Pet owners know that taking their furry friends for a ride in their car often leads to the unavoidable consequence of dog hair becoming lodged in the seats, carpets, headliners, and anywhere else they may explore within the vehicle’s interior. If you’ve ever tried to remove this hair with a vacuum cleaner, you’ve surely discovered that dog hair removal is not an easy task – it becomes embedded in the fibers of the carpets, and multiple passes with a vacuum cleaner will only begin to remove what your four legged friend left behind. Not to mention – a vacuum clean will not remove the smell left behind by your pets.

The solution to removing dog hair is The Toy Wash’s pet hair removal services. By utilizing hair removal tools, heated carpet extractors, and industrial strength vacuum cleaners, dog hair removal has become one of The Toy Wash’s most popular services. Not only will our dog hair removal service remove the hairs left behind by your pets, but our use of heated carpet extractors will deep clean the fibers of your vehicle’s interior, and remove the oils which are causing your pet’s smell to remain in your car.

Many of our clients with light colored leather interiors often ask how their leather seats become stained, and the answer is called dye transfer. Most leather stains have a bluish-purple hue, which is caused from the dye from the passenger’s clothes being transferred to the leather’s surface. Due to the popularity of blue jeans, and the way that they are manufactured (white cotton fibers are dyed blue to give the jeans their color), the dye in clothing can transfer onto the leather, particularly if the leather is not protected and cleaned frequently.

By using commercial grade leather cleaning products and special leather cleaning brushes, The Toy Wash can remove most dye transfer from leather seats, to make them look clean and soft again. Following a thorough cleaning of your leather seats, The Toy Wash applies a leather conditioner which restores the natural oils to your leather, that protect it from fading, cracking, and losing its soft and luxurious texture. For excellent comfort, appearance, and durability, The Toy Wash recommends cleaning and conditioning your vehicle’s leather once a month.

One of the most often overlooked treatments in auto detailing is the Clay Bar. Why is a Clay Bar treatment recommended? While your vehicle is exposed to the elements, it will pick up tar, road grime, insect splatter, and many other contaminants that will bond to your vehicle’s paint. When your vehicle is clean  the paint should feel smooth and glass-like. The best way to test if your vehicle’s paint is contaminated is to put a sandwich bag over your hand, and run your fingers across the surface of your vehicles paint. If your fingers slide smoothly across the paint and you do not feel bumps or grit along the surface, a clay bar treatment is not needed before a wax is applied to your vehicle.

If the surface of your paint is contaminated, a clay bar treatment is strongly recommended to cleanse your vehicle’s paint before it is coated with a protecting wax – you surely wouldn’t want to trap contaminants under a layer of wax.

What is a Clay Bar Treatment and how does it work?
A clay bar treatment involves a two step process which involves lubricating your vehicle’s surface and scrubbing it by hand with a special sticky clay, which will absorb any and all contaminants that are on the paint’s surface. Once a panted surface has been treated with a clay bar, its surface is as smooth as glass, and will even be cleaner than when the car was when new (a clay bar treatment will remove a manufacturer’s unwanted paint overspray).

If you’re serious about keeping your car clean and looking new, a clay bar treatment is the only way to go! It provides the ultimate cleaning for your vehicle’s paint, and will greatly help extend the new appearance of your vehicle.

What products do we use? What about our competitors?

The Toy Wash uses a wide range of products from many different manufactures. Some of these brands you may have heard of, such as Meguiars and Mothers, both of which sell consumer products in many auto supply stores; however, we also use many other brands such as Simoniz, DP, Pinnacle, Swissvax, and more! The reason we have so many brands is we want to use the best products available for each service we offer. We’re committed to quality, and refuse to exclusively use one line of products because different product manufactures have different specialties.

What are the differences between our products and the ones sold in auto parts stores?

The main difference in the products used by The Toy Wash and those sold in auto parts stores is strength and quality. While there are complete aisles of auto detailing products sold in many auto supply stores, keep in mind that the products are meant for consumer use. They are made to be easy to use and safe for most vehicles, and often this means a sacrifice in their results. Unfortunately, many of the low end cleanup-shops who claim to provide a quality service are using store-bought products, the same that you could purchase yourself at a local retailer. Your vehicle is a very expensive investment, and at The Toy Wash we believe in a quality service, with quality commercial grade products.
What are commercial grade products?
Commercial detailing products are only meant to be used by trained auto detailing technicians and body shops, as they are only safe for your vehicle’s finish if they are used properly.  All Toy Wash detailing technicians have been trained on the products we offer, and have completed many of the training courses and certifications led by our product manufacturers. We are constantly evaluating new products and therefore continuously improving the results of our services. You will not be disappointed!

One of the most overlooked areas of auto detailing is engine cleaning – you know, that area under the hood of your car that you haven’t seen since your car salesman showed it to you and told you facts about it you don’t remember. Well, maybe you’ve looked at it if you have a sports car and something impressive under the hood – but for most car owners, the engine bay is out of sight and out of mind.

So how do you clean it after noticing how dirty/greasy it has become? Engine bay cleaning requires patience, attention to detail, patience, a variety of brushes, a commercial steamer, and did we say patience? Unfortunately it’s not as easy as spraying a degreaser onto your engine and using a pressure washer – today’s vehicles are equipped with a variety of computer systems and electronics, and soaking them with a hose could mean a very expensive visit to your car dealer’s service department – nobody wants that!

The Toy Wash cleans engine bays by carefully  degreasing the engine, and steaming the engine bay’s mechanical components, tubing, engine covers, and any other visible components. After dirt, grease, and surface contaminants are removed from your engine bay, a vinyl dressing is applied to all vinyl components such as engine covers and tubing, which not only gives them a rich and clean finish, but provides a layer of protection for the elements the engine bay may be exposed to in the future.

If you’ve ever seen a Jeep Grand Cherokee from 1999 to 2004, you’ll notice that they all seem to have one thing in common – cloudy headlights. Of course this problem doesn’t only occur with Jeeps, there are many other vehicles that are plagues with this problem, and some are more susceptible to this problem than others.

What causes cloudy headlights?
Cloudy headlights are caused by the plastic material in the headlight being exposed to UV rays from the sun, which over time oxidizes the finish, and this is what the cloudiness is. Not only is this cloudiness an eye-sore, it also diminishes light output through the headlights, which is a major safety concern for nighttime driving. Different car manufactures use different materials on their headlights, and this is why some cars are not prone to headlight oxidation, while others seem to be unable to avoid it. Additionally, vehicles that are driven in warmer climates (such as Florida), are exposed to stronger UV rays from the sun, and therefore are more likely to have headlight oxidation if they are parked in directly sunlight frequently.

How are cloudy headlights repaired?
The Toy Wash can restore your vehicle’s clouded headlights to a like new finish, with our professional headlight restoration service. Through using professional plastic polishing machines and a series of restoration products, The Toy Wash will remove the cloudiness from your vehicle’s headlights, leaving behind a shiny, crystal clear finish as if the headlights were brand new. After oxidation is removed, a finishing sealant is applied to the headlights to protect them from UV rays, and to ensure your vehicle’s headlights are protected from oxidation for many miles ahead.

With many of the light color interiors that vehicles are built with today it’s easy to leaves stains if a drink is spilled, food is dropped, or even wet or dirty shoes come in contact with your carpets (rainy days can be disastrous!). So how can you remove these stains and bring your carpets back to looking new? Car carpets are just like the carpets in your home. You can try shampooing the carpets; however, shampoos are mainly used to remove light dirt, restore fluffiness, and to remove odor. Like with the carpets in your house – deep carpet stains can only be removed with a heated carpet extractor (one of the many professional cleaning tools we use at The Toy Wash!).

Heated carpet extractors combine hot water and steam with a special commercial grade cleaning shampoo which thoroughly penetrates, cleans, and removes dirt, oils, liquids, and any other contaminants which may have been absorbed or bonded to the carpet’s fibers. This is the same technology that carpet cleaning/steaming companies use with the large machines in your home; however, The Toy Wash uses special heated carpet extractors which are made for auto detailers, and allow The Toy Wash to work within vehicle interiors and tight spaces.

The Toy Wash’s carpet cleaning service is the ultimate treatment for your vehicle’s carpets!

Over the years you may have noticed your vehicle’s paint losing much of its glossy, and becoming dull and havy. This occurrence is the result of oxidation, which occurs in the clear coat layer of your paint, and luckily, there’s a solution – machine polising. Oxidation occurs most frequently when a vehicle’s paint is exposed to the sun’s UV rays. If you park your car in directly sunlight while at work, or don’t park it in a garage at your home, oxidation can occur on even some of the finest automobiles that are made.

So how can you remove oxidation and restore your vehicle’s finish to glossy & shiny? The Toy Wash offers machine polishing services, which will remove your paint’s oxidation and swirl marks. Machine polishing is a technique which we only recommend be performed by trained and certified detailing professionals. Machine polishing involves using an abrasive polishing compound, which safely removes the layer of oxidation from the vehicle’s paint’s clear coat, and levels it to a point where swirls marks disappear. This process is completed using a random orbital machine buffer, which is safe  for your vehicle’s paint. Once the polishing compound has removed the oxidation and swirl marks from your vehicle’s paint, an finishing polish is applied with a finer polishing pad on the machine buffer, which restores the shiny & glossy finish to your vehicle’s paint.

The results of The Toy Wash’s Machine Polishing services are outstanding – your vehicle’s paint will once again have a showroom quality finish. Due to the extreme care and attention to detail provided with machine polishing services at The Toy Wash, machine polishing services are billed by the hour, as every vehicle’s machine polishing requirements is different depending on the size of the vehicle, condition of the paint, and products required to remove defects.

Try The Toy Wash’s Machine Polishing services now, and restore your vehicle’s finish to new!

One of the most common questions The Toy Wash is asked is if we can remove scratches from a vehicle’s paint. The answer to this question is sometimes, and it depends on the depth of the scratch.

Vehicles have 3 main layers of paint:

1)      The ClearCoat – this protects the color layer of paint and provides the shine, depth an UV protection for your paint’s color. Most vehicles have several layers of clearcoat, although the thickness of the clearcoat may vary greatly depending on the manufacturer.

2)      The Color Layer – this is the color that you see on the vehicle, and it’s generally what is missing when a scratch is very noticeable.

3)      The Primer – this is a layer of paint which is applied to your vehicle’s surface before it is painted with the color layer of paint, in order to provide the best surface for adhesion of the color layer. Most primers on vehicles are gray or white in color.

The general rule of thumb for scratch repair is that if you run your fingernail over a scratch, if you can physically feel the scratch, it is below the clear coat and into the color layer or primer layer. If you can physically see white or gray in the scratch, this is also an indication that the scratch is below the clear coat and color layer, and could either be at the primer layer, or possibly even the bare surface of your vehicle (which will need  to be protected to prevent rust!).

If the scratch has not made it through the clearcoat, The Toy Wash can repair the scratch through a service called machine polishing. Polishing involves using an abrasive compound which levels the vehicle’s clearcoat very slightly around the scratch, making the surface even once again and therefore eliminating the scratch. This is the same process which is used for swirl mark removal, since swirl marks are actually millions of tiny scratches in the clear coat layer of your vehicle’s paint.

While you may have seen scratch repair kits sold in auto part stores, we strongly caution you to use one, many of our customers have tried these before bringing their vehicle to us, and had in fact made the damage significantly worse. When it comes to resurfacing/refinishing something as delicate as your vehicle’s paint, it’s always best to leave the service to professionals who have experience, and the right tools and products available to ensure that your vehicle is not damaged during the scratch removal process.

The Toy Wash has discovered a range of products that we’ve been particularly happy with, and one of them is our tire gel. You may have noticed that many auto parts stores sell tire shine, advertising a shiny, wet finish, and you may see vehicles with these gels over-applied driving around. But let us ask you this: when you see a car with tire shine, do you think “that car looks new!” or do you think “the owner put tire gel on his/her car.” Our thought is always the second thought, and frankly, we want our vehicles to look new, not as if we’re trying to cover an old and worn appearance with cover products.

With this in mind, the Toy Wash takes the proper steps to ensure your vehicle’s tires are properly cleaned, and their rich black color is restored with a quality product.

How does this process work?

1)      We begin by scrubbing the tires with a special soap to remove any dirt, tar, or tire shine which may have been applied in the past (Not by us at The Toy Wash, of course!)

2)      We dry the tires to ensure they are clean and check for defects

3)      We apply a special tire dressing, which is absorbed into the rubber, and dries with a rich, black, matte finish, just like when your tires were new.

Not only will The Toy Wash’s tire dressing make a significant difference in the appearance of your vehicle, it won’t brown over time like most store bought glossy gel products. We’re committed to using quality products at The Toy Wash, because your vehicle deserves the best!