Why Steam Cleaning is VITAL for Protecting against Viruses & Bacteria

Protecting yourself and your family is currently at the forefront of everyone’s mind. With the fight against COVID-19 in full effect, the world is taking precautions to help eliminate the spread of the disease. But what are some additional measures you can be taking to protect from spreading it?

INTERIOR STEAM CLEANING

Our specialized techniques at 360 Express ensure that we remove 99.99% of viruses & bacteria from your vehicle. Research has shown that there are 700 potentially dangerous germs per square inch on the interior of your vehicle. Simply going to an automated car wash where the same towels are used on multiple vehicles a day to wipe down your interiors surface only spread more germs and do not truly clean. Or if you try to disinfect the interior surfaces on your own, you could potentially be causing damage to your vehicles interior by not using the appropriate products and techniques, resulting in fading, cracking or discoloration.

Using a combination of heat and high pressure, steam penetrates deep into surface pores, eliminating viruses, bacteria, mold, germs, dirt, residue & grease without relying on harsh chemicals. It even takes care of the chemical films left behind by other inferior cleaning products. The cleaning power of steam yields endless possibilities. Completely natural, steam lifts heavy stains from fabric, dislodges incrusted dirt, melts away grease or grime, kills molds, mildew and even exterminates mites that may be found in the upholstery of your vehicle.

LASTING PROTECTION FOR UP TO 90 DAYS

Some Virus’s, such as COVID-19 can live on hard surfaces up to 7 days. Simply touching an infected surface and then touching your, mouth, nose or eyes can complete the transmission. PURTEQ® takes the Fight to the surface for up to 90 days. While PURTEQ® cannot eliminate the possibility of person to person transfer and is not a replacement for good hygiene and social distancing, it can give you and your family an added layer of Protection and Confidence. You can appreciate that you are actively fighting the Disease with Enhanced Cleaning Procedures like the PURTEQ® PROTECTION SYSTEM to keep you and your family safe.

PURTEQ® has developed a safe and effective formula that Purifies surfaces and continues to fight the spread Harmful Contaminants even after the initial treatment for up to 90 days. These results are achieved through the photocatalytic properties, creating a self-cleaning surface barrier. Once treated, the Anti-Microbial Barrier Coating and Photocatalytic Minerals will eliminate harmful particles as they are deposited on treated surfaces.

PRECAUTIONS THAT WORK

Our vehicles interior surfaces are something that we encounter every day. These surfaces are being touched after coming in contact with the outside world, be it after we leave the grocery store while handling the grocery cart or credit card reader, touching the pump at the gas station or what we may come in contact with at our place of employment. Even while taking precautions with social distancing and good hygiene, knowing that your vehicles surfaces have been thoroughly steam cleaned to remove the current contaminants and then applying a protective barrier to protect from viruses and bacteria living on those surfaces for up to 90 days ensures that you are taking every precaution to help alleviate the transfer from the outside world back into your home.

*Please note these are recommendations of services only and will not protect from person to person transfer or other transfer of the disease. These recommendations of services are not replacements for social distancing, good hygiene, and other recommendations per the CDC and your local government. 360 Express Collision & Detailing is not liable should you contract the disease.

 

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6 Helpful Winter Vehicle Prep Tips!

 

People tend to think of spring and summer to get their vehicle professionally detailed. There is nothing more enjoyable than getting a freshly detailed ride out on the road with the windows down, listening to your favorite playlist, knowing that your paint is gleaming in the sunlight! But what are you doing to protect your finish and interiors before the harsh elements of winter hits?

 

Winter Car Protection

Winter is harsh on our vehicles. Starting in the autumn with the falling decomposing leaves sitting on your paint, not to mention all those pesky leaves making their way into your floorboards. Then once the sleet and snow start falling, your vehicle is getting coated with road salt, grime, mud and slush. These harsh winter elements stick to your finish a lot easier than their less stubborn summer counterparts. The build-up that can happen during the winter months leads to corrosion, meaning that the main culprit of road salt will start eating through your paint. If left unprotected and unattended, this will lead to paint damage and rust on your undercarriage. Winter is also a time when your vehicle is more likely to be scratched from road debris. Due to the extreme temperature changes, that certainly happen in Louisville, your paint will eventually crack, and oxidation sets in. Even if your vehicle is garage kept at home, you’re at higher risk of the salt damaging your vehicle when the ice melts. Rust forms when moisture and oxygen combine on metal, and salt only accelerates that process. Then after the brutal months of winter, in the spring you are left to fix the mess that the past couple months have caused. 

Why NOW is the best time to schedule your Professional Winter Detail!

Winter Car Paint Protection: Barriers are key in protecting any surface from the cold. Ensuring that you are protecting your vehicle’s finish with a premium paint sealant before winter strikes helps reduce the chances of more serious damage.

Road salt: Salt is a corrosive substance. When driving, this road salt will lodge itself into the nooks and crannies of your vehicle and continue to build-up unless it is professionally removed and ultimately lead to corrosion and rust. Our technicians will professionally remove salt from car carpets, they will do a complete undercarriage wash to remove salt and prevent any rust under car. The best winter car rust protection is for monthly detailing!

UV Protection: During winter months, the ozone layer in our atmosphere is thinner which means more harmful UV rays reach the surface. This applies not only to these harmful rays fading your exterior paint, but also causing fading and thinning to your dashboard, upholstery, leather and other plastic or rubber surfaces on the interior of your vehicle, which could be prevented with a professional grade conditioner.

Tire & Wheel Protection: It takes a lot of meticulous work to clean out wheel wells while ensuring your tires are properly dressed to provide longevity from build-up and corrosion. Enhance the look, life and safety of your wheels and tires.

Health & Safety: It has been long proven that our vehicles are one of the most highly bacteria ridden areas that we encounter if they are not properly detailed and maintained. While cold & flu season are in full swing, it is important to have a proper steam cleaning on the interior to remove the build-up of grime and 99.99% of bacteria that collects on your steering wheel, air vents, and shifter.

Maintain Vehicle Value: We know it is important to stay up to date on the routine mechanical maintenance of a vehicle, but detailing is just as important to keep that value intact. Routine professional detailing will keep your vehicle’s finish from fading, and your interiors from thinning or cracking.

Our Winter Car Protection 

1) Get your vehicle professionally detailed before winter strikes.

2) Ensure that your finish is protected with a premium paint sealant.

3) Wash your vehicle monthly & be on the lookout for any problem areas.

4) Protect yourself and your loved ones with a thorough steam cleaning.

If you take these precautions with your vehicle, your spring and summer will be a lot more enjoyable! Take it from us, we’re professionals.

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Paint Protection Revolutionized

Our vehicles start off seemingly perfect yet have paint imperfections directly from the manufacture and then are exposed to constant damage from rock chips, insect acids, bird-droppings, UV rays, treesap, and sprinkler systems. Here we have a wonderful new investment we’re proud of, but between the elements, daily commutes (or even just a weekend highway getaway), and constant maintenance we become tired and frustrated trying to protect our finish, and keep our vehicle looking great!

Until recently, the only option to provide top level protection for your vehicle’s surface was Clear Bra (Paint Protection Film). While PPF is a great, effective product, there are drawbacks. Overtime UV rays will cause the adhesive for clear film to turn a yellowish opaque color. And if you opt for a partial application (which most people do), there are clearly visible seams which can peel back and create dirt lines. Not to mention when removing the film, the adhesive is still there, it can be a pain to remove, and could ultimately cause damage to your vehicles paint finish.

So how can we truly protect your vehicle?

 

The best tried and tested invisible Paint Protection Spray on the market expertly applied by our Certified Installers at 360 Express Collision & Detailing!

 

Our Customized Paint Protection Spray –  Shield360

Shield360 is a highly crafted unique 2-part system which allows you to protect just about any painted surface on your vehicle. Imagine being able to protect the hood, front bumper, side mirrors, and fenders all without seams… Or better yet the extremely architectural bodies of exotic cars!

Other advantages of Shield360 are:

  • no cutting on your vehicle
  • extra layering possible for higher risk areas
  • can be wet sanded and polished
  • fully compatible (and suggested) with Ceramic Coatings
  • no seams
  • no adhesive glue
  • zero risk of yellowing
  • easy removal without leaving any residue or damage
  • no size limits
  • no “pull back” (shrinking) over time
  • no lifting edges
  • no trapped dirt
  • even distribution around edges, rather than stretching
  • fills minor scratches and swirl marks
  • crystal clear finish
  • matte & color change option available

Sheild360 is undeniably the best way of protecting the most high-risk areas of any vehicle from damage caused by small rocks and other elements. It will provide you with peace of mind that your vehicle is protected after application, and knowing that no one will be cutting on your vehicle during installation or that the film will look yellow a few years down the road and no seams staring you in the eye. Contact our Certified Team of Installers at 360 Express Collision & Detailing to learn more and discuss how you can start enjoying and not worrying about your vehicle!

 

Car Paint Correction

What Is Car Paint Correction? 

Car Paint correction is a term used to describe the process of restoring and rejuvenating the paintwork of a vehicle. 

Paint correction is done to remove blemishes on a vehicle’s surface like swirl marks, fine scratches, residual marks from buffering, deep scratches, and more. 

These blemishes are visible because they mar the vehicle’s finish reflection, and if you’re here reading this, you’ve probably got some questions about paint correction for imperfections on your car’s paint. 

Can I Just Use An All-In-One Polish?

Fillers and methods used to cover up these blemishes/imperfections are not true paint correction, as the important first part of the process involves a thorough cleaning of the surface and a removal of the imperfections on and immediately around the blemish. 

Fillers and cover up products used without this first step can and will likely look great for a time, but will eventually wear off and you’ll be right back where you started.

 It’s a quick fix and more like a bandaid. Auto paint correction is best done by professional detailers as it is extremely labor intensive and calls for training, knowledge, tools and equipment that most of us do not have access to. 

Create A Smooth Surface Before You Begin

When imperfections are properly removed and are not just covered up or hidden with filler based products prior to applications of quality compounds and polishing methods that truly restore the finish of your vehicle, that is paint correction. 

The actual corrective process itself happens after the imperfections are removed, during which some of the finish on and around that blemish will be carefully removed in order to ensure that the surface area is both clean and level to best receive the corrections.

 Removal is done with abrasive polishes, polishers and also an automotive clay bar to help remove bonded surface contaminants. This ensures that the vehicle’s surface is truly clean and free of dirt and debris in order to do the paint correction. 

Why Is This Step So Important? 

Bits of dirt, debris, tar and other contaminants can get caught up in a polisher and wreak havoc on your finish. This is why it’s crucial to take the time to remove all of them before beginning your paint correction process. The removal process also creates a smooth surface which makes for a clean slate for your correction process. Without this, you’re actually risking the entire area that is being worked on – you can make the situation much worse

Once the surface is prepped, the polishing process can begin. A professional technician will have the tools and knowledge to go from removing surface material with a cutting compound to the finest products which refine the finish and remove traces of marks the heavier compounds may have left behind. They will also use special LED or halogen lighting throughout the correction process in order to continually monitor progress throughout the paint correction process. These lights mimic direct sunlight and can show how effectively and thoroughly blemishes have been removed and also 

 Can Deep Scratches And Blemishes Be Removed? 

In some instances, scratches or imperfections may be too deep to remove fully, in which case, your professional technician will work to minimize them as much as possible in order to round off the edges and be less apparent in sunlight. This is also done with polishing products and polishing machines.

Final Steps

Removal of residual oils from the finish is done in order to catch any areas that may need additional polishing attention and also to reveal your vehicle’s beautiful new finish. This is done with isopropyl alcohol. 

Paint correction is a process that starts with a thorough cleaning of a vehicle, removal of bonded debris using automotive clay, and a thorough process of polishing using both polishing compounds with polishing machines.  Once this has been done, any residual oils will be removed with isopropyl alcohol, the surface inspected for areas in need of further attention, and either the steps are repeated or your vehicle is returned to you with it’s shiny, blemish free finish!

The professional technicians at 360 Express Collision & Detailing are expertly trained, only use the highest quality materials and most up-to-date tools to perform these tasks. Come see them today for a free consultation.

Auto Detailing After Summer Fun

Whether you drive a minivan, sports car, custom show vehicle, or a tank, it’s recommended that you get auto detailing done at least twice a year as part of your vehicle maintenance. And one of the better times to get detailing work done by professionals is at the end of the summer. An end-of-summer, back-to-school detail is never a bad idea, after all. 

What makes the detailing difference? A professional detailing is levels up from a regular car wash, providing a white glove service where more care is taken than people imagine resulting in a safe, fresh, clean, and protected look that is unrivaled. 

Prevented by Professional Auto Detailing

When you go to a car wash, you leave the work in the hands of an automated system. Automated washes will create marring which is the light scratches and swirls you see, especially on a black finish in the sunlight shown in this picture. Even when you use a touchless automated wash, the chemicals used are extremely harsh to your vehicle’s finish, which will result in dull unprotected paint, susceptible to the elements. Then for the interior, there is nothing more than a quick once over with a vacuum, and wipe down with towels that have been used on multiple other vehicles that day, spreading germs. With a professional detailing, your vehicle will be good-as-new in its cleanliness, and it will last for a much longer time, too. 

There are more than just superficial benefits to auto detailing. Professional detail jobs will extend the lifetime or resale value of your vehicle through preserving the surfaces such as paint, glass, wheels, plastic, upholstery, and carpets. Professionals meticulously remove substances that will damage the vehicles surfaces, then a protectant is applied which helps guard from the elements and contaminants.  

There are two different types of auto detailing: Interior and exterior. 

A professional interior detailing offers much more than just a vacuuming and wiping down the dashboard. It’s here that the detailers will scrub, brush, steam, shampoo, condition, and vacuum to protect your vehicle and the people in it, while restoring the old glory of that “new car smell”. Your carpets, floor mats, seats, dashboards, and more will all be treated with air-compressors, steam cleaners, and other “surgical” tools to ensure a fresh clean feeling, smell, and look. 

A professional exterior detailing goes above and beyond what you get with a machine wash. The Two-Bucket Hand Wash Method with a mild pH neutral automobile soap is the only right way to wash your vehicle. The process continues with clay barring to remove oxidation, polishing to remove marring or fine scratches, and premium paint sealants are applied to protect the finish, while enhancing shine and depth of your paint. From the smaller details of a tire dressing or immaculate door jams to larger things such as engine cleaning and smooth sleek surface, you’ll notice a night and day difference.

End of summer detailing can be a game-changer for how you view your vehicle maintenance. Preparing your vehicle for the upcoming fall and winter with a strategically-timed detailing can be a big move. Getting a professional detailing every four to six months is the recommended frequency, and will pay off big time in the long run. 

Whether you’re heading back to school or just need to prepare for the fall and winter car-wear, don’t hesitate to reach out to the experts at 360 Express Collision & Detailing for a professional detailing towards the end of this summer so that your vehicle is prepared for the upcoming seasons. 

Preparing For Your Lease Turn-In

End of Lease Inspection

Reaching the end of your lease can be a stressful time or an easy time-it all depends on the crucial few weeks leading up to your turn-in date. You’ve probably driven your leased car for two, maybe three years now, and it’s doubtless the vehicle has gained wear-and-tear throughout your time in it.

It happens, and lease inspectors know this, but they will still get you for a variety of issues, consisting mostly of damage that is either preventable or fixable. This is why it’s important that you prepare for an end of lease inspection in the most thorough way possible. 

It’s better to be safe than sorry in a lease inspection because it’s the leasing company, not you or an objective third party, that will be determining whether you need to pay or not.

 On average, a lease return starts about 90 days before the end of your lease. The leasing company (AKA the “lessor”) contacts you to set up an appointment for inspection. Damage that goes beyond the regular price of repairing wear-and-tear will be paid by you. 

At Time of Inspection

A lease inspection will typically take about 45 minutes. The inspector will record dents, dings, scratches, and scrapes on the exterior are noted, as are cracks and excessive pitting on the windshield and other windows. 

Tire wear and stains/tears on the upholstery are also big in an inspection. Inspectors typically use a computer program to estimate the cost of repairs. 

So, how can you prepare for your inspection so that you pay as little as possible? We recommended you take the car to a professional before, but there are a few important things you can do on your own. 

The first thing you ought to do is check out the manufacturer’s website, which will typically have a page detailing the end-of-lease process, what damage they consider most important, and their criteria. Typically, any damage that exceeds 2” in length or diameter is considered excessive.

You should take the car for an interior & exterior detail  and remove all personal items from it soon before the inspection. Make sure everything that came with the car is there when you return it: keys, floor mats, spare tires, etc. And remove any after-market additions.

We recommend getting your leasing inspection done as early as possible. Knowing what needs to be repaired sooner rather than later gives ample time to make the necessary fixes before the leasing company gets the car back. 

It’s best that you take your car to a professional, like the technicians at 360 Express Collision & Detailing, to examine your car and get it ready for an inspection. Ensuring that repairs are completed prior to inspection will result in you savings hundreds of dollars in end-of-lease fees.