Went by the shop where we get our work trucks washed at and asked about a full detail of mine (black 04). It's $250 for this:
wash
buff (I've got some swirl marks, the guy said he should be able to remove them, they don't seem bad to me, he had trouble finding them)
wax
wheels and tires cleaned
interior shampoo (carpet and seats)

He said he uses only Megs for everything so I thought that sounded good. Is this a good price for everything? I only have stuff to wash so I would have to buy everything to do this myself. I have never tried removing swirls either so I'm not sure how that would go. I did read the sticky here though, very informative. If I do let someone else do it are there any questions I should ask? Thanks for reading all this guys.

 

Prices will vary. It's impossible for someone to give you a good price without seeing the truck, so it's going to be tough to call for anyone on here. The condition of the paint is going to determine how much work needs to be put in to the truck. That said, there are a few people on here that can maybe give you a good ballpark figure as to what they charge.

Also, what one considers to be a full detail, might not be a full detail to someone else. A full detail to me is paint, door jams, vacuum, shampoo, weather stripping, wheels, tires, seats, etc. Everything, in detail.

 

If you don't have the time to do it yourself then it sound like a good price IMO, at least considering the size of our trucks. If you've got time I recommend buying the stuff to DIY. It may cost more than a detail from them, but you'd be able to do it whenever you want to and the savings would be much greater in the long run. I've just recently gotten into detailing but I find it relaxing. Good way to spend some free time.

 

The price is going to vary based on your market. $250 isn't a bad price, as long as it's a quality job. There are many guys that claim to be "detailers", but few that do quality work.

One thing that concerns me is that he had trouble finding the swirls. Your truck is a BLACK '04. Unless the paint has been fully corrected recently, the swirls should be obvious to a detailer.

Does he have any pictures of his other paint correction work?

 

Same thing I thought. Personally, and if I had the time, I'd buy the stuff to do it yourself. As mblouir said, in the long run, it'll be cheaper, especially if you want to do multiple cars.

 

Buy it and do it, like they said. I love washing my truck. I might pay him to wax/polish it, but do the rest yourself. Get to know your baby.

 

Ive thought about it, but im only gonna let them shampoo, otherwise i have everything else pretty much.

 

I took my truck to heritage car wash in Denton and got a full detail for $135.00. It included full service wash, wheel cleaning, clean wheel wells, remove oxidation, remove light scratches, condition rubber moldings and for the interior shampoo carpets, seats and clean and condition leather if you have it. I sat and watched the guy for alittle bit and he clayed the whole truck and when it was finished he got most all the scratches out and ALL the swerl marks. The truck looked AMAZING! They spent about 3 1/2 hours on it thought that was really good for the price. here's there website www.heritagecarwash.com

 

I would add the engine compartment as well.

 

3.5 hours to do all of that? How many guys were working on it? That's a really short amount of time for one person and if it was one person, that's less than $40 an hour for that one person, not to mention cost of supplies and overhead.

 

I said etc. But i all honesty, that's an iffy subject because some places don't really want to touch the engine. Personally, I would do my own, but I would be leary about doing others.

 

Thanks for everyone's responses. I am just going to buy the stuff to do it myself. It makes a lot more sense to do it that way. Now I just need to find a free day to get it all done. Off to re-read the sticky again.

 

I'd like to point out that from looking at that website the place washes cars in a machine wash that is not touchless. In other words, every single car they have had washed there is being washed with the same exact piece of material which means that large amounts of swirls are going to be introduced onto your paint. I would stay away.

 

For $250 that will get you basicly everything you need to do it yourself. If it works you just got all your detailing supplies for free. If not you could sell it all and you gave it a shot. If I can do it you definitly can. I say do it yourself.

 

he is not going be be able to buy a carpet steamer for $250. And 250 is really pushing it for a DA and all the products/ pads that need to go along with it