ISSUES WITH LOCAL CAR WASH
When you buy a new or used car at first the paintwork looks flawless, but after a few washes in your ownership the initial happy feeling starts to fade away, even though you wash the car regularly at your local car wash. The paintwork just doesn’t look as shiny anymore and the number of scuffs and small scratches seems to be increasing.
Well there is an answer for that. Something we have been blind to for a number of years now. Believe it or not, the lack of shine on your paintwork and the increasing number of scuffs and scratches actually happens at your local car wash.
But how? Well before going in to the detail it’s very important to understanding how the paintwork of a vehicle actually works.
VEHICLE PAINTWORK
Any vehicle that comes out from the show room, especially in the modern day, is sprayed with a colour of the customer’s choice followed by a permanent transparent layer of protection called the lacquer, some like to call it a clear coat. The purpose of the lacquer is to protect the original layer of the protection from things such as UV rays, paint defects, scratches, chemicals, environmental contamination, etc.
Its the condition of the transparent protection layer that determines what you see through it. Imagine looking through a window to see a beautiful scenery. If the window is crystal clear you will be able to see the true beauty of what is behind it. However if the window is dirty and hazy how would the scenery look? Not as beautiful right?
Well that could be the problem with your paintwork. The lacquer is either contaminated, has defects or damaged which is stopping you from seeing the true beauty of your paintwork.
Now let’s get in to the details of how your local car wash could be the reason why your car doesn’t look as shiny anymore.
There are a number of factors contributing to this. When the exterior of your car is full of dirt, salt and road grime, you drive down to your local car wash to get it cleaned properly. But the local car wash only charge an average of £10 to clean the interior & exterior of your car.
How can 3-4 people clean your car and even offer a free air freshener for that price. Over the years general prices of everything have gone up significantly except the price of washing your car. How is that even possible with the high rent for commercial properties and with so many employees working?
Well I guess that’s the main reason why your car doesn’t look as attractive even though you get it washed regularly. Hmm.
THE DAMAGE CAUSED BY LOCAL CAR WASHES
Let’s get in to the details. I’m not sure whether you have realised, but as soon as you drive in to a car wash one of the representatives goes around your car spraying something just before jet washing? Well that’s a powerful acid based chemical that eats up a lot of the dirt very quickly. That’s a good thing isn’t it? Well yes it’s good for the car wash as the process becomes quicker for them but not good for your paintwork. The problem with this method is that the chemicals are so harsh that if you had any wax protection on your car, it will burn through it and overtime it can damage the lacquer itself which gives the paintwork that old and tired look. Remember the window example above.
The proper way to clean the exterior of your vehicle is to tackle the layers of dirt in stages using safe PH neutral detergents that are tough enough to take the dirt off but safe enough not to damage your paintwork. It is also important to clean the alloy wheels inside out thoroughly and the nooks and crannies with a soft bristle brush as the build-up of dirt can damage the lacquer and make these areas look less attractive in the near future.
Local car washes charging such a small fee have no options but to focus on quantity rather than quality as they need to go through as many cars as possible to see any profit. This means they have to rely more on the acidic chemicals to do most of the job rather than them physically agitating in detail to give the car a proper wash. But of course focusing on quantity leads to cutting corners and that always comes with its consequences.
Wash techniques are also vital when it comes to cleaning the exterior of your vehicle. Due to a lack of education and motivation in the car wash industry the employees do not have enough interest in washing cars properly, they are simply are in it for the money, not to mention the wages are far below the national minimum wage which is not socially acceptable either.
Straight after the acid attack, usually they will take the wash mitt from a large bucket, which they already washed multiple cars with, and go around scrubbing the entire car. Multiple issues arise during this method. Firstly the same wash bucket and wash mitt are used to clean multiple cars which means they clean the dirt off your car with more dirt. During this process the salt and road grime from the bottom section of your car is also scraped across the entire vehicle. At times I witnessed them using the same wash mitt to clean the wheels which is the dirtiest section of the exterior. You have to understand the road grime that sticks on to the body of your car and wheels are smaller rock particles. Can you imagine the damage caused when these small rock particles are scraped across your entire car. They create small scratches known as swirl marks in the detailing industry. These swirl marks are visible to the eye when light hits the panels of your car. Next time inspect the paintwork of your car when the sunlight or the street light shines on it.
How does scratches affect the shine and gloss of the paintwork of your car? First of all the swirl marks look horrible when the light reflects off the paintwork. Secondly when the light hits the paintwork it enters the gap inside the scratches and bounces off different directions not allowing the light to reflect off the paint perfectly which effects the level of gloss and shine of the paintwork.
Furthermore the detergent used to wash the exterior of your car is diluted heavily to save costs, so much so it effects the cleaning ability of the detergent. This means removing dirt is more reliant on scrubbing, that increases the chance of scratching and swirl marks, and extremely powerful jet wash that can potentially damage the paintwork as well as waste tons of water.
Finally the drying stage or at least the panel beating stage as I would like to describe it from my experience. Due to a lack of cleaning ability on the previous stage a lot of the dirt still remains on the vehicle which are taken off during the drying stage, especially the wheels. The inside of the wheels look as if it never went in for a clean. This can lead to further scratching and swirl marks due to dry contact with the dirt particles on the paintwork. Dry contact with dirt is one of the main culprits for causing harsh scratching and swirl marks on your paint work.
These are some of the main issues during the exterior wash stage however more issues arise during the interior clean. For the interior clean I think the guys do a fair job at hovering the dirt, however the dusting and window cleaning is very poor. They simply spray and swipe the towel across the dash board. In other words spread the dust all over. The proper technique is to hoover up all the dust using a bristle bush. That way the full interior will be dust free and gives it that fresh feeling every time you enter it.
Cleaning the window is also a vital stage during the interior clean. It must be properly degreased to restore visibility and avoids any window fogging.
Now that you will feel anxious every time you need to clean your car, we have found a solution to your problem.
JEWELS PASSION TO THE RESCUE
Jewels Passion have come to restore the beauty of vehicle cleaning through honesty and integrity in this industry. What exactly do we do differently at Jewels Passion?
First of all we are professional detailers fully trained to maintain any car under any condition to a high standard. The focus is to keep your car looking new though out its lifespan. We are extremely passionate in this industry and fully insured in case of any detriment caused to the customer although this is highly unlikely.
We clean your car using the top of the range premium Ph Neutral detergents that are strong enough to remove any dirt but also safe enough not to damage any surface on your car.
We use purified softened water to avoid any water spots on your car unlike your typical local car wash who use very hard water.
We use a very unique wash technique to clean your car to a high standard without causing any damage to your paintwork. We guarantee a dirt free car through our unique strategic cleaning method taking dirt off in stages using Ph Neutral detergents avoiding any damage to your paintwork.
We make sure that all nooks and crannies along with the inside and outside of the wheels, tyres and arches are cleaned properly.
We provide a mobile detailing service which means you don’t have to drive down to a local car wash only to be disappointed with the service. The queues are horrendous and the experience is not great either. We come to you wherever you are.
All services at Jewels Passion are professionally tailored to suit all your cleaning needs. Simply make your booking on the app which only takes a few moments. Anything missing just contact us via email or phone call and we will offer options tailored to meet your needs.
We also offer a free bespoke maintenance schedule program which is fully flexible without any catch, commitments or binding contract.
Jewels Passion is focused on honesty & integrity throughout the UK through our unique professional service and we constantly seek for improvements and efficiency to ensure we are offering the best value for your money. We are always updated with the latest in terms of products and cleaning techniques.
We are currently offering an exclusive maintenance program across London & Essex. Please continue to support us so that we can grow and spread our good work across the whole of the UK.
Jewel Chowdhury
