Studio · Lake Forest, IL · Est. 2019
Detail,
with discipline.
One car at a time, in a controlled bay, on a written process. Ceramic, paint protection film, correction, and concours prep for collectors and daily drivers. No drive-through wash. No commissioned upsells. No surprises.
Seven services. One way of working.
Every session is quoted as a session, not as an a-la-carte menu. The plan is written before any product is opened. The session log is emailed when you drive out.
Ceramic Coating
Multi-layer ceramic with five to nine year durability. Gtechniq Crystal Serum Ultra, Modesta BC-04, or CQuartz Finest Reserve. Coating chosen to the paint, not the brochure.
Paint Protection Film
Xpel Ultimate Plus or Stek Dynoshield, cut on a plotter to your exact car. Partial front, track package, or full body. Self-healing, ten-year warranty.
Paint Correction
One, two, or three stage compound and polish. Swirls, holograms, sanding marks, and orange peel. Measured paint thickness on every panel before we cut.
Interior Detail
Hot-water extraction on carpets and upholstery. Leather PH-balanced, conditioned, sealed. Factory-correct trim dressing. No silicone gloss, ever.
Wheel & Caliper
Wheels off, faces and barrels decontaminated, calipers masked and ceramic-coated. Brake dust releases with water for the next two years.
New Vehicle Prep
Delivery defects corrected before they set. Dealer-applied sealant stripped. Coating, PPF, and interior treatment on day one of ownership.
Concours Show Prep
Full vehicle disassembly, panel-edge correction, engine bay restoration, undercarriage detail. Built around your show date, with secure overnight storage.
What's in the price, before we agree on anything else.
- Paint thickness logged on every panel before any cut
- Two-stage decon before any polisher touches the paint
- Session log emailed within 24 hours of pickup
- Care kit and product log handed over at reveal
Pricing is starting; final quote is in writing after the inspection.
Request a session quoteHow a session runs, in six steps.
The same six steps every session, regardless of car, regardless of price. We walk it with you on day one and email the log when you drive out.
Bay timeline
Three days, three nights in a sealed bay.
Session timing is honest. We don't shorten a coating cure to fit a Saturday delivery. If the paint needs another cut pass, we tell you on day two, not the morning we hand it back.
- 01
Inspection
Day one · 09:00Vehicle in. Bright-light walk-around. Paint thickness logged on every panel. Defects photographed under sun-spectrum lighting. Plan agreed in writing before any product is opened.
- 02
Decontamination
Day one · 11:00Foam soak, contact wash on the two-bucket method, iron remover, tar remover, clay-bar pass. Surface comes back to glass before we touch a polisher.
- 03
Correction
Day one to twoOne, two, or three stage cut and polish, depending on what the paint asks for. Cross-checked under three lighting conditions. We don't move on until the panel reads clean.
- 04
Surface prep
Day twoPanel wipe, IPA wipe, panel wipe again. Every coating-rejecting residue is gone before we open the bottle. Gloves change between every panel.
- 05
Coating
Day two to threeCoating laid in a controlled-temperature bay, layered to manufacturer spec, levelled, and cured under IR. Bay stays sealed for the cure window.
- 06
Reveal
Day three · 14:00Final inspection in daylight, then in studio light. Care kit handed over. Full session log emailed within 24 hours. You drive out with everything we did, on the record.
Last six cars through the bay.
Studio archivePorsche 992 GT3
2024 · Shark Blue
Studio archiveBMW M3 Touring
2024 · Frozen Brilliant White
Studio archiveSinger 911
1990 · Glacier Blue
Studio archiveLucid Air Sapphire
2024 · Stellar White
Studio archiveMercedes 190E Cosworth
1990 · Blauschwarz
Studio archiveRange Rover Sport
2025 · Carpathian Grey
Open the full session ledger.
Filter by service code, marque, or year. Every car the bay has touched since the studio opened.
Built around one car at a time.
The bay holds two lifts and one detailing position, on hospital-grade epoxy with positive air pressure. Coatings cure under temperature control. The wash bay is separate from the polishing bay, separate from the paint protection cutting room.
- Bay area
- 3,200 sq ft
- Lifts
- 2 four-post
- Lighting
- Sun-spectrum LED
- Air filtration
- MERV-13
- Cure room
- 72°F controlled
- Insurance
- $3M agreed value
Bay 02 · Open
Studio in session.
Wednesday 14 May · 11:42
Live-cam view available to clients with an active booking. Ask the bay manager for the daily link.
EQP-01
Rupes Mille
EQP-02
Plotter · 60 in
EQP-03
IR cure lamp
How we work, written down.
How to wash a coated car without setting back the coating
Two-bucket method, the right pH, and why most drive-through washes shorten coating life by half. A practical guide.
Read articleThree years in: what a Crystal Serum coating looks like at 36 months
Side-by-side panels, beading reports, hydrophobic angle measurements, and what we'd renew vs. let ride.
Read articleWhy we still hand-polish edges and panel gaps
Polishers cover 90% of a panel. The remaining 10% is where most detailers stop. Here is how the bay handles edges.
Read articleI have owned this car for fourteen years. After the correction session at Apex it was the first time I had seen the colour the way the factory built it.
Daniel R.
Porsche 993 Turbo · 1996
Direct line to the bay manager, written process, paint thickness recorded on every panel. No theatre. The work speaks for itself.
Erin H.
Mercedes SL55 AMG · 2003
Three years on the ceramic and the water still beads like the day they handed it back. Annual maintenance is on a calendar reminder.
Marcus L.
BMW M5 Competition · 2022
Book your session.
Pick a service, leave a few details about the car, and the bay manager replies inside 24 hours with a written quote and the next available bay window.