Anyone who knows me, will probably have noticed that I’m a just a tiny bit obsessive about keeping my car clean. With the poor weather (and even worse roads) we are blessed with in Ireland, trying to maintain a daily driven car to a high standard is an uphill battle to say the least. That’s even before the nine month long winter rears its ugly head…
Regular upkeep and proper washing techniques go along way to keeping your pride and joy in top condition, but every now and then you need to step back, and let the professionals deal with it. Enter CleanCar.ie, a Wexford based detailing service who have been leading the way in the car cleaning business on these shores for quite some time. You might have noticed that I referred to them as a ‘detailing’ service and not a ‘valeting’ service. Detailing is essentially the epitome of car cleaning and paintwork care. I’ve known the two main men behind CleanCar long before they set up shop, and I know that both Larry & John take huge pride in their work. They are enthusiasts first and business owners second.
It had been quite a while since my car had been treated to an enhancement (the ground work was done quite some time ago) so earlier this week I dropped off the car to the CleanCar workshop to let Larry work his magic on it. All the work carried out is recorded, so when I turned up today to collect it, Larry talked me through the whole process. It goes a little something like this…
– Strong Wash & Deep Clean to Remove Old Layers of wax
– Paint Spatters Removed from Paintwork & Glass (a neighbour painting their house recently covered my car in house paint)
– De-Tar Paintwork
– Clay Paintwork
– Single Stage Machine Polish of all Bodywork & Carbon Fibre
– 2 x Coats of Chemical Guys Jetseal 109 with 12 Hours between Coats
– 1 x Coat of Chemical Guys Blacklight
– 2 x Coats of Chemical Guys Black Wax
– Repair & Re-Dye Driver’s Seat Bolster
– Clean & Condition both Front Seats with Gliptone Leather GT11 & GT12
– Polish Windscreen with Rayon Pad & Cerriglass
– Dress Arches with Chemical Guys Bare Bones
– Dress Tyres with Chemical Guys New Look Trim Gel
As far as enhancements go, this was actually a pretty small list but the results are astounding. Since I knew it would be raining when I collected the car, I brought along some equipment to capture the car before it was re-introduced to the Irish road network. It was also my first time getting to try out my new AlienBee B800s with strip boxes. Although I only used one light for these shots, I’m already starting to see how much of an improvement the ABs are over my old Speedlite setup. More details on this in another post…
