Why EVERY vehicle needs to be decontaminated.
If you're reading this you're either interested in our services or a fellow detailer checking out our new blog section. Welcome either way!
What do I mean by DECONTAMINATED? In short, the decontamination process removes embedded and bonded particles from your paint to make the paint feel smooth again. Often times when we use terms like this we are talking about clay baring, fall out/iron particle removal, and tree sap/tar removal.
There are a lot of misconceptions about clay bar and exactly what it does for your vehicles paint. I've heard everything from "it made my paint look incredible" to "I know it removes the swirls". If you have followed our facebook or instagram for sometime you already know the truth but for those that don't, spoiler alert, it doesn't. Clay bar is a decontamination tool that allows us to remove embedded particles from the paint that just washing will not remove. How do you know if your vehicle needs to be clay bared? After you've washed your car while the paint is still wet, run your hand across the paint. Do you feel any bumps or is it smooth? Can you see little black dots on the paint when you inspect it closely? Congratulations your vehicle's paint needs to be decontaminated!
Iron and fallout removal are other bonded contaminated that aren't removed through washing or even clay baring the paint. These little iron and carbon particles embed themselves into the pours of your clear coat, bonding themselves to the surface. This is where a dedicated chemical iron remover is needed to dwell on the paint, breakdown those particles so that they release from your paint to make a truly clean surface.
Even brand new vehicles need this process done because during transportation rail dust and exhaust fumes can settle on the surface of the paint embedding themselves and the dealerships just do a normal wash and stick it out onto the dealership's lot. Also often times when they wash these vehicles from transport they are using brushes or the same rags from previous vehicles which causes swirls.. but that's for another post.
Hopefully this answered questions about what our decontamination process consist of and if your vehicle is in need of it. There are some that say once you clay bar a vehicle it NEEDS to be polished because with some more aggressive clay bars, they can leave what's known as marring on the surface. While I do agree that the best practice is to always follow up with at least a light 1-step polishing, not every paint will show the marring, and not every customer can see or cares. They just want their paint smooth and protected, and that is OKAY with us, because at the end of the day it is your vehicle, I am just here to help you make the most informed decision for your budget.
Do you have any questions? Comment below for topics you would like us to cover!