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Hey everyone, I am looking to dive into the ceramic coating side of detailing. I have been in touch with a few companies that don't offer any products to the general public, only certified installers. While their pricing is friendly, they often protect the market and I have to charge a...

I have a library of photos from cars that are run through my shop. Thought I'd share a major repair from last winter. It was a dealer car that their detailer attempted to fix. Looks like a wool pad and rotary buffer in the hands of a donkey to me. Fortunately I was able to save it with M105.

Had a Cadillac Escalade ESV in the shop for a full buff. It was in really rough shape but I was able to save her. I had some touch-up to do on the front bumper and a few spots on the lower half of the doors. On my 2nd night of working, it was near 2am and I was getting too tired to focus on a...

I have an entire fleet of Freightliner rigs to polish wheels to a mirror finish. I've polished my own aluminum wheels, but it including stripping the clear, etc. I've never had my hands on raw aluminum from the start. A "professional" already "polished" the wheels on the fleet and was promptly...

I love using M105 when the job calls for it. Unfortunately the majority of the cars I receive at my shop need this step. The only thing I've disliked about M105 has been the dusting and caking if you don't swap pads enough. While buffing a red Toyota, I got frustrated with the dust all over...

My DeWalt is getting extremely hot. So hot that you can't touch anything but the grips. It'll also stay hot for 30-45 minutes after using it. It just won't cool down. I've always used compressed air to blow it out after using it, and it's always run warm, but never this hot. Am I looking at a...

Tonight's project was a dealer BMW 335i with severe buffing damage. It looked fresh so I suspect it came from their body shop and was sent out to me for repairs. The entire car was covered from top to bottom. It took about 9 hours to fix all the damage. The paint was actually in great shape...

When I have walk ins, or schedule inspection appointments, I probably only close 25% of the deals. IMO, I am not doing a very good job with it. I'm personable, friendly, have my car/truck ready 100% of the time to show case my work, along with photos, Facebook albums, etc. However when I drop...

Majority of my business revolves around used cars for local dealers. A lot go to auction & fortunately my dealer has recognized the extra value they have at auction with more than a glaze on a hammered paint finish. However I often get "Front line" cars from the dealer & the it I get driving...

I did a 9 hour compound/polish on a very nice, low mileage 06 GMC last night. It recently received a fresh paint job from a very good shop in town. I figured the clear would be very soft & offered 2 pricing options, by the hour or a 7hr price. Anyway, only in a few spots did I have to use a...

I would like to create a post to show and explain just how powerful a PC can be. I've read a lot, and see a lot of videos where the capabilities of a PC are said to be limited. Direct drive DA's are constantly reviewed as the cats behind and steps above the PC. Rotary polishers are the end...

I was doing a 2 stage buff on a red Expedition tonight when I experienced random areas of the vehicle becoming very grabby. My PC would go absolutely nuts and my DeWalt would squeal like a pig. This happened on the hood and the rear quarter. Also when this happened, I changed pads, compounds...

Aside from a paint depth gauge, what is your method to determine when to move along from a set of stubborn swirls/marring/scratch? I've felt that with my rotary & orange pad with a heavy compound, that after the 2nd/3rd complete pass, it's time to move on from the issue at hand. I've had a few...

I receive many Dealer cars that are heading off to auction, with many on their way to the front line on the dealership lot. So far the dealer is estactic with my ability to bring life back into paint. They have their own large detail shop but they send me the "good luck fixing that" cars. I...

Several roads have been paved in my area recently and I am running into cars with excessive amounts of tar. Next year there is going to be even more road improvements and this needs to be addressed as I won't be getting a break from this any time soon. Today I lost an hour and a half doing...

I've recently taken my 'hobby' of buffing on a couple week nights & every weekend a bit more serious and opened my own shop. I have a full time employee running the daily operations, primarily cleaning interiors. I saw what he was doing in his own driveway, with store bought materials and a 15...

I use a combination of my PC & rotary to buff. There are times where I feel the PC works better and other times where my rotary is the only thing that helps me get home from the shop before 3am. I've recently gone to war with my PC. Only my thin microfiber pads will spin and oscillate. I'm...

I do corrections for a local pre-owned dealer and have seen deep paint scratch repairs after the fact and they are EXCELLENT repairs. There was a black Honda Pilot with excessive rock chipping/sand blasting behind the wheels. The dealer asked if I could do anything with it and I said yeah, ruin...

I'm using a Dewalt rotary polisher and recently I've experienced on some hoods/doors that the pads become very grabby or even squeel. If I mist them they are still grabby, I've tried using more/less product and still experience this issue. Doesn't happen on every car or work surface either.

Finally ran into a nightmare car. Mercedes c320. Black paint. Heavy swirls and holograms. Orange pad and Cg34 hybrid did next to nothing. Wool pad created severe hazing obviously but I tried it on the hood and finished down with Optimum polish II and orange pad. White was creating a haze...