Exterior Detailing & Paint Protection
An exterior detail is a proper wash and decontamination of the outside of your car, paint, wheels, glass, plastic trim and tyres, finished with a spray coating or sealant that shields the paint for months, not days. It's the service for people who care what their car looks like but don't want to hand-wash it every weekend.
It suits daily drivers coming out of a Canberra winter, weekend cars stored between drives, and anyone who wants their paint protected before ceramic coating becomes worth it.
Canberra paint takes a beating between May and September. Frost burns tree sap into the clear coat, salted mountain roads throw grit up onto the sills, and iron dust from the brake pads bonds to the panels every time you drive. By spring, the paint feels gritty to the touch and looks a shade duller than it did last summer. An exterior detail strips all of that out.
We start with a pre-wash snow foam that clings to the panels for a few minutes and lifts the loose grit off before anything touches the paint. Wheels, arches and tyres are washed first with a dedicated wheel cleaner and their own mitt so we're not dragging brake dust across the bodywork. Then a two-bucket hand wash with a soft microfibre mitt and pH-neutral shampoo, one bucket for clean water, one for rinse, grit guards in both.
Once the car is visually clean, we chemically decontaminate. An iron remover is sprayed on and turns purple as it dissolves bonded brake dust. A tar remover takes off any bitumen from the lower panels. If needed, we clay-bar the whole car to pull out embedded contamination the chemicals didn't get. At that point the paint should feel like glass.
The car is dried with plush microfibres and a filtered air blower so we're not dragging moisture across the paint. Finally we apply a spray-on Si02 coating or a paint sealant, depending on your budget and how long you want protection to last. Tyres get a satin dressing (no shiny plastic look), and the glass is polished and treated with a hydrophobic sealant so rain beads and runs off.
The result: paint that stays cleaner between washes, water that beads and rolls off, and a finish that photographs like the car's just come out of the dealer wash bay.
We come to you in Canberra
Imperium Detailing is a fully mobile service. We bring the gear, the product and the manpower, you just need to make sure a couple of basics are ready when we arrive.
- Access to water, an outdoor tap we can hook a hose to.
- Access to power, a standard 240V power point within reach.
Common questions
Isn't this just an expensive car wash?+
No. A regular wash cleans loose dirt off the surface. An exterior detail chemically strips bonded contamination, iron fallout from brake dust, road tar, tree sap and industrial pollutants, that a wash can't touch, then puts a protection layer on top. You'll feel the difference on the paint straight away; it should be glassy-smooth, not gritty.
How often should I get one done?+
For most Canberra daily drivers, every 4 to 6 months. If you park outside under trees or drive a lot on country roads, closer to every 3 months. Between details, a normal wash is enough as long as the protection layer is still active.
Will this remove scratches and swirl marks?+
An exterior detail cleans and protects but does not correct paint defects. Swirls, wash marring and light scratches need paint correction, machine polishing with a compound and pad. If your paint has visible defects, we'll flag it on inspection and give you a correction option.
Book your detail.
Tell us about your vehicle and we'll come back with availability and a fixed quote, usually within a few hours.