icgraven

I plan on getting my car detailed hope fully this weekend. I found a Mobile auto detailer that seems quite reasonable. He quoted 125-150 for inside-out detailing. The car is 94 Lexus ES300 My question is the price decent for the work he will do. Here is the link to hiss rather crappy yet informative website http://www.whtglove.com He says he does the following.

1.Hand wash
2.Clay Bar
3.Han Wax. (He says he use carnauba, is this the best or most
durable method?)
4.Steam Clean Carpets
5.Cleans and conditions Leather (Automagic is what he uses I believe)
6.Cleans And conditions Vinyl
7.Cleans door jams
8.Cleans wheels and dresses tires
9.Cleans windows

Also should I take the initiative and touch up any major scratches and chips before hand. I made the mistake of relying on Maguire’s Gold Glass to hold up and protect my pain. The finish has seemed to taken quite the beating over the past 9 months and nearly every scratch sticks out like a sore thumb now. I also have some very light scratches from a shami I used. Almost like swill mark but more of a straight line. Will a solid hand wax hide these decently?

lexusk8

Sounds like you got quite a list there! Perhaps you can think about adding this to your list:

10. Clean, buff and polish headlights

I noticed on most of the older ES, a majority of the headlights are either hazed or filled with light scratches. I guess it's sort of a known problem on them, so a good buffing and polishing job should do the trick. Good luck!

icgraven

So does that price seem pretty reasonable.

lexusk8

$125-$150 for an all-around auto detail of your car isn't bad at all, though I've never done one myself. Around here, you can find $50 packages for exterior detailing located at independent car wash shops. I would think businesses who specialize in auto detailing alone would cost more, so I think you're getting a good amount for your money. If possible, post "before/after" pics of your car when you go through the detailing deal

Oh, what's the turnaround time for your car while it's being detailed?

Guitarman

He's in the ballpark, if a bit high for those items only. Usually that i$$$ includes cleaning the engine compartment too. It varies greatly by location and specific items though.

Personally, I would ask for a sealant (synthetic wax ) instead of a carnauba. Carnaubas will melt away in the sun at 165 degrees, and with summer approaching, the durability of one won't be long. They look great at first, but sun and washing will break most of them down within a couple weeks to a month. Yes, a carnauba will hide some scratches /swirls with it's oils, but when it rains a couple times or gets washed, they'll likely come back into view.
If he's using a carnauba wax/synthetic blend like most of the products on the store shelves, they'll last a bit longer, but still not as long as a full synthetic polymer (Zaino, Blackfire, NuFinish, Klasse SG etc) which has a melting point of near 400 degrees. Here in Florida, no detailer that wants return business would use anything but a polymer, unless it was a show car that the owner doesn't drive or park in the sun, in which case a quality carnauba would work well. Good polymers like Zaino have UV blockers added in also.

Believe it or not, your car (especially dark colors ) can see surface paint temperatures of ~200 degrees on hot sunny days. Bye- bye carnauba wax if so.

Other than that, if he's really good, it's not a bad deal. Hope this helps.

icgraven

Yeah, i'm in the bay area so things are always more expensive. He was the cheapest i could find, the detailing shops want around 200 dollars or so.


Where can i get Zaino or a other synthetic polymer and how much should it run me. He said he will use what ever product i request.

Guitarman

You can print out this sheet and order Z1 and Z2 (all he really needs to do it). You'll have it in about 6 days.

http://www.zainobros.com/files/order.htm

You can order Meguiar's #20 polymer sealant, Klasse, Blackfire etc. or some of the others I mentioned here, ;

http://www.properautocare.com/wax.html

They're all pretty good. Cheers.