Not sure where to start?

Open a studio's list of services and there they are, side by side: washing, diagnostics, paint correction, ceramic coating, film. The prices differ several times over, everything sounds reasonable, and from that list there is no way to tell what your car needs right now. That is not your fault: the list is ordered by what we do, not by the condition your paint is in.

The outcome depends more on the order in which you approach the car than on which item you tick first. That order has three steps: get clear on what you expect from the car and for how long, have someone show you what state the paint is really in, and only then choose a service.

When you park the car in the sun

Park the car in direct sunlight and look at the bonnet from an angle. On almost every finish, fine swirls and streaks appear that are invisible in the shade. You will see them on a car with a few seasons behind it and on one you collected last week — which is exactly why no service can be chosen by what is visible.

One thing you can tell on your own, though. Run the back of your hand across the cooled bonnet: a rough surface means dirt, and dirt comes off with a wash. If it is smooth and you can still see the swirls, they are in the paint itself and washing will not remove them.

That is where it ends from the outside. Whether paint correction is called for, or whether protecting the surface is enough, depends on how deep the swirls go and how much of the glossy top layer remains beneath them — and that can only be judged at the car.

When you don't know whether you'll keep the car

There is a second thing nobody can read off the bonnet: what you expect from the car. Not in a week, but in a year, in two, in five.

The difference between "I want it to look good now" and "I want it to hold its condition for a long time" is fundamental, and it shapes most of the decisions that follow. A car you are selling in the spring and a car you intend to keep can have the same bonnet and still start in different places.

How those two paths diverge over time is something we describe in Short-term vs. long-term condition.

When you have the paint looked at

Only with that answer does the second step make sense. That is why we at SEVEN Works in Ústí nad Labem recommend starting with paint diagnostics — an inspection that shows the real state of the surface before you begin choosing protection or correction.

A car with a few seasons behind it brings its own history to the inspection. You can see which spot is sensitive and which is resilient, and how the paint responds to ordinary maintenance. You add whether the car stands outside or in a garage and how often it goes through an automatic wash — and there is that much less for us to guess.

A new car does not have that advantage. On an older car, part of the answers has already been given by use; on a new one you are still looking for them. The goal is the same for both: to know the real state of the paint before you order a particular service. What new paint needs straight away, and what there is no point doing to it yet, is in What a new car really needs.

When you want a ceramic coating right away

"Just put a coating on it and I'll have peace of mind." We understand that — protection looks like a clear, quick solution, and on paint that is in good order it is exactly that.

But coatings and film work best once you know what they are meant to protect. Applied to paint with swirls, they seal those swirls underneath and hold that condition for their whole service life. Stripping a layer off and applying it again is work that an inspection at the start would have avoided.

When you are still unsure

Hesitating here is not indecision — that answer cannot be read off a price list.

A start that works does not look like a big decision: you know what you have the car for and for how long, you know what state the paint is in, and you know what the first service will do and what it will not. What usually follows an inspection you will find in the Guide.

Write to us and tell us what car you have and what you expect from it. We will go through it with you, tell you what we see on the paint, and suggest where to start.

Arrange your first step