Danbury Road bay, New Milford
Exterior detail, done in the order the paint needs
Hand Wash, Clay Bar, Clean Wheels & Tires, Clean Brake Calipers, Bug & Tar Removal, Polishing, Hand Waxing and Paint Sealants. Choose any or all.
Chapter 01
What road film, tar and bugs do to paint left on it
Paint does not get dirty the way a window does. Road film is a thin, oily layer of exhaust, brake dust and spray that bonds to the clear coat, and in a Connecticut winter it is mixed with salt that keeps working on every seam and wheel arch. Tar spots and bug splatter are worse: they sit on one patch of the panel, bake in the sun and leave a mark in the finish itself if they stay long enough.
A quick wash at a drive-through takes the loose part and grinds the rest in. The grit that is left drags across the panel, and over a season those lines become the swirls that show up in direct sun. A good exterior detail starts by treating the car as something that can be scratched by its own dirt.
Black BMW with the hood up on a wet wash-bay floor, Danbury Road bay, New Milford
Hand wash, clay bar, then the parts you do not see
At Performance Plus the car is washed by hand, in a private 3,000 sq ft bay off Danbury Road with no public street traffic blowing dust across it. The shop runs hot water pressure washers and commercial grade steam equipment, which is what lets wheels, wheel wells, brake calipers and the undercarriage be cleaned properly instead of rinsed. Those are the places a quick wash skips, and they are where salt and brake dust sit.
After the wash comes the clay bar. Run over a lubricated panel, clay pulls out what washing cannot: embedded fallout, overspray and the tar and bug residue that has grown into the surface. You feel it work. A panel that felt gritty under the hand comes back smooth as glass, and that smooth surface is what wax, sealant or a coating needs to bond to. It is also the honest first step before any polishing.
Because nothing here is sold as a package, you choose any or all of it: hand wash, clay bar, wheels and tires, wheel wells, undercarriage, brake calipers, bug and tar removal, compounding, polishing, hand waxing and paint sealants. A car that only needs a wheel and caliper clean does not pay for a full compound.
Chapter 03
Wax or sealant, and keeping it looking that way
The last layer is the protection. A hand-applied wax gives depth and warmth to the paint and suits an enthusiast who likes to see it come up. A paint sealant is a synthetic layer built to last longer between visits. Either one is a sacrificial coat that takes the road film, the rain and the sun so your clear coat does not.
If the paint has swirls or etching under all that, wax will only make them shiny, so the free in-person consultation covers that first. Where the finish needs more than a wash and a sealant, the answer is usually paint correction, and for protection that lasts for years there are ceramic paint coatings with 1-year, 2-year or 5-year limited warranties.
Afterwards, the best care is boring: wash by hand with clean mitts, keep the wheels clear of brake dust, and bring the car back before the protection is gone, not after. Call (203) 948-2194, leave a voicemail since the shop is loud, and the call is returned. Hours are Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:30pm.
Enthusiast owned and operated since 2006 · 458 Danbury Road, Unit C-12, New Milford · Fully licensed and insured