Paint Decontamination · Eugene & Springfield, OR
Paint That Feels Like Glass Again.
Run your fingertips across your hood after a wash. Feel the grit? That is bonded contamination: fir sap, industrial fallout, brake dust, road film. Washing cannot remove it. Clay bar decontamination can, and it is the difference between clean paint and finished paint.
Over months, airborne particles land on your clear coat and bond to it. They will not rinse, they will not wash, and sealant applied over them locks the grit in instead of protecting the paint. Decontamination pulls those particles out with a lubricated clay bar worked panel by panel, leaving a surface that is actually smooth, so the sealant that follows bonds directly to clear coat and lasts the way it should.
- Removes bonded fallout, sap residue, rail dust, and overspray
- Worked panel by panel with fresh clay and proper lubricant
- The step that makes paint sealant bond and last properly
- Included in the Sentinel from $175, the Excalibur from $300, and the Grail from $400, priced by vehicle size
How to tell if your paint needs it
The baggie test. Put your hand inside a sandwich bag and glide it across a clean, dry panel. The plastic amplifies texture. If it feels like fine sandpaper instead of glass, the contamination is bonded and only decontamination will remove it. Most daily drivers that have never been clayed fail this test.
Decontamination is not paint correction
Clay removes what is sitting on top of the clear coat. It does not remove swirl marks, scratches, or oxidation in the clear coat itself; that is machine correction, quoted separately after an in-person look. Doing decon first is what makes an honest assessment of the paint underneath possible.
Straight answers
Is a clay bar safe for my paint?
Used properly, yes. Fresh clay, plenty of lubricant, light pressure, and a fold to a clean face the moment it loads up. Dry claying or dirty clay is how paint gets marred, which is why this is a job for someone who does it every week.
How do I know I need decontamination?
The baggie test above, or simply time: if the vehicle is more than a year or two old and has never been clayed, it needs it. Sap season and highway commutes speed it up.
Which package includes it?
Three of them now. The Sentinel, from $175, is the exterior on its own. The Excalibur, from $300, is the full inside and out detail. The Grail, from $400, adds carpet extraction on top of that. For a vehicle you plan to keep nice, the Grail is the right reset button.
Can I get decontamination by itself?
It only makes sense on clean paint with protection to follow, which is most of a full detail anyway. That is why it lives inside the Grail instead of on the add-on list. Fleet and special cases get quoted directly.
Wed, Fri & Sat 8am–6pm · Thu 12pm–6pm · Veteran owned · Fully insured · A card holds your booking, nothing charged up front