HMFIC
New member
- Mar 6, 2009
- 353
- 0
I started detailing, in Ga., @ 16 when I got tired of bagging groceries for $3 per hour(1992). I teamed up with a friend of mine. We would wash, wax, vacuum, clean engine, door jams and removes stain from carpets for 35-75 dollars depending on size and amount cleaning needed. Both of out fathers where car dealers so there was no shortage of work. Did that for about 2 years. Went to collage 2 years straight, summer and all. Got burned out and came back to my birth place, Ft. Lauderdale FL, where my family was at again. Went to work for my older brother, 17yrs my senior, detailing cars at his used car lot.
This is where I was handed what he called a buffer (actually a grinder i was later to find out) heavy compound, light compound, machine glaze, cheap wax and I was lucky to get 1 pad per car. I did 1 car per day, inside and out, 5-6 days a week for about a year(I got payed per car). Using a grinder to buff is like playing a 1st person shooter game, you have to constantly pull the trigger,on off, to keep speed down or you will burn the paint. For the real nasty POSs i would used the pressure cleaner inside and out, trying not to hit the computers in the kick panels. I got to ware i could make a car look very good to an untrained eye.
Fast forward to the present. I have a variable speed Milwaukee 5400 (4years old and still runs like new) 3m foam pads and polish. My family is still in the car busness so I still do 1 car a week, or mabey 1 every 2 weeks, on my off day and after work. I love detailing because allows me to be alone(I am introverted), unwind and think while keeping my hands busy. Also the main reason, i believe, people detail cars: satisfaction of doing a good job and seeing your finished product.
This is the 1st detailing site I have been too. I am amazed I never thought of surfing the web for detailers and supplies. I always got all my supplies from a local paint supply store.
I ordered a plethora of LC foam pads, wolfgang polish, finishing glaze, wheel cleaner, wax, lots of MF towels(cant have enough ya know or i cant seem too), leather cleaner and conditioner etc..... When I got all the stuff in and opened the box it brought back memories of christmas as a child and also the feeling(havnt been that excited about a gift, even tho i bought it, in many years). Then the painful part. I left my polisher in a extended cab dually that had been shipped to a Texas auto action and the car hauller wasnt coming back for 2 weeks(ARGGGGG!) My girlfriend almost bought me another polisher because she said i was moping around. But I just got it back today WOOHOO!!
Will be correcting a swirled out, compliments of 10 bay detail factory, Mercedes-Benz e240. Painful to look at in the sun. Will post before and after pics using all my new toys.
Thats the basics of me and my passion for detailing
This is where I was handed what he called a buffer (actually a grinder i was later to find out) heavy compound, light compound, machine glaze, cheap wax and I was lucky to get 1 pad per car. I did 1 car per day, inside and out, 5-6 days a week for about a year(I got payed per car). Using a grinder to buff is like playing a 1st person shooter game, you have to constantly pull the trigger,on off, to keep speed down or you will burn the paint. For the real nasty POSs i would used the pressure cleaner inside and out, trying not to hit the computers in the kick panels. I got to ware i could make a car look very good to an untrained eye.
Fast forward to the present. I have a variable speed Milwaukee 5400 (4years old and still runs like new) 3m foam pads and polish. My family is still in the car busness so I still do 1 car a week, or mabey 1 every 2 weeks, on my off day and after work. I love detailing because allows me to be alone(I am introverted), unwind and think while keeping my hands busy. Also the main reason, i believe, people detail cars: satisfaction of doing a good job and seeing your finished product.
This is the 1st detailing site I have been too. I am amazed I never thought of surfing the web for detailers and supplies. I always got all my supplies from a local paint supply store.
I ordered a plethora of LC foam pads, wolfgang polish, finishing glaze, wheel cleaner, wax, lots of MF towels(cant have enough ya know or i cant seem too), leather cleaner and conditioner etc..... When I got all the stuff in and opened the box it brought back memories of christmas as a child and also the feeling(havnt been that excited about a gift, even tho i bought it, in many years). Then the painful part. I left my polisher in a extended cab dually that had been shipped to a Texas auto action and the car hauller wasnt coming back for 2 weeks(ARGGGGG!) My girlfriend almost bought me another polisher because she said i was moping around. But I just got it back today WOOHOO!!
Will be correcting a swirled out, compliments of 10 bay detail factory, Mercedes-Benz e240. Painful to look at in the sun. Will post before and after pics using all my new toys.
Thats the basics of me and my passion for detailing
