Hear what KC Detailing’s owner, Tim Dodd, and the crew at KC Detailing have to say about the fastest growing Kansas City auto detailing company.

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Checkout our two year coating!!!

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The El Camino is one of those odd cars that can’t decide whether it is a car or a truck. Sure there was the Subaru Baja that sported a type of truck bed but no one would ever mistake that little hooptie for a truck. The El Camino on the other hand, is… well… American. It has a V8. It drives as loose and bumpy as a truck. It sucks down the gas like a truck. And, to top it off, it has a truck bed! When it comes to cars that suffer from identity crisis, the El Camino stands out as the king of it’s kind.

Beyond being in a perpetual state of identity crisis, this particular El Camino was looking dull and swirled up. In fact, the paint was so bad that this Kansas City auto detailing client was pondering a repaint. Before he was to send the poor misguided car off to the paint booth, he figured he would give our detailers a shot at restoring the paint. As you will see below, the KC Detailing crew did an amazing job.

The reflection after the detailing was completed on this car was amazing!

Nice little reflection picture down the side of the car.

All finished. The Camino was looking pretty good. Even with all of it’s identity issues, this Camino was walking with it’s head high after our crew worked their magic. The finished product was amazing.

Often times people don’t realize that paint that is swirled, scratched and dull can be repaired without repainting. However, damaged paint takes the touch of a high-end detailer. A lot of “wheel the car over real quick like” type detailers will actually burn through and swirl up these types of paint jobs. Our team makes it a top priority to use the least sever means to yield the greatest results possible. What good is a shiny paint job if it is swirled and burned?

Make sure to enter the conversation by commenting below, sharing/liking this write-up on Facebook or tweeting it on Twitter.

Also, check out some of the other classic cars that we have detailed. Kansas City car detailing projects.

The post Identity Crisis Auto Detailing appeared first on KC Detailing.

As you saw in our last blog post, we received a call from a customer that had a rather large car collection. With her 1939 custom Studebaker all detailed and ready to go, she wanted us to detail here Impala for the auctions. Another morning we were eager to start. A full detail with a one pass polish, this was to be a really fun day.

After washing the car outside, we pulled it back into the shop because the rain decided to, well… rain on our parade. Or, in this case, rain on our auto detailing.

After the auto detailing and a nice one pass polish, the Impala was looking great!

I believe that they have over 70 cars total. However, the one below is in need of a lot more work before our detailing crew will be able to get to it.

Impala done and ready for auction.

The owner of this car was able to sell it at the auction at the price she was wanting to get. A big thanks to the detailers for doing another stellar job.

Make sure to enter the conversation by commenting below, sharing this blog on Facebook or tweeting it on Twitter!

Check out the other auto detailing project that we did on this customers 1939 Studebaker.

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A call came in on the KC Detailing red phone. It was an owner of a large car collection. She told us that she had a few cars that were to be up for auction and needed them detailed. One of the cars was a 1939 Custom Studebaker. And boy was it custom. Shaved everything, smoothed bed, suicide doors, amazing engine bay, beautiful interior, slamed to the ground and a $30,000 custom paint job. After seeing some of the Ferraris and Lamborghinis on our website that we’ve detailed here at KC Detailing, she was comforted that we would be up to the auto detailing job. We were eager to get to work this particular day. And for good reason. As you can see just below, it was a really cool car.

A hand detail on the engine was extremely rewarding. It was now time to get the outside washed up.

With the Studebaker all washed up and ready to go, it was time for the real auto detailing to start. That is right, it was time to pull out the polisher.

With the car all polished and waxed, the auto detailing project on this car was finished. Here are some sweet pics of the results.

This was one of our favorite auto detailing projects. It is unbelievable some of the cool car detailing projects we get out here in Kansas City.

Make sure to enter into the conversation, like or share this post.

Also, if you are in need of Kansas City car detailing, get in touch with us!

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A call came into the KC Detailing headquarters. The assignment was a 1991 Ferrari 348. The customer was wanting his daily driven Ferrari to be detailed and polished. We set up the appointment.

Once we arrived we noticed a lot of dullness, swirls and damage from a former detailer. This prancing horse was in major need of a compound and polish. We ended up locking him in on a Standard Detail with a Hybrid swirl and scratch removal. A very cold day but it was just warm enough to keep the water from freezing.

The auto detailing started with a good hand washing.

Time to detail the rims. They had a ton of brake dust on them.

The Ferrari getting a nice cleaning.

High-end auto detailing is all about attention to details. Removing the plate on the car takes a couple minutes but allows the car detailer to get to all of the rear bumper with ease.

Though we compounded the whole car with a PC, we did our finishing polish with a rotary at 1000-1200 rpm. Any auto detailing company that throws their polishers on at 2500-5000rpm so they can “wheel over the car” really quick is going to damage your car and leave swirls all over it. This Ferrari was a great example of someone “wheeling over the car” really quick. A lot of the edges were burned past the red paint into the primer, the trim had buffer swirls and the paint was dangerously thin in some areas. There is no way around taking your time and detailing a car the right way.

The Ferrari was looking amazing by the time we were finished the with detailing project.

Looking great!

This was a really fun auto detailing project. Cool thing about this Ferrari is that is sees 15,000 miles a year. The owner likes to enjoy it. Now, he has a nicer newer one that he drives a whole lot less. You always have to respect someone who not only owns a Ferrari, or two in this case, but actually drives them on a regular basis.

If you owned a few Ferraris would you drive at least one of them on a regular basis or would you keep them locked in the garage to only pull out on special days? Make sure to enter the conversation by commenting below!

Check out our auto detailing prices and service!

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We get a lot of calls to detail Acuras, BMWs, Mercedes, and even exotics like Ferraris and Lamborghinis but this is the first time we have been called upon to detail one of these cars. This is a Plymouth Road Runner Super Bird and yes that rear wing is factory. You see, making your car look like a shopping cart started long before 10 foot wings were being installed on the trunks of Honda Civics. Let’s take a journey through the driveway and see what is in back.

The detailing crew hard at work getting this truck all cleaned up.

The truck was nice but the surprise is back even further.

Here it is. That rare Plymouth Super Bird. This was the first time our auto detailing team had been called upon to clean and detail one of these things. The whole crew did an amazing job.

The whole auto detailing project turned out great. He was very happy and so was his bird.

I wonder… do you think that the wing on back helps with high-speed handling performance?

Make sure to enter the conversation and share your thoughts on this project by commenting below.

The KC Detailing crew really knows what they are doing. If you are in need of auto detailing in Kansas City or any surrounding areas let us know!

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We got a call from a gentleman who owns two Thunderbirds. He wanted us to detail the engine to see how well it would clean up. If it couldn’t get clean enough, he was going to pull the engine and redo the whole bay. He figured he would give auto detailing a chance first though. I told him to stop by our Overland Park auto detailing shop and we could take a look. Here it is being guarded by a couple of the KC Detailing vans.

It didn’t look to bad so we were pretty confident that the results would be beyond satisfactory. Our detailers got right to work detailing this car.

The results were amazing. The KC Detailing crew did great.

The client was beyond satisfied. He wasn’t expecting our detailing team to be able to get his car looking as good as we did.

Another great job on another classic. The customer was extremely happy. Take care of your customers and they will take care of you.

This is his regular driver. His other Thunderbird lives in a garage and is brought to car shows on a trailer. It was a really fun car to drive. Sure I only got to drive it from the front of our shop to the back but it was fun none the less. Very low to the ground.

Would you drive a car like this around the streets or would you lock it up in a garage only to bring out once or twice a year?

Want to get your car detailed? Check out our auto detailing prices and services.

The post Thunderbird Detailing appeared first on KC Detailing.

Do you remember the old Hummer? You know, the one that was used in wars. The Hummer that they made toys of that were cool and could blow up your other toys. It could conquer the desert, mountain or forest terrains. It could take up two lanes on the high-way. Requirements for driving one included chest hair, a knife strapped either on your leg or your hip, army boots and a good old arrogant patriotic get-er-done attitude. But things started to change. Some people wanted to drive them because they looked tuff. Some people needed a winter car to compliment their summer Ferrari. That’s when the H1 moved into the neighborhood.

As a Kansas City auto detailing company, we get to see our far share of vehicles. Fords to Ferraris we say. Today I want to talk about the devolution of the hummer.

Once made for the rugid man, it is now purchased to make a man feel rugid. Now I’m not saying that is a bad thing. I would personally love to drive one around. It just is what it is.

But then another thing happened. As the H1 became popular for the common man, the common man wanted to make the Hummer, well, suburban. That’s when a new Hummer moved into the neighborhood. In fact, the first new design for the populace was made with Chevy Suburban suspension components. But, it didn’t end there. The Hummer was stripped down to an even lighter chasis with the introduction of the H3. The car basically sits on the same frame as the GM Colorado pick-up frame. Below you can see that it is definitely the baby sister of the H1 at best.

The H3 is to the H1 what the classic VW Bug is to the Porsche. It shares a few similarities but it is a different animal all together. But, don’t think I’m bashing it at all. In fact, I would cruise one around without having to put on a mask to hide my face. They actually look pretty cool. And, if you have a good looking BMW M6 for it to hang out with in your front driveway, it really does turn heads.

Definitely cool but not the same. Like apples and oranges.

What do you think. Would you rather cruise the H1 or the H3? Do you think the H2 and H3 are worthy to sport the name Hummer?

Make sure to enter the conversation and share your thoughts by commenting below.

Also, let us know if you are in need of any mobile car detailing in Kansas City.

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The KC Detailing team has been getting a lot of business from the Porsche Club of Kansas City. Word got around to Karl of RennsportKC. RennsportKC is hands down the best mechanic shop in all of Kansas City to bring your Porsche to. Any thing from classics to 2050 models, RennsportKC is the place to bring your Porsche.

Karl is the one in the Orange.

Karl gave us a call a couple months back to have us detail a Porsche that he had been working on for one of his clients. This car was in major need of a detail, exfoliation, compound, polish and wax. The paint was bad, really bad. The car had been stored outdoors for several years. It is hard to tell how much of a transformation was had by just looking at the pictures but it was massive. The paint near felt like rubbing your hand across sandpaper before the exfoliation process.

This only gives a dim picture of how swirled and dulled up the Porsche was:

We taped off a panel to do a 50/50 test. The top half of the picture shows the damage before buffing. The bottom half is an example of a one pass compound job.

As you can see, one pass with a compound made a massive difference. We could have gone 100% but the owner wasn’t wanting to pay for us to do a 20 hour auto detailing project on the car. He did have us perform a little automotive paint touch up because the car had some primer deep chips and scratches in a few areas. The color match on the car was perfect.

Here is a 50/50 pic. The whole car looked dulled, faded and swirled. One pass compound followed up by a polish brought the life back.

After testing  several pads, compounds and polishes, we found some pretty good combos. Just a note, a good auto detailer knows how to adjust to each and every detailing situation. Not every car’s paint will react the same. In fact, temperature,  humidity and other factors can change what combinations will be successful. With the right combo in hand, the KC Detailing team got to buffing the car.

Even though the goal of this auto detailing project was not 100% perfection, the crew easily got a 90%. The car had been repainted in multiple areas and the swirls and scratches in some areas were dangerously deep so we had to be careful. One of the major differences between a mediocre car detailing company and a great one is having a value of preserving the integrity of the paint. Get the best results possible with the least severe means necessary.

Wheels were pretty damaged but the whole project turned out great for a daily driver.

Karl and the Porsche owner were very happy with the results and have since been mentioning the KC Detailing name. Our crew gets a lot of calls from Porsche owners in KC.

Big thanks to RennsportKC. Thanks for the referrals guys. Keep up the good work!

Make sure to get ahold of RennsportKC for all of your Porsche needs. Karl offers a pre-purchase inspection service for Porsches. He will even hop on an airplane for the right price and inspect an out of state Porsche for you before you buy it. Porsches are known to be reliable cars. However, there are a few things, such as bad compression, that can cost a fortune to fix.

Enter the conversation and post any comments that you have.  We would love your input.

Make sure to get in touch if you are in need of auto detailing prices or have any questions at all.

The post Porsche Detail at ReensportKC appeared first on KC Detailing.

This Honda Ridgeline got covered in stucco overspray. The owner quickly brought it to the wash so it would not dry on the car itself. He knew that the car would get swirled but calling a detailer to fix the swirls is cheaper than having them do a full on stucco overspray removal auto detailing. This is what the damage looked like:

The detailing crew got the car washed and exfoliated. It was time to compound and polish. As you are about to see, the KC Detailing crew rose to this swirl challenge. After finding the perfect pads, compound and polish, the results were stunning. He wasn’t wanting to pay for perfection but I guarantee that this paint looks better than when it rolled out of the car dealership.

Look at the hood reflection. This car looked better after we were done detailing it than when it was new. The gloss was amazing. Just look at it!

All done

Even though it is a bummer that this auto detailing client swirled up his car, the end result is that he has one of the best looking Honda Ridgeline paint jobs in the region! Worked out well in the end. He was extremely happy with the results.

Let me make a quick comment. KC Detailing removes swirls. We don’t do what the other 99.9% of auto detailing shops do and use compound wax that temporarily hides swirls. What you see when we are done is what you get. And believe me, you get A LOT from our team.

What would you have done if you got a bunch of stucco overspray? Would you have taken the car to the auto wash or just let it dry on there and fix it later?

If you enjoyed this write-up, you will probably like this auto detailing project we did on a Porsche 911. Really cool. Also, if you are in need of any of our Kansas City auto detailing or swirl and scratch removal services, get ahold of us.

The post Stucco Induced Swirls – Honda Ridgeline appeared first on KC Detailing.

No matter how hard we all try, our cars get nasty rock chips from time to time. What do you do with them though? There are three options that you have to choose from.

1. You can just let it be. Like the song. Well I’m not sure if that is even a song reference but it sure sounds like it. Some people don’t mind having the rock chips on their hood. Be careful though. If you don’t seal up the chips on your car there is a high risk that rust will start to form and then your paint will start to flake off.
2. You can have the auto body shop repaint your car for $500+ a panel. If you want it perfect, this may be the way to go. But, body shops rarely pull off a job that you are 100% satisfied with. I’ve only seen a satisfactory job a few times in my life. Plus your looking at $500 or more per panel.
3. You can have a professional fill in your chips using a rock chip paint touch up system. Whether you have deep scratches, hundreds of micro chips or you just have 10 chips you want fixed, paint touch up might be for you. Paint touch up normally runs a minimum of $50 and maxes out at $200. And that is for the whole car.

There was three chips but now there is only two.

This looks a lot easier than it is but once you get a steady and guided hand, the results are great.

Looking very good! It is hard to see in the picture but there is a little texture difference. A whole lot less than when people use a brush and glob it onto the car.

The owner of this car had probably about 30 little chips like these all round her car. For $100 we filled them all in. Now that is a great bang for your buck.

Now let’s talk color matching. Buying a “color matched” paint bottle at the car parts store or the auto dealership rarely matches your paint. There are a lot of reason for it not matching but I’ll just say that even though it is the same car with the same paint code you rarely get the same exact color of paint. It is important to use a color matching system so you are matching the touch up color to the actual car color.

Here we have one of the detailers fixing a few chips for one of the Kansas City Porsche Club guys. It was a really hard color match but turned out near perfect.

And one last. Isaac rocking the flamed out Ford Lightening!

What would you go with? Do you think it is worth it to pay the body shop the $500+ per panel or would you rather spend $100 for your whole car?

If you would prefer touch-up, go ahead and check out our rock chip automotive paint touch up page.

Either way though. Jump into the discusion by posting your comments!!!

The post 3 Ways To Deal With Automotive Rock Paint Chips appeared first on KC Detailing.

While it is true that flat black and carbon fiber wraps can look really cool, it is also true that car wraps, especially the textured carbon fiber ones like on this Bentley, scratch and scuff very easily. Some people love the Batman type look on their cars. Looks cool and stealthy. If not properly taken care of though, flat black can make a car take a turn for the worse. Proper washing and drying is an absolute must.

Make sure to use a good care soap and hand wash it well. After that, make sure that you only use an auto detailing specific microfiber drying towel to dry the car.

As long as you know what you are doing and are very careful, flat black is a cool color to have on your car. This Bentley definitely turns heads everywhere it goes. I mean, look at it!

The interior is pretty amazing on this Bentley as well but that is another post for another day.

What do you think about going flat black with a car? Enter the conversation and leave a comment.

Also hit us up if you are in need of fixed-based or mobile car detailing in Kansas City.

The post Flat Black Bentley – Be Very Very Careful appeared first on KC Detailing.

I know, I know. Old news right? Well… kinda… but it’s cool old news! Plus, as the year ends this was a cool little event that stuck out in my mind to recap. Hope that you enjoy! And remember, join in the conversation by leaving your comments at the end of the blog.

75 trucks to wash, 300 tires to shine, 450 windows to clean, 4 detailers and only 6 hours to get it all done. That’s right, KC Detailing was chosen to wash the 75 trucks that the players rode in for the MLB All Star Game Parade. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work. Man were we moving fast!

Let’s take a look at what we are working with.

Van ready to go!

The crew working hard!!!

That is a lot of tires to shine.

Clean, locked, loaded and ready to go!!!

Looking good

That was a blast. We all booked it and made those things shine. Half way through washing all of the trucks they had a bomb threat so we had to stop for about 15 minutes. Still got them done in time. However, there was only about 10 minutes to spare. Cut that one close!

Did you make it to the parade? If so, your probably noticed how amazing all of the trucks looked!

If you are in need of a mobile car wash in Kansas City, shoot us a call!

The post KC Detailing Cleans Trucks For 2012 MLB All Star Game Parade appeared first on KC Detailing.

Detailing custom wheels is easier said than done. The coatings easily stain, the paint easily flakes, the details can take a ridicules amount of time and so on. After you’ve detailed a set of custom 3-piece rims, any factory car wheel, no matter how dirty, is a cake walk. So what are our 4 Keys To Detailing Custom Car Wheels you ask?

• 1. The Proper Chemical: use a wheel cleaner that is safe. No acid-based wheel cleaners, no harsh degreasers or pretty much any other wheel cleaner you will get at the local store. You always want to use the least severe means because custom car wheels will often stain or bleach very easily.

• 2. The Proper Tools: make sure you are using very soft car detailing brushes. For some reason most custom rims, even the most expensive aftermarket wheels, easily scratch, chip and flake. Make sure your detailing brushes aren’t scratching the coating.

• 3. The Proper Technique: make sure you are gentle. As mentioned above, aftermarket rims just don’t have the quality build that factor car rims do. Be gentle.

• 4. The Proper Patience: as you can see below, these custom pieces of aluminium that are strapped onto the four corners of your car are extremely detailed. They can take forever to get all of the little nuts and bolts. Being patient is absolutely essential when it comes to detailing custom car wheels.

Auto detailing all finished. Great Looking car!

Now that we’ve discussed the 4 Keys, let’s look at a few cool pictures of some of the custom wheels our team has had the pleasure to get our hands on.

Red rims on a Red 458?

Love the way that these two look:

Orange Escalade? It was custom painted to match his orange Lamborghini. Definitely turns heads

A little Hummer H1 action. What do you think about black wheels on this?

A couple custom trucks that we’ve detailed.

One of our regular Overland Park auto detailing customer’s custom TL.

My personal favorite CTS-V coupe.

Love the color match on this blue corvette. A regular auto detailing client of ours.

So you may or may not like the custom painted buffalos on this 1939 Studebaker but the car is awesome. Hands down awesome.

What do you think about color matching rims to the car’s paint?

These are pretty styling and well fit rims for this Mercedes-Benz. Polished and tastefully sized.

Let’s end where we started off. The custom orange wheels for an orange Lamborghini.

What do you think about custom wheels? Do you have any tricks or tips that you use to keep your wheels cleaned? Make sure to comment and enter the conversation.

Also, let us know if you have any Kansas City auto detailing needs.

The post 4 Keys To Detailing Custom Car Wheels appeared first on KC Detailing.

We had a call come in from a customer wanting to know if we could buff a few scratches out. I told her to stop on by. When she got to our Overland Park car detailing shop, it was a little more than a few scratches. What she had was very noticeable. Jonathan had just the strategy and became the days life saver. Or car saver….

Jonathan, the detailer, quickly got on the job and tested a few products. Luckily, most of the black stuff you see wasn’t damage. It was rubber from the tire that rubbed against the rear bumper.

With the right auto detailing products it was almost effortless to repair this rear bumper.

Jonathan did a great job and made quick work of it.

Finishing up the rear bumper, you can see that there was a few deep scratches that were to wide to repair with our automotive paint touch up service. Time to get the chemical washed off.

The final results before and after:

Even though there was two deep scratches, the quick car detail Jonathan did cost a fraction of the price that an automotive body shop would have charged to repair the bumper.

What do you think? Would you spend the $600 to fix the rear bumper all the way or would you have been fine with a quick repair for $40?

The post Jonathan’s a Life Saver appeared first on KC Detailing.

We connected with this Porsche owner through email. He had just purchased this 97 Porsche 911 from Jersey and was in a hurry to get it ready for a Kansas City Porsche Club car show. The KC Detailing team was to quick to get him in. As soon as the Porsche showed up to our Overland Park auto detailing shop, we realized we had a lot of work ahead of us and that it was going to be a long night.

The whole car was in major need of a restorative auto detailing.

After testing several auto detailing pads with a dual action polisher, we arrived at a great combo. A lot of people have asked us if we wet sanded. Looking at the results below you might think that we did. We used a dual action with the proper compounding pad and compound to remove the damage. As you can see below, it was a transformation:

All done. This auto detailing project was about 12 labor hours from start to finish. The results were stunning:

We had a couple Porsches hanging out with us during the final photos:

The results were amazing. Let me just say something about Porsche paint here though. Porsche paint is odd. You might try a pad and compound combo and it looks like it is working amazing until you change angles. Then you realize that it is a bad combo. It takes a lot of testing, different lighting and multiple angles to get a great result.

After all of the compounding was finished we made sure to give it a great machine polish and topped it with our $200 Fuzion Wax. The customer was beyond happy with his whole experience here.

Side note: I can neither confirm nor deny if the Porsche owner and I had some triple digit fun in his pair of Porsches the next day.

Make sure to enter into the conversation. Tell us what you think and comment below.

Also, if you are in need of auto detailing in Overland Park or the surrounding areas, let us know.

The post Porsche 911 Restorative Detail appeared first on KC Detailing.

For 2013 we are making a new promo video for KC Detailing. We are working with Todd Davidson Photography. Between our KC Detailing crew and Todd’s, we had a great team and with Todd’s personality we really had a lot of fun.

As you can see above, we got a little auto detailing footage in our shop working on this Porsche. But we wanted to go beyond the walls of our Overland Park auto detailing shop.

So, we needed to connect with one of our mobile auto detailing clients. We called up a great weekly customer of ours, Lynn, who was more than happy to help out with the testimonial section of our promo video. She did great.

The KC Detailing van was in good company sitting in the drive way with the Bentley and the Mercedes. Lynn did an amazing job.

Then we connected with LBA to showcase our commercial detailing division. We clean the 50+ vehicles that they have.

And finally, we went to a customer of ours that had us out to do a $1500 detailing job on his Porsche and a $800 job on his wife’s Mercedes. His Porsche probably has the most flawless and glossy Porsche paint jobs on a daily driver in the region. It looks amazing.

We are really excited to get this promo video finished up and look forward to everyone getting to watch it.

Give us your input. What do you think a great auto detailing promo video should have? Comment below.

Todd Davidson Photo is one of the top Kansas City photographers. Give him a call for any photo or video needs. Make sure to get in touch with us if you are interested in Auto Detailing in Overland Park, Kansas City or any surrounding areas.

The post 2013 KC Detailing Promo Video Project appeared first on KC Detailing.

Almost everyone knows that hand washing your car is the best way to get your car clean. But not every hand wash system was created equal. In fact, a lot of hand washing systems will cause damage to that precious car of yours. Let’s talk about a few of the main systems that are being used to hand wash cars in the auto detailing world today.

Currently, there is a new way that some auto detailing shops are claiming to offer hand washing with only water and a drying towel. These car detailing shops will spray the car down with water and then just dry it with the towel. Though it is a major time saver, this system will scratch your car.

Some people like to go to the self serve car wash with their wash mitt and professional auto detailing drying towel. They spray the car with the soap water, wipe down the car with the wash mitt, rinse the car and then dry it with the auto detailing drying towel. This is a good system but you need to make sure to rinse the wash mitt regularly during the car wash.

One cool way auto detailers are washing cars now is with an auto detailing soap foamer. The goal here is to cover the car with soap foam, wipe it down with a wash mitt and then rinse the car off. As long as a rinse bucket is being used to keep the mitt clean and a good professional auto detailing drying towel is being used to dry the car, this is a great system.
The most well known hand washing system is to get a bucket of water, some car soap, a wash mitt and a bath towel or shammy. This system isn’t awful but you want to make sure to use a soft mitt, good car wash soap and a microfiber drying towel. There is an even better way though.

The best way to hand wash your car is by using a two bucket system. This takes your standard hose and a bucket system mentioned above to the next level. One bucket is for fresh soapy water while the other bucket is for rinsing. Dip your mitt in the soapy bucket, wipe down a section, rinse your mitt in the rinse bucket, dip your newly cleaned mitt in the soapy water, clean the next section and repeat until the car is done.

Some people use a combination of the auto detailing foam gun and the two bucket system. It actually works very well. Presoak using the auto detailing foam gun and then finish using the two-bucket system. This is a great system but only needs to be used for really dirty cars.

Those are the most common hand washing systems being used. A truly professional auto detailing company will use the two-bucket system. If you like keeping your car clean and would like to minimize the chance of inducing swirls into your paint, make sure that you, or the car detailing company you will be going with, uses the ideal two-bucket system.

Make sure to get ahold of us for all of your Overland Park auto detailing and Kansas City auto detailing needs. Our mobile car detailers can also service most all of the surrounding areas so don’t hesitate if your not in Kansas City or Overland Park KS.

The post Different Hand Washing Systems appeared first on KC Detailing.

Most of us spend a lot of quality time in our cars. We’re in them on our way to work and back, on every errand, every date and every trip. We eat, drink and sometimes nap in them. With that much living in such a small space we’re bound to leave our cars a little dirtier each time. For many auto owners that new car feeling slips away with time.

You can always go to an auto detailing shop to remedy your dirty interior problem, but why spend a pretty penny more often than you need? You don’t have to be a professional auto detailer to keep your car looking and feeling new. All you need is a little motivation and some insight from the professionals.

We’ve learned over the years while auto detailing in Kansas City that the old saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” rings true in the auto detailing world. We’d like to share several simple things car owners can do to keep up on their car’s interior.

Our first tip is easier said than done. Keep garbage and clutter out of your car. It builds up, fills every compartment and eventually breaks down into smaller garbage. What’s worse is that once the garbage begins to build there’s a psychoiological conundrum that occurs. You feel like you’re fighting a losing battle, get overwhelmed and eventually give up. Once that happens it’s all downhill from there. This is car detailing 101.

Our second tip is quick, simple and marvelous. Every couple weeks take the time to go over the surfaces of your car’s interior to remove any dust and buildup. Dust plus water equals mud and crud. No need to sigh in agony. It’ll be more than worth your time to spend 5-10 minutes every couple weeks giving everything a quick wipe down.

Our third tip is far from daunting yet always neglected by auto owners. Think of it this way. Do you have a carpeted doorway at home? Probably not since it would immediately get very dirty. However, that’s exactly what happens in our cars.

Year round every Kansas City resident brings in dirt, salt, leaves and rocks as they get in and out of their cars. Rubber matts help, but you’ll eventually need a good shampoo.

Prolong your carpet’s life with the almighty hand held vacuum. There’s no need to lug out a full sized shop vac. Just bring out the dust buster every week or so and give your carpets and seats a quick vac.

Our fourth and final tip is will be sure to keep your car’s interior looking good between auto detailing visits. Our final tip is to follow through with our first three.

Follow these simple guidelines and your car’s interior will stay cleaner for longer. Sit in your car and give a relaxing sigh instead of feeling overwhelmed by dirtiness. Maintenance without procrastination is quick and easy if you do your part.

The post Interior Car Care appeared first on KC Detailing.

Mercury is dead. Despite a rich heritage of hot rods and Cougars, the dying company was pruned away last year. The sad part wasn’t the death, but that no one noticed it. A nearly empty funeral. So

the question some of us in the auto detailing industry are now asking is, will the same thing happen to Lincoln? A detailer in Overland Park, KS does start to wonder if his days of auto detailing MKZs and MKSs are numbered. New car sales in the sub-brand have been slipping steadily, and with Ford’s discontinuation of the Town Car (and the Crown Victoria), Lincoln have lost their anchor. Why don’t
the other models hold up the brand? Because they’re all missing two little details.

The first detail is variety. For a long time now, Lincolns have been almost perfect copies of Fords. It used to be that this wasn’t much of a problem. If you wanted leather and navigation and heated seats, you would pay the extra for Lincoln’s luxury. You could cruise the streets of Overland Park in comfort that no other Ford product could provide.

And there were some proprietary models, too. The Lincoln LS was rear wheel drive. Unheard of. But today, you can get a Ford SHO Taurus with the same engine and gadgets for around $11,000 less than the platform sharing Lincoln MKS. And frankly, after some auto detailing, the Taurus looks far better. There’s no reason to spend anything extra on the Lincoln. Just get the Taurus and save the rest for
the detailer.

The second detail is that though you read the above, you probably couldn’t pick the MKS out of a Lincoln lineup. Likewise, you probably can’t name one Lincoln you’d rather have over another. The missing detail is excitement. There isn’t a sleepier, more fossilized brand on the market. Buick used to have the boring car market cornered, but blew that stereotype away with the turbocharged,
manual-equipped Regal GS.

And American luxury brands don’t have to slip into comas. Chrysler’s SRT 300 is noticeable, and Cadillac’s CTS-V is just mad. Even their new ATS was tuned on the Nurburgring. Lincoln needs something- anything- to break the idea that it will die with its aging market, something to compete with the American brands who are already competing with Europe and Japan.

From the lowly perspective of a detailer in Kansas City, Lincoln needs a halo vehicle, and fast. This doesn’t have to be an inaccessible supercar like the LF-A that so recently revitalized Lexus like a sip from The Fountain. It just has to be something to raise the enthusiast’s eyebrows. Something RWD with an optional stick.

But Lincoln probably won’t do it, much to the chagrin of the auto detailing community. Why? Because it’s too late. A new car costs money to build, and Lincoln isn’t making any. Ford, averse these days to risk, won’t foot the bill, either. Five to ten years from now, Lincoln will be dead like Mercury. Mark our words, internet.

The post Lincoln’s Death Throes appeared first on KC Detailing.

Auto detailing is a tactile art as well as a visual one. A high end detail is as much about how the car feels as it is about the look. From the smooth, creamy touch of the bodywork to the clean, confident grip of the steering wheel, touch is important. So it’s no surprise that how a car feels to drive is important to us, too.

Overland Park, Kansas is not known for its twisty, canyon roads. No, Overland Park is mostly a grid. But that doesn’t mean the enthusiast doesn’t enjoy a good drive around the lake or along a river road.

But only if it feels right. And if we happen to be driving a new Porsche 911 or Boxter, or an SL 500 Mercedes (even a car detailer can dream, right?) that feel might be diminished. One aspect a detailer doesn’t often get to discuss is steering. And in all three of these cars, it’s electric.

For the Mercedes, that’s not much of a dilemma. The SLs have been softening up for years, patching over automatic and double clutch gearboxes with luxury, power, and more power. The average SL driver will hardly notice.

But the real problem is with the Porsches. See, the 911 is built for handling. When it debuted in 1963, it only had 130 hp. Not much. But the reason it become so popular, the reason we still get auto detailing calls for them today, was the handling. The 911 just felt so organic, like such a living part of the driving experience, like a nerve between you and the road, mediating, helping you and the
asphalt to understand each other.

Electric steering fries all of that away. There’s no real feedback, no conversation with the front wheels. And thought the 911 today has more than enough power and heritage to keep it successful, there is certainly something lost.

Thankfully, unlike the SL 500, the 911 is still available with a proper stick shift. But this does remind us of what happened with the transmission. Of the dual clutch, they said it was faster, more efficient. It would help you get around a crowded metro like Overland Park without paining your left leg. But it isn’t the same as rowing through the gears. The feel is gone.

The sports car is now less a part of you. It’s becoming a cold, robotic appliance, brilliant, but disconnected. Not longer a friend, but a servant. No, steering is a detail best not left to machines. Of course, this is all silly, because today, almost every vehicle on the road, and most requiring the services of a detailer, already have hydraulic power steering, and when that came out, the purists all
cried fowl as well.

Our role in auto detailing allows us to see the latest. But auto detailing doesn’t let us feel how they are to drive. What do you think? Is electric steering engaging enough to wrangle the purists, or will it kill sports driving?

The post Is Electric Steering the End of the Sports Car? appeared first on KC Detailing.

Auto detailing comes in seasons. So, apparently, do supercar releases. Namely, they congregate in a single season, the Geneva Auto Show. It’s the biggest new car show of the year, and the bonkers Aventador J already debuted there. The show happens to coincide with the Kansas City Auto Show, but that’s beside the point, because that was best defined as “lame” this year. Ferrari showed up, but one car they didn’t bring to Kansas City, Missouri was the F12 Berlinetta, their newest super car. If you see one in Kansas City, let us know, because we’d love to detail it. Here’s why:

Ferrari wants us to call their new wonder the F12berlinetta, rammed together like the first bit of a website. But that’s a detail we’ll go ahead and choose to forget. Something we won’t forget so quickly is the engine. The mill is a detail we wouldn’t quite be able to grasp from an auto detailing job, even though we already know a few things about it. We know, for example, that it’s a 6.3 liter V12, and that it makes 730 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque. And we know that it turns the F12 into the most powerful road going Ferrari ever built.

You’ll want to come to a dead stop at every on-ramp, because this car can get from 0 to 62 mph, or 100 kph, in an unheard of 3.1 seconds. All that power is routed through a very clever F1 dual clutch seven speed transmission. And for when you get to the end of that on ramp and find a collection of coagulated traffic, it has carbon ceramic brakes. Let every detailer now join together for
a collective sigh. Sometimes auto detailing just isn’t enough.

And we haven’t even gotten to the looks yet. It may be enough to say that if you end up owning one, you’ll have auto detailing services on speed dial, because it is, frankly, beautiful. As a whole, it’s not entirely unique. The face looks like a much less family friendly version of the one on the FF. But then the F12 Berlinetta isn’t family friendly by any stretch of the imagination. It only has two seats. But the grille area isn’t the visual feature you’ll really notice about this car.

It’s the unique flying buttresses behind the headlights. Ferrari insists that these gaps assist with downforce and aerodynamics and such, and they’re happy to show you some very nice wind tunnel shots of white smoke running through them before it slips handily over the F12′s stylish shoulder grooves. Apparently, it’s science! All this detailer knows is that this aero-hero-combo is
gorgeous.

The F12 Berlinetta is truly a work of art, and if one ends up in your garage this year, you’ll certainly need a detailer. Or perhaps we’re only working on biased assumption there. Perhaps the dust and dirt won’t even be able to catch you. With that V12 under the hood, we rather doubt anything will.

The post The F12 Berlinetta: Power and Flow appeared first on KC Detailing.

Auto detailing can be tough. Several factors can complicate a detail job. Among them is the car’s roof,

especially if the car doesn’t have one. Now, Kansas City Missouri is not a uniseasonal place. Winter shows up, and Kansas City is a pretty wet locale anyway. They call us the City of Fountains, after all.

So it might not be the best place for Lamborghini’s latest car, revealed a several weeks ago at the Geneva Auto Show. We’ve seen the awesome Aventador down to its last beautiful detail. We’ve gazed on the Nakiri knife edges and we’ve listened to that glorious V12 make music like some supernatural
thunderstorm conducted by Handel.

But we’ve never seen it like this. The Aventador J is open to the sky. But it’s not a convertible, because it doesn’t have a roof at all. Not in the trunk, not in your garage. And if you fashioned one, you might have trouble attaching it, because the car lacks a windshield, too. It has a pair of little glass bug deflectors where the windshield once was, these bisected by the mad, angular stalk of a rearview
mirror. It matches the door mirrors, which look even less mentally stable and more inclined to make you shorter if you’re nearby and not paying attention.

But that would be rather difficult, because the overall effect of this new light-on-glass wonder is precisely unforgettable. Look at it for an instant and you’ll memorize its ever detail, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be done with it. In fact, it might not be done with you. You’ll find yourself staring at it until the detailer shows up, and even then you’ll have trouble doing anything else.

The beauty just goes on. From the tail emerges a double goose-neck wing, which will probably be quite functional, since the Aventador crushes you to the seat with about 700 hpo and almost as much torque. The carbon fiber cowl for that monarchical engine extends down to divide the cockpit in two, as in some vehicle you might have rolled down a plastic, orange track as a child.

The post J is for Just Unbelievable appeared first on KC Detailing.

Ever car detailer has a dream car, something he or she wants to own, but will settle to just touch with a soft cloth. And for many, that’s the Ferrari F40. Some say it’s the best super car ever built, and many more say it’s the best Ferrari. A detailer can’t afford to make these distinctions. To detail an F40 would be a dream come true in itself. But when you’re auto detailing here in Kansas City you often lose sight of where beauties such as the F40 originated. So let’s take a journey from Kansas City to Maranello, Italy, and a journey back in time: to 1986.

Last week we discussed Group B rallying. Though the classification was extremely popular, it also became dangerous, and by 1986, it was already on its way out. Drivers and spectators alike were dying in accidents with startling regularity. Would Kansas City have put up with such tolls? Probably not. Neither could the rest of the world. It was a detail that couldn’t be overlooked. So Group B was
dissolved.

But Ferrari had already begun development of the 288 GTO Evoluzione, a reworking of the successful GTO platform and what was to be the most powerful rally Ferrari ever built. Its 2.8 liter V8 used a pair of turbos, with a combined input of twenty psi, to churn out an unprecedented 530 hp. Another engine variant, this one designed for the track, took that figure all the way up to an unheard of 650.

Sadly, Group B collapsed under the massive bulk of its own liability, and the 288 GT0 Evoluzione project was abandoned. Or was it? One detail that often goes unnoticed is that two of the five examples of the Evoluzione were used as design hacks for Ferrari’s next huge project, the F40, which is clear from the Evoluzione’s radical styling, especially the perforated tail.

Today, only two of the five copies still exist, but the others have been sacrificed for a noble cause. When we look at the gorgeous lines and breathtaking performance of the F40, the auto detailing community have the 288 GTO Evoluzione to thank.

Auto detailing in Kansas City is always an adventure, and though we may or may not ever see an Evoluzione 288, a detailer here will get to work on his or her fair share of Ferraris. And that makes auto detailing more than a job.

The post Ferrari In The Dirt Part 2: Evoluzione appeared first on KC Detailing.

Ferrari in the Dirt Part 1: Michelotto

Sometimes, a detailer sees something brilliant, but is glad not to have to detail it. Rally cars fall into this category, since they get so filthy every time they run a race. Kansas City, Missouri has never seen a rally. The closest we get is Rally America’s weekend out in Salem. Auto detailing would likely see a boom if we ever hosted one. But usually when we think about rally cars, we picture base model, common cars: Imprezas, Fiestas, and VWs customized for racing, but nothing to need high-end auto detailing. That hasn’t always been the case, though, because Ferrari used to race rally cars, and every Ferrari needs a detailer.

Maranello fielded their rally offerings in the mid-eighties during the FIA’s infamous Group B years. Under Group B regulations, very few examples of each car had to be produced, just 25, in order for that machine to compete. This meant that the cars got very powerful and dangerously fast. But Ferrari couldn’t afford to front 25 highly-developed production cars for the market, though others like Lancia
and Audi could. So the Prancing Pony chose a car already on the market, and resolved to alter it very little, satisfying the FIA’s Group B rules. No, homologation was not a detail the governing bodies were about to let Ferrari forget.

They chose the 308. It was lightweight, inexpensive to wreck, and easy to modify. Its quattrovolvole 3 liter V8 only offered 288 hp, but all of those horses were aspirated naturally, meaning the 308 had no need to wait around for turbos to spool up, like so many other Group B cars. It could launch out of every last bend and corner on rally courses’ twisting dirt roads.

As it was never designed to compete in any motorsport, the 308 GTB Michelotto was an unlikely candidate for Group B, but won several races and placed in several more, a true success for Ferrari.

Auto detailing a rally car like the 308 right after a race would be a huge challenge. But we feel confident we could handle the job. Auto detailing is an all or nothing business, and if Kansas City ever does house a rally machine, we stand ready to detail it, Ferrari or no.

Next week we’ll discuss the Ferrari rally beast that never was, and how it helped usher in the real delight of the detailer: the F40.

The post Ferrari in the Dirt Part 1: Michelotto appeared first on KC Detailing.

Wednesday, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche passed away in Austria. That’s a long way from Kansas City, Missouri, but the auto detailing community are mourning him worldwide. No, he wasn’t Porsche’s founder. That detail was his grandfather’s. And no, he didn’t popularize Porsche as a sports car brand. His father, Ferry, did that.

He did something greater. He designed two cars for Porsche. Only two. Both of them were sleek and fast, one came to symbolize the brand for decades, and it remains their most recognizable car. It’s famous from Germany to Kansas City.

F.A. Porsche was not an engineer like his forebears, but a designer. In the ’50s, during his first year there, he was kicked out of industrial design school for lack of talent. He could have slunk away and entered the auto detailing industry, but instead, he went back to the family business and studied in-house.

When Ferry challenged him to sculpt the successor to his own masterpiece, the 356, F.A. came up with something brilliant: the 911.

It was first called the 901, but that center digit was indeed a zero, and this detail was a problem. Peugeot had the right to all such names. So it was renamed the 911 and released for 1964.

The 2 liter flat six only produced 128 hp at first, but it was the car’s functional, aerodynamic beauty, and more so its simple, 1:1 handling that made it such a legend.

And it was beautiful. Drop that sleek hunchbacked bright eyes on a set of Fuchs and you have the very picture of sport tourer. It’s a detailer’s dream to keep such a work of art looking gorgeous.

Almost 50 years have passed, and though it has grown and evolved, detail by tiny improvement, the 911′s basic shape and layout have remained, and people from Kansas City to Paris can see and recognize it as a Porsche – the Porsche.

A good detailer will see his share of 911s throughout his career. Of the Porsche 904, F.A.’s other car, only 106 examples were built, and only to meet homologation standards. Clearly, it’s something for the auto detailing crowd to care for, if we ever get the chance.

The 904 was a mid-engine supercar, capable of brilliant acceleration and stellar handling. It only packed 198 hp, but as with the 911, power didn’t matter so much, and the 904 took victories at Le Mans, the Targa Floria, and the Nurburgring, among many others.

F.A. called the 904 his favorite project because it had to be completed so quickly. There was no time for anyone else to step in and muddy the waters. By the time the feedback came in, the 904 was practically heading to the detailer for race prep.

F.A. eventually started his own design firm, penning countless clever products and and focusing on watches and eyewear. The cars are only a small part of his legacy. We in the auto detailing business would like to salute F.A. He will be missed.

The post F.A. Porsche 1935-2012 appeared first on KC Detailing.

Car care tip of the week. How do you minimize swirls while washing your car? As an Overland Park/Kansas City auto detailing shop we see a lot of automatic carwash scratches and swirls. The local gas station carwash is the car equivalent of eating at McDonalds. Some people are okay with scarfing down some Mickey D’s but even they know that it is bad for their health. So if fast food can be likened to the local car wash, what kind of car wash would organic healthy food be likened to? Well, glade you asked.

There is no way around it. A good hand wash, rinse and dry may be the only way. That seems like a lot of work for some while for others it is a challenge they would gladly take on for the sake of their expensive car. If hand washing your car seems like a major drag to have to do, don’t worry, we have a third option for you. So skip the next few paragraphs to get to the good stuff! If the hand wash route is something that excites you, read through the rest of this article because the third option will be an amazing treat for you also.
A good hand wash starts with a few products. If you don’t feel like having to find and gather up all of the following items, don’t worry because we offer maintenance kits with all of the supplies you will need. Here is a basic list:

• Two buckets
• Two microfiber washing mitts
• PH balanced car soap
• Hose and water supply
• Wheel cleaner
• Wheel brushes
• Bug and tar remover
• Two microfiber drying towels

The system is simple and quick once you get used to it. The biggest time consumer is trying to think about what to do next. This system will take the guess work out of the hand wash:

• Fill up the buckets with water and put soap in one of them.
• Rinse your car off with water
• Spray one of the wheels with wheel cleaner, use the wheel brushes to really get the details and then rinse the wheel of with a hose. Repeat with the remaining wheels.
• Spray the bug and tar remover on the bugs and tar then use your first wash mitt to gently wipe the bugs and tar off. Make sure your not in direct sun while you do this step.
• Take the other microfiber mitt, dip it in the bucket with the soap water and start washing a top section of your car. Use left-right and up-down motions but do not use circular motions.
• Once that section is cleaned, take your mitt and clean it off in the bucket that doesn’t have soap in it, ring the mitt out and then dip it back in the bucket that has clean water and soap.
• Repeat these steps and continue washing your car from the top to the bottom.
• Now rinse and dry your car off using the microfiber drying towel.

It may seem like a lot of work but if your are doing this on a regular basis you will be able to get your car all washed up in about 15 to 20 minutes.

The other option will be to use a brushless automatic carwash. These work okay if your keeping up on your car. They do use slightly harsher chemicals to get the car clean. Your waxes will have a significantly shorter life span. But that is true for both the brush and brushless car washes. There is an even better way that will excite those who don’t want to worry about hand washing or detailing their car and those who do. Plus, this third option will keep your cleaner in-between auto detailing and car washing.

The third option works great in combination with the first and the and second options. Have us perform our two year anti-static paint coating car detail. This looks like a high-gloss wax but it lasts two years and is not effected by most of the automatic car wash chemicals. That means that this wax-like coating will last two years of brushless automatic car washing and detailing. One of the best parts about this detailing coating is its anti-static characteristics. It seals up all of the pores of your paint and helps to keep dirt from sticking to your wheels, plastic, paint, chrome and rubber. This means that you don’t have to clean or detail your car as often and your car will look freshly detailed for a longer period of time. Plus, it looks absolutely stunning.

Those who like to wash and detail their own cars will often be able to just pressure rinse their car off by themselves and achieve great results. And, it makes hand washing and detailing your car a whole lot easier. And those who don’t have the desire, time or energy to perform their own car detailing and hand wash, this is the perfect option. Save time by not having to go to the car wash or auto detailing shop as often and have your car look absolutely amazing when you do decide to go to the local car wash or auto detailing shop. Plus, this coating increases your scratch resistance by 50%. You will save a ton of time and you will definitely save money by not having to wash and detail your car as often.

KC Detailing is the choice for auto detailing in the Kansas City, Leawood, KS, Overland Park, KS and surrounding areas. There isn’t anyone else offering this service so setup your appointment today. Go to our youtube channel to see some of the cars that we have performed this service on! KC Detailing Youtube Channel

The post Wash and Detail Your Car Without Causing Swirls appeared first on KC Detailing.

Even as Overland Park’s top auto detailing shop, at KC Detailing, we don’t see too many Hondas or Acuras among our performance car customers. Other than the brilliant S2000, Honda has mostly stayed away from rear-wheel-drive, high performance, and super-cars. Of course, they’ve always been very reliable, the Civics, Accords, and TLs, but Honda hasn’t made so much that might require the one, two and three thousand dollar detailing services. This wasn’t always the case.

Honda once made a super-car: the NSX. We know it here in the States as an Acura, but that company doesn’t really seem to exist in the rest of the world. So in 1990, they got the Honda NSX, and we got the Acura NSX. This was something that might require car detailing, indeed. In fact, it isn’t uncommon for twenty to thirty hour auto detailing projects to take place on the old and beloved Honda super-car. The V6 was in the middle and it could get to 60 in 5 seconds, faster than a Ferrari 348. The braking system allowed the car to come to an immediate halt. This did make for a lot of brake dust, which definitely added to the time it took to detail the car. It enjoyed a strong running of 15 years, but was discontinued in 2005. We thought we had seen the last of the Acura NSX.

But now, Acura has a new one. Straight away, it looks very cool, something a car detailing expert would willingly spend Christmas cleaning. Aside from the still goofy Acura beak, it presents quite a picture. Yet underneath lies a detail you might rather not see. Instead of a sharp-tuned V6, it has a hybrid powertrain. Yes, the Insight people set up shop at the track. It’s not RWD, either, but AWD. Worst of all, they’ve replaced the six-speed manual with a flappy paddle auto box.

No, it’s not the original. All appearances indicate a bankruptcy of soul, a pedestal for the politically correct. But we still hope we get to see one here in Overland Park, KS. Honda is capable of soul. They just need to look to the past.

The post The Acura NSX: Forgotten Roads appeared first on KC Detailing.

Auto detailing has its perks.  Not the least among them is the ample face time a detailer gets to spend with gorgeous exotics.  Here at KC Detailing, we’ve experienced the pleasurable company of everything from Porsches to Bentleys to Maseratis while serving the Overland Park, KS area.  But there’s one super car we haven’t had the opportunity to detail, or even see yet, and that’s because it’s still too new to have shown up in Overland Park, or anywhere, for that matter.  It’s the Falcon F7, and it’s positively breathtaking.

When first you see it, you don’t want to know.  You’ll only want to look.  It is super car styling perfected.  Every angle is a razor dividing the beautiful and the common.  It’s how you always wanted a super car to appear.  But eventually you must get to the little power detail.  Not to worry, though.  It has the same heart as the Corvette Z06, cranking out 620 hp and 585 lb-ft of torque.  Weight is another detail you won’t want to ignore, since the whole package tips in at just under 2,800 lbs.  That means you’ll get to 60 in just 3.3 seconds.

Unfortunately, Overland Park residents might balk at the price, which isn’t as light as the curb weight.  If you want one, you’ll need to hand over at least a quarter million bucks.  For an LS kit car?  Please.  It’s a sad day for the detailer.  But who knows?  We’ve seen beauty in the area at similar prices, so the auto detailing buff might get his date, after all.

Yes, auto detailing does have its perks.  Hopefully, the Falcon F7 will eventually be one of them.  If you get one, and need a detailer, let us know.

The post Detail a Falcon F7 appeared first on KC Detailing.

Paint: The Skin of Your Car

Just like your skin, your auto paint is organic.  In fact, it has pores just like your skin.  The pores get clogged with contaminants and they will not be removed by simply washing your car.  Even if you do a very good job cleaning your car, they are still left clogged. The standard issues can be from industrial fall out, acid rain and minerals from water.  However, there are a lot of other possibilities.  The minerals from rain and un-purified water will go a step further and actually etch into the surface. That is where auto detailing comes in.  Though 99% of the shops in Kansas City do not use this process, a truly professional detailer always will. There are two stages involved in the removal of those contaminants.  If you do not decontaminate the your paint before you wax, wax will actually cause damage and seal the minerals in.  Proper hand washing and decontamination is vital to maintain the skin of your car.

So what do you do? Well, glad you asked.

That is where professional auto detailing comes in.  Though 99% of the detail shops in Kansas City do not use the process necessary to remove these damaging issues, a truly professional detailer always will.  But don’t worry, there are some Kansas City auto detailing companies that will go through the arguas yet rewarding process.  Still haven’t answered your question fully yet?  Do you want to know what each stage is and how it actually helps that auto of your?  Since you must know, here are the two stages.

• The first stage to detailing the car and getting it ready to receive the wax will be to clean out these pores.  There is a specific product used in the auto detailing industry by all of the worlds best detailers.  The product is called a clay bar.  The clay bar is a soft clay that you glide over the surface.  As the clay glides over the trouble areas, it will grab the dirt from the paint and leave your auto’s surface very smooth.  You will be shocked to find that even new cars are in desperate need of this.  Take a look at our Before And After auto detailing pictures to see how dirty the clay bar gets.  In fact, the black SUV in that picture was a fairly new car.  All of the dirt on the clay that you see in the picture is from clay bar detailing just one door.
• *Note: This is a very careful process and you can damage your paint if you do not know what you are doing.  However, there is enough information out there that if you really want to learn how to clay bar your own car you will be able to yield great results.
• The second stage is called a pre wax cleaner.  The pre-wax cleaner picks up where the clay left off. Again, there are not a whole lot of Kansas City auto detailing companies that will do this process.  So what does the pre-wax cleaner do?  Glad you asked! The pre-wax cleaner cleans every thing that is left.  Such as the light lubricant that is left from the clay bar process and the oils from your hand that may have found their way onto the car from the clay bar process.
• What you are essentially doing is preparing your car’s paint to receive the wax.  With nothing in your pores and nothing on the surface, the paint is unhindered to make the perfect bond.  So why is that important?  It is very important when you think about the durability of the wax, the gloss level and the longevity of your car’s paint.  If an auto detailing company tells you they are using a six month synthetic wax but they are not going through this process, you are really getting about a month or two out of that six month wax.  If they tell you it is a two month wax, you can expect three weeks out of the detail. The results that come from not going through this process that you are locking the contamination into your pores and diminishing the durability of the wax.  In so doing, you will actually cause damage over an extended period of time.

 Call Us Today To Setup Your Appointment – 913.548.1396

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The 411 On Auto Leather

There are few things in life like brand new soft and supple leather.  The smell, the feel, the look…  it is a thing of beauty.  Billions of dollars are spent every year on skin care products, yet barely anyone thinks about taking care of the skin in their car.  Leather is skin but it is skin that no longer produces its own oils.  Your auto leather is depending on you detailing it to keep it soft and supple.

Your leather was a living membrane at one time. The tanning process prevents decomposition by infusing preservative chemicals into the oil glands, and then fatliquoring (injecting oils and fats into) the hide to replace natural oils that were lost. While fatliquoring keeps the leather soft for quite some time, it is not permanent.  Make sure to use a high quality auto detailing leather conditioner because there are many leather conditioners out there that will cause long term damage to your leather.  We have done extensive research to insure that our company is only using the best leather conditioning products available.

Feel free to call us with any questions you may have on our auto detailing processes.

Auto detailing in Kansas City just doesn’t get better.

Call Now: 913.548.1396

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The Difference Between a Carwash and an Auto Detail

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KC Detailing Launches New Air Division

The Overland Park based auto detailing company, KC Detailing, has officially announced the launching of their new Air Division services. The company, which often caters to high-end and exotic cars in the Kansas City area, has opened their doors to clean anything from “jets and piston-poppers to helicopters.” Owner Tim Dodd explains why the company has decided to venture into the world of aircraft; “We had clients keep telling us they couldn’t find anyone to detail their planes like we were doing with their cars. We saw the need and decided to seize the opportunity.” Finally, after months of preparation, KC Detailing’s Air Division is ready to hit the ground running.

It may be something most people don’t think about, but it’s something every pilot and aircraft owner knows first hand – the more your plane is out of the hangar the dirtier it gets. There’s no way around it. How dirty can a plane get? You’d know if you had one. On the outside bugs, exhaust, grease, dirt and oxidation will tarnish the beauty of every aircraft over time. On the inside leather fades, carpets get stained and odors increase. As innovative as mankind is, we still haven’t built a plane that cleans itself. Somebody’s got to do it – and chances are the owner doesn’t have the time. Procrastination is an unaffordable habit with such a valuable investment. If the wear and tear is not addressed on a regular basis the aircraft owner can lose significant value in their investment. The old saying rings true, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” If you’re not so great at thinking long term, a more immediate incentive for aircraft owners is the all important “self image.” Would you want to show off a dirty plane? Fly your clients and employees on stained seats in your multimillion dollar jet? Most likely not.

One common complaint among aircraft owners is that their usual detailers are often booked months in advance or not answering their phones. This often happens because many aircraft cleaners work with a crew of one. That may be a problem if you need your jet detailed by the end of the week. KC Detailing’s new Air Division provides a fully trained team to do a quick turn on your aircraft. No delays. No worries.

Whatever the reasons for detailing your plane, KC Detailing’s Air Division will save you time and make your life easier. From full interior and exterior detail packages to a la carte opportunities you’ll find whatever it is you’re looking for. Aircraft owners will be especially excited to hear that Air Division is offering scheduled detailing programs with discounted prices and priority scheduling. And the best part – they’ll let you put together a tailor made package that’s just right for you.

Kansas City aircraft owners – there’s a new airplane, jet and helicopter detailing company in town.

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Kansas City Auto Detailing Company Hosts Fundraiser to End Modern Slavery

Kansas City auto detailing company KC Detailing is helping raise awareness of modern day slavery. “Being in business is more than making money,” comments owner Tim Dodd, “it’s about using what you have to help people.” Though by and large unspoken of in American society, modern slavery is still very prevalent in many countries today – including America. Different forms of prostitution, child soldiers and forced labor are all part of a global multimillion dollar industry plaguing millions of people across the earth. And it is growing every day.

KC Detailing decided they had the means to make an impact on modern day slavery and used what they had to help. To raise awareness and contribute to the ending of slavery KC Detailing partnered with local Kansas City non-profit organization Exodus Cry by providing the manpower, equipment and product for a fundraiser event. The Overland Park Kansas based company, which specializes in detailing automotive, boats, RV’s and aircraft in the Kansas City area hosted a car wash fundraiser in south Overland Park October 22-23. Utilizing their mobile auto detailing services a fully equipped car wash was set up in the parking lot of Culver’s restaurant at 135^th st. and Antioch. Car owners could have their auto’s interior, exterior or both detailed on the spot by a professional crew and their equipment – all for a good cause.

To man the event many of KC Detailing’s staff, including owner Tim Dodd, spent their weekend volunteering at the event. However, the bulk of manpower came from more than thirty others who volunteered their time to help raise funds. Spirits were high early Saturday morning as crew leader Melody Powell gave a crash course in auto detailing to the new crew of volunteers. In a matter of hours the volunteer crew was utilizing KC Detailing’s professional equipment and the best products available to provide excellent on the spot service.

Those passing by along with a handful of KC Detailing’s regular clients pulled in to Culver’s to enjoy a full service wash and clean. Participants were able to sit down and enjoy the sunny afternoon while their cars were hand washed and dried, tires were dressed and their interior was cleaned and vacuumed. To top off the experience they could rest assured that every penny would go to a good cause. “You don’t think about it that much,” says KC Detailing employee Isaac Anderson “but just two years ago there was a huge human trafficking ring busted right here in Kansas City. We really are making an impact.”

When all was said and done, much more was accomplished than detailing a long line of cars. Every participant – both volunteer and patron – was reminded of the very real and unspoken problem of modern day slavery. Relationships were made between participants from Exodus Cry and those who shared similar passion to end human trafficking. And of course, money was raised to help those in need. Participants will likely never see the faces of those they endeavored to help. Yet somewhere, someone will reap the benefit of the work done those afternoons.

KC Detailing hopes to utilize it’s fully equipped mobile auto detailing services for many more fundraising events in the future. The company provides high-end work to many luxury cars in the Kansas City area including Overland Park, Leawood, and Hallbrook. They’ll also take care of your boat, RV or personal jet. But that won’t stop them from getting down and dirty with some genuine volunteers for a good cause.

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