You're standing by your car and something about it doesn't sit right. The paint doesn't shine even freshly washed, swirl marks show up in the sun, and there's a spot on the door you can't tell is dirt or a scratch. Maybe you've just bought the car and want to know its real condition before you take it home. The studio offers washing, polishing, ceramic coating and film, but the range on its own won't tell you what your car actually needs. When you don't know, start with Paint Diagnostics.
What the diagnostic shows
- The paint's real condition, not just how the car looks at a glance.
- What's contamination that will wash off, and what's damage to the surface.
- Whether a defect is only visual or reaches deeper into the paint — that is decided by the paint layers beneath the surface.
- Which next step makes sense, and which treatments your car doesn't need.
What you get from it
We'll explain the paint's condition right there by the car. We'll tell you what you're seeing is contamination and what's a defect, and how much it matters. Then we'll recommend a specific next step, whether that's washing, correction, protection or film, and tell you what its price will depend on.
Depending on the result, it's usually one of these paths:
- A clean is enough. Rough texture and stains that a regular wash won't remove are handled by a thorough wash with residue removal.
- One spot or a few. A scratch or scuff on otherwise good paint is fixed by spot correction of a specific defect.
- Paint has gone dull. Fine swirl marks visible in sunlight are evened out by light paint enhancement.
- Swirls all over the car. When they're visible even under cloud cover, it's time for paint correction.
- You want to protect the paint. Ceramic surface protection and PPF film are applied on top of the paint's current condition and won't hide anything underneath. Diagnostics shows whether the paint can take protection right away or needs correction first.
- The whole car, inside and out. When you also want the interior sorted, the individual steps combine into detailing.
What you'll pay
If you come in just for diagnostics, you pay for it on its own. If you follow up with a booking, its price is deducted from the job's price, so finding out the condition costs you nothing extra. The price of the diagnostic itself depends on the car's size and how detailed a check the paint needs. We'll tell you the price for your car in advance, before we arrange a time.
When you can go straight to a service
If you already know what you want, say fixing one scratch, wrapping the front in film or renewing ceramic, write to us directly about that service. You don't need diagnostics to get started. It's most useful when you're weighing several paths, or want to know the paint's condition before investing in it. How to partly check the paint's condition yourself, and in what order to make decisions about your car, is covered in Not sure where to start.
Write to us about your car
Just the make, model, year and a few sentences about what's bothering you about the paint — for example, that the car is parked outside. A photo of the bonnet or the problem spot in daylight helps. If you'd rather talk, call us, or leave a number in your enquiry and we'll get back to you. We'll arrange a time and tell you what's next right there by the car.