FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

We get this question daily and it can be answered about as precisely as asking your doctor over the phone "How much to fix my stomach ache?", or your local auto mechanic, "How much to fix that knocking noise?". The problem is further compounded by not knowing what your expectations are. It's natural to want to know how much something costs, but when it comes to detailing a car, we need considerably more information before giving you an answer. Here are the factors that will influence the costs as well as the recommended services:

1.) Where is the vehicle parked at night? 2.) How often do you wash your vehicle? 3.) Do you take it to the car wash? 4.) Do you accept dealership complementary washes? 5.) Would you consider youself to be OCD or anal?

The answers to these questions give us a lot of information about your maintenance habits as well as physical condition of your car. A car that is washed at the car wash will have a dull finish. In the sunlight, it will be covered in scratches and swirls. A car that is parked outside at night instead of in a garage will be wet in the morning due to morning dew. When a car is already dirty, that dew will intermingle with the dirt and dry out in the warm sun causing it to be baked on to the finish. Repeat this process daily and your paint will be caked in hard dirt and contaminants in no time.

In general, a frequently washed car tends to be in better condition than one that is neglected for long periods of time. however an improperly washed vehicle or one that uses the local car wash (hand wash included) will show signs of neglect with the appears of swirls commonly referred to as cobwebbing.

Those free dealership car washes when you take your car in for servicing need to be avoided at all costs.

Pricing for details varies greatly and is quoted on a case by case basis. Most work begins at $400 for the interior and basic inside and out usually starts at $650 but depends on the size of the vehicle and how clean it is to begin with. Pet hair, sand, glitter, etc. can greatly affect the time needed.

Did you know we offer paint protection film (PPF) aka clear bra film to protect your paint from rock chips? We use the best films including Llumar and Body Fence which are self healing film. We always wrap and tuck the edges to provide seamless results that our customers affectionately refer to as “paying a lot of money for something they cannot even see.”

Not all PPF films are created equal. Our films offer the least amount of texture so you will find is extremely difficult to differentiate between orange peel from your paint and wrapped paint in our PPF. Along with our 20+ years of experience in wrapping paint, our customers choose us over the competition because we take great care to prep the surfaces and ensure every step of the way that there are no flaws in the material nor do we introduce any artifacts along the way. Take a close look at typical PPF work and you will see exposed film edges that catch dirt, wrinkles in the film, scratched or swirled paint, knife cuts in the paint under the film due to hand cutting on the car. The same goes for tint. Have you ever had your windows tinted and then months later cleaned your glass only to find them still dirty because your windows weren’t cleaned properly before tinting? Call us today to inquire about our PPF and Tint services.

Some example of bad PPF Installations

Are you new to coatings? Ceramic Coatings come in a variety of flavors with various buzzwords like Graphene and 9H thrown in to confuse you. Effectively a proper coating will replace the need for a wax or sealant. That means once your car is coated, you won’t be waxing or polishing the paint anymore, just washing it and that's a great thing for peace of mind. Proper ceramic coatings are not sacrificial barriers, but instead can last for years, not months, and won't break down due to strong solvents or environmental contaminants like bird poo. So they offer the best protection for your paint next to wrapping it in PPF (Paint Protection Film). CS-II coatings come in both hard and flexible varieties. Some of our coatings don't harden at all and are used to protect soft materials like leather. They do bond to the pigment however making them very permanent and best of all make cleaning the surfaces a simple matter. We can talk for hours about protecting your paint. The best protection comes from doing a combination of PPF and Ceramic Coating. Expect to budget $3500-$5000 for this. Of course if you don't want PPF, then expect pricing to begin at about $1000 for medium level protection with some polishing. Pricing for coatings actually begins at $300 but options to make wheels easier to clean, interior leather, etc. can add up but we'll work with you to find the best fit for you.

A lot of people are concerned about paying for a detail only for it to be "wasted" by it raining the next day. The work we do will last through many rain storms and car washes. However we realize that having a shiny clean car is a wonderful experience so our policy is that if it rains anytime within a week after we detail your car, please bring it back for a complementary wash. We want to be the first person to wash your car after our hard work and this also gives us a chance to look things over to make sure everything is as expected.

Please have a look at our SERVICES tab.

Take a look at this sign. Not Responsible for: Antennas, License Plates, Bike Racks, Bug Shields, Wiper Blades, Roof Racks, Vehicle Leaving Track, After Market Accessories, Tail Pipes & Low Hanging Mufflers, Damage due to driver negligence, rims, wheel covers, and custom rims, mirrors, excessively muddy vehicles will be turned away. Automatic folding mirrors must be folded prior to entering car wash. While all of them are important, the ones that stand out are: NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR Custom rims, After Market Accessories, Tail Pipes.

Would you spend $10 at the local car wash and accept all of these release of liability statements?

Car washes will dull your paint, potentially cause premature failure of the UV coating on your headlights, and potentially induce deep swirls and scratches into your paint. The best way to keep a "perfect" finish is to wash your vehicle yourself.

When the “car wash” is a part of your vocabulary, you probably don’t even think twice about it being part of a bigger problem with your car. Most people think their paint only looks good for a few years then the car needs to be replaced or repainted, or maybe even “detailed”. The problem is that the car wash doesn’t do a proper detail as their main line of business is to wash your car. So if you pay extra for a detail, the results will be marginal and your expectations will be low.

The simplest answer is to not abrade your paint. The not so clear answer is that to avoid abrading your paint, you need to change your thinking about maintaining paint. No more "complimentary dealer car washes", no more local "hand washes". Preventing swirls involves choosing quality microfiber towels and using them in the right situations. Wipe a dirty panel with a microfiber towel and eventually you will rub that dirt into the paint causing swirls, despite the fact you are using a microfiber towel. We teach our customers the best techniques for using today's best technology to maintain your finish.

There is no doubt that black cars are the most difficult to maintain. However there is no better color than black when it comes to that deep rich shine after a proper polish and wax.

Claying won't prevent or remove swirls. It is an important step to help your wax bond properly to the paint once it has been polished.

Ask yourself some important questions.

1.) Will your car be garaged? 2.) Can you honestly give up the local car wash and complimentary dealership washes? 3.) How OCD are you? Will a little dust bother you on a perfectly clean surface? 4.) Are you willing to invest the time to maintain a black car??

Some real life case studies: Customer A has a black AMG E63 with soft paint. Another detailer completely wrecked the paint, but we restored it and the owner maintained it. Six months and one year later, it looked nearly identical to when we did the work. What was his trick? He followed our suggestions. -Control who touches your paint (His wife thinks he's crazy) -Avoid abrading your paint (Use a foam cannon to wash the paint, rinse with spot free water, blow dry with air blowers) -Use our recommended spray wax, Prima Hydro -A year later we only had to do a very easy Enhancement Detail to replenish the wax. The first detail was the most expensive, but proper maintenance means much lower costs down the road plus the benefit the paint will always look like a brand new car.

Another option is to go with a coating like CS-II. This will greatly reduce your need to be OCD to maintain your paint. You still can't take it to the car wash with rotating brushes, but the hand wash or touch-less is acceptable. Coatings make your paint super hydrophobic and will resist scratches and marring and even protects from bird bombs It's a great solution and has been proven over the years. The coating can last for between 2-5 years or longer depending on which option you choose. All of them will require a once a year inspection to ensure they are performing as expected. We recommend evaluating and polishing the paint first before doing the coating as if there are any defects you decide you want to remove after coating, it’s going to be a lot more costly to remove the coating, perfect the paint, and coat it again.

After we apply CS-II, you want to let the coating fully cure which can take 1 to 2 weeks. Then it will be ready for its first wash which happens with me. There is no charge for this as long as you got it coated by ShowCar with CS-II Ceramic (3 year) coating or better. Your coating will be inspected to ensure it has uniform coverage and no high spots may have been left behind. High spot are excess coating that wasn't leveled all the way. We can remove high spots at any time in a few seconds with the right methods. For those that can see them, they can be eye sores. However, most people don't even see them, but we can take care of them if they are found even years later. After the first wash, we want to see you yearly about the same time each year. You will receive an email reminder when its time to set an appointment for the yearly inspection. The yearly inspection costs $100 and your exterior paint will be cleaned during the process and coating inspected. As long as the car is being regularly washed, the coating should perform beautifully. Performance only goes down when its not washed often enough which is usually when washed only once or twice a month. Weekly washes are preferred and even more frequent washing is ok.

Treat me the way you want to be treated. I really shouldn't even have to be saying this but in these times, people seem to have lost any civility to each other. If you flake on me, i.e., make an appointment with me that you don't intend to keep and do NOT cancel with me beforehand, or if you treat me unfairly, there are no second chances. I will not tolerate racism, egotistical behavior, inconsideration of my time, or any sort of disrespect to me, my wife, or any of my friends. I have fired many customers. Don't become one of them.