Paintwork Decontamination – A Professional Outlook

We get a lot of customers that are concerned about their paint feeling rough, or texture very similar to a sandpaper. This usually happens with a combination of a car that hasn’t been detailed for a long period of time and also lacking of any form of paint protection. It happens when a vehicle is being driven and being exposed to the harsh environment, dirt, road grime and also iron particles such as brake dust from not only your car but from other vehicles on the road too. Hence why paint protection (in any form) is important. You can refer to our blog post earlier: Should I consider paint protection for my car?

Over time, these contaminants gets bonded to your paint and hence why your paint will feel rough or sandpaper like and usually a normal routine car wash will not be able to remove these contaminants.

Decontamination is part of our 21-Stage Wash because they are vital to good results. Every car and contaminants level is different from car to car and how often the owner decides to wash and wax it or get it detailed properly. We usually check how bad they are by feeling the paintwork with our bare hands and with a plastic bag to ‘magnify’ the feel of the paintwork.

Different levels of contaminants decides which method we shall use – ranging from fine grade to heavy grade. And if its mild like a brand new car, we usually use chemical decontamination and very fine grade if necessary. We do not advice to use a higher grade if its not necessary.

Types of Chemical Decontamination

• Iron Fallout remover such as CarPro’s Iron X to remove iron fallout particles, also known as ferrous.
• Tar and Adhesive remover such as CarPro’s Tar X to remove stubborn bug and tar spots from heavy country driving such as bug splatter, tree sap etc on the windshield, mirrors and front bar.Both of them works really well and if the car’s contaminant is mild, usually a clay bar is not needed.

Physical Decontamination

• Clay Bar – Traditional method of removing bonded contaminants, ranging from fine grade to heavy, depends on how much the paintwork needs. Sometimes a medium grade won’t be able to remove contaminants completely.
• Clay mitt/towel/cloth – A revolutionary product that would able to remove contaminants in half of the time compared to traditional clay bars, we usually use a clay mitt/towel/cloth if a car is going through an intensive paint correction because if usually the clay mitt/towel/cloth is close to medium to heavy grade and they usually causes paintwork marring, especially on softer paints.

How can I stop contaminants or prevent them?

As bad as contaminants sounds, they are very normal but there are ways to prevent them from building up on your precious car’s paintwork.

Low cost solution: By regularly wash and waxing your car would be able to reduce contaminants from building up your car over time, and also make sure to check regularly for contaminants and use a clay bar treatment if necessary and these products are usually available widely at local auto store

Medium cost solution: Bringing to a reputable detailer on a fortnightly or monthly basis for a maintenance detail. A good reputable detailer knows if your car needs a light or heavy decontamination and they usually have high quality waxes or sealants in their arsenal. We do have maintenance detail packages for your car care needs. Be sure to get in touch with us if you need to get your car detailed regularly.

Medium to High Cost Solution: Permanent Paint Protection Coating, also known as ceramic/glass/quartz/nano coatings. A good coating does provide a long term protection permanent protection that doesn’t wear off while washing, self-cleaning effects from their very hydrophobic nature and also its inability for particles to adhere to the surface, hence a extremely low chance of getting contaminants build up on your car’s paintwork. If a coated car is regularly maintained properly, not only your car will look as good as it just has been detailed from Day 1, also your car will be contaminant free at all times! We offer permanent paint protection coatings for both brand new and used car.

Feel free to contact us for any detailing questions or enquiries.