Measure. Agree. Correct. Protect. Hand it back with the paper.

You describe it. We do not quote it.

A phone call or the form, and what we want to hear is unglamorous: how it is washed, whether it lives outside, whether anything has been painted, whether anyone has polished it before, and what is actually bothering you. “It looks dull in the sun” and “there is a scratch on the door” are two entirely different jobs. Nobody gives you a number on that call, because nobody has seen the readings yet.

The car arrives dirty, and stays that way for twenty minutes

We walk it first, in daylight and then under a hand-held inspection light, before the dirt comes off. Dust and road film hide some defects and exaggerate others, and it is useful to see the car as you see it. Existing dents, chips, a repaint someone forgot to mention, a cracked lens, a wheel that has met a curb — all of it gets noted before we touch anything, so nothing becomes an argument later.

Wash, decontaminate, then the gauge

Wheels and arches first, because they are the filthiest thing on the car and everything that comes off them lands on paint. Then a proper contact wash, iron remover, tar, and clay. Only now is the surface clean enough for a paint depth gauge to read the film build rather than the dirt on top of it. Eleven or twelve panels, three readings each, averaged and written down.

The gauge is the moment the day is decided. Consistent 110–130 and the whole car is available. One panel at 78 and that panel is off the table for cutting no matter what was discussed on the phone.

A test section, and then a conversation

One small area, a chosen pad and polish, one pass, wiped down and inspected. That test tells us what the paint will actually give up: some clear coats are hard and stubborn, some are soft enough that a heavy pad leaves its own haze, and no two makes behave the same. Then we call you, tell you what is achievable, what is not, and what we would leave alone.

This is where you get told to spend less than you offered to. It happens most weeks.

Correction, panel by panel, checked under light

Cut where it is warranted, refine after every cut, and check each panel from three angles before moving on. Filling is not correcting: a glaze full of oils can make a panel look flawless for about three washes, and then the swirls come back exactly as they were because they never left. Anything we cannot remove within the depth available gets reduced and reported, not hidden.

Panel wipe, coat, and leave it alone overnight

A dedicated panel wipe strips the polishing oils so the coating bonds to clear coat and not to residue. Coating goes on in small sections and is leveled before it flashes, under a light angled to show high spots — a missed high spot is a rainbow smear that has to be polished off, which spends clear coat for no reason at all. Then the bay closes and the car cures without dew or dust settling on it.

You collect it, and you collect the report

The readings, the work performed, and anything declined and why. Keep it. If you sell the car it is evidence of what was done to the paint; if somebody else works on it later, it tells them how much clear coat is left before they choose a pad. It is the most useful piece of paper a detailer can give you and almost nobody gives it.