Tour the process of a complete detail from beginning to end:
Exterior Hand Wash > Exterior Finishing > The Interior > Optional Services
- Exterior Hand Wash
The process begins with a thorough soapy handwash of all exterior surfaces including door openings, wheel wells, tires, handworked wheels, and all vinyl trim. No potentially damaging high-pressure washers or rotary buffed compounds are used.
Road tars, sap, bug stains, etc. are removed without abrasion via purpose-direct cleaners.
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Exterior Finishing
The paint is returned to its most brilliant shine and depth using German-developed and produced liquid products.
The exterior renewal process begins with a non-abrasive polish massaged over the finish with state-of-the-art foam-backed microfiber fabric using a gentle orbital action. This removes the fine swirls and scratches that dull the shine of the vehicle's paint.
The Wet Look finish is achieved via the hand application of a German acrylic that is resistant to scratching, oxidation, road salts, sun, industrial pollutants, and corrosive elements for up to 12 months of normal use. Glass and other non-porous surfaces such as lenses and wheels are also coated with this acrylic.
A final hand buff with microfiber towels completes the exterior renewal.
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The Interior
Inside the vehicle, everything is vacuumed, then the fabrics and carpet are shampooed and disinfected utilizing a purpose-specific, non-caustic, biodegradable, grease-cutting detergent. This is followed with a hot water rinse, and then a cold water rinse. The trunk, if applicable, is also vacuumed completely.
Except for leathers and headliners, all other interior materials are cleaned and disinfected. These materials include vinyls, veneers, door panels, dash, vents, knobs, switches, levers, buttons, ash trays, cup holders, handles and more. Glass and mirrors are cleaned streak free.
Leather surfaces are gently cleansed with a leather 'type'-specific cleanser. Next, a leather and leather 'type'-specific conditioner is applied and hand massaged in, then lightly buffed up with the softest microfiber cloth.
Luxury vehicles, like the Ferrari leather consol and dash (pictured above) and the Benz S-500 (below right) have interiors designed with a very high-end, soft matt finished leather, and thus require a very expensive lanolin-based conditioner.
This special product not only conditions the leather to keep it supple, but also retains the matt finish and texture of the leather without a lingering odor and without making the surface slippery.
Pictured above left is an older 5 Series in the application process, and although it appears to be 'wet' it is merely soaking in the conditioner.
Other leather types, such as found in a Honda Oddysey or GMC Suburban, require yet another type of conditioner designed for a more durable, semi-gloss type of leather... a material chosen to withstand heavier use.
In no case does APD use silicon-based products, which you will find being widely used by other detailers and dealers. These products may be cheaper and save the company money, but they are not the correct products to use for the proper detailing of your vehicle.
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Headliners and Engine Compartments
Headliners in today's vehicles vary widely in composition and quality, and therefore cannot be accurately priced. This excludes them from the "standard" detail. They are an optional service, priced by vehicle and by the actual time and materials needed to do the work properly.
Engine compartments fall into this same category and therefore their cleaning is also an optional service priced by actual time and materials per vehicle.
Pictured below left is a 2001 Ferrari Maranello 550, and below right, a 1954 Jaguar XK 120-- both very complex and time consuming detail jobs I did for "concours d'elegance judging for perfection."
However, a newer vehicle, perhaps a VW Rabbit I-4 or Cadillac Escalade, would take a fraction of the time required for those other vehicles— both can be done well within an hour's time, so the price of this option would be less than $40.00 for the VW or Cadillac in this example.
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412-635-0292
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