Correct 'Full Detail' Procedure?

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crash73

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We (I and another forum member) essentially follow the guides when detailing our cars, but I am confused about certain things; we need to improve our processes to not require so much time; and we may be needing to use different products that offer greater longevity in the appearance/protection category...

We're talking about 5 cars; one is a garaged `06 that has been 'autogeeked' since new; the other 4 are not garaged, but have been 'autogeeked' at least once. One of the 4 is a black Yukon XL; I kid you not when I say that it takes a solid 2+ days to do an 'in and out' full-on detailing. Mind you, part of this is the 12 hours for the Klasse sealant to set up, but we are working on this thing all day Saturday until about 10 P.M., leaving it set until about 11 A.M. Sunday morning, and following up the Klasse with more stuff, primarily for appearance and what we think is additional protection...

The other cars also require the same two days, although it won't be as late Saturday when the car (and we) get to rest the 12 hours for Klasse to set up.

It takes us so long to do our 5 cars that we don't think we can start a business; we need 5 good-weather weekends to do our cars, and then there's the maintenance washes, quick detailers (as needed), and tire treatments... So with bad weather, we either have to turn away paying customers (not good for business) or ignore our own cars (not good for the pride we have in our vehicles and their appearance). Neither of us has the property necessary to build a workable garage...

Interior
Vacuum...
Clean carpets/seats as necessary...
Clean plastic/vinyl...
Clean glass...
Tried Windex, Stoners Invisible Glass, etc...
Windex usually takes 2 applications, streaky during application, but remains cleaner longer than Stoners...
Stoners usually takes one application, less streaky during use...
Any other candidates worthy of consideration (no night reflections, please)
Apply plastic/vinyl 'sealers' or protectors...
Plastic/Vinyl protectors seem to rub off easily on clothing (glove box/console areas)
Tried DP Total Interior Protectant, Meguiar's, Turtle Wax Formula 2001...
Don't want really bright shine (no night reflections, please)
Recommendations?
Apply seat moisturizers/conditioners...
The `06 we do has suede leather insets in leather seats...
Haven't found non-shoe (those things on your feet; Kiwi is all that we have found) suede cleaners or conditioners...
Recommendations?
Now look at the carpets... vacuum again...

Exterior

Start at the driveway, clean the tires, wheels, etc. first... No problem...
Foam/rinse/foam/wash the vehicle... some say top down (roof to the rocker panels), others say bottom up.... we do top down (keep the heavy dirt closest to the ground)...
Clay bar... here as well, we do top down... Some say clay removes any wax/sealant, others say not... I'm in the 'not' crowd. It may remove wax/sealant from where-ever dirt/impurities are lifted, but not over the whole body of the car (or truck)...
Some say wash again, others say only wash again if no further correction is required... We wash again, regardless...
If no correction is needed, what minimally should be used to strip off the old wax/sealant? Paint Polish? Paint Cleaner? Both, and if so, in which order? We have treated XMT 360 as a cleaner/polish, sealer, and wax... are we off-base?
If I need correction at this point, we'll use XMT 1, 2, or 3 as needed. Any of these will remove wax/sealants and hopefully correct the issue we feel needs to be addressed. However...
If I need to use XMT 3 on a panel, should XMT 3 be used on all panels? We don't...
Do we need to follow this up with a paint cleaner/polish, or another wash?
If I need to use XMT 2 on a panel, should XMT 2 be used on all panels? We don't...
Do we need to follow this up with a paint cleaner/polish, or another wash?
If I need to use XMT 1 on a panel, should XMT 1 be used on all panels? We do; we pretty much treat it as a paint cleaner/polish in one...
How does one assess whether any of the XMT products can remove the visible blemishes? Do you start with 1 and work your way through the line until the blemish is gone, or how can you assess the blemish and treat it with the right product the first time? How do you determine the difference in XMT 2 on a heavy-cut pad verses XMT 3 on a low or medium cut pad? Obviously, experience helps, but right now we (myself and another forum member) detail 5 family cars, usually together. It could take many months to get to that point of understanding and experience; we need help..
Apply Klasse...
Top it with one or more coats of wax... Usually from the Sovereign family, and occasionally followed up with OptiSeal...
'Back to Black' on various external plastics/moldings...
'Never Dull' on chrome...
DP Wheel Glaze...
DP Tire Gel...

Any improvements, suggestions, anything that leads to a constructive and positive resolve would be greatly appreciated. We'd really like some of our life back to rest and relax; we both immensely enjoy working on the cars, but there must be something more to life than working Monday - Friday, then working on cars Saturday - Sunday, and not really getting to enjoy anything else...


Feed back please
 
You will get to know more about what you can get out of paint, with more details. Do use an extractor? Try Vinylex or 303 Protectant for the interior.
 
Exterior, rinse, use and APC at a fairly strong concentration and then wash the car. This will get the old crud off. Products like PB bug squash come highly recommended. Then if no correction is needed, and the paint is smooth, use a paint cleanser and then glaze and wax, or just plain wax it.
 
bryansbestwax said:
You will get to know more about what you can get out of paint, with more details. Do use an extractor? Try Vinylex or 303 Protectant for the interior.
Click to expand...

By extractor, do you mean like a Bissell deep carpet cleaner? We have one but the one time we used it on a car it took longer than vacuuming and after a day we had a funny smell. This is after sucking the carpet dry several times, not just going over it once and calling it a day (which is where the time went - repeatedly drying the carpets over 3 to 5 passes).

We ordered some OPP, 303, and Klasse Interior Cleaner last week and hope to try them soon.
 
bryansbestwax said:
Exterior, rinse, use and APC at a fairly strong concentration and then wash the car. This will get the old crud off. Products like PB bug squash come highly recommended. Then if no correction is needed, and the paint is smooth, use a paint cleanser and then glaze and wax, or just plain wax it.
Click to expand...

Which paint cleansers are recommended?
 
crash73 said:
We (I and another forum member) essentially follow the guides when detailing our cars, but I am confused about certain things; we need to improve our processes to not require so much time; and we may be needing to use different products that offer greater longevity in the appearance/protection category...

We're talking about 5 cars; one is a garaged `06 that has been 'autogeeked' since new; the other 4 are not garaged, but have been 'autogeeked' at least once. One of the 4 is a black Yukon XL; I kid you not when I say that it takes a solid 2+ days to do an 'in and out' full-on detailing. Mind you, part of this is the 12 hours for the Klasse sealant to set up, but we are working on this thing all day Saturday until about 10 P.M., leaving it set until about 11 A.M. Sunday morning, and following up the Klasse with more stuff, primarily for appearance and what we think is additional protection...

The other cars also require the same two days, although it won't be as late Saturday when the car (and we) get to rest the 12 hours for Klasse to set up.

It takes us so long to do our 5 cars that we don't think we can start a business; we need 5 good-weather weekends to do our cars, and then there's the maintenance washes, quick detailers (as needed), and tire treatments... So with bad weather, we either have to turn away paying customers (not good for business) or ignore our own cars (not good for the pride we have in our vehicles and their appearance). Neither of us has the property necessary to build a workable garage...

Interior
Vacuum...
Clean carpets/seats as necessary...
Clean plastic/vinyl...
Clean glass...
Tried Windex, Stoners Invisible Glass, etc...
Windex usually takes 2 applications, streaky during application, but remains cleaner longer than Stoners...
Stoners usually takes one application, less streaky during use...
Any other candidates worthy of consideration (no night reflections, please)
Apply plastic/vinyl 'sealers' or protectors...
Plastic/Vinyl protectors seem to rub off easily on clothing (glove box/console areas)
Tried DP Total Interior Protectant, Meguiar's, Turtle Wax Formula 2001...
Don't want really bright shine (no night reflections, please)
Recommendations?
Apply seat moisturizers/conditioners...
The `06 we do has suede leather insets in leather seats...
Haven't found non-shoe (those things on your feet; Kiwi is all that we have found) suede cleaners or conditioners...
Recommendations?
Now look at the carpets... vacuum again...

Exterior

Start at the driveway, clean the tires, wheels, etc. first... No problem...
Foam/rinse/foam/wash the vehicle... some say top down (roof to the rocker panels), others say bottom up.... we do top down (keep the heavy dirt closest to the ground)...
Clay bar... here as well, we do top down... Some say clay removes any wax/sealant, others say not... I'm in the 'not' crowd. It may remove wax/sealant from where-ever dirt/impurities are lifted, but not over the whole body of the car (or truck)...
Some say wash again, others say only wash again if no further correction is required... We wash again, regardless...
If no correction is needed, what minimally should be used to strip off the old wax/sealant? Paint Polish? Paint Cleaner? Both, and if so, in which order? We have treated XMT 360 as a cleaner/polish, sealer, and wax... are we off-base?
If I need correction at this point, we'll use XMT 1, 2, or 3 as needed. Any of these will remove wax/sealants and hopefully correct the issue we feel needs to be addressed. However...
If I need to use XMT 3 on a panel, should XMT 3 be used on all panels? We don't...
Do we need to follow this up with a paint cleaner/polish, or another wash?
If I need to use XMT 2 on a panel, should XMT 2 be used on all panels? We don't...
Do we need to follow this up with a paint cleaner/polish, or another wash?
If I need to use XMT 1 on a panel, should XMT 1 be used on all panels? We do; we pretty much treat it as a paint cleaner/polish in one...
How does one assess whether any of the XMT products can remove the visible blemishes? Do you start with 1 and work your way through the line until the blemish is gone, or how can you assess the blemish and treat it with the right product the first time? How do you determine the difference in XMT 2 on a heavy-cut pad verses XMT 3 on a low or medium cut pad? Obviously, experience helps, but right now we (myself and another forum member) detail 5 family cars, usually together. It could take many months to get to that point of understanding and experience; we need help..
Apply Klasse...
Top it with one or more coats of wax... Usually from the Sovereign family, and occasionally followed up with OptiSeal...
'Back to Black' on various external plastics/moldings...
'Never Dull' on chrome...
DP Wheel Glaze...
DP Tire Gel...

Any improvements, suggestions, anything that leads to a constructive and positive resolve would be greatly appreciated. We'd really like some of our life back to rest and relax; we both immensely enjoy working on the cars, but there must be something more to life than working Monday - Friday, then working on cars Saturday - Sunday, and not really getting to enjoy anything else...


Feed back please
Click to expand...

Just to clarify a bit - the interior stuff usually takes us about 4 hours in the cars. The exceptions are the minivan and the Yukon XL. They take about 8 hours to clean, due to the large interior volumes.

In the interior we use Woolite 10:1 with a brush & then vacuum, I don't think that was mentioned. Engine bays are also degreased with Purple Power (undiluted) and rinsed down early in the exterior process but not every time.

The exterior we end up spending quite a bit more time doing polishing than anything else. Chasing every swirl and scratch and the time spent per 2x2 section means on a vehicle like the Yukon XL, we could spend 4 hours polishing alone. For comparison, we washed, clayed, and washed again the same Yukon in about 3 hours not including prep. XMT360 took about 2.5 hours for that vehicle.

Common Problems:
- Choosing a polish/pad combination for each 2x2 section with a problem
- Suede cleaning
- Suede protecting
- Interior protectant that stays on the interior
- Determining the best looking and longest lasting topper combination
- Overall time consumption
 
I think you have unrealistic expectations...

Doing a true "FULL DETAIL" usually takes multiple days, trying to chase down "every swirl and scratch" on a daily driver is pretty tall order, but doable, once a year (twice at most). Sounds like you're doing this a lot more often? Otherwise you'd be giving up 5 - 10 weekends out of 52 a year (minus some more for rain), but still several available for "a life"...

As far a turning it into a busines....

There are some people that make a business out doing full blown details taking multiple days, prices are usually pretty high as they should be for this type of time and effort. Others, make more a lot of their money by doing more simple details, not always involving paint correction. You can do multiple vehicles in a single day if you're talking about wash, dry, wax, vacuum, dress interior, and glass... Sometimes it's really easy to want to make a car look as good as you can, and that takes time, when looking at it from a business perspective, you have to consider the customer... if you want to high end details taking car to show ready status, you need to concentrate on that type of client and charge accordingly... if your customer base is mostly going to be non-autogeeks, that just want their car cared for better than the local swirl-a-matic does, there's lots of money to be made there too.

Hope that makes sense...
 
First of all you sound definitely like me.... very picky about my cars...i just bought a new Toyota rav-4 and spent an entire day on the paint alone......mainly clay baring to remove any rail dust and getting rid of those pesky swirls!.

However i detail cars part time and i found out that being too picky will run your business right into the ground! Detailing cars the way you do is not how 99% of people want it done. Most of my customers classify a full detail as a wash (including rims & dress tires of coarse) wax, and full detail of the interior and trunk. that is how i market it to them and that is all they want. Engine detail is extra and paint correction is by quote. I actually cringe when i leave a car that way but the customer is happy. Most customers dont want to pay someone to spend a whole day removing swirls when the very next week they are going to go through the automatic car wash! (another cringe!). There are people that do want a full detail the way you detail, however you have to explain to them the work that is involved and the results they can expect from your work. But from my experence people will not call you back since turtle wax down the street will completely "detail" their car for $179 and it looks nice and shiny and the interior will look and smell clean! It takes a long time to build up a customer base and when you do you will find people who want a detail the way you explained above. However in the mean time give the customer what they want. It is funny to me how people dont even notice or care about swirls in their paint!

As a business it takes me 4 hours to "detail" a customers car. wash, wax, steam clean interior, dress tires, and clean windows.
 
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I wash my car at one of those washing place. I just use there water. Instead of foaming it up can I put the Pinnacle Car Soap in a bucket and apply the soap to the car by hand with a microfiber towel or no?
 
onexvi3tboi said:
I wash my car at one of those washing place. I just use there water. Instead of foaming it up can I put the Pinnacle Car Soap in a bucket and apply the soap to the car by hand with a microfiber towel or no?
Click to expand...

Yep, that's what I do because of water restriction in my area... if you grab a 5 gallon bucket with a water tight lid, you can mix it at home (with distilled water), then use the coin ops water for rinsing.
 
My full details don't include paint correction. This is an option if the customer wants to pay for it. It is a pricey option as I charge $65/hr. It can be a very labour intensive project. Most customers don't care about small swirls, they just want the shine back. Wash clay, cleanse and wax. Full exterior. Beside the usaual wheel cleaning and dressing.
 
makdaddy626 said:
Yep, that's what I do because of water restriction in my area... if you grab a 5 gallon bucket with a water tight lid, you can mix it at home (with distilled water), then use the coin ops water for rinsing.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about something like this as well.

We have cats and the kitty liter comes in a very rugged plastic pail with a snap on lid. It seems ideal to transport water. They hold about 4 gallons and I have saved them to put in dirty towels, wet brushes, etc. I had thought about taking water FROM the car wash place back to the house to use.
 
Yea, so its okay for me to wash the car at the washer and then wax it there.

Nice I just received my Pinnacle Exterior/Interior Kit.

Are these step correct can someone tell me.
1. Wash car with Pinnacle Bodywork Shampoo
2. Clay the car(crap I didn't buy clay. Can I just use TW Ice Clay or what should I get?)
3. Apply Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion
4. I don't have any sealant, but if I have to apply sealant and wait 12 hrs w/o using my car. I won't be able to do that because I don't wash at home. I cant just sit at the car wash for 12 hrs to let the sealant sit.
5. So I'll wax with Pinnacle Souverän™ Wax(Can I apply the wax by hand or do i have to use a PC)

Is that it?

For interior
1. My leather I'm using Pinnacle Leather & Vinyl Cleaner and then the Pinnacle Leather Conditioner. (How do I apply it by hand then buff it off then apply conditioner? I don't know how to apply it on)
2. Then apply this to my dash, Pinnacle Vinyl and Rubber Protectant



and which one do i use with what on these stuff
3 Cobra Indigo Edgeless Microfiber Polishing Cloths
2 Foam Wax Applicator Pad
4 Microfiber Applicator Pads
 
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