Volkswagen Jetta detailing in Houston

What we watch for

Paint and interior on the Jetta

Paint and exterior

The current car is a clean, creased sedan whose shoulder line traps sealant residue. Black and dark grey Jettas show sprinkler spots clearly, and the GLI's red grille stripe and black trim need taping before any machine polishing.

Interior

V-Tex leatherette on most trims, cloth on base cars, and sport seats in the GLI. V-Tex is hard-wearing and wipes clean. Mk4 cars have rubbery soft-touch coatings on the switches that peel and turn sticky with age.

Living in Houston

Jettas are commuter cars on I-10 and the Westpark, often parked outside all day. That means faded black trim, baked dashboards and, on older cars, headlights that have gone cloudy.

• Hard clear coat: swirls take more cutting to remove, so correction is slower, but a corrected finish holds up well afterwards.
• Older plastic headlights yellow in the sun: headlight restoration is an add-on worth asking about.
• Cloth seats on many trims: spot-treated in every interior detail, with shampoo extraction as an add-on when they need it.
• Black and dark colors are common: they show swirls, water spots and pollen film first, and benefit most from a coating.