Exterior Detail
How We Actually Do It
Wheels first, pre-rinse, two foam passes, contact wash with two mitts, inspect, dry, seal. That's the sequence. Here's what's actually happening at each step.
The Duo Exterior Process
Two detailers running in parallel. The split isn't arbitrary — it's designed so nothing is waiting on anything else. Here's what each person is doing at every stage.
Wheels — Both Detailers
We start with wheels on every job because they're the dirtiest part. If you wash paint first and then do wheels, you're splashing brake dust and wheel cleaner back onto clean paint. So wheels first, always.
Spray iron remover on all 4 wheels, then wipe down the faces of each wheel with a microfiber while the chemical dwells.
Go in behind with the barrel brush on each wheel — get inside the barrel where the brake dust collects.
Pre-Rinse the Car
While the last wheel is being finished, one detailer starts the pre-rinse from the roof down. This isn't a wash — you're just pushing loose dirt, bird droppings, and road film off the paint before any soap touches it. Top to bottom, roof to rocker panels.
Pre-Wash — Snow Foam
Load the foam cannon with snow foam and cover the entire vehicle. Start from the bottom up so the foam stays on the paint longer where the most dirt is. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Walk away. Let the surfactants do the work.
Contact Wash — Both Mitts
Foam the vehicle down again with the cannon before contact wash — yes, a second time. Then both detailers grab a wash mitt. Work panel by panel, top to bottom. Two buckets: one with car shampoo, one clean rinse bucket. Mitt goes into the rinse bucket before every reload so you're not washing the car with progressively dirtier water.
Roof, hood, windshield, driver side — top panels first.
Trunk lid, passenger side, lower rocker panels — meet in the middle.
Final Rinse + Inspection
Full pressure rinse, roof to ground. Then both detailers walk the vehicle together — check for soap residue in door jambs, around emblems, missed spots on lower panels, any water beading poorly that might mean the paint needs more attention.
Dry + Protect
Start with compressed air or a leaf blower on mirrors, door jambs, between panels, around the windshield trim, and the fuel door — anywhere water hides. Then a 1600GSM drying towel on the paint. Once dry, apply spray sealant panel by panel — works best on a slightly damp surface right after a rinse.
Solo Exterior Process
Same process, same order, same products. One person doing everything sequentially. Wheels → pre-rinse → foam × 2 → contact wash → rinse → dry → seal. Budget about an hour for most vehicles.
What's the Same
Every step runs in the same order. You don't skip anything — you just do it yourself instead of splitting. The two foam passes, two-bucket wash, and inspection at the end all stay in the sequence.
What Takes Longer
The wheel phase is the biggest time difference. In a duo, one person is already pre-rinsing the car while the other finishes the last wheel. Solo you do wheels, fully finish, then move to pre-rinse. That alone adds 10–15 minutes.
What Gets Added On Top
These aren't part of a standard exterior detail — they go on after the contact wash when the paint is clean.
Iron Decontamination
Spray iron remover on clean, wet paint. Watch it turn purple as it reacts with embedded iron particles from brake dust. Rinse after 2–3 min. This is what makes paint feel smooth to the touch instead of gritty.
Clay Bar
Iron remover handles chemical contamination. Clay handles mechanical — overspray, rail dust, anything embedded in the clear coat that iron remover can't dissolve. Always in this order: chemical decon, then clay.
Paint Correction
Swirl marks, scratches, and oxidation require machine polishing — that's a full paint correction job, not something we tack onto an exterior detail. If your paint needs correction, request a quote for that separately.
Tools We Use
Every product used on your exterior, linked to where we buy it on our gear page.