Does who do mobile detailing - How do you make it so it's not sunny?

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TheMidnightNarwhal

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So you know the saying.. you shouldn't detail cars in sun.

Does that mean you try to schedule clients with what the weather shows if they don't have a carport or garage?
 
If we couldn't work in the sun, we'd have 15-20 days of detailing per year. I'm not sure who says that, but I've never heard that saying. If you're that worried about it, bring your own shade. That's what we do. Not because we don't want to detail cars in the sun, because it's going to be 100 degrees here pretty quick.
 
It's all a matter of technique and timing. Also the products you use make a difference.

So for example, if you need to wash the vehicle and the sun is blaring, you can do a rinseless wash, pannel by pannel and you will be fine.

If you need to polish or compound the car, there is usually a part of the car in the shade, so start there and chase the shade around the car.

For LSP it's usually a non-issue.

I am mobile and for me the opposite is the problem. When weather forecast says 10% chance of rain with no accumulation, and it starts to rain, it usually throws my whole day up because I did not plan for it and there is very little exterior detailing that can be done in the rain. For interiors you can always find a way if a little rain comes but for exterior, you are kinda screwed until the rain stops.
 
sudsmobile said:
If we couldn't work in the sun, we'd have 15-20 days of detailing per year. I'm not sure who says that, but I've never heard that saying. If you're that worried about it, bring your own shade. That's what we do. Not because we don't want to detail cars in the sun, because it's going to be 100 degrees here pretty quick.
Click to expand...

What do you use for shade. I after 6 years I still don't have any form of temporary gazebo or anything. I have not found a single product that would be easy and quick to setup alone.
 
We wash cars in the blazing sun everyday. Not sure what the issue is with that. Work fast, use spot free water.
 
Calendyr said:
What do you use for shade. I after 6 years I still don't have any form of temporary gazebo or anything. I have not found a single product that would be easy and quick to setup alone.
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Two 10'x15' canopies. Gives us 20'x15' of shade. I can set them up by myself in about 10 minutes start to finish, same to take them down. It's a little easier with two people, but not significantly.

This is what we use.
Ace Canopy Diamond Pop Up Tent 10'x15'
 
sudsmobile said:
If we couldn't work in the sun, we'd have 15-20 days of detailing per year. I'm not sure who says that, but I've never heard that saying. If you're that worried about it, bring your own shade. That's what we do. Not because we don't want to detail cars in the sun, because it's going to be 100 degrees here pretty quick.
Click to expand...

Well with all the videos I watched and reading product labels, it mentions to not use in direct sunlight.
 
Calendyr said:
It's all a matter of technique and timing. Also the products you use make a difference.

So for example, if you need to wash the vehicle and the sun is blaring, you can do a rinseless wash, pannel by pannel and you will be fine.

If you need to polish or compound the car, there is usually a part of the car in the shade, so start there and chase the shade around the car.

For LSP it's usually a non-issue.

I am mobile and for me the opposite is the problem. When weather forecast says 10% chance of rain with no accumulation, and it starts to rain, it usually throws my whole day up because I did not plan for it and there is very little exterior detailing that can be done in the rain. For interiors you can always find a way if a little rain comes but for exterior, you are kinda screwed until the rain stops.
Click to expand...

I practise once again on my own car and the sun was drying so much my Sonax wheel cleaner but it still did a good job but I'm scared it might screw things up on someone's else's wheels for example.
 
A little spendy for two but we were doing a job last weekend for 4 hours and it was 96* out. A real lifesaver just giving you some shade to work in.
 
TheMidnightNarwhal said:
I practise once again on my own car and the sun was drying so much my Sonax wheel cleaner but it still did a good job but I'm scared it might screw things up on someone's else's wheels for example.
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Based on your anecdotal evidence of not screwing up your own car? They're cars, not Faberge eggs.
 
I sometimes deal in direct sun. I work on panels that are shaded by the car itself. Once done, move the car around to keep getting shade. On hot days, it really sucks.

Wife eventually got me an Easy-Up and I loved her more for it. Took some practice, but I'm able to set it up by myself. Made a massive difference on those hot days. If you get one, weigh it down on those windy days.

One trick I learned from Darren Priest, is to work on a small section. While working on that small section, have a damp MF towel in an adjacent section so that panel stays cool until you're ready to hit it. Repeat that until you're done.

Use sun friendly products. Poorboy's World is sun friendly. I once used Black Hole (followed by their Black wax) on a black panel that had a surface temp of like 130*
 
Oh, yeah, definitely anchor it down. We bought eight "sand bags" off Amazon that hold 18lbs of rock/sand each. I filled them with river rock. That's enough to keep them from moving. I can usually get away with just putting two each on the upwind legs and that works fine in all but the heaviest gusts.
 
Poorboys products are designed to be sun-friendly. Made and tested in South Florida.
 
You can also use empty 5 gallon buckets from wherever to weigh the shelter down fill with water from the hose can empty when done easily then restack your buckets


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
JustJesus said:
I sometimes deal in direct sun. I work on panels that are shaded by the car itself. Once done, move the car around to keep getting shade. On hot days, it really sucks.

Wife eventually got me an Easy-Up and I loved her more for it. Took some practice, but I'm able to set it up by myself. Made a massive difference on those hot days. If you get one, weigh it down on those windy days.

One trick I learned from Darren Priest, is to work on a small section. While working on that small section, have a damp MF towel in an adjacent section so that panel stays cool until you're ready to hit it. Repeat that until you're done.

Use sun friendly products. Poorboy's World is sun friendly. I once used Black Hole (followed by their Black wax) on a black panel that had a surface temp of like 130*
Click to expand...

Ok thanks for that idea of turning the car around. I do do a full foam presoak but that drying on there doesn't seem to be much of an issue. It's when drying off the end after that is a chore when it spots but yeah turnign the car around seems like a good idea!

As for your Easy Up, I looked and there is one for like 50$ here but I guess it's to smal lthat's why. How big is yours?
 
For using my Sonax wheel cleaner I guess if I just stand in front of the wheel it blocks the sun.
 
Down here in Florida I use a 12x12 straight leg canopy and a max air(found at Home Depot) 32” fan. The fan was around $180 and the canopy was around $100. Keeps constant air flow, great for interiors, plus all in the shade.
 
JustJesus said:
I work on panels that are shaded by the car itself. Once done, move the car around to keep getting shade. On hot days, it really sucks.


One trick I learned from Darren Priest, is to work on a small section. While working on that small section, have a damp MF towel in an adjacent section so that panel stays cool until you're ready to hit it. Repeat that until you're done.

Use sun friendly products.
Click to expand...

This.

I polished this Dodge Charger yesterday in the direct sun using these exact methods [minus the damp microfiber towel, because I didn’t need it]

f2543894f00c1321787d9af89ee621b5.heic


But if your products don’t work the best in direct sun, the damp towel method does help.

ac4c4582b827d01d827fbf048cb13c86.heic


Use products that are sun friendly. On that car I used Griots Correcting Cream and Meguiars Ultimate Fast Finish as the lsp on 120* degree panels without issues.

Get yourself an infrared thermometer so you know exactly what you’re dealing with.

fcd74c50ceaabfbde92ff7592415bf3f.jpg
 
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