What sparked your detailing intrest?

jimmyjam

jimmyjam

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I always kept my car as clean as possible, borderline compulsive and never thought of making money or even touching someone else's car. One day my barber asked me the steps to make his Ford Expeditions black paint rid of swirls. After explaining the process he just looked at me with a blank glare, and replied "how much would you charge me?" and me not knowing how/what to charge replied "$40". When I returned his vehicle to him after the detail, him and his wife were outside waiting for me, while driving up their driveway I noticed their expressions of disbelief. They must of walked around their Ford about five times complementing my work every round. I can honestly say that the peoples/clients reactions is the most rewarding part of my work, sure I love to see the beauty of the cars, but the people fall in love with their car all over again. Anyhow after that my barber started sending random people to me and word of mouth got so huge that my business blossomed. All the knowledge of the you members makes me excited to try out new methods, and detailing doesn't become work, it's still fun.:cheers:
 



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I thought I knew how to detail years ago. That was until I saw a detailer's site. In that site, I researched and saw step by step the process of actually correcting paint. That led to me finding this forum and asking questions about different processes. Detailing is a skill set that can be constantly improved upon.
 
I like to see the before and afters. The look on peoples faces when you get rid of those imperfections or make their dirty carpet clean is rewarding.
 
I've alway been a clean freak. So detailing my car was just natural. Years ago I wanted to purchase the Meguiar's G100 kit. My father was going to take his car to the local car wash that did polishing around back. I told him to find out what they'd charge him and I'd do it for the same. He knew I'd do a much better job so he obliged. He paid me up front so I could order everything I would need. This started me detailing other peoples cars. A few years later, I started SLV Auto Detailing as a side business. My day job is 5 days on, 4 days off, so it allows me to focus a large amount of time on the detailing.


Colin
 
I had a 2008 MINI CooperS before the Civic in my avatar.

I used to wash it and my family's car's with good old Dawn, a kitchen sponge and a 2.5 gallon bucket. Looked good to me then........

But, one day I was googling car care and realized that I needed to properly care for my car and get some wax on it. So, I asked my mom who worked for an automotive warehouse at the time to pick me up some wax and it was good old M26.

She said the guy that gave it to her said to make sure the car was clean. He never said to wash it. Well, I get the wax, I look at the car and I say "Yup, it looks clean." :)

So, even with dirt on the car, I start waxing (eeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkssssss). I used as a WOWO because I didn't know what else to do. It still came out looking pretty good or so I thought. The included yellow aplicator was brown afterwards.......

And i found Meguiars Online then AutogeekOnline and it has been smooth sailing and an empty wallet since then. :)
 
That's a great question Jimmy.

What got me into detailing was me wanting to avoid repainting my car. The car's hood and old bumper was speckled with road rash. Additionally, swirls and haze were clearly evident and I thought that the only way to fix it was to repaint it. I also knew a good paint job was going to cost thousands, so that's when I started looking for alternatives to make my car shine like new once again. Coupled with my obsession with keeping my car clean inside and out, finding this site met all my needs and the rest as they say, is history.
 
There is a thread on here that states how I got started into detailing at the level that we AG members do it. Before that though, I had a cruddy old Ford Tempo that was on it's last leg. I met a local doctor who helped me to get a better car from one of his friends who visited the auto auction frequently. Not having much money to buy with, he called me and said that he couldn't find anything at the auction in my price range that he felt comfortable putting me in as a favor to the doctor.

This nice man invited me to his business to look at one of his personal cars that he was considering selling. It was a high mileage 2000 Chevy Impala that he sold to me for $1200. The car was in beautiful shape and he had receipts for every scheduled servicing! How could I pass that up? I gleefully bought the car!

I figured that since these two guys went to such great lengths to help me out in a tough spot, the least I could do to show my gratitude was to clean the car and put a coat of wax on it. I went out to WalMart and bought a 5" palm polisher and the Meguiars Deep Crystal Trio and began to polish the car up.

As I said I was in a bad spot and had been doing a lot of praying, asking God what I could do to change my life for the better. While waxing that car I heard a voice in my head say to me "Go volunteer at the Salvation Army". A week later I went to the Salvation Army and asked If there was anything that I could do to give of myself. After a lengthy conversation about the troubles in my own life they set me up with a volunteer position at one of their Adult Rehabilitation centers.

While doing this volunteer work I had been given the best gift that anyone could ever receive, "a personal relationship with God".

2 weeks later the 2000 Chevy Impala and I were plowed off of interstate 81 by a tractor trailer and thus began my spiritual journey.

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I wasn't hurt at all but can tell you that being pushed sideways down the freeway by a Peterbuilt at 75 miles per hour is a pretty alarming feeling. The insurance company gave me $5008. for that car 4 weeks after I payed $1200. for it and I dropped that check on a desk at a Lincoln Mercury dealership as a down payment for the Buick that I own now and really learned how to detail on.

Being the giving time of year, I hope that my post will inspire someone to give of themselves at least anonymously if not in a volunteer fashion. It truly helps the volunteer much more than the needy that he/she may be helping.

If you have read this far, thank you and have a Happy Holiday. TD
 
Kind of funny if you ask me. I was watching "Karate Kid" the night before picking up my first car. I saw the wax on wax off part, and saw how awesome the cars looked. So, I went to Wal Mart and got my 'Turtle Wax' and other cheap products. Made it look really nice but once I discovered this site and all the techniques lets say there is a hole in my wallet and bills not being paid :p
 
After restoring the roadrunner in the avatar which entailed cutting out the rust,hand fabricating replacement panels, reupholstering the interior,rebuilding the engine and electrical, doing the body work and paint (in those days reproduction parts were not available) I started taking it to the car shows for muscle cars. I learned from the judges that the best looking,cleanest vehicles usually took home the prizes. So the obsession started with cleaning and polishing. That was back in the late 70's and into the 80's. To this day I am still meticulous about how things look in every aspect of my life not just vehicles. Some times it can be more of a curse than anything else but the wife has become accustomed to it.

Dave
 
I always loved taking something and making it better and the jaw drop when someone sees their car when you're done makes it worth it.
 
My dad was my biggest influence I think. I remember when i was like 4-5, he would be out washing his car and I would help him. He had a black 85 Maxima with honeycomb wheels (best way to describe them.) Than i can remember washing the family cars when i was like 12. It sorta became something I could pride myself in, and it just came to fruition after that. Also there was another forum i was a part of, that there was a detail guy on and that just made me more interested and now at the ripe ol' age of 21 (lol) I have me a nice collection of detail stuff.

Though what sucks is I am about to graduate college in may with my bba in accounting............and i have all this detailing stuff.........:(
 
It all started out as a chore when I was a kid. After a while, I really enjoyed it and though it was way more fun then cutting the lawn.

When I started driving, I detailed all my friends cars and would get comments from the other kids at school how good they looked.

I loved this and that's why I am still detailing.
 
reality33 said:
It all started out as a chore when I was a kid. After a while, I really enjoyed it and though it was way more fun then cutting the lawn.

When I started driving, I detailed all my friends cars and would get comments from the other kids at school how good they looked.

I loved this and that's why I am still detailing.
Click to expand...

i see you are in clermont, thats where I lived for a few years. Maybe you know me lol.
 
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