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This 2021 Porsche 911 Carrera S in Mountain Brook, AL received our Gold Ceramic Coating Package. This includes polishing out scratches, removing the wheels for a thorough cleaning and ceramic coating, and applying ceramic coating to the paint and glass. This treatment last 5 years includes of a few weeks like a wax. If you are looking for a ceramic coating or detail near you, give us a call! We are mobile and come to you. #HowardsDetailing
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 A time of love and hate. Green scenery is on its way, a time of new life and opportunity. Yellow dust is also on its way, a time of allergies and pharmacy trips. This dust also causes a major headache for enthusiast and civilians alike. How do you take care of pollen? Just wipe it off? Rinse it off and walk away? Blow it off with a leaf blower? None of these methods are effective nor safe. Let's dive in.  1.) "I just wipe pollen off" No. No no no. This is a very popular response to seeing a blanket of yellow dust on your vehicle. Here's the issue. If you've driven your vehicle since the last wash, you will rub that dirt and road film into the paint while trying to remove the pollen. There will also likely be leaves, twigs, and other falling debris on the paint, so try to avoid this method at all cost. 2.) "I just rinse the pollen off" This one is even more popular. You'll even see it if you take a Sunday drive through a neighborhood, People satisfyingly rinsing away the sheet of yellow dust to reveal the original paint color and walking away. Heres the issue(s). The first is water spots. Leaving this water on the paint will undoubtedly leave water spots that is a much bigger problem than pollen. The second is drying the paint with a towel. Thinking that the vehicle is clean since you just rinses a sea of yellow of the paint may seem logical, but to is anything but. The road film and dirt is likely still present on the paint, and when you go to dry the vehicle you will cause damage to the paint by scrubbing that dirt around. 3.) "I just blow it off with a leaf blower" The best and safest choice of the three by far. This technique will likely cause issues though. Pollen, as shown by the picture above, is a very jagged and pointy particle. It can stick to paint that even has a wax or something equivalent on it. Blowing pollen isn't always effective in 70% of cases. This leads back to number one on this list. Wiping.  Well, what should I do?
A good rule of thumb is to just let it sit until you have time to do a full wash, whether that is a rinse less wash or a foamy soap and water wash. This allows for the ability to remove the pollen and ensure you are not causing scratching and marring from the other dirt and grime. You can blow the car off in between washes, but do not touch the car with pollen on it or leave standing water on the vehicle. Can I put anything on my paint to repel pollen? No. However, you can minimize how well pollen can stick to the paint. You can do so by using a very slick sealant, spray, or ceramic coating. I recommend one of our Ceramic Coatings that features a very high contact angle, which allows for air pressure or water to easily carry the pollen away. This high contact angle also allows for very tight water beading and self-cleaning abilities, which all aid in the removal of pollen and debris from the rain or wash process.  Wet sanding. Detailers across the globe are enamored by the opportunity to level defects, orange peel, and scratches. Sanding allows for texture and defect removal with zero heat, unlike polishing which creates heat as a by product of friction. I use sanding techniques under two scenarios. The first is the reduction/removal of deep scratches. I prefer to start with a light sand on deep scratches so that I am not overheating a panel that can cause delimitation of the clear coat. The second use is on repainted hotrods. Several hotrod shops use Howard's Detailing to fully sand and polish their fresh paint jobs. You must use aggressive sanding techniques to remove trash and texture from the paint. Sanding on repainted hotrods is a different scenario than factory cars because they are given much more clear coat than factory paints. One reason is factories use less paint to save money, and the other reason is because hot rods are meant to be worked on so they have extra paint in case of an incident.
Whats the issue with sanding on a factory car? Think of Preservation. Don't detail it for how it will look this week, detail it for how it will look in 10 years. The typical factory Mercedes/ Chevrolet/ Lexus paint is 2-4 mils thick which is as thin as a post-it note. The clear coat is even thinner than that. For me to lightly sand on a car, it must have AT LEAST 4 mils of total paint. Think of preservation. Imagine what a Ferrari F40 would look like today if a detailer tried to remove all the texture. It would most certainly had a repaint by now. Clear coat is essential to protecting the colored paint from heat and UV radiation. Wet sanding factory cars simply removes too much clear coat that can result in a quicker deterioration of your paint. For potential clients, try to avoid having a detailer sand texture out of your factory paint. You're paying money to have years taken off of your paint. For detailers, don't sand texture on factory cars with thin paint. Think of how you are affecting the car 10 years down the road. Local car clubs are what helped me jump start my business and it is always a treat to work for other members. A client of mine in a Corvette club recommended this new C8 owner to Howard's Detailing to receive the works.
This client has a very busy work schedule and is not able to drop his car off at a shop or stay at home to keep an eye on other detailers, so he chose Howard's Detailing to bring a honest, professional, and trustworthy mobile service that he can count on. We began with a stout wash that included a clay bar, iron fallout remover, and gentle hand wash. After a thorough blow and towel dry, I did a Light Interior Detail and conditioned the leather, followed by a nook and cranny vacuum and dusting of the new updated spaceship-like cabin. I then pulled the car into the garage and began polishing with a cut/ polish combo to receive a good cut and finish in one step. Once the paint was dialed in I safely removed the wheels and ceramic coated them and the calipers after a very heavy cleaning. After the wheels I primed the paintwork for ceramic coating and coated it with a 9 Year Coating for long term durability and gloss. As a business owner there's one thing I love more than most anything else, repeat clients. As a car enthusiast there one thing I love more than most anything else, Lamborghini. As a person there's one thing I love more than most anything else, meeting genuinely good people. This detail checks all the boxes.
I had the opportunity to perform an exterior detail on this clients 2019 Huracan two years ago, and was thrilled to come back and perform a polish service on the EVO and the Carrera S. The common misconception with new cars is that they do not need any detail work. That is false 99.999% of the time. At the time a vehicle arrives at a dealership, it begins the first part of its life being abused no matter the brand. That means test drives and/or improper washing and handling. And even if the car wasn't improperly washed or polished, the curing of the cars new paint often turns hazy after a few months due to the paint "gassing" out and hardening. This is why I offer the New Car Polish Service. It is a light polish meant to remove that top "dead" layer of clear coat so you see the true color and depth of the paint work as well as providing quality protection afterwards. In the case of this EVO, you can see from the slide show above that the piano black pieces in particular were polished improperly, leaving buffer trails and haze behind. The paint was also polished (prior to me) with an aggressive pad and had haze around the outer edges of panels. After battling a water leak in my pressure washer's hose reel and a gentle hand wash, I remedied these imperfections with a light polish and a little elbow grease when needed. Lamborghini has a hard, high quality clear coat which is a dream to polish and get a great finish. Afterwards I sealed the paint with a high quality ceramic paint sealant/ topper for a crystal clear finish. This Corvette received the WORKS from Howard's Detailing. The story behind the car is that it was purchased from Hendrick Chevrolet in 2015 and was the first C7 Z06 to land in Birmingham. Good thing Howard's Detailing was able to perfect and preserve this small piece of Birmingham car culture history. The first thing I did was an Eco-Friendly wash and decontamination to prep the paint for polishing. I skip over the wheels for now because later on they would be removed after polishing to be properly cleaned and ceramic coated. The paint was in very good condition, so a Light Paint Correction was the polish service we opted for to remove light scratches and haze. After a few hours of polishing I pulled the car outside to remove the wheels for ceramic coating. Using several rounds of brake dust dissolving wheel cleaners and tar removers, I was able to get a great result from the coating (see pictures). The prep work is one of the things that sets me apart from the others. If one round of cleaning doesn't cut it, I do it again until its where it needs to be. No corners cut. I then performed a light cleaning and heavy leather conditioning on the interior to restore the beautiful seats, door panels, and dash. After allowing time for the conditioners to absorb into the material, I come back with a towel to remove any excess that might leave a greasy or shiny look and feel. The engine bay is then sprayed and wiped with a dedicated plastic conditioner to a satin sheen to avoid over saturation and damage in an already clean compartment. After everything else is finished, it's time to start ceramic coating the paint. I used a 5 Year Ceramic Coating (my most popular choice) on this vehicle which forms a 9H, extremely durable and glossy glass-like shell on the paint. Thank you to this client for allowing me to work on this car. It is always a pleasure performing details like these on such a high level vehicle. Thank you for the business, trust, lunch, and beef jerky! ,This Bentley was already in great shape. Impeccable condition of the engine bay, undercarriage, and interior. Looking to have it professionally detailed, the customer reached out to explore his options after a friend referred him to me (without having to spend a ton of money because it already looked great). The leather interior was losing its moisture and color, so special attention and a percentage of the budget was given to cleaning it and nourishing the leather with Swissvax Leather Milk. This product is my go to on natural high end leather. There is no other product out there that matches the look and feel, while leaving a subtle natural leather smell. When it came to the paint, we were left with enough to do the Level 2 Light Paint Correction. While deeper scratches remain from the Mister carwash down the road, we saw a significant improvement. A Light Correction was tricky due to needing to cut swirls, but not leave a lot of haze behind from heavy polishing inhibiting reflections off the paint. The black spokes of the wheels were also polished with a ceramic priming polish to leave behind protection from European brake calipers. After the correction, the paint was sealed with a German paint sealant. The tires were finished in Swissvax Pneu which is not a typical water based conditioner and actually soaks into the tire and stays put to prevent build up and browning. Thank you Tom for the opportunity, support, and friendship these past few weeks. |
Chandler H.Here is where I will go into detail about all things detailing (no pun intended). |
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