Tallahassee Car Paint Protections

 Automatic mechanical car washes are all over the place, on practically every corner and as an add on to many gasoline stations. While gasoline retailing has shifted over the years from being full service with a service station attached to being self service with fast food establishments and convenience stores attached. Automatic Mechanical car washes still serve as the primary profit center for some of the larger self service gas stations on the busy main streets.

While an automatic car wash is certainly interesting to watch especially as a child, the amount of damage a mechanical car wash can do on the spot or over time should not be ignored. I realize that for most people when they hear an auto detailer say to avoid a mechanical car wash they think it’s sort of like the self service vs full service gasoline debate. Where if you have money to burn you might hire someone to pump your gas for you, but for the most part it’s not a required service that as a consumer you would be willing to pay a premium for. I am very much on the side of the do it yourself route over a mechanical car wash. Here are a few reasons why you want to avoid high volume automatic car washes.

High speed mechanical equipment can cause physical damage

I can’t tell you how many times people have said that their car was ruined by a mechanical car wash and they were not covered for the damages. This heavy equipment can remove antennas, center caps and trim off of your car or the vehicles in front of you in the line and use it as shrapnel to cause even more damage in some hard to repair places such as the roof. One vehicle I’ve seen that was especially bad was a very new Dodge Challenger Scat Pack with a tennis ball sized dent in the top of C Pillar. The cost to repair the damage was so high in fact that the owner ended up trading in the vehicle and I hope is staying away from mechanical car washes.

Dirty brushes and caustic soap

Even if you are lucky enough to not have any hard to miss physical damage, there is still clear coat damage occurring every time you take your car through as the dirt on your vehicle and other vehicles in front of yours are being cleaned or damaged by the same set of brushes that are often not properly cleaned between washes. Maybe if I had a mud truck with a too far gone paint job with some caked on mud I would choose to take it through the mechanical car wash to get some of the hard to remove stuff off and imbed it into the brushes for the next person to have that debris whipped down the side of their car or truck and I hope they wouldn’t have a paint job they care about or they may be in for a surprise.

When a car or truck comes out of a mechanical car wash tunnel often it looks good enough because it’s still mostly wet and the soaps used seem to add a nice shine, but I am almost convinced the soap these high volume mechanical car washes use is designed to attract all kinds of road debris to cause your vehicle to start looking dirty again on the exterior in a week or so of regular use. These soaps look very foamy and have all kinds of cool colors, but in actually making your paint look good and remain protected is another story entirely. On some black vehicles especially it’s amazing how cloudy the finish can look after extended exposure to automatic mechanical car washes.

These debris and dirty high speed brushes will also cause scratching and swirling that you can really see on darker vehicles once you wax them. To avoid the need for a paint correction service it is advised that your regularly wash your vehicle with a proper car wash and wax shampoo such as Meguiar’s Gold Class.

What if my car or truck has already been damaged by an automatic mechanical car wash?


You might think that a paint job damaged by a mechanical car wash cannot be remedied, but that is exactly what paint correction is intended to do. Tallahassee Auto Detailing specializes in full service vehicle detailing and polishing. We offer professional paint correction services which help remedy faded, swirled or oxidized paint. Paint correction is the process of professional removing damaged clear coat and enhancing the existing material underneath. There is only so much paint correcting you can do before you start to burn through the clear coat and paint so it’s advised that you seal any corrected paint and clear coat finishes with either a ceramic coating or a regular waxing schedule.

Why you should have some form of paint protection on the finish of your car

The final step in retailing many high end vehicles is to have it professionally detailed with some sort of paint protection applied to the finish to give it that true show room shine and protection, but soon after rolling off the showroom floor it’s the new owners responsibility to keep up with not only the mechanics, but also the detailing and paint protection.

Vehicles that are routinely driven are exposed to various different elements and paint protection from a quality wax, sealant or ceramic coating not only works to enhance the shine, but also provides important protection from the sun baking containment’s into the clear coat and paint. Tree sap that has been baked into the paint over an extended period of time can be nearly impossible to remove with signs of it being their before, but with a paint protection barrier from a quality wax or coating the removal of these containment’s will be much easier and much less likely to show damage.

America is great in having retail stores packed with thousands of different products, many of which are used to accomplish a similar end goal. Paint protection for you car is no different and it’s sometimes hard to understand what you should have a car detailer apply or what you should pick up in the car care section of your local big box store, auto parts store or online storefront. Here are few popular forms of paint protection for your car, truck, van, suv, RV, boat or motorcycle.

What is a spray wax?

There are many types of spray waxes, quick detailers or hybrid ceramic spray waxed for your car or truck. These products can be quite easy to use and add a nice final shine to a professional car wash, but they don’t stand up very well to the elements such as rain storms, in fact a good rain storm can wash these way off the flat surfaces especially. Although if you are willing to regularly wash and reapply these products it might be a good choice for you.

What is a paste wax?

Paste waxes are probably the classic thing you imagine when you think car wax. Turtle wax grew a huge car care brand starting with their hard shell paste wax for your car or truck. Paste waxes are harder to apply uniformly and the amount of protection they provide in our opinion does not stand up to a premium enthusiast grade cream wax, paint sealant or ceramic coating. \

What is a cream wax?

Quality automotive cream waxes such as an ivory carnauba wax are specialty car waxes often sold in online store fronts or in parts of the country that have car care specialty stores to serve the car care enthusiast or professional auto detailing community. These waxes tend to provide a shine that is comparable to a professional ceramic coating, but their durability may not be up to the standards of a automotive paint sealant or ceramic coating. 

What is a paint sealant?

Paint sealants provide probably the most affordable paint protection, but they do not provide the shine of a ceramic coating or cream wax. These might be a good choice if your only concern is affordable automotive paint protection. 

What is a ceramic coating?

A ceramic coating for your car, truck, rv or boat is a glass based product that bonds to the existing clear coat to provide a barrier that if properly cared for can last for many years. 

Car Interior Mold/Mildew Removal & Professional Cleaning

Car interiors are the areas we all seem to be most concerned about because these are the surfaces we actually touch or come in close contact with as we operate or travel in our vehicles. Interior detailing also is something that there doesn’t seem to be a feasible automated solution for profession interior car cleaning and the options at the local full service car wash may not measure up to the standards desired. Leaving the options of either doing it yourself with a few tools and cleaners or setting up a regular car detailing schedule with a professional mobile car detailing service like Tallahassee Auto Detailing.

Tallahassee Auto Detailing specializes in full service detailing and vehicle reconditioning for your car, truck, suv, van, boat or airplane. We are able to turn dealership trade in vehicles into cars and trucks ready to be advertised to the public as decent preowned vehicles. We have helped a few clients cleanup and recondition vehicles that they have had in storage for many years.

In addition to restoring damaged or oxidized paint from the extended use of mechanical car washes we also specialize in thorough interior detailing. One common request for vehicles that have been in storage for an extended period of time is mold and mildew removal. Mold and mildew grows in damp areas and naturally seems to form quite quickly if there is any moisture left in your interior and the vehicle is left to sit for an extended period of time with no new or different air circulating around. This mold and mildew can be very toxic so it’s recommended that you don’t take any chances if you attempt to clean up your interior yourself. Tallahassee Auto Detailing recommends that you use a full face respirator with the appropriate filters along with some gloves.

To clean mold and mildew out of your vehicles interior you will not only want to remove the existing signs. You will also want to kill the mold without damaging the fabrics and other materials in your vehicles interior. Automotive detailers have specialized cleaners, but a good alternative is regular pure white vinegar which quite literally feeds the mold to death.

The first step you want to do after you have all your safety gear in place is to also gather together your tools, an assortment of brushes and towels, pure white vinegar, disinfectant, vacuum, a new cabin air filter and some small screw drivers. Optional items that Tallahassee Auto Detailing brings along for any professional interior mold/mildew removal cleaning jobs is a carpet extractor, power-brush scrubber and steam cleaner.

To start you will want to put on your safety gear and open up the vehicle to let air flow, vacuum out all of the loose debris and possibly address any other stains you might want to remove with either a protein cleaner or general car interior cleaner. Once you have all of the loose debris removed it may be a good idea to remove anything easily removed like the floor mats or easy to collapsible second and third row seating.

Now you will want to apply your mold/mildew cleaner/killer which a common household product to use is pure white vinegar which has a smell that should go away within a couple of days. Apply the cleaner and then grab a decent brush to use work the cleaner into the fibers of the material. Then use a cloth to wipe away. Once this is done you may want to apply a disinfectant such as a Lysol spray or similar. This may be the extent of what individuals may do to clean up the interior of their cars with a need for mold and mildew removal as a do it yourself project, but a professional auto detailer should take it a couple steps further with specialized interior automotive detailing equipment.

If Tallahassee Auto Detailing were performing the job we would use a power brush to try and get the cleaner or mold killer to go further down into the the fibers of the fabrics in carpets, floor/heel mats and cloth seats. We would also follow up this step with a full carpet shampoo and chemical extraction. This will help to also remove many other stains and other general grime that may have accumulated after many years of use. The carpet extractor tool is what auto detailers and car dealerships will use to get those lines in the carpets. After the interior has been thoroughly decontaminated and all the carpets have been professionally cleaned and extracted we would then proceed on to steam cleaning all carpets and fibers which will kill better then 99% of all germs and bacteria.

The final step would be to replace the cabin air filter and remove any wet leaves from the cowl air conditioning systems air intake and address any other problems that may be allowing moisture into the cabin/interior of your vehicle.

We also stock a full line of interior vehicle fabric refreshers and scents if you like and can dress all plastics and other harder surfaces with protectants if you do choose. Our mold/mildew removal service also comes with a complimentary exterior wash.

If you are in need of a professional mobile car detailing service in the Tallahassee FL area to remove mold or mildew from the interior of your vehicle or need other automotive detailing/reconditioning services please don’t hesitate to give Tallahassee Auto Detailing a call or request an appointment online.

Wheel Rim Polishing Tallahassee FL

 We all tend to want to personalize our vehicles once we get them as it’s only when you buy a new car that you really start to notice just how many other people also have or drive a vehicle of the same make and model. A top aftermarket change or modification people like to have done shortly after purchasing a new car is to have some aftermarket rims installed. These rims and factory wheel rims are exposed to increased heat and debris not only from the road way, but also hot automatic braking systems which release fine particles of metal and other shavings and dust from the brake pads and rotors. This brake dust can really ruin the appearance of your vehicles and certain vehicles such as the Aston Martins from about fifteen years ago are notorious of putting out so much brake dust to coat your wheel rims even with relatively conservative driving and not so much extensive braking.

On of the leading areas in which car washes overlook is the wheel rims. You can run your car through a car wash many times and destroy your clear coat in the process and still have dirty wheel rims as the brushes are only able to access a little bit of the brake dust maybe from the face of the wheel rims. This causes wheel rims to come out of the car wash still dirty. A simple walk around your local car rental agency will show you what simple automatic car washes are able to achieve. This lack of thorough cleaning means that your wheel rims stay coated in brake dust and other containment which over time really do bake into or onto your wheel rims causing them to be much harder to clean. 

A professional auto detailing service may be required to remove most of this baked on brake dust, but if left on there for too long it can cause lasting damage to the clear coat and other final layer or surface if the rims causing you to need to have the wheel rims restored with either a complete polishing and or repaint.

Tallahassee Auto Detailing recommends that you have your vehicle properly washed on a regular car wash schedule to ensure that you don’t end up with problems that require higher priced restoration services. In many cases a specialized professional wheel cleaner from a detailer recommend brand like SONAX when properly used should be able to lift these containment’s the surface where a pressure washer should be able to remove a majority of the contamination leaving your vehicles wheel rims looking much better.

Another alternative especially for solid metal wheel rims such as chrome or aluminum wheel rims is to polish the rims to remove any layers of oxidation and other contaminants that prevent your cars overall appearance from looking as good as it could. Finally damaged wheel rims may require you to repaint them in which case you will want to remove the wheel rims and prep them just like you would if your were polishing them, but then you will mask off everything properly and install a coat of primer and paint to match the original appearance or a color of your choosing.

There are many benefits of choosing to hand wash or detail your vehicle and one area to not overlook is the wheel rims. Tallahassee Auto Detailing can provide you with a car detailing schedule that wheel keep your car along with it wheels and tires looking good for many years to come along with specialty restoration services for your cars paint and clear coat, interior or wheel rims.