http://www.detailingbliss.com/forum/...htm#post253446

White is an interesting color to detail, that and jeep clear is like a hard plastic enamel. This car was claybar hell, we didn't even tape the car until noon!

 

Much, Much improved Dan.

Another great product for tar and bugs is Meg's Body Solvent, does wonders. I just picked up a bunch of their stuff and their Wheel Brighter and Hyper Dressing is kick *** too.

Cheap since it all comes in concentrates.

Next 2 items I may get is a Foam gun and some smaller backing plates and pads for tighter areas for the Makita.

 

Great job guys! Kathy's impressed and loves it. Glad to see you guys were able to get rid of all the iron spots on it. Nasty stuff... The hood never looked that bad to the naked eye but under those lights it looked like crap!

 

Thanks, I'll have to give that megs a shot, we usually use P21S Total Auto Wash with good results. As far as rims go Sonnax is the only pre cleaner we use, its super pricey but hands down the best.

Yup, the small pads are a must for some locations, be carefull with the rotary especially, a smaller pad will have more cutting power behind it. My buddy invested in a foam gun, its a great tool for a quick in between clean and letting it soak. Sometimes we use it if we get a lot of compound dust on the initial pass and it needs a quick cleaning without touchingthe paint much.

 

I'm glad she is man. Those iron spots were no match for a little elbow grease and clay, well actually a LOT lol.

Yeah its super critical to have good lighting with correction, otherwise you are next to blind.

 

nice job dano what did you use on the rims?

 

and i thought i new how to keep a car clean ..

god you guys make me look bad! lol

 

Nice job Dan

 

Great job, most people with SUV's don't seem to care that much about their cares when it comes to cleaning them, but that Jeep came out well. I need to get some more business around here, it would be nice to have some stuff to supplement my part time job.

 

We always start with sonnax and then hit it with a wheel brush and use soap and water or degreaser as needed, then claybared. These wheels were stained so we used a combination of scotch brite pads and compound. We also used the PC with a 3" pad to help finish it out. Then it got hit with some liquid wax.

 

Not bad, if you don't mind me asking, what did you guys charge for something like this?

 

Thanks to everyone else on the compliments.

Trucks and SUV's are certainly almost always more work. On some of these cars we both put in 10hr days and sometimes you gotta reach deep to finish it.

My friend and I enjoy doing the corrective work and look forward to the results. As of now I wouldn't say this hobby has been lucrative, too many freinds and family haha. Not to mention quality materials don't exactly come cheap. But lets just say pretty much all the favors are complete

If we keep busy, next season I'd like to buy a flex random orbiter.

 

Check your PM's, got a flex I wouldnt mind parting with.

 

To be honest since we are taking the hobbiest route we haven't design a pricing strategy per say. But lets just say something like that would easily cost $400-$500 at a professional shop in our area. We would be less by a decent margin. Also remember we probably used around $60 in material for this car alone.

Every car is a little different and usually we can eyeball the amount of work to within an hr or so, however this was a sneaky car with all the claybarring, wheel work, and very hard paint, it took us probably an extra 4hrs. Most cars we can do in a day, that car was pushing just a hair over.

 

I hear you on the lucrative part about it. Especially when it comes to friends and family. I never want to gouge and when it comes to the inlaws and my wife, there is no charge but I have my 2 cars (Buick Century and Trans Am), the Wife's HHR, Mother in laws brand new 2011 Ford Edge, and Father In laws Dodge Ram 1500 Night Runner, 97 Jeep Wrangler and Harley to keep me busy.

My Wife's car is in sore shape as we work opposite shifts so tommorrow I may steal the car and start working on my interior revival.

 

Yeah it all started with us maintaining are own cars. Now our cars get no love and everybody elses does, lol

 

Yup, my truck looks like a pile of ****. Im actually gonna test opti-coat on my roof soon. See what all the hype is about.

 

That stuff bonds with the paint right,hardens up? Let me know what you think.

 

Yup, havent really tried it yet. Don't wanna test it on a customer car. Plus its kinda on the pricey side.

 

When I get home tonight I am ordering this....

http://www.autogeek.net/ezdebrfca.html



With my new Wheel Chemicals it goes a ton out but my Brushes are either too big, or not flexiable. I need a fingernail brush too to help aggitate hard surfaces such as door skins, or softer vinyl seats with the APC or APC+.