Elliot@Autogeek
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Mike Phillips Detail Training Credentials - Know and trust who's teaching your class
Mike Phillips machine compounding after machine sanding a 1932 Ford 3-window coupe
When choosing a detailing class to attend, the most important consideration is the instructor. Anyone can detail a car or even make a video on how they detail a car and post it to YouTube, but that does not automatically mean they are a great teacher. The most common comment you hear people say or share on social media about Mike Phillips is he is a great teacher. He makes learning how to detail cars and boats easy. And that's what you want. You don't want to attend a class where you're either bored out of your skull because the instructor simply cannot share information in a way anyone can grasp it or because you have to work at understanding what they are trying to teach.
Academic Classes versus Hands-on Classes
There are two general types of detailing classes.
The academic class
This is where you sit in a chair and wade through a power point presentation while the instructor talks. At some point there may be an actual demonstration by the instructor or their assistant. If you're lucky, you might actually get to use a tool or try out a product on a demo hood. Rarely do you actually get to train by detailing multiple real cars.
The hands-on class
This is Mike's teaching style. He always says, people learn by doing, not sitting in a chair. There is no PowerPoint. Oftentimes at offsite locations, there are no chairs but that's okay because he covers so many tools, products, topics and techniques that the only way to cover everything advertised is to be on your feet working on cars. And when it comes to training - you train on cars, not demo hoods but the real deal. It's only when you train on real cars that the training has impact so that you learn. And even better, because he teaches both high end paint correction as well as one-step production detailing, he will often times have incredible cars for you to work on plus normal daily drivers. As Mike says, I use real show cars to teach show car detailing.
Below is some information that Mike typed up to share his background as both a detailer, an instructor and a writer and it is all three of these experiences that set him apart from any other instructor or detailing class.
About your instructor, Mike Phillips
I have been teaching classes on car detailing since 1987, that's 32 years as I type this in the year 2019.
The picture below was taken in 1987 after I taught my first detailing class using student's cars as well as my 1970 Sanger Flat Bottom Drag Boat as demo panel for machine compounding and polishing techniques with rotary buffers.
At this time I was a Trainer for Meguiar's for the territories of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. My primary job was to call on body shops, detail shops and dealerships and teach their staff how to use Meguiar's Professional Line to wetsand, cut and buff fresh paint or detail cars.
Overcoming adversity
In 1986, at the age of 26 I was in a boating accident involving my own boat. I never let this slow me down or hinder me from my passion for polishing paint and teaching others the craft of detailing cars and the art of polishing paint.
Published Author
To date I have five how-to books in print, iBook and ebook forms. I'm the only detailer and detailing instructor with how-to books written for car detailing in general, boat detailing and specific books for both FLEX and RUPES tools. All of the work shown in the books is performed by me as well as the majority of the photos.
You can get your own copy of any of Mike's books here,
Mike Phillips Detailing Books
TV Show Host
I've been the host for two of Autogeek's TV Shows including Competition Ready on Velocity channel with my beautiful co-host Adrienne "AJ" Janic.
I was also the host of Autogeek's first TV show - Autogeek's What's in the Garage
Guest detailing expert
I've been the guest detailing expert on multiple TV shows including,
Chasing Classic Cars with Wayne Carini
My Classic Car with Dennis Gage
Truck U with Bruno Massel and Matt Steele
Bruno Massel accepting his class certificate
Matt Steele and Mike Phillips shooting a how-to DVD
Two Guys Garage with Bryan Fuller
Two Guys Garage with Kevin Byrd and Willie B.
Motorhead Garage with Sam Memolo and Dave Bowman
Ship Shape with John Greviskis
Online Car Detailing Articles
I have approximately 500 unique articles on all facets of car and boat detailing on AutogeekOnline.net Every topic is covered in full detail with step-by-step easy to follow directions and high resolution color pictures showing, before, during and after results.
I'm a speed typist by nature and to prevent carpel tunnel I use ergonomic arm holders while typing.
As a part of my job duties for Autogeek, I answer car and boat detailing questions on the AutogeekOnline.net detailing discussion forum.
AutogeekOnline.net
Professional Background
Meguiar's Corporate Writer
In 2002, I was hired by Barry Meguiar to be the Corporate Writer for Meguiar's. I took over all of the writing responsibilities for the company that Barry Meguiar' normally did himself.
Meguiar's Internet Technical Specialist
In 2004 I transitioned from the Corporate Write position to Meguiar's Internet Technical Specialist where I brought up from scratch, the MeguiarsOnline.com car detailing discussion forum and answered questions on Meguiar's products. I was also the primary instructor for all the car detailing classes at the corporate office in Irvine, California.
Internet world to real-world training classes
On July 31st, 2002, I organized a detailing class at Meguiar's Corporate Office for the members of the online Mercedes-Benz club through a Mercedes-Benz discussion forum. What I didn't know was that there were not only Mercedes-Benz club members at the class but there were also members from other car clubs at this first class, which was organized through a discussion forum. I took pictures and documented the class and shared them on the Mercedes-Benz forum because at the time, Meguiar's did not have a discussion forum.
The next week students at this Mercedes-Benz class started calling and e-mailing me asking,
When can our club have a class?
That snowballed to become so popular that the first Saturday classes I taught back in 2002 continues to this day. Management at Meguiar's came to me and told me they loved the passion I was creating for the Meguiar's brand by teaching classes and sharing the pictures and the passion online. Not knowing how to classify what I was doing they asked me to write my own job description which I did and this included, being the online voice for Meguiar's as well as being the primary instructor for the Saturday Detailing 101 classes and the Saturday Advanced Classes. Down the road a few years I started the Thursday Night Classes known as TNOGS, and then the Meguiar's Roadshow Classes plus the Extreme Makeover Classes.
Saturday Detailing 101
Saturday Advanced Class
Many people that attended the Detailing 101 classes wanted to take their skill and knowledge to a higher level and this led to the advanced class where the topics of hand wet sanding, machine sanding and using rotary buffers were taught.
Meguiar's Online Car Detailing Discussion Forum
Back in 2002 I started advocating to Meguiar's management to bring up their own forum. Because at that time, Meguiar's did not have a car detailing discussion forum and it would be years down the road before Facebook and other social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat and Periscope would be invented and then taken public.
I would share the pictures from the Saturday classes on my own forum ShowCarGarage.com and also on the Autopia.org car detailing forum. After detailing a 1954 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 and then posting the pictures and the how-to information to my own forum, I then printed out the write-up and gave it to the Vice President of Meguiar's (at the time), Atticus Firey. A month later Atticus said to me,
I love these write-ups showing people how to use Meguiar's products but how come you're always posting them to your own forum?
That's when I explained to Atticus that I shared them to my own forum (and the Autopia forum) because Meguiar's didn't have a forum.
That's when the light bulb went off and it final sunk it. That's when Atticus understood what I had been talking about for almost 2 years when I kept was asking for the resources to bring up a Meguiar's discussion forum.
Atticus then said,
Make it happen
On January 24th, 2004 the MeguiarsOnline.com car detailing discussion forum went LIVE and the first post was a write-up I created by documenting a Saturday Detailing 101 Class I taught for a local Mini Cooper Club. That's also when I first met Richard Lin and together we detailed Richard's popular Mini Cooper Lil'Octane replacing Zaino Z2 with Meguiar's NXT.
Lil Octane
(That was the start of the Zaino vs Meguiar's Wax Wars but that's another story for another time)
TNOG's
I also started the Thursday Night Open Garage Classes in 2006 and taught them until leaving Meguiar's to join Autogeek in 2009. Most people don't know this but I originally started these mid-week classes on Wednesday nights but due to schedule conflicts, I moved them to Thursday nights. These also continue to this day.
The Meguiar's Roadshow Class
The Meguiar's Saturday classes became incredibly popular. Because I shared pictures and documented the cars, the clubs, the fun and the passion online, people in other states asked if they could have a class in their hometown. With management's approval I started the Meguiar's Roadshow Classes conducting a total of 6 of these classes before leaving to work for Autogeek. This was another first in the industry.
The below pictures are from the 2006 Tampa, Florida Roadshow Class of which Todd Helme (RUPES) and Dwayne McPeeks, (Poorboys) attended.
That's Dwayne McPeeks in the baseball cap behind me
Todd Helme is wearing a blue jersey shirt with white stripes around the sleeves and the number 6 on it
Today - 2019
Today I'm the Director of Training for Autogeek and Marine 31. I teach the 3-day Detailing Bootcamp Classes three times a year at Autogeek's Training Center in Stuart, Florida. I also teaches the only hands-on 2-day boat detailing classes in the United States (and probably the world), where students learn all aspects of boat detailing both inside and outside.
Demonstrating technique at a 3-day class at Autogeek
Showing how to use a rotary buffer in a boat detailing class
Learn from the real deal...
If you are looking to take your skills and knowledge to a higher level and you want to take a class from someone that has bonafide credentials then get signed-up for any of the classes I teach. I promise and guarantee you will not only learn a LOT but you will also have a lot of fun and make new friends.
What to do?
If you would like information about ANY of our classes, like prices, topics, dates and locations, click the link below.
Click here for more information about all of Autogeek's detailing classes
If you would like to host a Roadshow Class at your shop or facility, then give me a call or shoot me an e-mail
[email protected]
Office: 1-800-869-3011 x206
I'm happy to answer all your questions.
Hope to see you at a future class!
:dblthumb2:
And here's how the car in the first picture of this thread came out...
Little Deuce Coupe - Hotrod Detailing
Mike Phillips machine compounding after machine sanding a 1932 Ford 3-window coupe
When choosing a detailing class to attend, the most important consideration is the instructor. Anyone can detail a car or even make a video on how they detail a car and post it to YouTube, but that does not automatically mean they are a great teacher. The most common comment you hear people say or share on social media about Mike Phillips is he is a great teacher. He makes learning how to detail cars and boats easy. And that's what you want. You don't want to attend a class where you're either bored out of your skull because the instructor simply cannot share information in a way anyone can grasp it or because you have to work at understanding what they are trying to teach.
Academic Classes versus Hands-on Classes
There are two general types of detailing classes.
The academic class
This is where you sit in a chair and wade through a power point presentation while the instructor talks. At some point there may be an actual demonstration by the instructor or their assistant. If you're lucky, you might actually get to use a tool or try out a product on a demo hood. Rarely do you actually get to train by detailing multiple real cars.
The hands-on class
This is Mike's teaching style. He always says, people learn by doing, not sitting in a chair. There is no PowerPoint. Oftentimes at offsite locations, there are no chairs but that's okay because he covers so many tools, products, topics and techniques that the only way to cover everything advertised is to be on your feet working on cars. And when it comes to training - you train on cars, not demo hoods but the real deal. It's only when you train on real cars that the training has impact so that you learn. And even better, because he teaches both high end paint correction as well as one-step production detailing, he will often times have incredible cars for you to work on plus normal daily drivers. As Mike says, I use real show cars to teach show car detailing.
Below is some information that Mike typed up to share his background as both a detailer, an instructor and a writer and it is all three of these experiences that set him apart from any other instructor or detailing class.
About your instructor, Mike Phillips
I have been teaching classes on car detailing since 1987, that's 32 years as I type this in the year 2019.
The picture below was taken in 1987 after I taught my first detailing class using student's cars as well as my 1970 Sanger Flat Bottom Drag Boat as demo panel for machine compounding and polishing techniques with rotary buffers.
At this time I was a Trainer for Meguiar's for the territories of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. My primary job was to call on body shops, detail shops and dealerships and teach their staff how to use Meguiar's Professional Line to wetsand, cut and buff fresh paint or detail cars.
Overcoming adversity
In 1986, at the age of 26 I was in a boating accident involving my own boat. I never let this slow me down or hinder me from my passion for polishing paint and teaching others the craft of detailing cars and the art of polishing paint.
Published Author
To date I have five how-to books in print, iBook and ebook forms. I'm the only detailer and detailing instructor with how-to books written for car detailing in general, boat detailing and specific books for both FLEX and RUPES tools. All of the work shown in the books is performed by me as well as the majority of the photos.
You can get your own copy of any of Mike's books here,
Mike Phillips Detailing Books
TV Show Host
I've been the host for two of Autogeek's TV Shows including Competition Ready on Velocity channel with my beautiful co-host Adrienne "AJ" Janic.
I was also the host of Autogeek's first TV show - Autogeek's What's in the Garage
Guest detailing expert
I've been the guest detailing expert on multiple TV shows including,
Chasing Classic Cars with Wayne Carini
My Classic Car with Dennis Gage
Truck U with Bruno Massel and Matt Steele
Bruno Massel accepting his class certificate
Matt Steele and Mike Phillips shooting a how-to DVD
Two Guys Garage with Bryan Fuller
Two Guys Garage with Kevin Byrd and Willie B.
Motorhead Garage with Sam Memolo and Dave Bowman
Ship Shape with John Greviskis
Online Car Detailing Articles
I have approximately 500 unique articles on all facets of car and boat detailing on AutogeekOnline.net Every topic is covered in full detail with step-by-step easy to follow directions and high resolution color pictures showing, before, during and after results.
I'm a speed typist by nature and to prevent carpel tunnel I use ergonomic arm holders while typing.
As a part of my job duties for Autogeek, I answer car and boat detailing questions on the AutogeekOnline.net detailing discussion forum.
AutogeekOnline.net
Professional Background
Meguiar's Corporate Writer
In 2002, I was hired by Barry Meguiar to be the Corporate Writer for Meguiar's. I took over all of the writing responsibilities for the company that Barry Meguiar' normally did himself.
Meguiar's Internet Technical Specialist
In 2004 I transitioned from the Corporate Write position to Meguiar's Internet Technical Specialist where I brought up from scratch, the MeguiarsOnline.com car detailing discussion forum and answered questions on Meguiar's products. I was also the primary instructor for all the car detailing classes at the corporate office in Irvine, California.
Internet world to real-world training classes
On July 31st, 2002, I organized a detailing class at Meguiar's Corporate Office for the members of the online Mercedes-Benz club through a Mercedes-Benz discussion forum. What I didn't know was that there were not only Mercedes-Benz club members at the class but there were also members from other car clubs at this first class, which was organized through a discussion forum. I took pictures and documented the class and shared them on the Mercedes-Benz forum because at the time, Meguiar's did not have a discussion forum.
The next week students at this Mercedes-Benz class started calling and e-mailing me asking,
When can our club have a class?
That snowballed to become so popular that the first Saturday classes I taught back in 2002 continues to this day. Management at Meguiar's came to me and told me they loved the passion I was creating for the Meguiar's brand by teaching classes and sharing the pictures and the passion online. Not knowing how to classify what I was doing they asked me to write my own job description which I did and this included, being the online voice for Meguiar's as well as being the primary instructor for the Saturday Detailing 101 classes and the Saturday Advanced Classes. Down the road a few years I started the Thursday Night Classes known as TNOGS, and then the Meguiar's Roadshow Classes plus the Extreme Makeover Classes.
Saturday Detailing 101
Saturday Advanced Class
Many people that attended the Detailing 101 classes wanted to take their skill and knowledge to a higher level and this led to the advanced class where the topics of hand wet sanding, machine sanding and using rotary buffers were taught.
Meguiar's Online Car Detailing Discussion Forum
Back in 2002 I started advocating to Meguiar's management to bring up their own forum. Because at that time, Meguiar's did not have a car detailing discussion forum and it would be years down the road before Facebook and other social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat and Periscope would be invented and then taken public.
I would share the pictures from the Saturday classes on my own forum ShowCarGarage.com and also on the Autopia.org car detailing forum. After detailing a 1954 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 and then posting the pictures and the how-to information to my own forum, I then printed out the write-up and gave it to the Vice President of Meguiar's (at the time), Atticus Firey. A month later Atticus said to me,
I love these write-ups showing people how to use Meguiar's products but how come you're always posting them to your own forum?
That's when I explained to Atticus that I shared them to my own forum (and the Autopia forum) because Meguiar's didn't have a forum.
That's when the light bulb went off and it final sunk it. That's when Atticus understood what I had been talking about for almost 2 years when I kept was asking for the resources to bring up a Meguiar's discussion forum.
Atticus then said,
Make it happen
On January 24th, 2004 the MeguiarsOnline.com car detailing discussion forum went LIVE and the first post was a write-up I created by documenting a Saturday Detailing 101 Class I taught for a local Mini Cooper Club. That's also when I first met Richard Lin and together we detailed Richard's popular Mini Cooper Lil'Octane replacing Zaino Z2 with Meguiar's NXT.
Lil Octane
(That was the start of the Zaino vs Meguiar's Wax Wars but that's another story for another time)
TNOG's
I also started the Thursday Night Open Garage Classes in 2006 and taught them until leaving Meguiar's to join Autogeek in 2009. Most people don't know this but I originally started these mid-week classes on Wednesday nights but due to schedule conflicts, I moved them to Thursday nights. These also continue to this day.
The Meguiar's Roadshow Class
The Meguiar's Saturday classes became incredibly popular. Because I shared pictures and documented the cars, the clubs, the fun and the passion online, people in other states asked if they could have a class in their hometown. With management's approval I started the Meguiar's Roadshow Classes conducting a total of 6 of these classes before leaving to work for Autogeek. This was another first in the industry.
The below pictures are from the 2006 Tampa, Florida Roadshow Class of which Todd Helme (RUPES) and Dwayne McPeeks, (Poorboys) attended.
That's Dwayne McPeeks in the baseball cap behind me
Todd Helme is wearing a blue jersey shirt with white stripes around the sleeves and the number 6 on it
Today - 2019
Today I'm the Director of Training for Autogeek and Marine 31. I teach the 3-day Detailing Bootcamp Classes three times a year at Autogeek's Training Center in Stuart, Florida. I also teaches the only hands-on 2-day boat detailing classes in the United States (and probably the world), where students learn all aspects of boat detailing both inside and outside.
Demonstrating technique at a 3-day class at Autogeek
Showing how to use a rotary buffer in a boat detailing class
Learn from the real deal...
If you are looking to take your skills and knowledge to a higher level and you want to take a class from someone that has bonafide credentials then get signed-up for any of the classes I teach. I promise and guarantee you will not only learn a LOT but you will also have a lot of fun and make new friends.
What to do?
If you would like information about ANY of our classes, like prices, topics, dates and locations, click the link below.
Click here for more information about all of Autogeek's detailing classes
If you would like to host a Roadshow Class at your shop or facility, then give me a call or shoot me an e-mail
[email protected]
Office: 1-800-869-3011 x206
I'm happy to answer all your questions.
Hope to see you at a future class!
:dblthumb2:
And here's how the car in the first picture of this thread came out...
Little Deuce Coupe - Hotrod Detailing