Menu of Additional Services

Before explaining WHY and WHAT additional services and costs may be needed on your car it would help to briefly explain a little about the paint on your car. This is information that many detailing shops will not tell you but is important for you, the vehicle owner concerned about their vehicle, to know.

There are, for the sake of simplicity, basically three types of paint that your car may have. Actually, there are more, but for this discussion these three will suffice.

Now, why do you care about this information about the type of paint on on your vehicle? Chances are you are asking yourself why I'm wasting your time telling you something you probably never thought about and cared even less about. The fact is any type of these additional detail services that Delaware Classic Detail, and most other detail shops for that matter, offer can have a significant difference to the presentation of the paint on your vehicle and because of that you should at least be completely informed about what these services and products do before you trust anyone to work on your vehicle. In the hands of a knowledgeable, experienced professional these services can, when needed, make a dramatic improvement. On the other hand, an inexperienced person using these same products can ruin your paint. These are services that we routinely provide but ONLY WHEN NEEDED.

Clear coat paint information:
As already mentioned, the clear coat on modern paint systems provide both the gloss and shine to the vehicle and protects the base color coat. Natural aging causes the clear coat to oxidize, reducing the shine. A vehicle kept outdoors, exposed to the elements rather than garage kept has this happen sooner. Additionally, minor and major scratches in the clear coat occur, many times simply from improper washing of the vehicle. Dark colored vehicles in particular suffer from swirl marks most often cause also by improper washing and waxing of the vehicle.
Even a garage kept, well cared for vehicle inherently picks up environmental pollutants that adhere and embed in the clear coat of the paint, causing a rough feeling surface and reducing the gloss and shine. All clear coats will, over time, begin to oxidize, no matter how well the vehicle is maintained.

Single stage paint information:
The same issue affecting clear coats pertain to single stage paints although the problem is compounded by the fact that there is no clear protetive coating of the color paint, the problems are now affecting the main paint itself. The basic techniques to restore the shine and protection of your vehicles paint are basically the same but must be done in a somewhat more delicate manner.


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Additional Services

Paint Sealant:
All paint surfaces require a protectant applied to them to protect them from the elements. In most cases this is done with wax. Here at Delaware Classic Detail we use natural Carnuba wax which has long been recognized as the highest quality wax to use and it not only protects the paint surface but also provides an excellent shine and gloss. The one downside of a wax is that it typically does not last very long and to keep this protection layer on your paint it must be reapplied multiple times a year on a daily driven vehicle. Most waxes only last through two or three car washings, let alone the tough elements a car driven daily experiences. On most daily driven vehicles a high quality wax only tends to last appox 6-8 weeks before re-application is required. A classic car or a show car that typically is garage kept and only driven in nice weather and receives limited usage may only need waxing once or twice a year.

An option to replace waxing is a Paint Sealant. Paint sealants are synthetic (chemical, not natural elements) composed of various polymers that adhere to the paint surface and protect it. Paint sealants work and act like a wax but their advantage is that they last longer so they do not need to be applied as often. Typically, a high quality Paint Sealant will be durable enough to last 4-6 months on a daily driven vehicle, requiring less applications throughout the year for good paint protection.

Paint Sealants last longer than waxes to protect your paint surface but they are more expensive so we offer this as an optional service instead of waxing. As a direct comparison between paint sealants and waxes, the paint sealants are more durable, last longer, and still give an excellent shine and gloss to your paint. Waxes, while not as durable and need to be applied more often, still give the highest level of shine and gloss.

Here at Delaware Classic Detail we recommend using a paint sealant rather than wax if your vehicle is daily driven and especially if you do not keep it washed and detailed on a regular schedule as the paint sealant will last longer than a wax and keep your vehicle's paint protected longer. If your vehicle is garage kept, washed and detailed on a regular basis and you are more concerned with the optimum shine and gloss from it or you need that optimum shine and gloss for a classic or show vehicle than we recommend the Carnuba wax.
The vast majority of vehicles, especially your daily driven vehicle, would benefit from upgrading to the use of a paint sealant over a wax. The small additional cost is well justified for the longer lasting protection of your paint surface.

Claying:
This is a actually a very mild and safe technique to use on all paint systems. We recommend claying your vehicle at least twice year if it's garage kept and more often if it's kept outdoors. If your vehicle sees a rough life daily it may requiring claying every month or two! All cars, no matter how well they are maintained, will accumulate contaminants from the environment. A car kept outdoors simply picks up more of these contaminants.
To tell if your car needs claying put a sandwich baggie over your hand and lightly run your hand over the surface of your vehicle's paint. Chances are you will feel a rough "grittiness" to the feel of the paint. This is surface contaminants and claying will remove it. A freshly clayed paint surface will feel as perfectly smooth and slick as a cleaned and polished sheet of glass. If your vehicles paint surface doesn't have that smooth, slick feeling than we recommend claying.
Once the surface contaminants have been removed from claying waxes or paint sealants will adhere to the paint better and you will also get a better gloss or shine to the overall paint.

Claying involves rubbing a special clay over the surface of the vehicle. A lubricant is applied to help the clay glide smoothly over the surface of the paint and to keep the clay from sticking to the paint surface. The clay will "pull" surface contaminants that have embedded in the clear coat or paint and the result is an extremely smooth feeling surface. After claying your paint surface will feel as perfectly and silky smooth as a freshly cleaned pane of glass.
Besides pulling surface contaminants out the clear coat or paint, claying also pulls all of the existing wax off the vehicle so reapplyng new wax or sealant afterwards is mandatory.
When you bring your car in and we inspect it we will inform you immediately if you car needs claying and will discuss this option with you. This is not an overly expensive option to a Deluxe Detail package and well worth it.

Paint Corrections:
The following service options are considered Paint Corrections and are services billed only by an hourly rate. All vehicles and paint conditions are different and require different amounts or levels of paint correction. Please be aware that on a neglected paint surface, or one with heavy oxidation, scratches, swirl marks, hazing, etc, 8-12 hours of work on paint correction is the average and normal time frame and in many cases it may require even more. If your paint is in poor condition the end results can be extremely significant though. In many cases, vehicles thought to require a new expensive paint job can be brought back to life with proper paint correction detailing services at a fraction of the cost.

Polishing:
A step beyond claying, polishes are more abrasive cleaning products than claying. Besides removing surface contaminants they can remove minor to medium scratches, swirl marks, etc from the surface of the clear coat or paint. Many polishes will also replenish essential oils in the paint lost through oxidation.
A light polishing will remove very minor swirls and paint hazing, but if the scratches, swirl marks, oxidation, acid rain marks, or other paint flaws are more severe than a heavier polishing step is required and require more time and attention to your car. Again, if we find your cars condition requires this service we will inform you of your options.


Heavy Duty Paint Cleaners / Compounds:
Paint cleaners and rubbing or cutting compounds are the most abrasive products and are typically used in the cases of an older and / or abused paint jobs to bring fresh layers of paint to the surface and also to eliminate or at least reduce heavier scratches and other defects. Typically used by body shops to remove light sanding marks in new paint or repaired paint, compounds remove somewhat greater scratches, scuff marks, acid rain marks, severe swirls, oxidation, and other major paint defects.

Polishes, heavy duty paint cleaners, and compounds work by actually effectively removing minute top layers of the clear coat or paint to expose fresh, undamaged layers. The more abrasive the compounds, the more damaged top layers are removed. Carefully done these are very successful techniques but done improperly by an inexperienced person can cause damage to the overall paint.
For this reason these steps are typically only utilized after washing, drying, claying (if needed) and than carefully inspecting the paint surface. If defects in the paint are evident enough to require a polishing step we will recommend it as it will help repair your paint surface and having it done will not only make your vehicle look better but also help your paint job last longer.
Typically if the damage to the paint is severe enough to require heavy polishing and / or compounding we will discuss this with you before performing the service.

** Note: A Polishing step leaves the paint surface ready for an application of wax or paint sealant. Any step beyond polish, which would include compounding, requires to be followed up by polishing before wax or paint sealant can be applied.

* Note: Please be aware that not all scratches can be removed, even with heavy compounding. Compounds and polishes are designed to reduce and/or eliminate surface defects. Carefully run your fingernail over the scratch in your paint. If you can feel your fingernail catch on the scratch than it can not be completely repaired by detailing. The scratch has gone through the clear coat in into the base color of the paint or even completely through that to the body of the car. Depending on the severity and deepness of the scratch, compounding and/or polishing may reduce how noticeable the scratch is. Scratches are noticeable because of light reflections on the sharp edges of the paint of the scratch. Compounding or polishing will round off these sharp edges, reducing the reflection of light and therefore reduce how noticeable the scratch is, it will not completely eliminate the scratch.
If your fingernail can catch the scratch we may be able to reduce how noticeable it is but to completely fix the scratch your choices there are to have the affected area repaired by using touch up paint or have a body shop repair the damage by repainting the affected area.



Other Services

Headlight & Taillight lens polishing:
Most modern cars have integrated sealed headlight and taillight assemblies. Most of these are acrylic and tend to get scratched and yellowed from age, not only looking bad in appearance but also reducing the light output decreasing visibility. We can polish these lenses with special acrylic polish to help reduce the scratching and yellowing affect. Not only will they look better but will increase the light output back to original or very close to it depending on the extent of deterioration.

Engine Detailing:
Many shops advertise "steam cleaning" an engine bay to clean it. Here at Delaware Classic Detail we never steam clean an engine bay. On newer, modern vehicles there are simply too many delicate electronics under the hood to make it safe to apply high pressure water as is the normal output from a steam cleaning device. To clean engine bays we utilize low pressure cleaning methods always for cleaning, degreasing, and dressing.


All Additional Services offered by Delaware Classic Detail are priced per job as required except on the paint correction which is priced on an hourly rate as noted. There is no standard pricing on these services as each vehicle is different, has different requirements, and will require a different amount of time to perform the service depending on the individual condition of your vehicle's paint.

We will be happy to offer you an estimate for these services when we inspect your vehicle and if we find any of these services are recommended or you desire them