Car wash and detailing refer to the thorough cleaning, polishing and waxing of any automobile inside and out. This is often done if you wish to have your car cleaned on a show-quality level. A car wash per se is a facility that provides services in cleaning the exterior of your car while car detailing includes the interiors of the vehicle. Some car wash and detailing facilities also offer extra services that include maintenance procedures.

There are different types of car washes but the most common are the following:

*Self-service car wash - this is often coin-operated
*In-bay automatics - you just need to park your car and an automatic machine will roll back and forth on the vehicle
*Tunnel wash - the most common car wash type to be found in many areas. It involves the use of conveyors to push and the vehicle through a series of different cleaning mechanisms where soaping, rinsing and waxing are done automatically.

Some car owners prefer having their vehicles washed by hand because they are afraid that the brushes used in mechanized car washes will damage the finish. This is why modern car wash facilities are now touch free and use only soaps and chemicals with milder acids and alkali which are especially made to loosen and eliminate dirt from vehicles.

Car detailing, on the other hand, refers to the more extensive way of washing and drying a car's exterior and interior. It involves several steps that result to high quality beautification and protection of your car. The steps used for basic exterior car detailing include the following and must be done in the given order:

1. Washing
2. Drying
3. Using the clay bar - the clay bar is composed of a clay base and mild abrasive mixture that can remove road grime, tar, bugs, rust, tree sap and overspray paint.
4. Polishing - removes oxidation, swirls, scratches, water deposits and other paint imperfections. You can use either a chemical polish or an abrasive polish to get the kind of polishing that you want.
5. Glazing
6. Putting a sealant - provides durability to your car's finish
7. Waxing - enhances the gloss and depth of the vehicle's paint and gives it a lasting protection. The different types of wax include cream, paste and liquid which can be synthetic or carnauba. Synthetic wax can give your car a high gloss finish while carnauba can create a warm and wet looking effect.

Some car wash and detailing facilities also offer extra services for the maintenance of your vehicle. These include:

*replacing the engine oil, oil filter, fuel filter, air filter, brake fluid, power steering fluid and spark plugs among many others
*tuning the engine
*greasing and lubricating components
*tire and wheel replacement, balancing and aligning