Exterior car detailing, at your home in Connecticut
$145
+$75 for 3-row SUVs, vans, dually pickups, and luxury or exotic vehicles. All prices exclude tax. Tax is collected at the time of payment.
An exterior detail is a hand wash, a decontamination, and a layer of protection — not a rinse and a dry.
It starts with a two-bucket hand wash so grit gets carried away from the paint instead of dragged across it. Wheels, tyres, wheel arches and door jambs are done separately, because that is where brake dust and road film actually live.
Then a clay bar. This is the step most places skip. It pulls the bonded contamination out of the clear coat — brake dust, industrial fallout, tree sap, the rough texture you can feel through a plastic bag but cannot see. Paint that has been clayed feels like glass, and any sealant put on afterwards actually bonds.
We finish with a sealant that holds around six months, dress the tyres, and flush the underside. If you drive I-84 or Route 8 through a Connecticut winter, that last part matters more than the shine.
What's included
- Two-bucket hand wash, wheels and tyres
- Clay bar paint decontamination
- Six-month paint sealant and tyre dressing
- Door jambs, glass and wheel wells
Questions about exterior only
What does a clay bar actually do?
It removes contamination bonded into the clear coat that washing cannot shift. Run your hand over your bonnet through a sandwich bag — if it feels gritty, that is what comes off. Skipping it means any wax or sealant goes on top of the grit instead of the paint.
Is a sealant the same as a ceramic coating?
No, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something. A sealant is a sacrificial layer lasting around six months and it is included here. A ceramic coating is a semi-permanent bonded layer measured in years, needs proper paint prep first, and starts at $899 as its own service.
Can you get road salt off the undercarriage?
Yes, and Connecticut DOT recommends washing it off after storms for exactly the reason you think. Our exterior detail flushes the underside. If the build-up is heavy after a hard winter, a dedicated undercarriage decontamination is $79.
Will this remove scratches or swirl marks?
No — that is paint correction, which is machine polishing and a different job. An exterior detail cleans and protects; it makes paint look its best but it does not remove defects. If your paint looks hazy or you can see fine circular marks in sunlight, you want paint enhancement from $449.
Do you wash the car in direct sun?
We work around it. Washing hot panels in full sun leaves water spots and can flash-dry product onto the paint. On a hot day we work panel by panel in the shade, or shift the car — it is the sort of thing that separates a detail from a rushed wash.
Notes on exterior only
What we have written about this work, from jobs across Connecticut.
- Acorns, walnut husks, and the autumn damage nobody expectsTwo separate problems fall out of the same trees. One is impact damage and one is a dye strong enough that it was historically used as one.
- Parking under the orchards, and what fallen fruit does to paintThe orchard roads off Matson Hill are beautiful and hard on a car in September. Fruit is acidic, and acid on hot paint is a clock.
- Morning dew, river fog, and the rings left on your paintCars parked near the river collect dew almost every night for months. What that leaves behind, and why sprinkler spots are worse still.
- Launching at Harbor Park, and what the river leaves behindTow vehicles take a specific kind of contamination that ordinary road cars never see, in places ordinary washing never reaches.
- Cloudy headlights, and how much light you are actually losingUnlit roads out toward Durham and Middlefield make this obvious. What causes the yellowing, why polish alone fails, and when it is worth doing.
- Stone chips on Route 9, and why they matter more hereFast roads and bridge approaches throw stone at the front of a car. What a chip actually exposes, and the difference between one you can ignore and one you cannot.
We don't leave until you're happy
Walk around the car with us before we go. Anything you're not happy with, we put right there and then — no questions asked.