I successfully landed a detailing job at a large dealership.

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JakeyDill

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Today I landed my self a job with Motorama Moorooka located in south-east Queensland, Austalia

The dealer uses rotary buffers and I have little experience with such a powerful machine

I will be working on
Toyotas
Holdens (australian chev/pontiac)
Fords
And
Mazdas

Advice would be much appreciated before I start my training
 
Go to a junk yard and get a panel and get a hold of a rotary and start practicing.

Rotary buffers are great tools but hold lots of power and with that power can do damage if used improperly. I would certainly practice before you take the rotary to one of the clients cars at the dealership. The last thing you want to do is burn through the paint on a new car or one that is being detailed .
 
Evan.J said:
Go to a junk yard and get a panel and get a hold of a rotary and start practicing.
Click to expand...


Great advice...


Evan.J said:
Rotary buffers are great tools but hold lots of power and with that power can do damage if used improperly. I would certainly practice before you take the rotary to one of the clients cars at the dealership. The last thing you want to do is burn through the paint on a new car or one that is being detailed .
Click to expand...


Great info...


Here's the sad news... most dealerships just don't care about giving their customer's a quality finish. They care about profits and reducing costs. They don't get it that the factory clear is thinner than a post-it note and that making their detailers use nothing but a rotary buffer is a recipe for swirled out cars and thus thinner paint.

When someone swirls out a car, this removes paint. Fixing the problem removes some paint. See how the entire approach is faulty.

This is why Meguiar's introduced their DA Microfiber Correction System, it was to try to CHANGE the industry, (the new car industry and detailing industry in general). In other words, Meguiar's is trying to change the dealership you're going to work for but it looks like they are sticking with the way things are always done... that is,

DISO - The Dealer Installed Swirl Option :lauging:


The number one customer complaint about new cars is swirls.


To the OP... recently we've had a number of forum members get jobs like you, that is working for a dealership and if memory serves me correctly, they don't last at these jobs because it's their nature to do quality work, not hack work and when working for the dealerships you are forced to do hack work.

I talk about this in-depth in this article, I suggest you read it...


The story of 3 H's - Horrendous, Horror Story and Hack Detailers...



Also, if you watch this video we made with Meguiar's a few years ago Mike Pennington and Jason Rose explain the problem and their solution.


Meguiars Microfiber DA Correction System - YouTube



:)
 
One more thing....

Even if you're REALLY GOOD with a rotary buffer, in order to put out a swirl or hologram-free finish that will hold up to multiple washings and inspection under full sun... in order to do this you will still need,

The best abrasive technology available - Not cheap products

Good pads. You can't finish out to a hologram-free finish using a worn, tatty pad.
​

I'd look around the place you'll be doing the detailing work and find out what chemicals and pads they're going to make you use.


If nothing else, this will be a great learning experience...



:xyxthumbs:
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
One more thing....

Even if you're REALLY GOOD with a rotary buffer, in order to put out a swirl or hologram-free finish that will hold up to multiple washings and inspection under full sun... in order to do this you will still need,

The best abrasive technology available - Not cheap products

Good pads. You can't finish out to a hologram-free finish using a worn, tatty pad.
​

I'd look around the place you'll be doing the detailing work and find out what chemicals and pads they're going to make you use.


If nothing else, this will be a great learning experience...



:xyxthumbs:
Click to expand...

Mike, would you suggest the Meguiars DA microfiber correction kit for someone who isn't well versed in detailing paint? Or should I take it somewhere?
 
Hjfowler said:
Mike, would you suggest the Meguiars DA microfiber correction kit for someone who isn't well versed in detailing paint? Or should I take it somewhere?
Click to expand...

What are you working on?

What is your goal?

What tools do you have?
 
It will be good experience. Work on your technique and getting the best finish you can with what you have. You will get very good at using a rotary, but just remember you wont be able to get show car results with the tools they supply you. Keep that in mind and dont let them brain wash you. If you can get decent reaults with a rotary and ceappy products, you will be able to do excellent work in the future if you go out on your own with the proper tools.

Practice the best technique possible. Keep a good attitude. Dont expeft perfection, and this could be a good experience to see what a rotary can and cant do.
 
Sorry to post my own question on your thread, answering your question first I would ask for maybe a family members car that is the same model and get a feel of the paint.

My question is, if working for a dealer is it possible to do the work with a rupes and a flex or is a rotary a must?
 
Evan.J said:
What are you working on?

What is your goal?

What tools do you have?
Click to expand...

Haven't bought any tools yet. I have a rotary buffer for work on gel coat with boats. I haven't done cars.

I have a 2010 accord. Black paint. It has a lot of swirl marks. I'd like to get rid of them. I'm familiar with clay bar products. The car looks great when it's clayed and waxed. But in direct sunlight, you can see swirl marks. I'd like to get rid of them.
 
Hjfowler said:
Haven't bought any tools yet. I have a rotary buffer for work on gel coat with boats. I haven't done cars.

I have a 2010 accord. Black paint. It has a lot of swirl marks. I'd like to get rid of them. I'm familiar with clay bar products. The car looks great when it's clayed and waxed. But in direct sunlight, you can see swirl marks. I'd like to get rid of them.
Click to expand...

Well then you certainly could go with a DA and the megs DA MF correction system. It a great tool and combo when used properly. You can get great results with foam pads as well. Each paint system will react differently due to hard or soft paint.

Now honda paint is traditionally known to be on the soft side, so you may not need the DAMF system as you could get heat results with a light compound or even a ultra finishing polish like M205.

The key is always to do a test spot and start with the least aggressive method first. The key is to preserve as much clear coat as possible. You only have so much to work with and taking of the bare minimum as possible is the best thing.

:props:
 
theclock12 said:
My question is, if working for a dealer is it possible to do the work with a rupes and a flex or is a rotary a must?
Click to expand...


It's possible.

Just depends upon what your new boss expects. If they expect speed over quality, then they may insist you use their rotary buffer.

If you were to ask if you could use one of these other tools, my guess is they will want to know if it's as f-a-s-t as using a rotary buffer...



:)
 
Evan.J said:
Well then you certainly could go with a DA and the megs DA MF correction system. It a great tool and combo when used properly. You can get great results with foam pads as well. Each paint system will react differently due to hard or soft paint.

Now honda paint is traditionally known to be on the soft side, so you may not need the DAMF system as you could get heat results with a light compound or even a ultra finishing polish like M205.

The key is always to do a test spot and start with the least aggressive method first. The key is to preserve as much clear coat as possible. You only have so much to work with and taking of the bare minimum as possible is the best thing.

:props:
Click to expand...

You're speaking a foreign language haha. Is the M205 something that I can hand apply? It's really the good where I can see the swirl marks. I watched the video mike posted and my car isn't that bad. It responded well to the Megs clay bar and ultimate paste wax. But still some marks in direct sun.
 
This is my advice on using a Rotary

I recommend going to a junk yard and practicing on a panel. Get a black one.

I would then recommend burning through the paint (on the junk panel)
Burn through it on purpose so you can learn how it is done and how it feels.

So when you start working at your new job you know how it's done and you can prevent it from happening on accident

Congratulations!
 
Evan.J said:
Go to a junk yard and get a panel and get a hold of a rotary and start practicing.
Click to expand...

In a perfect world this would be a great idea. However, they are not going to wait on you to 'practice' on junk yard panels before staring the job. The way most dealerships operate expierence is not necesasry.... You just learn as you go....and you better learn to work quick too!!! (as in 5 cars per day) :eek:

O.P. This will be a great oppurtunity for you as far as expeirence goes. Let them pay for your mistakes :-I
 
I know there are not many that will give you an attaboy for taking this job BUT it is a good place to start getting your experience and you get paid for training and practice. From there you can experiment with do's and don'ts. It can even help you before (and if) you go on your own. Paid learning is never a bad thing. It will be tough though as the more time you take doing a "better than good enough" job, the less money the dealership will make on the final sales price. So go get em and get paid to learn :)
 
Kevin Cullen said:
I know there are not many that will give you an attaboy for taking this job BUT it is a good place to start getting your experience and you get paid for training and practice. From there you can experiment with do's and don'ts. It can even help you before (and if) you go on your own. Paid learning is never a bad thing. It will be tough though as the more time you take doing a "better than good enough" job, the less money the dealership will make on the final sales price. So go get em and get paid to learn :)
Click to expand...

:iagree: I gave him an attaboy too Kevin :)
 
Flash Gordon said:
In a perfect world this would be a great idea. However, they are not going to wait on you to 'practice' on junk yard panels before staring the job. The way most dealerships operate expierence is not necesasry.... You just learn as you go....and you better learn to work quick too!!! (as in 5 cars per day) :eek:

O.P. This will be a great oppurtunity for you as far as expeirence goes. Let them pay for your mistakes :-I
Click to expand...

I figured he had his own Rotary, (don't we all?) lol

So I was suggesting for him to practice at home woops lol
 
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