Experience Professional Car Polishing & Detailing Services in Cape Town by ProTouch since 2006!
ProTouch Car Care provides comprehensive, precision paint correction and personalised car detailing in Cape Town.
Unlike standard car washes or detailers with fixed one-sized fits all packages, we provide a bespoke service tailored to your vehicle’s specific needs, your expectations, and your budget. This approach ensures the best possible results without disappointment or regrets.
Paint Correction Polishing & Detailing
We offer three levels of corrective polishing to address common paint conditions. These all include standard detailing services, all of which can be tailored to suit you and your car’s specific needs.
All packages include the following standard details:
Washing & Cleaning:
- Pre treat for bugs and traffic film i.e. road oils – this may be sprays or a foam pre soak or snow foam depending on vehicle dirtiness.
- Wheel & Exhaust Cleaning:
- We dedicate up to 20 minutes to thoroughly clean these areas using appropriate chemical-based cleaners and brushes.
- Optional Wheels Off Detail: If your wheels are very dirty, we suggest a “wheels-off” detail. This service starts from R1500, depending on the vehicle’s size, condition, and your chosen protection method—either wheel sealant (lasting about 6 months) or ceramic coating (more durable but pricier).
- Foam up shampoo and Hand Wash
- In our basic level of detailing we just do a wash.
- Advanced Cleaning Detail
- If your vehicle has dirt in crevices, seams, rubber trim, seals, door jambs, or grilles, we suggest adding an hour or more of extra cleaning. We use detail brushes, cotton buds, picks, and specialized cleaners for this service, starting at R350 per hour.
- Extra time is especially beneficial for cars that have undergone spray painting and panel beating, leaving residue everywhere, as well as for neglected or long-standing vehicles.
- Interior: Vacuum and wipe down – we spend approximately 20-30
- Advanced Interior Detailing: We offer additional interior detailing options, ranging from an extra hour to our comprehensive valeting and detailing packages. These services can take anywhere from 4 hours to 4 days, depending on your requirements.
Paint Decontamination:
- 30-40 min Clay for decontamination
- The above is sufficient for cars that aren’t rough to the touch or visibly contaminated.
- Advanced Decontamination:
- If there’s excessive iron fallout (which will appear as brown/reddish spots) or if the car feels very rough, adding an iron remover (R250) and/or more clay time (R250 per 30 minutes) will be beneficial.
- For tar, tree sap, cement, or paint splatter, we need to test an area first to calculate the time and products required before providing a quote.
- Final wash and rinse: Removes the released contamination away from the paint surface.
- Dry with a microfiber towel and apply a detailing spray to ensure the paint is clean and primed for polishing.
Pre polishing inspection
Defect Check:
Before we begin polishing, we inspect your car as thoroughly as possible identifying defects such as deep scratches and paint damage. We inform you of any notable issues with your vehicle’s condition.
Test Polishing:
For our one- and two-step corrections, we perform test spots to determine the most optimal polishing combination for maximum results.
Polishing and Protection:
- Paintwork Polishing: We polish the paintwork accordingly to remove scratches and enhance gloss according to the chosen level.
- Protection: We include as standard a 1 year ceramic sealant.
- Optional: upgrade to ceramic coating (better than sealant)
- Headlights and Taillights: These are lightly polished with a combined cleaner and protectant polish for presentation purposes, not for full restoration.
- Door Jambs and Sills: Depending on the car’s condition, we either quick-detail these areas with a QD-type spray product or hand-polish them to clean and protect (not for scratch removal).
Final detailing
- Tyres and exterior plastic trim dressed with water-based dressing
- Wheels quick detailed
- This step is primarily for neatness and detail. A quick detailer is a liquid spray that cleans, shines, and offers short-term protection (not equal to dedicated sealants or coatings).
- Advanced Detail:
- If you’ve chosen the wheel-off detail option, we polish and/or apply ceramic sealant or coating for enhanced detail and protection.
- We can also do a hand polish and/or ceramic sealant or coating of the wheel face only while it’s on the car for extra shine and protection. (This is not as effective as wheels-off detailing due to accessibility)
- Glass cleaned inside and out
- Advanced Detail: we can polish and apply a rain-repellent sealant or coating to either just the windscreen or all glass surfaces.
- Vehicle bodywork inspected with a quick detailer, including door jambs
- Sunroof opened and wiped out
- Engine bay:
- Basic Detail thats included: Bonnet lifted and wiped cleaned around fender seams, wiper cowl, and front area (above headlights, latch area, and in front of radiator) to remove any polishing residue.
- Optional: Engine Bay Cleaning: Top only, using waterless cleaners and degreasers applied by hand with detailing brushes for agitation and air-based tools. We never use high-pressure sprays directed over the engine.
- Deodoriser spray applied (choice of scent by Autoglym or unscented)
If your require more detail in any of these areas, it would be best to inspect your car in person so we can quote accurately.
Regarding polishing—whether that’s Enhancement, One-Step, or Two-Step correction—we provide descriptions below to help you match your vehicle’s condition to the most appropriate polishing level that you may need. However, a pre-inspection is definitely more efficient and precise in determining the level of correction needed. During a pre-inspection we can polish a small test spot to show you what the results will look like so you are better informed. Our concern is that clients doesn’t book the wrong thing that they may be disappointed with and regret!
If a pre-inspection isn’t possible we can inspect your vehicle at the time of booking to confirm the expected results.
PLEASE NOTE: A visual pre-inspection is free! Our goal with pre-inspections is to provide precise recommendations and ensure you book a service that meets your expectations, leaving you fully satisfied.
If necessary, we also offer more advanced correction techniques like paint measurement and sanding, as well as paint repairs.
Regarding our standard paint protection and protecting other exterior (or interior) surfaces, like plastics, glass or wheels, etc, we offer a wide range of ceramic coatings to meet various requirements and budgets.
We use top-of-the-line premium detailing products and equipment such as RUPES Bigfoot and FLEX to consistently deliver optimal results!
In picture: Rupes rotary polisher & FLEX detailing light
Enhancement Polish
When someone refers to a “polish”, it means an Enhancement in the most technical context. An Enhancement polish is a “maintenance-level” polishing service that can be performed regularly, as it doesn’t cut or reduce paint like more intensive paint correction methods do.
An Enhancement offers:
- 50% or greater improvement in scratches and swirls (depending on paint hardness and at what distance, lighting and angle you look at your car)
- Enhanced gloss and shine
- Basic preparation for ceramic coatings
Also known as gloss enhancement or paint enhancement, this service is ideal for:
- New vehicles
- Paintwork in excellent condition
- Preparation for ceramic coatings
- Thin paint layers
- Revitalising tired looking and performing ceramic coatings
Pricing & Time
- Sedan: from R2,000 (from 6 man hours)
- SUV: from R3000 (from 8 man hours
One-Step Paint Correction
This method uses a single polishing combination to perform both compounding and polishing steps. It can correct 80-95% of surface defects on original paintwork with moderate hardness.
Aim:
To make your car’s paint appear flawless when viewed in sunlight from 2 meters away.
Ideal for:
- Removing light to deeper clear coat scratches and swirls (not felt with fingernail)
- Enhancing gloss and depth of shine
- Restoring paint clarity
- Most daily drivers
Pricing & Time
- Sedan: from R3,000 (from 7 man hours)
- SUV: from R4000 (from 9 man hours)
Two-Step Paint Correction
A two-step paint correction is where two different polishing combinations are done on your car’s paint. In a one-step correction a polishing combination is limited to a pad and polish and specific polishing machines, whereas with our two step it can vary with different polishing machines. So in this regard This service provides the best possible correction and shine achievable through polishing methods.
It’s great for fixing deep problems in the clear coat, like deep scratches, swirls, and etching. It works especially well on dark-coloured paint or very hard or soft clear coats, where getting a perfect finish needs more work.
Aim:
Our aim is to make your car look flawless, even when you look closely (within 0.5 meters) under detailing lights within a detail studio setting. This tends to be more critical and revealing than sunlight.
Pricing & Time
- Sedan: from R4000 (9 man hours)
- SUV: from R5000 (11 man hours)
Beyond Paint Correction Polishing: Sanding
Two-step corrective polishing is our most intensive polishing service.
When it isn’t enough, we recommend a multi-step correction process that includes:
- Measuring paint thickness to determine how much paint there is to work with safely
- Sanding the affected areas
- Typically finishing with a two-step corrective polishing
Sanding for the purposes of deep scratch and defect removal offers greater precision, efficiency, and safety than polishing alone. It’s less stressful on the paint to sand and then polish because of the heat generated during polishing. Polishing can cause temporary swelling due to friction of the pad on the paint, leading to “false correction”—where the paint looks good initially but scratches and swirls “reappear” after the paint cools and is washed. Sanding also avoids potential discolouration, milkiness, or paint burning.
Sanding techniques can also address texture issues like orange peel from respraying, or dirt (nibs) or fish-eyes in the paint from the factory or respray processes.
If sanding and polishing combined can’t resolve damage or paint defects, such as very deep scratches, paint repairs become necessary.
We provide various paint repair options, including touch-up, spot repairs, or full panel treatments.
Additional Car Detailing Services
For a truly customised experience, we offer the following extra car detailing services that can be added on to you detail.
Engine Bay Cleaning: from R350
Always done “waterless,” never with high pressure over the engine and sensitive areas.
Paint Thickness Measurement: R450 per report
- This process measures the total paint thickness over metal surfaces, guiding our polishing and sanding techniques to prevent paint damage.
- Pricing: R450 per report, we will quote where we need to do continuous measurements.
Wheels-Off Detail:
- We remove the wheels for thorough cleaning, allowing better access to the wheel arches, brake calipers, and hard-to-reach areas.
- From R1500 (depends on vehicle size, condition, and protection (ceramic sealant vs )
Advanced Cleaning & Detail: From R350 per hour
- This is extra cleaning and detailing time for cars that need extra or deeper cleaning.
- It focuses on hard-to-reach areas like gaps, edges, rubber parts, and door openings that normal washing doesn’t get to.
- We use detail brushes, air tools, cotton swabs, picks, Steel wool, and professional detailing cleaners, polishes and protectants
- Convertibles, Vinyl tops
- Chrome polishing
- Exhaust polishing: Typically includes the use of metal polish and superfine-grade (00000) steel wool to remove dirt, carbon, and discolouration, resulting in a shiny, polished finish.
Advanced Decontamination:
- Iron Remover: From R250 for 500ml of product
- Additional Clay Time: R250 per 30 minutes
- Water spotting or marks, tar, cement, paint splatter, or tree sap removal: Quoted on inspection
- Sanding: to remove deep clear coat scratches, dust, fish eyes and texture (orange peel etc)
- Paint repairs: touchups, spot or full panel respraying
- Black trim re-dye and restoration
- Headlight Restoration: For the restoration of headlight outer lenses affected by fading, scratches, pitting, and surface crazing. This service does not include the inside of the light or glass lenses.
- Click here to visit our headlight restoration page
- Removal of trim, badges, and other parts for enhanced detailing
GLOSSARY
In this section, we explain terms and answer commonly asked questions that should ideally be understood when deciding on paint correction.
What is Paint Correction?
Paint correction is a part of the overall detailing process.
Paint Correction is the detailing industries term for polishing & buffing, and sanding as required, to remove or improve scratches, swirls and other paint surface/clear coat defects (Stage 1 of correction) and to refine and increase gloss or shine (Stage 2 of correction).
Think of a stage as a “reason” for polishing. We may also mention steps in the subject of paint correction. Steps relates to how much polishing work is to be done and the process/method/combination used.
By definition paint correction does not include paint repair, which we happen to also provide. It’s just important to distinguish the difference.
The deeper the scratches, swirls and other types of defects, as well as how hard the paint is, the more corrective polishing steps is required.
Paint is very thin. When we work with paint we use the micron measurement. Which is 1/1000th of a mm. As a reference point, the average human hair is 80 microns. As car examples go, BMWs are coming in new with less than a 100 microns and Suzukis less than 70.
It must be remembered that you cant polish all of the paint thickness. You can only polish the clear coat. While not a general rule, clear coat is 50% of the total paint system. So if the paint from factory is 100microns we can assume that the clear is approximately 50microns. Of which the first 20-25% percent of the top most of the clear is where your UV protection reside. Not the entirety of the clear coat. In this regard that makes it approximately 10 to 12 microns of the top of the clear that can be technically polished before you’ve removed the factory UV protection.
So lets get a further perspective, our own measured average is 5 microns paint or more specifically clear coat layer reduction for a two step process. This is enough to remove light, medium scratches and swirls and other similar depth defects. Anything that can be felt with your fingernail, considered deep, could be improved but not safely at any rate removed if you are considering that UV factor. If of course you are seeing the base colour, primer, metal, rust or the colour of the base bodywork like plastic etc, there is zero paint there to polish! It will need a respray or maybe touch up.
This is why paint protection is important. The thicker the better. PPF is king at 150-200microns thick, but eye watering expensive. An entire car can be from R35000 and the front can be from R12000. Ceramic coatings goes from 0.3microns, from R750, up to 10microns at best at R25000. Waxes and sealants, whether they contain ceramic or not, is very thin. Even if they were very thick, a bit or all of it washes off each time you are washing or its exposed to rain.
When considering all of these points, it becomes important to ensure that you are entrusting your vehicle to an expert. Protouch Car Care has been in business since 2006, with an experienced, trained, and certified team.
What is Detailing?
Detailing refers to both the overall car care process and the level of thoroughness applied to each step of the process.
The overall detail process consists of four major steps:
- Washing and cleaning
- Decontamination
- Polishing (i.e., correction, buffing, glazing or enhancement)
- Protection
Each of these steps could be done as simple as can be or as detailed as you want based on it’s condition, or you. (Your expectation and requirements, like how it must look, budget and time)
How much paint correction polishing do you need?
This graphic, courtesy of Labocosmetica, gives you a guide to the most common car defects, their depth penetrating into the clear coat layer of your paint, and the level of correction required to fix them.
It’s best that we inspect your car in person to be precise of what your car needs and to discuss your goals. Everyone has a different perception. What may appear as a light scratch to you may actually be deep relative to the paint.
When working with paint, we use microns as our measurement. A micron is 1/1000th of a millimeter! The average car paint thickness is 100 microns, while the average human hair is 80 microns!
The amount of paint correction polishing required depends on factors such as; the depth and number of defects, (i.e. scratches, swirls, etching, etc), and the paint’s hardness. Colour is also a factor. Light colours like white, silver, etc you can get away with Level 1 or 2 where Dark colours
Your expectations of what it should look like, they way you look at your car, for example viewing distance, lighting and angle are also important consideration factors.
You should also consider that the overall detail, that is the level of washing, cleaning, decontamination, and protection can be different from car to car. In this regard, we include a maintenance wash level of detail and 30 minutes of clay work, for each of our base packages and adjust to the condition of the car and clients requirements.
The ProTouch Process Of Paint Correction
The following shows the overall paint correction polish the Protouch way. Each step itself has multiple procedural steps or detail that isn’t discussed here.
#ThisIsDetail
Pre Inspection:
We offer a free visual pre-inspection before you book our services. During this inspection, we’ll examine your car with you and, if you are doing polishing only or require extreme decontamination, perform a test spot.
This pre-inspection process helps you see the potential results for yourself, and allows us to provide an accurate quote with detailed feedback, and helps sets realistic expectations for the service. It promotes transparency and enables you to make informed decisions about your car’s needs.
For more deeper inspections that requires your car to be washed, paint thickness measurements taken, and photo/video documentation, a charge would apply.
In the following photos you can see our test spot and the difference it makes on the bonnet bottom left and untouched ares to the right.
Exterior Washing
Our polishing and detailing process begins with washing and cleaning the exterior of your vehicle. The level of detail depends on the package you choose:
- Standard: A simple maintenance wash.
- Advanced: More thorough cleaning, including the engine bay top area. We use specialised tools like brushes, cotton buds, picks, toothbrushes, steamers, and air tools to reach into seams, mouldings, and rubbers.
- Ultimate: Includes wheels-off detailing for the most comprehensive clean.
After the initial wash, we perform a decontamination process using clay. For advanced or ultimate levels, we also include an iron remover treatment. Regardless of the detail level, we always follow up with a second wash.
The final detailing may involve additional washing, depending on the chosen detail level.
Detailed Inspection before corrective polishing:
Before we start polishing, we conduct a thorough inspection of your car in our dedicated correction studio, using professional lighting, tools and techniques to closely examine your paint. During this process, we take photos and videos of any issues we see, which we send to you.
This is done after washing and decontamination when the car is at its cleanest and before we begin polishing.
Paint Thickness Measurements:
Paint Thickness Measurements measurements are necessary and included when we do sanding, we can optionally take paint thickness measurements at a pre-inspection to help decide how much correction should be done or perhaps if you buying a car and want it evaluated.
It is included if you take our Ultimate level of detailing. Optional on Standard and Advanced.
Test Spots
Polishing out test spots can help you, the customer, decide which level of polishing is best. That is generally done at a pre-inspection before booking or it can be done when you bring it for a booking.
We do further test spots when we start working on your car to dial in the optimal combination of pad, polish, and machine for maximum results!
It also helps us plan out our correction so our team knows what to do and who should be doing it and when.
This means you get the most optimised, consistent, efficient, and maximum results no matter the level of correction or detail we doing for you!
Paint Correction Polishing
The actual correction work begins now! Throughout the correction process, we will keep you updated on what we are observing, including before and after results.
Depending on the level you have chosen, we will use different equipment, techniques and products to correct the defects in your paint to its fullest potential.
We have a range of machines available, ranging in size from 8″ down to 1″ as well as flex shaft cone polishers for tricky areas. These machines allow us to access small spaces give you the best up close detail possible. We also have machines with different movements, such as rotary, forced rotation, long and short Dual Action machines, and even dual-headed machines.
Some of the equipment brands we use include the best of RUPES Bigfoot, FLEX Power tools, Cyclo, and Shinemate to name a few.
Studio check:
A final check is done in studio under detail lighting.
Sun Check:
We do a final check in the sunlight to ensure everything looks perfect.
Handover:
When we hand the car back to you, we review it together, pointing out any remaining issues or defects.
Aftercare:
After your car has been detailed and corrected begins the maintenance cycle. We ensure when you leave you know what and when this must happen, how to do it and with what. We keep some essentials in store and we can arrange a kit for you. Beyond the work, we are always available to support you via whatsapp or call.