As you guys know, I typically don't profile many of my details but, I liked this one and it had some *big* results in small areas (see headlight before/after).

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This is a first time customer that happens to be my co-worker in my 'real' job. This is his son's car (17 year old high school student). Being that he's in HS, he's kept up with his car pretty well (you've got to impress the ladies somehow, right?). None the less, when it arrived, all seemed fairly easy. The paint wasn't thrashed (although, I understand that it frequents a tunnel car wash) but it had a lot of 'stuck on' stuff. Further, there were a few problem areas that I noted immediately including some dog claw scratching and some severe keyed areas. Also, I noted that there were some seriously bad areas that had accumulated LOTS of grime over the years and seemingly had never been cleaned (trunk gutters). Additionally, there was quite a bit of road tar and some road paint.

So, needless to say, this one wasn't going to be as simple as I had hoped...

That said, I jumped in...

The subject vehicle:




Woof Woof!



The tire/wheel/wells:



The headlights (both were about this bad -- no, that's not road film)




---Continued---

 

So, after getting a fairly decent grip on what was sitting in front of me, I assembled my chemical array:



1. Meguiar's Citra Gel (old D-Line)
2. Meguiar's APC+ (old D-Line) 10:1
3. Stoner's Carpet Cleaner
4. Vinylex Wipes
5. Meguiar's Last Touch Detailer Spray (clay lube) (D-Line)
6. Meguiar's Body Solvent (D-Line)
7. Meguiar's Glass Cleaner (D-Line)
8. Meguiar's APC+ (D-Line) 4:1
9. Meguiar's Hyper Dressing (D-Line)
10. Meguiar's Safe D-Greaser (D-Line) 10:1
11. 3M Perfect-It Paste
12. Meguiar's Overspray Clay
13. Griot's Interior Cleaner
14. Meguiar's NXT Metal Polysh
15. Meguiar's Plast-X
16. Plexus Plastic Sealer/Polish/Cleaner
17. 3M Wheel & Tire Cleaner
18. Meguiar's Shampoo Plus (D-Line)
19. Meguiar's #83 Dual Action Cleaner Polish
20. Meguiar's #80 Speed Glaze
21. Meguiar's NXT Synthetic Wax
22. Simple Green 1:1
23. Meguiar's Quik Detailer Interior (QDI)
24. Meguiar's Premium Paint Protection (MPPP)
25. 800 Grit 3M Paper
26. Nikken 2000 Grit Paper
27. Meguiar's #7 Show Car Glaze


Uhh, I think that's about it. I'm sure I picked up a spray here and there of 'other stuff'... none the less, that's about it.

Results:

Full Profile (sorry for the lousy pic)




Wheel/Tire/Wells (center caps were removed for full clean/wax)




No more Woof Woof! (sorry for the low light - this was pre-wax)




---Continued---

 

The Headlights --

Remember the 'before'?



Here's the AFTER...



800 & 2000 grit papers were used to remove the majority of the oxidation. My Makita and a wool pad were used to fix the rest... Plast-X was the polish of choice.

New D-Line Banner in a cheapo reflection shot.



Can you count the blocks? *grin*



---Continued---

 

Here's the other headlight 'after' shot...



The procedure:

1. Wash with Shampoo Plus.
2. Clay. Last Touch used as lubricant.
3. Clay again in a few spots (dang road paint!)
4. Body Solvent. Dwell time around 10 mins. Wipe down. (By the way -- I *really* like this stuff -- it smells great too!! Vanilla Soda!)
5. #83 on a few choice spots. I worked primarily on the keyed areas. Didn't get huge results but, it's tough to remedy a scratch when it's into the basecoat. Rotary and polishing pad.
6. #80 over the entire vehicle. Lots of hard water spotting and tunnel wash scratches. All removed. Woof marks removed. Hood/Roof were fairly bad. Sides weren't as bad. PC applied.
7. Wheels/Tires/Wells. Hyper Dressing (previously cleaned with Simple Green & Safe D-Greaser.
8. #7 over the entire vehicle. PC applied.
9. NXT paste by hand (yes, I know that I showed the liquid -- I opted for the paste). Removed by hand w/ DF Towel.
10. Worked on headlights. Spent about 1.5 hours each. Wet sanded with 800 and 2000 grit. Polished with PlastX with wool pad on rotary. Results!! This was the primary area that the owner mentioned he'd like to see remedied. They weren't 100% cleaned but, I'd guess around 90%. Needless to say, a HUGE improvement!!
11. I did the interior earlier. APC+ 10:1 and APC+ 4:1 & Stoner's Carpet Cleaner (I was out of my stand-by favoriet - Blue Magic Carperte Cleaner). Vac'd of course. QDI & Vinylex Wipes were used inside. Valet'd the vents. All interior vinyl treated. (lots of dog hair in here!!)

---Continued---

 

12. Engine Compartment (this was done earlier -- I'm not going back and retyping all the #'s. LOL!) Simple Green, Safe D-Greaser (foaming spray head) and Hyper Dressing 1:1. It was *REALLY* bad. I didn't spend a boat load of time here but, I could've spent another 4-hours. It was pretty bad. I pushed back from it after about a hour of work and about 20 shop towels that I trashed -- because they were so heavily soiled that I wouldn't dare run them through the washer... I'm serious, this engine compartment was *BAD*.
13. Sleep.
14. Top with 3M Perfect-It Paste Wax. (I really like this stuff). Applied by hand w/ foam applicator. Removed by hand w/ DF Towel.
15. VERY light mist of #425 Poly Slick (FK1 Product) to remove light dusting from wax.
16. Dressed exterior plastic/rubber with Vinylex. Dressed all door seals/jams/sills.
17. Sealed lenes with Plexus.

DONE!



Feel free to ask questions... I'll do my best to answer. Enjoy!

 

A few more...

 

Nice work. That must have have an hour or two times three

 

Thanks qadsan...

I started to use this one as my test vehicle for the So1o system but, I resisted the temptation.

This one has about 12 or 13 hours in it I believe... That's probably a bit excessive considering the car's size (okay, it is excessive) but, as a co-worker and first time customer, I tried to go the extra mile on a lot of places that I might not have gone so 'all out' on... know what I mean?

Of course, I tinkered around on several items too that shouldn't really be counted as 'time towards the detail'...

 

Absolutely AMAZING results, the car looks new again

So what would you typically charge for a big detail nightmare, uuuh i mean project like this one? (if im allowed to ask)
-Patrick

 

Uhh... not enough.

He's a co-worker but, considering that I work in an office with 15 or so folks, we're all basically friends (well, for the most part -- there is this one guy... oh, nevermind)... so, that said, he was given a VERY fair deal.

Let's just say it wasn't minimum wage but, by the same token, it wasn't a 'high' rate either.

We'd all love to make more but, being that this is like therapy for me - at least most of the time - I like to try to be really fair about it because you make and keep friends and those friends tell others. In a nutshell, someone will look out for you if you're being fair, doing a A+ job, and taking the time to CARE about what you're doing... That's kind of my philosophy.... (that and, how the hell am I going to work through this plethora of detailing stuff that I have if I don't expend it on a few client vehicles!?!? )

Thinking about driving up to Kentucky for a detail?

 

Naw i was just curious b.c a friend i know, well more of an aquiantnce (sp) asked me if i would detail his truck. Its an 07 4dr Silverado. So its a big truck, but i figured hes not that far behind yet... I dunno i just want to make sure im not getting ripped off too badly. And he would have to drive 30-40 minutes to come up here, so he'd be hanging around while i work so i cant take too long either... But might get him to help me along the way too.
-Patrick

 

You'll have to pardon my sons expressions here. But that is Totally freaking awesome RockPick.

1. As you know I visit a lot of forums, but I have never, ever seen a transformation like that on any of them, no comparison.

2. I hope you never leave this site RockPick.

3. How in the world did you get those scratches out? you mentioned Makita so I'm assuming high speed.

4. What would you have charged the customer under normal circumstances, if you don't mind me asking? -- my first customer is looming as you know. I have an idea, but nothing concrete. On second thought, scratch that. I have no idea.

5. I hope you never leave this site.

 

I understand where you're coming from...

My location is kind of 'distant' for many of my regulars but, they continue to do it regardless because I've established that 'friend-factor' as well as hanging on to their trust.

I have one or two that will stick around for the detail but most vanish... I prefer them to vanish. I find that I'm able to move along at a MUCH nicer pace when I don't have someone to talk to and am just humming along to my garage radio (typically with some AC/DC or Pearl Jam in the CD player). Plus, I don't consider my detailing side show as a 'teaching' event... I don't mind teaching (I splurge here a lot -- as do lots of others) but, there's a difference between teaching and doing... I prefer to do when it is hands on.

As for suggestions on your pricing... be fair. Be up front. Maybe it's something that you can work out a 'rate per hour' type of scenario with a 'not to exceed' number in there for his protection. I've done that with at least two clients and it worked quite well. On those, I kept my hourly around $15 to $20 (which may be low for some but, a 10 hour detail = $150 -- which is a pretty fair price for most vehicles in my market (which is saturated with detailers -- most of which are 'average' at best -- a couple of good ones though)). Also, I will typically come off of the price after the first detail (pending they make it back in within 6-months) as I know that the odds are in my favor of the vehicle being easier to work on the second/third/fourth times... hence, less of my time and thus, less of their money. This also encourages them to come back and feel good about spending slightly less the second time. I've found this is a HUGE reason that my word of mouth advertising technique works...

In summary, get what the market will allow but, don't gouge. If there's a lot of unknown in the equation, try to work an alternative agreement versus a lump sum.

-RP-

 

By the way...I see what you mean about your bucket rolling down hill now on casters. We'd have a blast on that here in the winter.

 

Thanks RZ... much appreciated, bud.

1. Ehh... I appreciate it but, I've seen lots of great transformations here. The Mustang was a pretty good project (I am proud of the headlight turn around) but, it wasn't anything totally amamzing... again though, I appreciate it!

3. PC on 4 with a polishing pad and #80 on the dog scratches. The key scratches got the Makita treatment with #83 (followed by the PC w/ 80). Those key marks were toughies and I wish I had documented them better (I took several pics but they didn't come out as I must have been dehydrated and was shaking (they're all blurry as heck)). I didn't really go after them big time because there had been some paint work in the immediate vacinity of the key marks and, as such, I was worried about clear build in those areas. I could see a tad of blending in one area where the marks were thus, I didn't go after it as much as I would've if it was factory clear in that area... I really need a film-build guage for such occasions... I just can't justify the cost.

4. See my response to patman... I don't really want to talk numbers on here but, I still adhere to one common paradigm -- that being to give my customer an end product that they feel like they paid for. To expand, that means making them feel like they got their money's worth and didn't walk out getting ripped.

People talk when they're happy -- they talk more when they're pissed off. I want that positive talk... it helps me keep my weekends busy.