6 Things to Check When Choosing a Detailer

Auto Butler

Choosing a professional detailing service is an important decision. Your vehicle is one of the biggest purchases you’ll make after your home. It’s important to protect that investment. There are some people who claim to be detailers who simply do not have the skills, tools, and time to detail correctly. Poor detailing can do more harm than good, and it can mean more money and time to correct what a “detailer” without the correct skills, tools, and time has done to your vehicle. It’s important to choose the right detailer for the first time.

1. Location. Everyone has to start somewhere, but always be wary of a detailer without a professional location. Those that work out of their home garages are often the detailers who have not taken the time to learn correct detailing techniques or invest in professional detailing tools and products. If a detailer’s business is all mobile, coming to you, you should expect professionalism. Mobile detailers are convenient, it’s a service we offer at Detail Pro, but professionalism is especially important when your detailer is coming to your home or business. You want to be able to easily identify their business, and they shouldn’t hesitate if you want to see the products and tools they’ve brought with them to ensure you’re getting a quality detailing package. A pro should be able to answer questions and provide examples of their previous work. (Social media is a great place to start looking for this), and you can even ask to see finished vehicles when you’re at the detailer’s location.

2. Time commitment. If there’s only one technician on the vehicle, even a standard detail that includes interior and exterior can take 4 to 5 hours. You’re simply not getting the same quality from a place that says they can do the job in an hour.

3. Tools. A professional should have professional products and tools. One area where this can be made especially obvious is in regards to buffers — a professional should never be using a high-speed buffer. At Detail Pro, we’ve had clients find that the “pro” they trusted was using one of these buffers, leaving their vehicle with swirls and/or scorch marks, so they’ve driven straight from that “pro” to us. here.

4. Guarantee. A detailer should always stand by their work and be willing to ensure your satisfaction, but there are some processes that simply cannot be guaranteed. First, as we’ll say again, no professional will guarantee that they’ll be able to fix imperfections without seeing your vehicle first. For instance, scratches can sometimes be corrected, but other times they cannot, depending on the depth of the scratch. There are also some particular problem areas like bad smells, that may require some work before it is known whether the problem can truly be fixed. See our Frequently Asked Questions post to learn more.

5. Cost. Price shopping is normal, but a price that is significantly lower than other detailers in the area is often a reflection of the quality of work you’re going to get. It is truly a situation where you’ll get what you pay for: inexperience, low-quality products and tools, and not enough time spent to get the job right. For instance, here at detail pro, we often won’t touch a paint correction job for less than $500, because polishing is a very time-consuming project and takes a lot of training to get it right. Another thing you should expect from a professional detailer is a request to see your vehicle before finalizing their quote. Don’t expect a detailer to give you the final price over the phone because we need to see the vehicle in person and in the right light to assess if your vehicle has any unique problem areas that may require extra time or equipment.

6. Reviews. As with any business, reviews can be helpful. Check out multiple places for reviews. You shouldn’t be expecting perfection; in fact, if every review is 5-star, there are some very legitimate reasons to stay away: first, they may not have been around long enough to have very many reviews (a new detailer can be good, but you should always be cautious when you’re working with someone who doesn’t have much experience); or they could be removing bad reviews or paying for good reviews (a pro should be able to learn from their mistakes and shouldn’t have to pay for good reviews).

Detail Pro, of course, checks all the boxes you should be looking for when you’re choosing a pro. If you’re ready to book your appointment, start here.

We look forward to seeing you!

By | May 23rd, 2017
https://www.detailpro.com/2017/05/23/6-things-to-check-when-choosing-a-detailer/

/by

Mobile Detailing for Busy Schedules

Auto Butler

Let’s be honest for a second, life is way more hectic than it used to be. Long gone are the slow Saturdays to park under your shade tree and really wash your car. It seems like every Friday you’re trying to lay low to avoid getting asked about your TPS Reports and “Yeah……..I’m gonna need you to come in on Saturday.”

If the idea of your car baking away in the parking lot, turning from Swingline red to oxidized and dull makes you want to teach the fax machine a lesson, maybe it’s time to consider Mobile Detailing. This service is available when you need us to come to you at your office or home. A detailing professional will arrive with all the tools and products they need to complete your vehicle inside and out. Not sure if there is a hose hookup at the office? No worries, our mobile detailing vehicles to bring all the water needed as well.

Mobile detailing services offer the same great results as our on-site detailing. Exterior detailing, interior detailing, headlight restoration, leather conditioning, engine bay detailing, carpet shampooing, and more. With no additional cost to you, there is no reason not to take advantage of this service, and get other things done while we detail your vehicle.

By | June 20th, 2017
https://www.detailpro.com/2017/06/20/mobile-detailing-for-busy-schedules/

/by

How to Remove Tree Sap

Auto Butler

Come on, it’s just a walk in the park, that’s how it starts. You get convinced that instead of Netflix and chill you should head out and commune with nature. You park the car and head in, failing to realize the shower of tree sap that will soon speckle your pristine finish.

You may have heard your dad or grandpa talk about their home remedies to clean sap off. Dad swore by rubbing alcohol, but before you grab your hand sanitizer out of your murse think about it. That goo kills 99.9% of things on your hand, is your clear coat really something you want to risk? So let’s get into how to remove and protect your finish from the dangers of going into the wild.

So let’s cover how to get this done. First off, hit the problem fast. Letting the sap sit can lead to the water evaporating creating a sticky mess, trapping other airborne contaminants as well as eating into the clear coat. You might think that a run through the gas station car wash will do the trick, but really, would we ever recommend that? No. While the quick wash has the idea to spray your car down first, the cold water used won’t soften the sap. You’re going to want to use warm water for this job. The sugars in sap will soften and melt faster with warm water.

If you walk in the park was quick and you caught the sap before it started to dry, a quick warm water hand wash might have solved the problem. If it was an epic hike and picnic followed by stargazing you might have a little more work ahead.

In this case, you’ll still want to do a warm water hand wash. Then follow it up with a visual inspection looking for residual sap. Before you start picking at it with your fingernails or smearing it around, grab your Detail Pro solvent spray and some microfiber cloths. First, saturate your microfiber cloths with the solvent and place the cloth over the stuck-on sap. You’re going to need to let it sit for a little bit and soften up, luckily Detail Pro solvent is safe for your vehicles to paint.

After allowing the solvent to soften the sap, you’ll take a clean side of the microfiber and wipe to remove the sap. The solvent works great on sticky messes, so don’t hesitate to moisten your cloth and wipe the area down again until all the sap is removed.

At this point, you’ll just have to clean up any residue. With a clean microfiber cloth and detailing spray, wipe down the affected areas in order to remove any additional contaminants. Make sure to finish up with some Detail Pro Spray Wax to protect your sap free finish.

Ready to tackle the sap on your vehicle? Here are the products you’ll need:

  • Solvent
  • Microfiber cloth
  • Detailing Spray
  • Spray Wax

By | October 3rd, 2017
https://www.detailpro.com/2017/10/03/how-to-remove-tree-sap/

/by

Causes, Prevention, & Removal of Hard Water Spots

Auto Butler

Hard water spots are like the freckles of the automotive world, they get worse in the sun and nobody really thinks they’re awesome. (Ok, some of you might think freckles are awesome, but nobody better argue about the hard water spots.)

Freckles, though, are hard to avoid, but hard water spots you’ve brought upon yourself. The fact that we’re writing a blog on this might make you think that this has to be a really tough subject that will require you to spend thousands of dollars or many, many hours, but water spots are actually an easy one. So let’s cover one of the basics of what causes hard water spots, how to prevent them, and how to fix the problem if you do end up with them.

What are hard water spots? it’s simple, really simple. Hard water spots are simply the remaining solids of evaporated hard water droplets. This could be from failing to dry your car properly after washing, parking near a sprinkler, rain, kids with squirt guns, driving through a puddle, I could keep going, but they could be from basically anytime water comes into contact with your car. It’s also safe to assume that there are dissolved particles of something in the water. From that air it will pick up carbon dioxide, smoke, dirt, any aerosolized chemicals, from puddles it will be dirt, oil, brake dust, fecal matter, any gross stuff you would rather not have in your water or on your car. And unless you’re running a whole house reverse osmosis system your water will have whatever minerals and chemicals your well or municipal water supply adds. Your hard water spots can come from anywhere.

Once the water evaporates, you’re left with crusty little spots of salts, minerals, grimes, etc. Even worse, if there were any caustic chemicals mixed in the water, from saying acidic rainwater, as it concentrates on the quickly evaporating water, it slowly eats away at the paint, leaving craters, pitting your surface and encouraging future water to pool in the shallow pits you now have all over your car.

That is unless you’ve taken the time to prevent this silent killer of pristine paint jobs. So just like moms slather kids with sunblock, you’re going to want to be sure to dry and protect your car with wax. Preventing the water from pooling on the surface and creating a protective layer between your paint and the elements is literally the most effective and easiest way to prevent damage caused by hard water. If you haven’t already hit our store to get a chamois for drying and our Pro Wax to do that now, I’ll wait.

But for some of you, you’ve already got damage that needs to be fixed. How can we fix it? You’re going to need some microfiber cloths, our Hard Water Spot & Scale Remover and some Detailing Spray. You’ll want to apply the hard water spot remover to the microfiber cloth and work a single 2-foot section. After the spot remover, you’ll apply the detailing spray. When you’ve finished removing all spots from the surface your next steps are to wash, dry and wax your vehicle. These final steps will remove any chemicals remaining on the surface and give a layer of protection from future hard water spots.

So get out there and clean up the hard water spots, and don’t forget the sunblock.

By | June 12th, 2018
https://www.detailpro.com/2018/06/12/causes-prevention-and-removal-of-hard-water-spots/

/by