The guy will be here for two and half days so I will post some pictures up when hes done!

Hes admitted he is a bit anal/obsessed when it comes to this, he also did my BMW last year and its still amazing now, he breaks the work down as -

STEP 1. The very first step after the car has been washed carefully and correctly, (which is a big issue in itself – see valeting guide) is to use a technique known as to clay bar the vehicle, which will remove firmly bonded surface contaminants. These will build up on all cars as time goes on. They are not removable by washing alone. Believe it or not even a new car can have some paintwork contamination. The contaminants are industrial fallout, that embeds itself into the paintwork surface. Tar, bird droppings, tree lime, insects, concrete, rail dust, brake dust, UV damage from the sun, acid rain all constantly try to attack your paintwork. So instead of a perfect surface to begin with you have a very rough surface.

STEP 2. The second step is to remove sub-surface defects such as swirl marks and scratches. Swirl marks are circular patterns of very fine scratches that you will see under sun light or street lamps at night time. These fine scratches resemble the form of cobwebs, holograms. Over time, these defects will dull your paintwork. Also combined with the damage from UV light from the sun (oxidation), your car can look very tired in quite a short space of time. Paint defects are almost always the result of poor washing techniques. This happens because any dirt particles that gets trapped under a sponge or brush will inflict damage as they are moved around the paintwork. The traditional yellow sponge is the worst tool of the trade for achieving these. A wash mitt or two is the preferred choice for safe car cleaning.

Careful machine work being carried out

Defects in the top coat of paintwork can only be corrected in one of two ways. The first way involves lowering the level of the top coat of paintwork so the defect is no longer visible. It must however be removed carefully with the aid of a paint gauge to measure the depth of the available paint. The paintwork can be corrected by hand or machine, but more serious defects would be impossible to correct by hand alone and would take so long to produce the same results. The benefit of this system is that the defect will be permanently removed. The downside is that if two much paint needs to be removed then you can comprise the integrity of the paint system.

The second option open is to partly remove the defects and lessen the severity of the damaged paintwork and then mask the deeper swirls, with glazes and polishes before applying protection. This being the safest option, but only a temporary fix as once the chosen protection system looses its effectiveness over time it will once again reveal the damage.


Last step products (LSP)

STEP 3. Once steps one and two have been completed, painted surfaces require protection from the elements to preserve their finish. You can either use a carnauba wax or a synthetic sealant, or you could combine both. As well as protecting the paintwork, this protection can dramatically affect the appearance of your car. This can be seen in a different ways. It can be seen as varying degrees of reflectivity, gloss, wet look, depth and clarity. Synthetic sealants typically produce depth and clarity, (depth means the ability to look deep into the paintwork and clarity refers to the colour richness) where as natural waxes typically produce more reflections and gloss. A combination of both can achieve the best of both worlds. Also a sealant can have much more durability than a natural wax, as it can handle the environment much better than a wax which will melt and break down much easier. Beading or sheeting of water from the vehicle is a good indication of some protection present. On a well protected car you would expect to see very tall beads on horizontal surfaces and very little water remaining on vertical surfaces when it rains.

how much?

£550, that includes around £230 of supplies...

look forward to the photos  405 AB exec seats Baltic and Cirrus
93 RR Classic efi

Remember it's easier to get forgiveness than permission!

Gone in order:
4.4 TDV8 SE - gone to a good home
93 Classic hard dash Plymouth Blue
03 L322 Oslo Blue
2000 Disco TD5 ES Epsom Green
98 P38 Rioja Red
89 Classic Cairngorm Brown

What the hell is he using on it in the way of products for £230!?

Car shampoo £10 for a bottle (will wash lots of cars)
Claybar/mitt/cloth about £15-£20
Polishing compound about £50 for a bucket of the stuff that will do 1000 cars.
Lets assume he uses a new machine polishing pad £20
Polish, between £15 and £50, and then there would be plenty left over to do the car 3 or 4 times more.
Assorted polishing cloth and microfibre cloths, well lets face it he's going to reuse these.

And those prices are for premium and branded products not cheap no-name stuff. Just look for yourself in Halfords at the price of Autoglym or Meguirs. You or I can get them cheaper online and if you're doing a lot of cars you can buy trade size bottles of the stuff.

I'm not saying he's done a bad job, but the materials cost seems well over the top to me.

^ depends on the materials to be honest. Detailers tend not to use Halfords stuff. More like Menzerna, 3M, i.e. the more expensive stuff. As for finishes/waxes/sealants etc. Well the sky's the limit. Victoria Concours wax for example.

If you really want a fright check out Crystal Rock wax from Paul Dalton. Stupidly priced.

It's like good malt whisky. The difference between a bottle of cheap blended and a respectable single malt is kind of 15 quid to 60 quid. That's a world of difference. But the next step up is 60 quid to 2 or 3 hundred quid to get an appreciable difference. All diminishing returns.

No i wasn't seriously suggesting that detailers shop in Halfords, but Autoglym and Meguirs are both quality products and do trade ranges.

Even 3M isn't that expensive, i mean you buy a bottle, tub or drum of the stuff for high cost, but you don't use the whole thing on one car? Most of the cost of detailing is in the labour as it's time consuming, just like spray painting, the materials are relatively cheap but all the flatting down and prep takes time and effort.

I think for that kind of money i'd expect the quote and invoice to list specific products and quantities not just "Materials £230 inc VAT". Much like when you get your car serviced you get "Castrol XXX engine oil x6ltrs" rather than just get it all lumped into a 'consumables' figure at the end. Otherwise they could use anything and charge anything.

But yes i know there are some polishes out there that are obscenely priced, for people who just have more money than sense.

He uses mainly GTECHNIQ for paintwork protection and for the glass and interior trim, I think he also uses Wolfs but he hasn't used that on my cars in the past. I am also having the Gtechniq C1 treatment too.

Not sure what Clay he is using but is getting through alot of it as he strips all the crap that has accumulated for the past three years.

Once its done, I then use a product called Norinse, does what the name suggests, just wash with a glove/mitten thing and dry with a micro fibre blanket, The protection he will apply will last for around 3 years so all I need is to wash it to get the finish back, I sometimes use him after 18 months for a little top up, depends on the car and colour etc, this one might need it!

It is a lot in one hit but I think worth it in terms of keeping the finish and protecting the paintwork over the years...

ah yes sorry he will show me the breakdown for everything he uses if I want, I just haven't asked for it,,,

Good on you Nemesis you have the time, the money and inclination to have your car detailed.
The price is a bit much for me which is why I do my own 'detailing'. Don't forget to post the pics of before, during and after. The final result should be fantastic.

a good detail is min 350 upwards and its very specialized, some try and compare but there poles apart, my pals is 500 on a rangey and you wont get the stuff in halfords lol or the majority online stores ,experienced detailers are few and far between and its worth doing even if its once as you'll notice how clean it is and when you do clean it yourself it should sparkle for ages and feel like glass for many many months maybe years  _____________________________________________________
Zambezi silver Vogue Se unique

Crap forgot to take the before pictures, I think he took some, he's been on go since 7:45 this am and plans to be here until at least 7 tonight!

Bonnet is now done and totally swirl free and like ne u ne'er fluorescent lighting, he's also taken out some scratches that were on a the front of he bonnet and a scuff from the bonnet so very happy already!

How far does he travel?

Leighton Buzzard I think, god just re-read my previous post, I really need to check these things before I click 'submit' typo's all over it!

Seems pretty much standard stuff to me when I detail my own car to be fair.