The specialist

When you want to protect your classic’s paint, a wash and polish just aren’t enough. Step forward Auto Wax Works, which aims to improve on the factory finish

Auto Wax Works has one main aim, which is to “restore a car’s paintwork to flawless perfection”, says owner Charles Dujardin. He has more than 15 years – plus an apprenticeship – in the business, so he should know. “I’ve painted cars made of pretty much every type of material, and have acquired a great deal of knowledge about paint and how it is applied,” he admits.

The company opened its new premises at Bicester Heritage last October, and so far the move to the thriving site is proving a success. “The best thing we have ever done was to move here,” says Alice, Charles’ wife and partner in the firm. “The businesses here understand what we do and bring work in, and there are always people dropping into the coffee shop to see what we have in the workshop.”

Having a café in the building certainly is a great boon for the location on the old RAF airbase. “We have a steady stream of customers coming in for their cappuccinos, paninis and pastries,” says barista Annie from behind the coffee shop’s counter.

The company is one of the few in the UK to offer the Xpel paint protection system. In this, a virtually invisible film is applied to the paint surface, creating a tough barrier against road grime, bird droppings, salt and even stone-chips.

“The paint protection film that we use is truly remarkable,” explains Dujardin. “It’s not the same as wrapping a car, which you often see done to change the colour or put advertising on it, but is a clear film that is custom-fitted to each vehicle, either just across the bonnet, around the nose and front wings or the whole car, and it’s guaranteed for 10 years. We cut every piece of the film here to fit each section of any car.”

He continues: “It’s an extremely tough surface; we treated a Porsche for one customer, and it was subsequently vandalised when someone decided to key the side of it. The owner was certain that the scratch had gone right down to the metal, but when he brought the car in we quickly realised the damage was just to the film. We were able to just replace the keyed section, saving him time and considerable expense.”

During our visit, the detailing bay houses a livid-orange Porsche GT3 and an Aston Martin V8 Volante. “Before we can apply the protection film we have to remove any impurities,” says David Barbonis, who is working on the bonnet of the Porsche. “I’m using a special clay bar to extract any fine dirt trapped in the paint. Our LED lighting shows up any imperfections.”

The protective film can be used on any type of paint with the correct preparation, including two-pack and cellulose. After application, the car can be washed and polished in exactly the same way as usual, and if required the film can be removed without any adverse effect to the original paint surface.

However, AWW has more than just the Xpel treatment in its armoury. The company offers a ceramic coating by Gtechniq that toughens the paint surface with a liquid application that hardens into a long-lasting gloss guaranteed for seven years. It protects from road grime, salt and other paint contaminants.

Auto Wax Works also offers detailing to museum standard for any car. “There’s more to detailing than most people think. An ordinary valet or car wash will do an adequate job of cleaning your vehicle, but we aim to achieve a pristine show-car finish, often better than it looked when it was in the showroom” says Charles, who has worked on many classics including a Jaguar C-type and Ferrari 250 SWB.

Paint correction is another service at Auto Wax Works. It encompasses the removal of scratches, bird stains, water marks, swirl marks, machine buffer marks, holograms, cobwebbing and micro-marring using a rotary polisher.

“This will restore old and faded paintwork back to its true colour,” says Dujardin, “such as when red paint gradually turns pink over time. It’s a very labour-intensive process and requires a trained eye for paintwork detail, but is the only way of achieving a glass-like finish to your vehicle short of a complete respray; that’s not only expensive, but could also affect your classic’s originality and thus its resale value.”