Keeping it sharp

Deep clean detailing of the DS3, one year on

A year after the 2019 “refresh” of my Citroën DS3, the Carnauba wax treatment was holding up well. I had never had to polish the car — just a snow foam soaking followed by a contact wash with a good quality, pH neutral shampoo made it gleam. Rainwater still beaded nicely on the surface, and rinse water would sheet off. But the upholstery had never been cleaned and the engine bay was looking pretty scruffy.

My previous detailing maestro, Stevie Galloway, had given up his SG Detailing business and moved on to other things. So in August 2020, I handed my DS3 to Jason Burt at Privilege Detail in Edinburgh, who came highly recommended by a family member who had been using Jason’s services for years. We agreed on a “deep clean and protect treatment”, which comprised:

• Paintwork cleaned and decontaminated, and tar spots removed.
• Polymer sealant applied to bodywork, and waxed.
• Wheels cleaned and ceramic-compatible seal applied.
• Interior fully cleaned, and carpets and upholstery shampooed.
• Engine bay cleaned and detailed.

This is essentially Jason’s Deep Clean Detail with the addition of polymer sealant to the paintwork.

Jason exhibits — as you might hope with someone whose business is detailing🙂 — great attention to detail. That much is evident simply from discussion with him, but his thoroughness is really expressed in the work he does.

For example, the car is normally parked close to a tree, which sheds leaves that get wet and soggy and trapped in awkward places — including under the windscreen scuttle grilles. Jason squeezed his hand under the grilles to dig out the leaves, and to clear a blocked drainage hole: see Figs. 1 and 2. He was attentive to every nook and cranny on the vehicle.

Figs. 3 and 4 show the engine bay before and after Jason’s work.

Cars fall prey to fallout, floating particles that land on the body and stick to the paintwork. The most troublesome of these are iron particles, which if they get moved around when the car is being cleaned or polished, can give rise to ugly swirls. As part of the decontamination, Jason applied a fallout remover, as shown in Fig. 5. The iron particles turn red-brown under the action of the chemical.

Jason used the Polish Angel products shown in Fig. 6 on the bodywork, and Figs. 7 to 9 show the gleaming end result while the car was still in Jason’s studio.

As for the upholstery, the seats in the DS3 don’t really get dirty, given that only the driver’s seat is in regular use. I have an occasional passenger, but nobody ever in the back seat. Nonetheless, the difference that shampooing the seats and carpets made was suprising, and the driver’s seat was brought back to life again.

Jason posted a record of his good work on his Facebook page.

Return to top

Back home

I took the car home and snapped some more photographs under the summer sunshine. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

I’m delighted with Jason’s work, and I’ve entrusted the care of my Citroën C4 to him too. But time marches on, and there’s more.

Return to top