Degailing Shop

[NSX2ner]

Hi, my car has swirl marks and visible scratches, I want to find a good detailing shop in southern california that will leave my cars paint like new at a reasonable price, and what would be a good wax for that wet kind of look.

 

[RedWings]

Hi, my car has swirl marks and visible scratches, I want to find a good detailing shop in southern california that will leave my cars paint like new at a reasonable price, and what would be a good wax for that wet kind of look.

Whichever shop you end up going with...

Pre-inspect your entire vehicle under bright lights in your garage.
Get to really know the condition of your clearcoat/paint before you go to the professionals. Take pictures of scratches. The depth of the scratch dictates whether it can be fixed by a pro detail session versus a visit to a body shop.

Prior to handing over your keys, walk the car with the detailer and have them use a paint depth meter to measure your clear cloat thickness on every panel of the car that they will touch. Write down the locations and depth numbers. After they complete the job, have the detailer re-measure at the same locations and compare the differences, they should be very minor if at all. If they don't have a paint depth meter or refuse the above process, walk away. This process informs everyone and clearly sets expectations and facts before the job begins. If they cop an attitude about this, its your car, not theirs.

Unfortunately, some detailers are too aggressive in their approach to get quick results which leaves your car with an unecessarily thin clearcoat. The less-is-more approach in paint rehab and detailing is widely accepted as the correct professional approach.

The only way to fix severe loss of clearcoat is a visit to an expensive body shop.
This can occur in a matter of seconds with a buffer in the wrong hands.

Give them plenty of time to do the job right and pay them to take their sweet ass time with your car and do the job very well.

Typically, you see the following process:
pre-rinse, wash, claybar, dry, condition assessment, depth measurement, sectioning, taping off, polish/compounding steps as required (less is more approach), glazing, sealant, waxing

...then your follow-on clean up is just detail spray/waterless wash and high end micro-fiber towels without labels and crappy edges. Not all microfiber towels are the same, and many can leave spider-webs and microscratching.

Note that I have not recommended a single brand or type of "goop"

Like many things in life, you get great results from great preparation.
The goop can't solve a scratch, it can only fill it/hide it...

 

[OctaneGuy]

I'm not going to beat around the bush..I am a professional paint polisher and I do have a 3,000sf shop here in northern Orange County, CA. But I've read the rules and so I'm simply responding to the OP as someone who has detailed a few older NSX's and trying to point him in the right direction.

RedWings advice is very true, and I would suggest PMing me or calling me for more information. We sell and teach enthusiasts how to use Prima and Meguiar's as well as offer free tech clinics, so that might be an option for you as well. I believe that if I arm you with the right information, you will make an informed choice about who you can trust to work on your vehicle or at the very least fully understand the choices to proper paint care and maintenance. I spend a lot of time on the forums answering questions and writing for different publications and would be happy to answer any of your questions as well.

Richard Lin