Two-bucket hand wash
Plus wheels and wheel wells first, with dedicated tools, so brake dust and grit never touch the paint.
Detailing
Ski season
happened in here.
We know.
Interior and exterior detailing built around what mountain vehicles actually go through — salt-stained carpet, wet gear, dog hair, and a winter's worth of road film.
Inside
The part that takes the real beating.
A Summit County vehicle's interior gets treated like gear, because it is. Boots go in wet and covered in mag chloride. Skis and bikes go in dirty. Dogs go in muddy. By April the carpet has a white salt tideline, the driver's floor mat has been soaked and dried thirty times, and there's grit in every seam.
Salt staining isn't dirt sitting on top of the fibers — it's mineral that has soaked in and recrystallized. Vacuuming does nothing to it. It needs to be dissolved with a hot water extraction and pulled back out, often in two passes, then dried properly so it doesn't wick back to the surface as the carpet dries. That last part is where most quick detail jobs fail: the stain looks gone when the carpet is wet and reappears two days later.
Pet hair is its own category of labor. Woven into fabric seats and carpet, it doesn't vacuum out — it has to be lifted with rubber tools and brushes, and on a heavily used vehicle that's an hour or more on its own. We price it honestly rather than pretending it's included.
- Hot water extraction. Carpets, mats and fabric seats. The only thing that actually removes salt staining.
- Leather cleaning and conditioning. Cleaned with a pH-appropriate product, then conditioned — dry mountain air is hard on leather.
- Pet hair removal. Priced separately because it's genuinely a separate job.
- Headliner and trim. Carefully — headliner adhesive and aggressive cleaning are a bad combination.
- Glass, inside and out. Including the inside of the windshield, where the film that fogs at night lives.
- Odor treatment. Source removal first. Ozone or enzyme treatment only when there's an actual reason for it.
Outside
More than a wash.
An exterior detail is a decontamination, not a rinse.
Iron and tar removal
Chemical decontamination pulls embedded brake dust and road tar that a wash leaves behind. This is why paint feels gritty after washing.
Clay treatment
Mechanically lifts what's left bonded to the clear coat. The surface should feel like glass afterward.
Wheels and exhaust tips
Cleaned properly, including the barrels, which is where the corrosive brake dust actually sits.
Trim and plastic restoration
Faded black trim brought back — a genuinely dramatic change on an older vehicle at very little cost.
Protection
A sealant at minimum. Ceramic coating if you want it to last through the winter rather than into it.
Why bother
Two situations where it pays for itself.
Selling or trading. Reconditioning is the first thing a dealer deducts from a trade offer, and they deduct generously. A detailed vehicle photographs better, shows better, and consistently closes higher on a private sale — usually by several times what the detail cost. If you're listing a vehicle this month, do this first, not after it sits unsold for three weeks.
Keeping it. Salt left in carpet keeps attracting moisture all summer. Road film left on paint holds contaminants against the clear coat. Brake dust left on wheels etches into the finish. An annual detail going into spring, after the roads dry out, is genuinely maintenance and not just vanity — it's the same argument as changing your oil.
Questions
Auto Detailing, answered.
How long does a full detail take?
A thorough interior and exterior is most of a day. A heavily soiled vehicle — winter's worth of salt, pet hair, a family's worth of use — can run into a second day. We'd rather quote you accurately and take the time than rush it and hand back something disappointing.
Can you get salt stains out of carpet?
In most cases, yes, with hot water extraction and usually two passes. Very old staining that's been repeatedly soaked and dried over several winters sometimes leaves a shadow. We'll tell you honestly what to expect before we start.
Do you do mobile detailing?
Yes for a lot of it, as long as there's a reasonable space to work. Extraction and anything needing controlled drying goes better at the shop, especially in winter.
What's the difference between a detail and a car wash?
A wash removes what's loose. A detail removes what's bonded — iron particles, tar, salt in fibers, film on glass — and then protects the surface. Different job, different result, different price.
I'm selling my truck. What's worth doing?
A full interior detail, exterior decontamination, trim restoration and wheels. If there are dings, add paintless dent repair. That package typically returns several times its cost in a private sale, and it's what we'd do to our own vehicle before listing it.
Also worth a look
Related services.
Free estimate
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Serving Silverthorne, Frisco, Dillon, Breckenridge, Keystone and the rest of Summit County.