Your paint is a tenth of a millimetre thick. We measure it first.
A detailing and wrap studio in Ancoats, Manchester. Valets, paint correction, ceramic coatings, protection film and colour-change wraps, with every panel measured before a polisher touches it.
Request a quote
Send photos on WhatsApp
“They showed me the readings on my bonnet before they started and again after. I've never had anyone show me their working.”
Owen, Didsbury
Factory paint, steel to shine
105 µm
Six services, measured in microns.
Prices include VAT. Your quote is written for your car, once we have seen photos of it.
Service
What it does
Depth, on a 200 µm scale
Price
Maintenance valet
We come to you
A safe two-bucket hand wash, wheels and arches, glass, and the inside hoovered and wiped.
On the surface
from £70
Full valet
About a day
Iron and tar removed, the paint clayed and sealed, seats and carpets shampooed.
On the surface
from £195
Paint correction
One to three days
Machine polishing that takes out swirls, holograms and light scratches. A one-stage enhancement, or a two-stage correction from £750.
2–4 µm off
from £395
Ceramic coating
Rated for five years
A hard, glossy layer that makes the car easier to wash and keeps the gloss, with a one-stage polish first and a free inspection at twelve months.
1 µm on
from £595
Paint protection film
Whole car from £4,950
Clear, self-healing film that takes the stone chips instead of your paint. From the bumper, bonnet, wings and mirrors to the whole car.
200 µm on
from £1,450
Colour-change wrap
Roof, mirrors or chrome delete from £295
Cast vinyl in gloss, satin or matte over the whole car, which comes off cleanly within its rated life.
80 µm on
from £2,650
Not sure which you need? Send us photos and we will tell you, in writing, within one working day.
Request a quote
Inside the paint.
Drawn to scale. Only the coating is drawn thicker than it is, or you would not see it.
Depth, steel to surface
105 µm
102 µm
103 µm
303 µm
PPF, 200 µm
Ceramic, 1 µm
Clear coat, 40 µm
Clear coat, 37 µm
Base coat, 15 µm
Primer, 30 µm
E-coat, 20 µm
Steel panel
As it left the factory
Four layers on the steel: e-coat, primer, the colour, then the clear coat that makes it shine. About 105 microns in all, and the clear coat is 40 of them.
Paint correction
Swirls and light scratches sit in the top few microns of the clear coat. A correction levels them, taking off as little as it can, usually 2 to 4 microns. If a panel is too thin, we leave it alone.
Ceramic coating
A hard, glossy layer about one micron thick. It makes the car easier to wash and keeps the gloss. It does not make paint scratch-proof, and we will not tell you it does.
Protection film
Clear, self-healing film about 200 microns thick, twice the depth of the paint under it. A stone that would have chipped the paint marks the film instead.
This building dyed cotton for ninety years.
Now we change the colour of cars in it. Nadia Rahman runs our wraps: cast vinyl about 80 microns thick, which comes off cleanly within its rated life.
One colour in three finishes: the dark green we fitted in satin to an estate in Didsbury.
Gloss
Satin
Matte
We will not wrap over chipped or flaking paint. It shows through, and it can lift when the wrap comes off, so we tell you at the quote.
Ask about a wrap
“The wrap came off my lease car after three years and the paint underneath was perfect, so Nadia wrapped the new one.”
Leila, Salford
Five of us, two heated bays and a wrap room.
Daylight LED panels over both bays, so swirls show before we start and after we finish.
Protection film going on in the wrap room.
Kieran Doyle
Founder, since 2016
Eleven years as a paint sprayer in a bodyshop in Stockport before he opened Gaugework, so he has sprayed more clear coat than he has polished. He measures every panel before a polisher touches it.
Nadia Rahman
Wraps, since 2019
Eight years fitting vinyl to shopfronts and vans before she joined us. She runs the wrap room, which we keep dust-free.
While your car is here
It stays inside the whole time, and it is insured for its full value. We are fully insured, and you get photos on WhatsApp as the work goes.
Measured on the way in, and on the way out.
Drop-offs from 8am. Piccadilly station is a ten-minute walk away.
01
Photos, then a written quote
Send us photos of the car with its make, model and year on WhatsApp, or use the form. We reply with a written quote within one working day.
02
Readings, with you there
We walk round the car with you under the inspection lights and take the paint readings before we start.
03
Inside until it is done
The car stays in the studio until it is finished, and we send you photos on WhatsApp as it goes.
04
The same lights at collection
The same walk-round, the readings sheet to take home, and how to wash it from now on. Wraps and PPF get a free check at two weeks.
Request a quote.
Tell us about the car and what you would like done. Photos help most: send them on WhatsApp and we will reply with a written quote within one working day.
WhatsApp 07700 900742
Call 0161 496 0742
studio@gaugework.co.uk
Request my quote
Opening hours
Monday to Friday
8am–6pm
Saturday
9am–2pm
Sunday
Closed
The studio, by appointment
Pollard Street, Ancoats, Manchester M4
Maintenance valets come to you in
Manchester city centre
Salford
Didsbury
Chorlton
Prestwich
Sale
Altrincham
Stockport