1. What is detailing?
2. How often should a car get detailed?
3. What kinds of cars require detailing?
4. I have a brand new car, why should I have it detailed? It can’t look better that it does right now!
5. I was told to get my paint “rubbed down” to restore the gloss and remove the scratches, how different is this from detailing?
6. I have had my car detailed a couple of times from other detailing shops, and every time I visit, they recommend a “3 step” job on my paint, is this a right recommendation?
7. What brand of products do you use at BigBert’s Professional Detailers? Do you use the best “X” brand?

Auto Detailing is a term used to describe a process of thoroughly cleaning and restoring automotive surfaces in detail. Unlike a wash or regular cleaning, all nooks and crannies are addressed with detailing, paint is restored and not just waxed over; engine is degreased and polished and not just washed.

At BigBert’s Professional Detailers, you’ll not only get top notch detailing, but also the advantage of knowing that we aim to keep your car looking new for as long as you own the car.

Frequency of cleaning is highly dependent on how you maintain a car. The more often you perform “maintenance cleaning” the less frequent you’ll need a detail job. Just like a human body, the more longer you stay healthy, the lesser the chance that you’ll need to be hospitalized. At BigBert’s Professional Detailers, we emphasize on maintenance, we firmly believe that prevention is better than cure, and a well-maintained car will always be more appealing than one that has to be restored often.

All cars are candidates for detailing, the determinant of whether a car should or shouldn’t be detailed lies on the owner’s desire of having a like-new, clean car. Obviously, a car owner who can withstand driving a dried up paint with swirls, soda cups and chips scattered inside the car, etc will probably won’t mind about his car being a mess. Most of us prefer a clean, fresh car. We spend at least ¼ of our day inside our vehicles and they cost a lot to purchase, shouldn’t you at least take care of it?

This is a very common misconception of car owners. Unless you can pick up your unit straight off the assembly line, your car IS NOT brand new. Your actual unit sits outside the manufacturing plant for several weeks before it is delivered to the dealership that ordered them. In the dealership, it also sits outdoors for weeks before someone purchases it. And don’t forget the “First In First Out” inventory system wherein the dealer will sell you their oldest stock before the newer one.

Throughout your “brand new” car’s life from the factory to your garage, how do you think the plant and dealership personnel washes the cars? Chances are, your paint already is gritty from all the contaminants that has bonded to your paint during the outdoor storage. Water spots are visible on your glass surfaces and paint surfaces from frequent hose-down and rainfall without drying. Your brand new car is rarely close to perfection. Not to mention that some manufacturers DRIVE the unit to the dealership instead of carrying the vehicles on a truck bed, during this time, the drivers may be smoking, driving with windows open, etc., soiling your interior.

Rubdown or Rubbing is a common term used to level paint. Simply put, they will level the paint down to the base of the defect and that’s that. Your paint surface is made up of layers. From the sheet metal to the primer, then the base coat and then the clear coat (for dual stage paints). Chances are your paint will look dull and whitish after the so called “rubbing”, the reason is that the use of a course compound removed a couple of layers of the paint and left the surface marred with tiny scratches. With detailing, this will not occur due to the fact that the surface is finished with much finer polishes and glazes to restore the glossy, wet look surface of your paint. Rubbing down the paint should only be considered if less abrasive and intrusive methods have been tried and deemed ineffective. If your detailing outright suggests a “rubbing” session without a proper analysis, walk away. This problem is also very common with poorly repainted cars, the painter doesn’t finish the paint well and stops with rubbing the paint with a wool pad and compound, leaving the surface with whitish spots and haze.

Not a chance. The basic premise of a 3-step job involves compounding painted surfaces, then polishing/glazing it, then finally waxing or sealing it. While this is usually a legitimate restoration procedure, this should not be done often, as the compounding stage will inevitably thin out the clear coat too much. With modern day clear-coated paints, the UV protection layer is on the clear coat and not on the base coat. Thinning out the clear coat will accelerate cracking and paint deterioration causing spider-webbing and other paint defects. Most shops recommend a straight compounding route simply because this is the fastest method to restore a paint, but it may not be the best way in the long run. Obviously, the detailer who recommended you to avail a “3 step” job often has no interest in your car’s long-term paint condition.

This is a very, very common question that needs to be addressed. A BRAND involves a lot of PRODUCTS, and each product has its own pros and cons. To trust solely on one brand often limits a detailer’s ability to solve a problem to what the BRAND offers. There is no such thing as the BEST brand or product, all products has its owns pros and cons and will surely do better with one aspect while suffers on another. With detailing, products fall second to experience and technique. In the hands of a good detailer, even off-the-shelf products can produce a show car product. On the other hand, a detailer can brag about the product he uses but without the proper knowledge and exposure, he can be stuck on what a product can or cannot do and will not be able to find an alternative solution to a problem.

We at BigBert’s Professional Detailers constantly seek the newest technologies and techniques to serve you better. We carry brands and products from OEM factory finishers, assemblers and manufacturers, high end “enthusiast” grade products, little known pro “secret” products and other tried and tested products used by professionals worldwide. You can be sure that if products and brands are what you’re after, we’ve got the bases covered. Couple that with the knowledge to differentiate and utilize these products effectively, your vehicle will get the best care it can possibly have.