Clay, seal and wax

So after punishing my car's paint for 5 years, I wanted to give it a spa day by getting a proper detailing done.

Normally, I get the car detailed every spring, but I only get the insides cleaned up, to remove the build up of dust, dirt, coffee spills, window film and winter salt etc. on the carpet.

This time I decided to add a proper exterior detailing as well to get the paint back to like-new condition. After 5 years, it was starting to look (and feel) a bit nasty and there were chips exposing metal now. For the record - I never wax my car and routinely wash in a self serve car wash with high pressure, but no brush.

I chose the option of clay bar, then sealer, then wax. I have never done this before - on any car. The price is the reason. For the uninitiated, the clay bar is used to strip off all the contaminants from the paint surface. Off comes the pollution, tar, overspray, brake dust, everything. Then they seal it for a layer of protection. I opted to add a good coat of wax for extra protection and to make it smooth and shiny.

Before I dropped the car off, they had me run my finger along the paint to feel how rough it was. It doesn't feel like that anymore. It is smooth as butter. And shiny. It looks very much like it just came off the showroom floor. They had to work a bit harder on my car, because there was a lot of paint over-spray on my windows and any black trim on my doors, etc. from body work that had been done post-hail damage back in 2014. That's mostly gone now. My windows have not been cleaner or more transparent and streak-free than now.

I have to hand it to the crew at OCDetailing in Airdrie, they did a bang up job. It was expensive, but it was worth it.

[disclaimer: not my car in pic]