Car Detailing & Valeting FAQs | Detailed Ltd

Mostly: black or very dark metallic paint, or paint that's been neglected for years. Deep scratches you can clearly feel with a fingernail, heavy holograms from previous bad polishing, severe oxidation, or extensive marring across all panels. If 2-Stage gets to 95% defect removal, 3-Stage gets to 99–100% with a deeper gloss as well. We'll always tell you honestly which level your paint actually needs.

Dark paint magnifies every imperfection. Swirl marks that would never show on a silver car are glaring on jet black. Holograms from previous polishing catch every light angle. The micro-marring left after a 2-Stage cut and refine is invisible on most colours but visible on dark metallics — which is exactly what the jewelling pass eliminates. Lighter coloured cars rarely need 3-Stage; dark coloured cars often do.

Jewelling is a final ultra-fine polishing pass using the softest pad and the finest polish. It doesn't really "correct" anything — by the time we reach jewelling, the defects are gone. What it does is maximise gloss, clarity and depth. The paint goes from corrected to mirror-finish. It's the difference between "no swirls" and "show-car".

Each polishing stage needs separation time, multi-angle inspections happen on cooled paint between stages, and compressing the work loses the precision that justifies the price. Most customers drop off morning of day 1 and collect end of day 3. Concours-level work requires concours-level patience.

The correction itself is permanent — defects don't come back unless re-introduced by poor washing. The high-gloss finish stays beautiful for 6–12 months with sensible washing before a top-up sealant helps. But 3-Stage results are particularly noticeable when they degrade, because it's the dark/prestige paint that benefited from them most. Strong recommendation: pair with a long-warranty Wax Is Dead® ceramic to make this level of correction worth the investment.

Almost always yes — and we'd specifically suggest the 10-year Ultimate at this tier. You've invested in concours-level paint correction; leaving it unprotected and washing with consumer products will undo it within months. Ceramic packages bundle the correction and coating at slightly better value than booking separately. For 3-Stage customers, anything less than a 5-year coating undersells the work.

Some paint can't be corrected — clear coat failure, deep panel scratches into the basecoat, or paint that's already been corrected aggressively in the past with no safe clear coat remaining. We'll tell you on photo assessment or paint-thickness inspection if that's the case. In those situations, your options are localised respray or accepting the paint as it is. We won't book 3-Stage if the result isn't going to be there.