A few questions for a detailing newbie.

HEMIFSH said:
One last comment for you young pups. When cleaning your non tinted glass, car, home, etc. use windex and newspaper, it will not streak. Been using that method since I was 11 years old as I learned from an older and more experienced man that knew what he was talking about.
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I'm not that far behind you (48) and I have been detailing cars for 32 of those years with only the last 15 or so having a clue what I was doing. If it weren't for the advice of others, some older than me, some younger, I still wouldn't have a clue. The key is to listen and be willing to admit there might be a better way, not get your back up when someone (or a few someone's) say you might be on the wrong track.

You'll always be welcome on the forum, you just have to realize that this is not the place to be arguing who's ...buffer ... is bigger. We all come here to learn and help each other learn new (possibly better) techniques & practices and to dispel myths, NOT TO BUTT HEADS.

Good Day to YOU Sir
 
irvsmith said:
This is the diplomatic side of me trying to smooth the ruffled feathers.

Hemifsh- how often do you do this process of water and no soap? If your frequency was high enough and you are not in a urban environment I could possibly see how this might be a workable solution.

Would you be willing to take a high resolution image of your finish with high powered lights on the paint like others do in the forum?

In the end all are here to learn and one can't learn if one is unwilling to examine their methods periodically. I certainly would be interested to know it can be possible to have a great finish without soap.

🚘👍
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well it is obvious that there are varied opinions on how a vehicle should be cleaned and detailed and in the grand scheme of everything that is going on in this world does it really make a big difference? Do we worship our cars to the point that we are willing to infere that everyone is wrong if they don't agree with our methods?
I am not one that will go out and purchase high definition lights and a high definition camera to prove a point, it's not that important to me. Like I stated in an earlier post I have washed both my Charger and my wife's Avenger for over two years using softened water only and there are no swirl marks or scratches in the clear coat, period. A year and a half was in Indianapolis and over a half year in Sebring, Florida. Indy has some manufacturing and dirty air, Florida is a lot better IMO.
If one wants to use soap then by all means do so, but don't criticize someone that doesn't. I have had 2 classic cars that have been featured in two national magazines that have won numerous awards for their paint quality, neither one washed with soap and both had windex applied to the clear coat.
My painter repairs Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Austin Martins, classic cars and he never uses soap and quite frequently uses windex on these cars so don't tell me I am old fashion and things have changed that much. I would trust his judgement as his experience far exceeds many on this forum.
I've tried to impart some helpful advise that I've learned over the years that may not agree with many on this forum but that's okay as everyone learns by their own experience. My methods work on my vehicles and if you don't agree so be it....who really cares?
I have had a judge at a national event tell me something was wrong with a specific detail on one of my classic cars, which was restored by one of the top Mopar restoration guys in the country that had documented proof the detail was correct, and yet the judge was unwilling to change his mind because someone told him the detail was wrong. The point is this: just because some so called expert says its wrong doesn't necessarily make it wrong.
So, use soap if you want, it's your vehicle. Enough said.
 
I apologize if I offended. In my post I truly was coming from a place of curious inquiry and not judgment. In rereading my post I can see how it might have come across as 'prove yourself to me' attitude. I obviously failed in my attempt to simply say I wondered if you might have some photos so I can see your work and was willing to leave from your methods which from your response illustrate that you have had success.

I truly wish you and yours well.
 
HEMIFSH said:
My painter repairs Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Austin Martins, classic cars and he never uses soap and quite frequently uses windex on these cars so don't tell me I am old fashion and things have changed that much. I would trust his judgement as his experience far exceeds many on this forum.
I've tried to impart some helpful advise that I've learned over the years that may not agree with many on this forum but that's okay as everyone learns by their own experience. My methods work on my vehicles and if you don't agree so be it....who really cares?

The point is this: just because some so called expert says its wrong doesn't necessarily make it wrong.
So, use soap if you want, it's your vehicle. Enough said.
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A few points on this. There are experts, and there are recognized experts in their fields. I have learned from this forum that many a body shop "expert" has no clue on detailing and maintaining a paint finish.

Yes, if a recognized expert in the field, many of which post regularly on this forum and are well known and respected as experts in the field post on a method being wrong, than it is wrong.

Rather than being so firm in imparting your advice, why not read some on the forum, research some products and be open to the fact that maybe there is a better way and better products than the methods you are using.

You are the one whos mind seems to be closed to learning. We are open to hearing new ways of doing things, which is why we come to this forum, which is what the original poster was doing. It just so happens that in the case of the advice you are imparting, its pretty widely accepted as a practice that is not good. Think about it, if using windex was the secret to maintaining a great paint finish, wouldnt we all want to do it?

There are manufacturers of products, chemists who also have posted on this board, and not once has any of them ever recommended using windex on paint, or washing your car with plain water. They must know, science is not disputable.
 
HEMIFSH said:
well it is obvious that there are varied opinions on how a vehicle should be cleaned and detailed and in the grand scheme of everything that is going on in this world does it really make a big difference?
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Nope, in the overall scheme of things, cleaning cars makes no difference.

However, other than basic how-to, a large focus of this forum is precisely on the varied products, methods and opinions of how a vehicle should be cleaned and detailed. So to suggest that those topics don't make any difference to the members of the forum is kind of working at cross-purposes.

I don't know if you've been on other forums, but there's maybe two basic rules to success, one is--have a thick skin, and two is--have an open mind.

This is one of the nicest, most helpful detailing forums there is (reminder to self--stay out of political threads), but you have to get your head in the right place to get the benefit. In the old days before the internet, it was hard to get much information on detailing, there were no books, you were mostly "in the bubble" locked into your own processes, or maybe some other guys in their own bubble that you might run into at a show or car club or the guy behind the counter at the paint shop. You took info where you could get it, with the pedigree frequently being "I've been doing it this way for xx years" with the implication that it must therefore be a good method.

Mike Phillips has a good thread: http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...than-detailers-don-t.html?highlight=detailers

Anyway, good luck.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Nope, in the overall scheme of things, cleaning cars makes no difference.

However, other than basic how-to, a large focus of this forum is precisely on the varied products, methods and opinions of how a vehicle should be cleaned and detailed. So to suggest that those topics don't make any difference to the members of the forum is kind of working at cross-purposes.

I don't know if you've been on other forums, but there's maybe two basic rules to success, one is--have a thick skin, and two is--have an open mind.

This is one of the nicest, most helpful detailing forums there is (reminder to self--stay out of political threads), but you have to get your head in the right place to get the benefit. In the old days before the internet, it was hard to get much information on detailing, there were no books, you were mostly "in the bubble" locked into your own processes, or maybe some other guys in their own bubble that you might run into at a show or car club or the guy behind the counter at the paint shop. You took info where you could get it, with the pedigree frequently being "I've been doing it this way for xx years" with the implication that it must therefore be a good method.

Mike Phillips has a good thread: http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...than-detailers-don-t.html?highlight=detailers

Anyway, good luck.
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:iagree: Very Well said!
 
This is all reminding me of a funny thread that may have been on another forum, about a young member who got a job at a car dealer in the "detailing" department, and was shown how to detail by the sr. member of the department who had been working at that job for 15 years.

This member was very confused, because the techniques he was shown by this very experienced detailer were at odds with the techniques and practices taught here, and he was having difficulty reconciling this.

I believe it was Todd Helme who explained that the detailer with 15 years experience was probably given two weeks training by the senior guy at the time, and had been doing it the same way for the last 15 years, so in reality he didn't have 15 years of experience, he had two weeks of experience that he had been repeating for 15 years.
 
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