minutes before applying a soap and then scrubbing the entire engine bay with a large scrub brush.

Once the entire engine has been scrubbed, we’ll use small detailing brushes to agitate any tight areas that couldn’t be reached with our larger brush.

After every reachable inch of the engine bay has been scrubbed, we rinse everything off to reveal a fresh, clean-looking engine bay.

The last step is to grab a microfiber towel and dry off the engine bay. We’ll come back and apply dressing to the black plastic covers in the engine bay at the end of the detail when we are applying dressing to the tires and exterior black trim.

Wheel Cleaning

Wheel cleaning is included in our Pataskala Car Detailing service. We use 2-3 different products just for the wheels alone.

Depending on the severity of the dirt and grime, we may start with a degreaser. Then we use a special product that breaks down break dust. It reacts with the iron and the chemical turns a plum color, showing that it’s working.

We let that dwell for about 30-60 seconds before moving to our wheel soap.

We use a large scrub brush to clean the face of the wheel, then we use our wheel woolies to clean the inner barrel of the wheel.

We start at the top of the wheel and work our way down one side, once we’ve reached the bottom we go back up to the top and go the other way around.

This allows the soap to run down the barrel of the wheel as we go which helps lift the dirt and grime before our brush even touches it.

We’ll then take our wheel-only wash mitt and make sure we clean the back side of the rims.

Lastly, we’ll take our wheel woolie and scrub the wheel well and then rinse the wheel off. Then we repeat the process for the other 3 wheels.

Exhaust Cleaning

This step of our Pataskala Car Detailing process is pretty straight forward and doesn’t require much explanation.

We clean the exhaust in the middle of cleaning the wheels as we move from one side of the vehicle to the other.

To clean the exhaust we use our wheel soap and wheel woolie to quickly remove any build up from the exhaust fumes before rinsing and moving on to the other two wheels.

Hand Wash

Our Pataskala Car Detailing includes a premium hand wash for your car.

We rinse the car first to remove any loose contaminates. We wait to rinse the vehicle until this point because we don’t want the water to dry on the vehicle. If we were to rinse the vehicle before cleaning the engine bay and wheels, the water would start to dry on the vehicle, introducing water spots and more contaminates to the paint.

Once the vehicle has been rinsed down we begin the hand washing process.

We start at the top of the vehicle with our paint wash mitt and work our way down.

Our wash process goes roof, windshield, hood, side windows, side paint until halfway down wheel well, then other side, then back last.

For the bottom half of the sides, front, and back, we use a different mitt. The reason for this is because there are different contaminates on the lower portion of the vehicle and we don’t want to drag those up the vehicle. Especially right behind the wheels where there is usually more dirt and debris, as well as brake dust.

If there are any bugs we use our bug removal sponge that has a netting on it that helps lift the bugs from the paint.

Once the car has been completely washed we move on to drying.

Drying & Hydrating The Paint

We go the extra mile with our Pataskala Car Detailing services by using a special product that hydrates your car’s paint as we dry it.

We use microfiber towels when drying your vehicle with our paint hydration product applied to it. No other detailers do this and it makes a huge a difference.

We spray on a special product to the microfiber towel that helps to hydrate the paint as we remove the standing water.

This product gets absorbed into the paint and helps lubricate the towel as we dry the vehicle.

Drying your car incorrectly is usually how you get a lot of those micro-abrasions.

Car drying squeegees are one of the worst inventions that many inexpereinced detailers use.

Why?

Well imagine that as you’re drying, a spec of dirt or dust gets blown onto the car, and then you take the squeegee and scrape that spec of dirt across your paint. That’s going to leave a micro-abrasion, or worse, a scratch.

You must always have lubrication when touching your vehicle to avoid those micro-abrassions.

This is why we use the hydrator with a microfiber towel.

A microfiber towel is specifically designed to grab and lift the dirt and the paint hydration product lubricates the towel in case of those rogue dirt specs.

The added benefit of the hydration is that it it leaves behind a film that soaks into the paint for an added level of protection.

This is just one of many details that set us apart from other Pataskala Car Detailing companies.

Exterior Glass Cleaning

Cleaning the glass, especially the windshield, is one of the most important parts of our Pataskala Car Detailing process.

You will be spending all of your time looking through it and if there is even a spec left over you will notice it.

We use a special method that helps us create invisible glass.

We spray the window with our cleaner and wipe with a microfiber towel to pick up any contaminants.

We then spray the window again and use a squeegee to remove the cleaner.

Unlike the paint, it’s perfectly okay, and prefereable, to use a squeegee on the glass.

This is because glass is a hard material and dirt will not scratch the glass even if dragged over it.

Then we just use a second microfiber towel to buff off any remaining glass cleaner to leave behind invisible glass.

Paint Protective Coat

Instead of using just a wax or polish to finish the exterior detailing, our Pataskala Car Detailing process applies a paint protective coating that sheets water, protects the paint from UV, and also provides a deep shine.

We apply a few drops of the product to a microfiber application pad and coat one panel at a time.

We wait for about 30-60 seconds until the coating has dried and has a rainbow effect to it before buffing it off with a microfiber towel, leaving the paint shining and protected.

What’s unique about the product we use is that it is made from the same chemicals that go into skin care products.

We like to think of the paint of your car like the skin on your body.

We want only what’s best for the paint and to protect it with safe checmicals.

Tire Dressing

The tire dressing product that we use in our Pataskala Car Detailing process is designed to moisturize the tires and leave behind a semi-gloss finish.

We want the tires to look like nice, clean rubber, not like plastic!

The product we use is also designed to help eliminate tire sling.

Tire sling occurs when the tire dressing is “slung” from the tires and onto the paint of your car.

This isn’t good for numerous reasons, and occurs a lot with cheap dressing chemicals.

First we apply the product gel to a foam applicator. Then we work the product into the tires.

We don’t just drag the applicator around the wheel a couple times and call it a day, we really work the product into the tire by first going around the perimeter of the sidewall, and then going around again, this time going back and forth from the tread to the rim.

The goal is to have the tire absorb the dressing, not to just apply the dressing to outside.

This results in a much cleaner and longer-lasting application.

Black Trim Dressing

The final part of the Pataskala Car Detailing process is to dress the black trim of the car.

While we are not restoring extremely faded trim, which requires sanding and repainting, we are however revitalizing the trim with a semi-gloss finish.

Like with the tires, the goal is not to make the black trim look sopping wet, the goal is to work the product into the plastic to revitalize it and leave behind a semi-gloss appearance.

PATASKALA CAR DETAILING INTERIOR CHECKLIST

Everything our Pataskala Car Detailing company does for the interior of your vehicle.

PATASKALA CAR DETAILING INTERIOR PROCESS

Learn about how our Pataskala Car Detailing company cleans and protects the interior of your vehicle.

PREPARATION

Before we begin the interior detail, we remove any remaining trash and objects from the inside of the vehicle.

We ask that our clients remove everything from the vehicle beforehand: excessive trash, car seats, important paperwork, etc.

Just like on the exterior of the vehicle, we use a top-down approach when detailing the interior of your vehicle.

Full Interior Wipe Down

The first step of our Pataskala Car Detailing interior process is to completely wipe down the interior of the vehicle with a microfiber cloth.

We start with the pillars in the front and work our way down to the dashboard.

This step is to pick up all the loose dirt and dust before we scrub each area with our detailing brushes.

Door Trim Scrub

When scrubbing the interior door trim during our Pataskala Car Detail process, we put extra focus on areas that are in contact with your skin.

Some of these areas include the arm rest, buttons, and handle.

These areas not only accumulate dirt and dust, but also oil, grease and dead skin cells from the contact with your skin. We use a degreaser to help penetrate the extra gunk and then use a scrub pad and detail brush to remove the built up contaminates.

After the scrub we’ll go back and wipe down the area with our interior lather to remove any degreaser residue that may remain on the door interior and leave behind a pleasant scent.

Dashboard Scrub

We spray the dashboard with our cleaning solution that is specifically designed for a vehicle’s interior materials.

This is a fairly straightforward step in our Pataskala Car detailing process.

We use our detailing brushes and scrub pad to remove any ground in dirt and grime and remove with a dry microfiber cloth.

Next is to make sure we go over all of the gauges, vents, buttons, and clean the screen of fingerprints.

Unless specified by the client, we will NOT clean out the glove box. Usually, the glove box is home to important paperwork that you wouldn’t want to get thrown out, so we avoid the glove box unless specifically instructed by the client that it is okay.

Steering Wheel Scrub

The steering wheel is an area we focus heavily on during our Pataskala car detailing process.

The steering wheel is usually one of the dirtiest parts of a car and contains dirt, grim, grease, and dead skin cells.

We’ll use our degreaser instead of our interior lather product to clean the steering wheel. The reason for this is because the degreaser is specifically designed to remove, well, grease. The grease from our hands gets trapped in the texture of the leather and stitching of the steering wheel.

After we scrub the steering wheel with a scrub pad and our stitch brush, we’ll wipe it dry with a microfiber cloth, spray again with our interior lather, and then wipe clean, leaving behind a fresh clean steering wheel.

Center Console Scrub

We use our vacuum to suck out any loose dirt from the cup holders.

Like the glove box, we normally do NOT clean the inside of the center console unless given explicit permission by the client. The center console compartment is another small storage area that usually houses important documents or items that you wouldn’t want thrown away.

Once all the loose dirt is removed, we’ll use our interior lather along with our detail brush to clean off the center console, gear shifter, and cup holders.

Seat Vacuum

Vacuuming the seats is a quick process for our Pataskala Car Detailing services.

We make sure to adjust the seat and lay it as far down as possible so we can vacuum up the trapped dirt in the seat and seams. Then we’ll reposition the seats as close to where they were.

After vacuuming the front seats we’ll move to the back and vacuum the rear seats.

Carpet Vacuum

We start at the front of the vehicle, making sure we vacuum the footwells, and then move the front seats all the way back. This allows us to vacuum under the seat more effectively.

Then we’ll move the seats all the way forward and vacuum the rear floor. Once the rear has been vacuumed, we move the front seats back into their original position.

Floor Mat Cleaning

We remove the floor mats from the vehicle and then vacuum them.

For carpet floor mats, we’ll spray them with our carpet shampoo, scrub them, and pat dry with a microfiber towel. We’ll focus on any spot stains that may be present on the floor mats.

For plastic/rubber mats we’ll spray degreaser on them and then scrub with a brush before wiping them clean with a dry microfiber towel.

Stain Spot Removal

We’ll make a note of any stains we find in the interior of the vehicle and spot clean any stains we may see throughout the detail.

Depending on the age of the vehicle, we may skip any stains on the headliner to prevent any potential damage or cause for drooping. We will discuss this with the client during our initial walk around of the vehicle.

Glass Cleaning

When we clean the glass as part of our Pataskala Car Detailing services, we first spray our glass cleaner into a microfiber cloth and wipe down the window, removing the grease and grime.

Then we’ll spray the window directly with the glass cleaner and use a squeegee to wipe the glass clean.

We’ll then use a clean, dry microfiber cloth to buff off any remaining glass cleaner, leaving your glass invisible.

Leather Conditioning

If you elected to add leather conditioning onto your Pataskala Car Detailing services, we’ll then use our leather mousse product to moisturize and condition the leather.

We’ll apply the mousse all over the leather and let it sit for about 1-2 minutes. We’ll continue to apply the conditioner in layers until the leather no longer absorbs it before buffing off the shine with a microfiber cloth.

This leaves your leather moisturized, protected, and with a beautiful, restored matte finish.

Trunk Vacuum

Vacuuming out the trunk is another add-on for our Pataskala Car Detailing services.

We’ll ask that the client removes everything from the trunk before we arrive.

We’ll pop open the trunk and give the carpet a good vacuum. We’ll also do spot removals of stains if we come across them.

PET HAIR REMOVAL

If you’re looking to get all the pet hair removed from your car, we offer those services with our Pataskala Car Detailing services.

Pet hair removal is an optional add-on if you want us to make sure we get all of the pet hair up.

We use a special brush that pet hair just clings to, allowing us to remove stubborn pet hair that can’t otherwise be removed.

If you have a lot of pet hair in your car but you opt not to add pet hair removal to your detail, we will only remove what the vacuum sucks up.

PATASKALA CAR DETAILING PRICING

Our Pataskala Car Detailing services are competitively priced.