Author Archives: Jim Lafeber

Inspecting car paint scratches under a detailing light before polishing
30
Oct
Ceramic Coatings, Exterior Detailing, Guides & Tips, Matte Car Detailing Basics, Matte Ceramic Coating, Paint Correction, Professional Detailing

Car Paint Scratches? Don’t Be Scared. Here’s What to Do.

Posted on by Jim Lafeber

It’s a dark, stormy night. You walk into the garage to check on your car, but it’s pitch black. The light switch is on the other side of the room.  You stumble around, looking for your inspection light. You feel it on a shelf, grab it, and turn it on.  Then you see it.  A […]

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Ceramic coating product displayed in front of a car
03
Apr
Behind the Detail, Ceramic Coatings, Exterior Detailing, Guides & Tips, Paint Correction, Professional Detailing

Why Ceramic Coatings Fail (And What Actually Makes Them Last)

Posted on by Jim Lafeber

A lot of people are skeptical of ceramic coatings, and I understand why. They’ve been burned before.  Marketing makes ceramic coatings sound impervious. You hear it over and over: “Years of protection!” “9H Hardness!” “Extreme water beading!” And yet six months later, the gloss is gone, the finish is swirled and there’s no water beading […]

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Using a leaf blower to remove water from car paint without touching the surface
23
Oct
Ceramic Coatings, Exterior Detailing, Guides & Tips, Professional Detailing

How to Dry Your Car With a Leaf Blower

Posted on by Jim Lafeber

It’s fall, which means a lot of people are pulling their leaf blowers out of the garage. If you already have one for clearing leaves off your driveway, there’s another job I’d encourage you to try it on. Here’s how to dry your car with a leaf blower, and why it might be a better […]

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Wheel Woolies, wheel brushes,
04
Sep
Behind the Detail, Featured, Garage & Equipment

Braun Brush – An Interview With The CEO of a 140 Year Old Company, Lance Cheney

Posted on by Jim Lafeber

Current Braun Brush CEO and successful sculptor, Lance Cheney, says his company has thrived for 140 years because every generation has brought their own spin to the company. His great-grandfather brought the art of brush making from Germany to America. His grandfather brought an entrepreneurial spirit that built the business during the vulnerable start-up years […]

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Cloudy streaky windshield winter that needs windshield ceramic coating
16
Oct
Behind the Detail, Ceramic Coatings, Guides & Tips, Professional Detailing

Why Windshield Ceramic Coatings Matter More in Winter

Posted on by Jim Lafeber

Think of the last time you drove behind a truck on a wet winter road. A burst of dirty road spray hit your windshield, so you turned up the wipers and used more washer fluid. That makes sense. You needed a clear view, and that’s what the wipers are for. But how well they clear […]

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Safely removing stubborn contamination from car paint using chemical decontamination
09
Oct
Guides & Tips, Paint Correction, Professional Detailing

Why Chemistry Should Come Before Scrubbing Your Paint

Posted on by Jim Lafeber

When something is stuck to your paint, most people have the same instinct: scrub harder. I understand why. You wash the car, the contamination is still there, so the natural reaction is to apply more pressure, grab something more aggressive or start scraping. In detailing, that is often exactly the wrong direction to go. One […]

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Comparison of 1-year, 3-year, 5-year and lifetime ceramic coating durability
02
Oct
Ceramic Coatings, Exterior Detailing, Guides & Tips, Matte Car Care, Matte Ceramic Coating, Professional Detailing

1-Year vs. 3-Year vs. 5-Year vs. Lifetime Ceramic Coatings: What’s the Real Difference?

Posted on by Jim Lafeber

Shop for a ceramic coating and you’ll quickly run into a confusing set of choices: 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, lifetime. It’s easy to assume a 5-year coating must be five times better than a 1-year coating, or that “lifetime” means your paint will stay protected forever. It isn’t that simple. The […]

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Water spots and mineral deposits on car paint after summer
25
Sep
Ceramic Coatings, Exterior Detailing, Guides & Tips, Paint Correction, Professional Detailing

Why Your Car Is Covered in Water Spots After Summer

Posted on by Jim Lafeber

Summer Leaves Evidence Behind Every September, we see the same thing at the shop. A customer brings in a car they have washed faithfully all summer. It looks clean from ten feet away, but under proper lighting we see rings across the hood, cloudy patches on the roof and a roughness on the trunk lid […]

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Lovebug residue covering a car's front end during Florida lovebug season
18
Sep
Guides & Tips, Matte Car Detailing Basics, Matte Car Washing, Professional Detailing

Lovebug Season in Florida: What Bugs Actually Do to Your Paint

Posted on by Jim Lafeber

If you’ve driven through Florida during lovebug season, you already know the drill. A few miles on the highway and the front of a clean car turns into a mess of black insect remains across the bumper, mirrors, hood, grille and windshield. During a heavy season it can feel pointless to even bother, because they’re […]

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urfactant Chemistry: How the Right Cleaner Matches the Soil
10
Sep
Guides & Tips, Interior Detailing, Professional Detailing

Lab Notes: Surfactant Class Alone Doesn’t Tell You What a Cleaner Is Good At

Posted on by Jim Lafeber

In the piece on why one interior cleaner can’t clean every stain, I made the case that strength is the wrong axis to think about. The real variable is chemistry matched to soil. That piece stayed at the practical level on purpose. This one goes underneath it, into the formulation chemistry that actually explains why […]

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