Cars that kill your motivation...

O.C.Detailing

O.C.Detailing

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So Jonathan and I are working on a 1999 Mercedes E320 in pretty rough shape. By rough I mean bad...even after polishing we're finding it very difficult to find enough "good" spots in the paint to keep our motivational tendencies rolling forward.

It's not terrible money at all, and the customer refers a TON of work to me as well, but I just can't get my mind to focus properly and my desire to seal it, give it back and say it's done is overwhelming...not sure how to deal with these feelings when they come around as it really can affect the overall out-come of the detail. Any hints or tips that help you all get through the cars you don't wNt to work on anymore?
 
$$$$ and his next referall to you.

Been there though. Very discouraging and you dont want to sacrifice your quality of work becuase your not focused. Definitly not an ideal situation.
 
Trust me, I've been thrugh all of that a dozen times over but it's not working...
 
I understand your feelings especially when it seems like no matter what you try and do, the results don't seem proportional to the amount of effort you are putting into it. I know that I have done cars where you just really don't know where to start because they turn out to be basket cases, however once they do finally start coming together even if it is through a lot of little improvements, the end result is that much better. Also, sometimes I feel like I wasn't able to produce the standard of results I work for and am not 100% happy yet the customers are always thrilled which makes it worthwhile and means it was a job well done.
 
I know exactly what you mean! Just a few weeks ago I had a Jeep Wrangler I was doing and I was so frustrated with it because it just wasnt cleaning up to my standards no matter what i was doing. I was so mad at it and then when my girlfriend and looked at it she gave me "are you serious" look lol Ive determined that some vehicles are just almost not cleanable. You can take a car to a point but after that its out of your hands because the person didnt take care of it in the first place. We as detailers are miracle workers and can do some amazing things to cars but there is a point where our magic isnt enough. Im still trying to accept that one
 
Adam and Jonathan, I have seen your work, and it's always top notch. You guys are some of the best detailiers around!! But you just don't know how badly the car was taken care of before you got it, so I know you will make it look 100% better than it is now. But if the paint is trashed, then they need to re-paint the car, because if OC Detailing can't fix it, then it's NOT fixable!!


:):):):)
 
^Wow! Thanks a lot!

This car was honestly one of the top three worst cars of all time. There were a few sections that looked absolutely flawless but then you would get to a section of deeeeeepppp RIDS and rock chips. When we were finally done with the outside we turned the halogens off, took a step back, and kind of just said "meh, good enough." However, in my book, good enough is never great. I just hated feeling like a "get it done guy" and not the usual "get it done right guy." SO FRUSTRATING!
 
You can't turn every sow's ear into a silk purse, there are limitations. Most times dealing with my own mood (feeling failure & fatigue) is far more difficult than dealing with the vehicle at hand.
 
Yeah, thanks sooooo much for the kind words of encouragement and compliments all. :D We try so hard to make every car an extreme change from when we started, and though this particular car is very dramatic, I just don't feel the pay-off that I normally feel when there is so much work done and the change is so great that if you put the old car next to itself after, you'd never think it was the same car, but this time...ughhhh...so glad it's just conditioning leather and extracting carpets and we're done with it...OH, and collecting the paycheck.

We mustered up enough effort to get the job "done right" and not just "done", as Jonathan said, but believe me...we walked away from the car about 5-6 times before we could finish it. Too bad it didn't come out good enough to post pictures of online.
 
O.C.Detailing said:
Yeah, thanks sooooo much for the kind words of encouragement and compliments all. :D We try so hard to make every car an extreme change from when we started, and though this particular car is very dramatic, I just don't feel the pay-off that I normally feel when there is so much work done and the change is so great that if you put the old car next to itself after, you'd never think it was the same car, but this time...ughhhh...so glad it's just conditioning leather and extracting carpets and we're done with it...OH, and collecting the paycheck.

We mustered up enough effort to get the job "done right" and not just "done", as Jonathan said, but believe me...we walked away from the car about 5-6 times before we could finish it. Too bad it didn't come out good enough to post pictures of online.
Click to expand...

Aw man I kind of was hoping you would post pictures on here...Honestly ive never seen your guy's work but just from reading this post it looks as thou you come highly recommended:). Personally i think maybe putting some pictures up to some fresh eyes (ours) might help...I bet its nicer than you think, just that you've been looking at the 'bad' spots so long that those are the only spots that are stuck in your head instead of all the excellent work that was done:dblthumb2:
 
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