Confusing details when it comes to auto detailing in San Antonio.
It’s very confusing these days to determine what is real and what is a coverup or false. What you see on TV and read on the internet oftentimes is not true or just hype. The same goes for keeping the paint looking new for your car. Auto detailing manufacturers are producing more and more products that give your care a false shine or protection. You can see this when you go to the car wash and look at all the signs that offer wax or paint sealants that will give your car a nice new shine. The truth is it takes many different steps to restore your vehicle’s true shine and finish. It cant be done with a chemical that is sprayed as it’s going through the car wash and it cant be applied in thirty minutes by the kid at the car wash. The detail centers at car washes are set up to speed cars in and out with the focus on volume. The same goes for most mobile detail businesses here in San Antonio. Trying to correctly polish a car in a parking lot when it’s 100 degrees is very difficult. These quick details have their place however only when your car is in good condition.
The paint correction process.
The steps for this process can vary depending on the age and condition of your car’s paint.
Here in San Antonio automotive paint suffers the most from pollution, bird droppings, and hard water. At Concours Auto Salon we start with a good hand wash. Then it’s time to decontaminate the paint. This process removes foreign material that has bonded to the clear coat which is the outer layer of your car’s paint. When the contaminants are removed than can we focus on the scratch correction process. The scratch removal process. The diagram to the right shows that when you remove scratches you are actually removing the top layer of your car’s finish. most scratching is so light that it barely penetrates the surface of your clear coat. However, when you have hundreds of them all over the finish going in every direction it can make the paint look dull, hazy, and swirled. Depending on the paint’s hardness and the amount of damage you have acquired it may be necessary to compound the paint first. Then following up with two to three more polishing steps. Each one requiring the technician to go around the car and machine polish the paint one time with a specific polish and polishing pad.
Applying Protection
There are three different types of products that can be used to protect your revitalized finish. The most common one is Wax. Wax gives you a nice shine and a soft feel but it just sits on top of your paint never really bonding to protect it. It has to be applied at a minimum every month or two. The most commonly applied protection by true professionals is a paint sealant. This product will bond to the surface of your paint and will slowly wear away over a period of 4 to 6 months. Lastly, a new product has emerged in the last few years called coatings. These paint coatings offer almost permanent protection for your paint. The application process is a little more time-consuming than traditional methods and your paint should be in excellent condition. The results are amazing with these products. Currently, Concours Auto Salon is the only place to have a coating like this applied in the San Antonio Area. It is offered in our New Customer Package and is called Opti-Coat.
If you want true results and have your cars paint corrected and protected give us a call or stop by the shop.
