So I detail cars...

Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
lol I hear that.

Actually I wax my daily driver a couple times a year. My hot rod and boat I do a few more than that lol. I actually use the rotary on them periodically just because.
That's funny. the toys that get the least use get twice the attention! lol

I'm the same way man. When I had my quads they were detailed out unless I had them in the dirt. I'm the same way with my speakers constantly dusting them.
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
That's funny. the toys that get the least use get twice the attention! lol

I'm the same way man. When I had my quads they were detailed out unless I had them in the dirt. I'm the same way with my speakers constantly dusting them.
Isn't that the truth! My 250r however is now collecting dust in the front of the garage.
I dust my gear and speakers a couple times a week.
 
Sheep

Sheep

Audioholic Warlord
I haven't forgotten about this thread! Here are some pics from that same show but the following year. Acura Canada sent me to the show, so there is an obligatory amount of NSX shots. I also have some shots of the cars we have/had at the dealership.

DSC_1874 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1861 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1856 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1837 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1825 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1763 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1762 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1748 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1732 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1728 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1727 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1721 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1821 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1819 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1809 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1801 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1798 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1797 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1791 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1789 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1769 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

SheepStar
 
TheWarrior

TheWarrior

Audioholic Ninja
I haven't forgotten about this thread! Here are some pics from that same show but the following year. Acura Canada sent me to the show, so there is an obligatory amount of NSX shots. I also have some shots of the cars we have/had at the dealership.

DSC_1874 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1861 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1856 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1837 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1825 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1763 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1762 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1748 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1732 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1728 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1727 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1721 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1821 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1819 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1809 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1801 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1798 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1797 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1791 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1789 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

DSC_1769 by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

SheepStar

Is that a Singer?
 
ParadigmDawg

ParadigmDawg

Audioholic Overlord
You do great work and take awesome pictures. It turns out my detailer is kind of a famous detailer on the web. I never knew that but my Audi forum and my Merc forum both speak highly of him and say he is a legend on the detailer forums. He goes by Scottwax, so maybe you know him. This is my AMG after he last detailed it. Pictures are just from my cell so it looks nothing like your high quality pictures.

He has me doing my own hand washing using ONR and wax.

 
Sheep

Sheep

Audioholic Warlord
You do great work and take awesome pictures. It turns out my detailer is kind of a famous detailer on the web. I never knew that but my Audi forum and my Merc forum both speak highly of him and say he is a legend on the detailer forums. He goes by Scottwax, so maybe you know him. This is my AMG after he last detailed it. Pictures are just from my cell so it looks nothing like your high quality pictures.

He has me doing my own hand washing using ONR and wax.
Car looks good! I haven't heard of him, I mainly browse the UK forums as I find they have more Pro and Enthusiasts posts.

SheepStar
 
Sheep

Sheep

Audioholic Warlord
Dmantis10

Dmantis10

Audioholic
I use to detail cars back in the late 80's early 90's. It started out as a college part time job then let to a full time job. I started out as a lot guy for a Chevy dealer. Washing the lot, helping the detail team on deliveries along with my lot duties. Then I learned how to run a buffer and then was taught how to detail a used car for resale.
I dropped out fo College to persue a career in Automotive and one to Pennco Tech for Automotive technology and became a Niaan, GMC and Pontiac Tech. While I was there the Detail manager got fired and we had a meeting on who knew how to detail cars and I told them I could help out. Well I went from helping out to running the Detail department. Then I was hired as a Manager for a detail firm who contracted for dealerships and my Tools got put in my parents garage. At this time I didn't work on cars anymore and I was a full time Detail manager who opened up new shops Tri State and trained the top guys in each shop to become even better then they already where. I got factory training from many top companies in the ways of detailing .
I left that world to make more money and got hired in the Audio Video business where I still work today as a Service Tech. My passion for cars left me for many years but I always kept an amazingly clean vehicle.
Today I'm full force back into cars and back into racing 1/4 mile. I'm actually trying to figure out what to build.

Some of the new skills that todays detailers use is foreign to me. We didn't have Micro Fiber towels and soap blasters ceramic coatings etc. I'd like to learn some of the new skills especially what proper Micro fiber towels are designed for what duty as I find them not to work well for many tasks and much prefer Terry cloth like doing windows and cleaning leather or fabric.
 
Sheep

Sheep

Audioholic Warlord
Some of the new skills that todays detailers use is foreign to me. We didn't have Micro Fiber towels and soap blasters ceramic coatings etc. I'd like to learn some of the new skills especially what proper Micro fiber towels are designed for what duty as I find them not to work well for many tasks and much prefer Terry cloth like doing windows and cleaning leather or fabric.
A lot of what you've learned will still be fairly relevant, especially the cleaning steps. A 100% safe wash these days is a very time consuming, and product intense process. There is touchless chemicals for dirt, grease, iron, tar, and almost every other possible thing to hit car paint. The whole purpose is to touch the car physically as little as possible, and all these combined help. Now, you don't NEED a foam canon, a spray bottle with APC will remove just as much as foam, but the foam helps the soaps cling for longer. Foam specific soaps also can be made even thicker, allowing up to 10 minutes of cling time (assuming the weather isn't too intense).

When it comers to paint correction and protection, there has been a lot of advancements since the 80s and 90s. There is no more polishing powders, buffing technology has advanced to the point of not needing a rotary to cut hard, and coatings and other advanced LSPs have allowed cars to go for over a year without needed to be re-protected.

Check out some detailing specific forums and youtube channels to get an idea of what people are going these days. I recommend Ammo NYC to see someone that goes to the literal extremes of EVERY step, and Car Cleaning Guru to see how a normal, well adjusted human can clean cars without being damaging. Also, forensic detailing's youtube channel has super in depth product reviews and tests.

SheepStar
 
TheWarrior

TheWarrior

Audioholic Ninja
I am no professional, but I cannot overstate the importance of regular clay bar use, or maybe I'm just obsessed with keeping things shiny-clean.

Wash once, keep wet, rub everything with the clay. Glass greatly benefits and even your headlights that naturally get build up that shops use chemicals to remove for $100 comes off with clay - keeping you safer, too!

As always, thanks for the eye candy, Sheep!
 
Dmantis10

Dmantis10

Audioholic
Clay Bars where a part of everyday life as a detailer even in my day. I keep a few at all times. I use a heavy ratio of car soap when I Claybar so it glides over the paint very well.
I'm incredibly anal with my own vehicle. I currently drive a 2017 Dodge Durango R/T in white. I like to wash it once a week or at least use a waterless wash n wax spray which I use from Maguire's. It's an amazingly good product. I keep my truck in the garage and don't even like to take it out in the weather if I don't have to.
I use a synthetic Wax also by Maguire's which also works very good.
https://www.meguiarsdirect.com/meguiars-ultimate-paste-wax-11oz.html
https://www.meguiarsdirect.com/meguiars-ultimate-wash-wax-anywhere-26oz.html
 
Sheep

Sheep

Audioholic Warlord
I am no professional, but I cannot overstate the importance of regular clay bar use, or maybe I'm just obsessed with keeping things shiny-clean.

Wash once, keep wet, rub everything with the clay. Glass greatly benefits and even your headlights that naturally get build up that shops use chemicals to remove for $100 comes off with clay - keeping you safer, too!

As always, thanks for the eye candy, Sheep!
Claying actually marrs the paint, so less shiney! If you're going to clay, you'll want to follow that up with some sort of cleaner polish or wax, to at least fill/clean the marks left by claying. The ideal next step is abrasive polish to remove the marks, followed by protection of some sort.

SheepStar
 
TheWarrior

TheWarrior

Audioholic Ninja
Claying actually marrs the paint, so less shiney! If you're going to clay, you'll want to follow that up with some sort of cleaner polish or wax, to at least fill/clean the marks left by claying. The ideal next step is abrasive polish to remove the marks, followed by protection of some sort.

SheepStar
I find the residue comes off easily with a final wash. I use a Meguiars Wash n Wax regularly, and wax when I have time, which generally happens a couple times a year at most.

If the car is really dirty, I will wash twice and then wax, washing a third time after the clay and then microfiber drying to prevent water spotting.

I'd prefer to not have to budget for new clear coat so I have not tried abrasive polishing. But what I said above, and some Meguiars Back to Black did wonders for my Dads old truck thats been sitting outside for years and was covered in pollen residue/mold - thought it was going to need repainting!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4GgbhprStJNK4yFK9 (linky won't inserty for some reason)
 
TheWarrior

TheWarrior

Audioholic Ninja
Clay Bars where a part of everyday life as a detailer even in my day. I keep a few at all times. I use a heavy ratio of car soap when I Claybar so it glides over the paint very well.
I'm incredibly anal with my own vehicle. I currently drive a 2017 Dodge Durango R/T in white. I like to wash it once a week or at least use a waterless wash n wax spray which I use from Maguire's. It's an amazingly good product. I keep my truck in the garage and don't even like to take it out in the weather if I don't have to.
I use a synthetic Wax also by Maguire's which also works very good.
https://www.meguiarsdirect.com/meguiars-ultimate-paste-wax-11oz.html
https://www.meguiarsdirect.com/meguiars-ultimate-wash-wax-anywhere-26oz.html
I have not tried the waterless.... just microfiber towel wipe clean?

The back to black I mentioned would be good in case you accidentally touch your seals with the paste wax!
 
Dmantis10

Dmantis10

Audioholic
I have not tried the waterless.... just microfiber towel wipe clean?

The back to black I mentioned would be good in case you accidentally touch your seals with the paste wax!
Yes you spray on like spray wax then just wipe off. I use Mirco Fiber towels. I use one for taking the dirt off and then another one for the final clean. It's not designed for super dirty muddy vehicles but when you keep your car waxed and clean and it gets rained on or some pollen dust, it works amazing.
My truck is a 2017 Dodge Durango R/T in white and I keep is clean waxed and in the garage. I do however drive it to work and it sits in the parking lot near trees. Birds crap and pollen is always all over it by the end of the week and the Waterless wash and wax from Maguire's works amazingly well to clean off that mess. I have black painted wheels and it makes them shine like brand new. Since I have been waxing and using this on my wheels brake dust doesn't stick to it at all, it wipes right off so I never have to scrub my wheels.
My tires get dressed and I wipe the dressing dry so I get a nice flat back look instead of a shine. This way dirt doesn't stick to the tires like when you leave tire dressing on and glossy. I can just apply some tire dressing to my sponge tire brush and wipe some on then use a terry cloth towel and wipe them down. Looks awesome and stays awesome.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
Spray on wax doesn't last or protect as well as real wax IMO. Real carnauba lasts considerably longer and can be reapplied. The spray on I use only for touch up in between waxings.

If the car is garaged, clay only needs to happen maybe once a year. If it sits outside, maybe two depending on where you are and what it gets parked near. I always follow that up with a mild polish (depending on the condition of the paint) and then a good wax.
 
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