Tesla Maintenance Grooming in Auckland
There’s a certain enjoyment in washing your own car and transforming that dull, dirty paint into a shiny, well-loved glow that you are now proud to show off! A quick water blast or a slow and thoughtful clean; either will have your Tesla looking sleek and shiny again!
There’s a big problem with this though: traditional cleaning methods are actually quite damaging to most cars. Run of the mill sponges, brushes and cleaning solutions can and usually do cause slight scratching and swirling on your Tesla’s beautiful paint coat. This becomes even worse if you’ve invested in some kind of coating or wrap: you’ll be scratching away at this while also breaking down the very protection you put in place!
Note the shiny gloss and lack of swirls or scratching! This is because this Model 3 has a Ceramic and Hydrophobic coating: keeping it protected, shiny, and easy to clean!
If you own a Model 3, you’re probably already aware that your vehicles paint is unfortunately ‘soft’. The difference between soft and hard paint is noticeable through the swirls or fine scratches throughout your cars body, which is caused every time you wash and dry your car. Even with the best washing techniques and products, light swirls may still appear. With soft paint it is vital to be more cautious through the washing and drying steps.
On the flip side, with a coated and protected car, this routine wash becomes a quicker and easier job as contaminates and dirt fall off the car easier from the hydrophobic coating qualities, while retaining its high gloss levels for years. If you want to keep your brand new car looking new, this is how to do it!
Even if you bring your car to us straight from the the dealership, there’s a high chance it will need to be paint corrected before applying any form of protection, as we have seen love marks, scuffs and light swirls in the paint even before a new Tesla has had its first wash. The washes/wipe downs that dealerships give their cars to keep them shiny can leave scratches and swirls, so it’s actually really important to get rid of these as soon as possible, especially before applying any protective coatings.
Here’s what we do to reset, coat and protect your car for life:
The First step we take is to give your Tesla a proper wash and decontamination to remove any tar, iron filings, grime, glue residue or bird droppings that may have landed on the car through transportation and storage. This includes a pressure wash, decontamination foam, soap wash, iron remover spray and clay bar over the entire paint work.
Using the right foam, sponges and water pressure is incredibly important! Otherwise, you risk swirls, scratches and other paint damage.
The Second step is to dry the vehicle and inspect all the surfaces with our lights for us to gauge the paints quality and if there’s any areas that may need a two-step approach of correction followed by refinement.
The Third step is to tape all exterior plastics and rubber for the paint correction stage, since our pads may touch these areas and the compound will create a white mark that is very hard to remove, so the best technique is to mask all concerning areas to eliminate that risk.
The Fourth step is to do a test spot to gauge the effectiveness of removing the imperfections and scratches while providing a high gloss finish. We always start with a fine polishing pad and compound as we want to avoid cutting too aggressively, as we would be removing an excess amount of clear coat from your car that’s not needed without the ability to add the clear coat back.
The Fifth step once we find a combination that works well for the paint of your car, we work around the car, correcting the paint one panel at a time, always checking our work with the lights and cleaning out the pads regularly. Sometimes we swap pads as there may be some deeper scratches in certain areas which we need a slightly more aggressive combination.
This Model 3 has already had the above treatment, so you can see how clean, even and unmarked or swirled the paint is here across the entire panel
The Sixth step, once the whole car is corrected, is to remove the polish and any oils remaining on the paint to prep the car for its coating.
The Seventh step is to apply the first layer of Ceramic Coating one small section at a time. Making sure to level the coating before it starts to set, we work in small sections as the Tesla ceramic coating flashes time is only a few minutes.
The Eighth step: once the body has been fully coated with ceramic, we start back at the first panel after 1-2 hours of cure time to apply a layer of our Hydrophobic Coating. This has a slightly longer flash time so we can do a whole panel at a time before we need to level the coating with our buffing cloths.
The Ninth step is to repeat the hydrophobic step again, as the ceramic coating only needs 1 coat while the hydrophobic coating works best with a second coat to provide a total of 3 levels of coatings to your vehicle.
The Tenth step is to check over the vehicle to ensure we haven’t missed any high spots in the coating and then leave the coatings to cure for 24 hours.
The end product? A shiny, glossy, hyper-protected car that looks amazing!!
Ceramic coatings are the newest evolution in Tesla paint protection technology. Compared to a traditional wax or sealant, ceramic and hydrophobic coatings are so much more durable! They’re also glossier and shinier, and thanks to the Hydrophobic coating repelling water, it makes it so much easier to wash and maintain too.
These coatings will last years with proper washing and maintenance, while keeping your car looking newer for longer!
At A&M Detailing we recommend getting our coating package applied to your Tesla as your first step, followed by our 3-weekly maintenance grooms. The coating package is the 10 steps mentioned above, which entails a Tesla ceramic coating followed by a double hydrophobic coating. The cost for both coatings is around $1,100. This is the cheapest and arguably most powerful way to protect your car long term! Compared to wraps and other services out there, this is a dream. And what we' doubly love about the Model 3 and these coatings is how damn good they look!
We chose 3 weeks as a baseline for us coming to visit your home for your regular maintenance groom, since this is a generally good spacing of time to reduce the risk in getting swirls and fine scratches over your car, while keeping the inside fresh and exterior topped up with a hydrophobic finisher that covers your glass, paint and wheels.
Our maintenance grooms use safe ph neutral soaps and safe washing techniques to help maintain the coating while detailing the interior each time to keep the synthetic leathers and plastics clean. Even if you don’t have your car coated we still recommend getting your car maintenance washed by us if you want to keep your car looking as new as possible. If the car has not been coated, maintenance washes are the only thing protecting your car from the harsh elements. You will need to get your car maintenance groomed more regularly to stop harsh elements like bird droppings, acid rain, road grim from etching into the clear coat. Our maintenance grooms do come with a hydrophobic finisher that does provide a bit of Tesla paint protection and water beading properties for a couple of months.
We’re flexible with our timing too; so if you’ve just gotten back from a road trip or just need your Tesla looking beautiful for a certain occasion, we’ll happily accommodate! No matter if you are looking for Tesla Model 3 detailing services or just wondering where to find the best Tesla Model 3 wrap near you, we are here to help keep your car in perfect condition and looking amazing!
The best thing you can do for your Tesla is let us take care of it!