My 2nd attempts at detailing

[snellvilleauto]

I feel i am getting better at this. The first attempt was on
my wife's brand new Subaru. I guess it doesn't really count because i didn't do much to it.

My 2nd attempt will be on my wife's old G35 coupe 2005
color: Diamond graphite

Condition: average...lots of tunnel wash...lots of swirls. Hey, i didn't know it was that bad until i learned it on AGA.

Time invested: 5 days (a couple hours here, couple hours there)

Products used

Flex 3401
M105
UC
Blacklight
V7
Optimun spray wax
PERL for tires
ARO
Zep Purple 10:1 to clean interior

Before picture

After pictures

 

[DealerDetailer]

Good looking work on your second detail


When I was scrolling through your pics, kinda of quickly, I saw this one i was like "Oooh NO", thinking that there was clear coating cracking on your drivers door there...but it was just your dirveway (sigh of relief). Good work, keep it up :xyxthumbs:

After pictures

 

[snellvilleauto]

Good looking work on your second detail


When I was scrolling through your pics, kinda of quickly, I saw this one i was like "Oooh NO", thinking that there was clear coating cracking on your drivers door there...but it was just your dirveway (sigh of relief). Good work, keep it up :xyxthumbs:

Thanks.

Yeah, when i first saw the picture, i thought the same thing you did

 

[BobbyG]

Detailing can be very enjoyable. When you're finished you get a good feeling inside seeing how you've taken an ugly duckling and turned it into a beautiful swan...

Gorgeous! rops:

 

[Robert8194]

Detailing can be very enjoyable. When you're finished you get a good feeling inside seeing how you've taken an ugly duckling and turned it into a beautiful swan...

Gorgeous! rops:

I agree. That's why I do it.

 

[vet]

Nice work!

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Condition: average...lots of tunnel wash...lots of swirls. Hey, i didn't know it was that bad until i learned it on AGA.

Nice restoration. You're doing yourself a favor in that a smooth surface is more resistant to breaking down than a finish filled with swirls and scratches.



I actually have a thread on that topic...

Tunnel Car Wash Brush Scratches

We used a rental car yesterday for some product testing and while the car was here and before we did any testing I took a few pictures of the horrendous scratches throughout the entire finish caused by a brush type automatic car wash.


Look around the reflected overhead light in the center of the car hood, you can see fine line scratches running in the direction of front to back, these are the type of scratches you'll commonly see in the paint of rental cars that are repeatedly run through brush style tunnel car washes.

Here's some close up shots... keep in mind even the sides of the car had these same scratches evenly inflicted throughout all the panels.

Here's a cropped out section from the above picture in full size...

And here's a "negative" of the above to show the pattern of the scratches from a different point of view...

Here's a cropped out section from the above picture in full size...

And here's a "negative" of the above to show the pattern of the scratches from a different point of view...

:xyxthumbs:

 

[Jomax]

That's crazy!!

 

[tomsteve]

mike, those are awesome pictures. i gotta save em to show people the effects of tunnel washing on a vehicle. now that i know a lot more about detailing, i see how harmful they are.
i asked at the local car wash about these. i asked what happens to all the dirt from the muddy truck that was in front of me? their response? " the water goes through a very intense filtration before it is reused."
i then said," well yeah, that may be good, but what about all the dirt that is trapped in all of the microfiber? " no response.

the feeling after one of these vehiles come is IS pretty sweet! especially when the owner of the vehicle is amazed! the sad part is some of em keep right on going through them car washes.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

the sad part is some of em keep right on going through them car washes.

And not to keep beating the same drum but.... that's why you'll often see me include the link to this article,

A few tips on starting a part-time detailing business
Match your services to your customer


If you're reading this and you're detailing cars for money, don't put a show car finish on a customer's car if they're simply going to run the car through an automatic car wash each week or each month!

It's a waste of your time and a disservice to your customer and you're likely not charging enough money for the time you invest.

You could make more profit by ONLY doing a one-step to the paint using a cleaner/wax and this is a better match to your customer because most people don't know the difference between a swirl and a squirrel.

The difference between a swirl and squirrel




Sorry to hi-jack your thread snellvilleauto


Again... nice work removing the swirls and restoring a show room new finish.


:xyxthumbs:

 

[snellvilleauto]

Thanks Mike for sharing the pictures. Like i said, i am a noob and glad i learned the good stuff on AG. I don't think the average drivers awared the damage the tunnel wash do to their vehicle. I was one of those and now thanks to yall i'm enlightened is that a work?