garyg7133
New member
- Sep 7, 2011
- 309
- 0
Being a detailing hobbyist for so long gave me the itch do try to make a few dollars on the side. So I hung out the shingle and within 2 days had my first customer. It was a simple wash/wax/exterior cleanup but I was thrilled to have gotten that first one.
I was a little nervous as I was working with my old gear and mostly by hand (still on the fence about which new gear to buy...) and while I knew I would get nice results, the first time you're doing it for someone who ISN'T your friend or family can be a litltle daunting.
The skinny : Customer brought me 2 vehicles - Ford conversion van and a Ford F-150 pickup with fiberglass tonneau cover. The truck was in pretty nice shape but had a few stains (notably from the ink on the pinstripe and logo which had been severely neglected). It was also suffering from corrosion on the rims and chrome wheel inserts. The van was in relatively good shape, but the paint was pretty bad and needed a lot of elbow grease. There were imperfections here and there and a mystery substance that took me a while to remove by hand (I didn't want to chance it with the buffer as I was unsure of the origin). The rims were all but shot appearance-wise as they were pitted from corrosion.
The truck was the first that I worked on and was relatively easy. I did manage to remove some of the rust with light pressure on a Dobie pad of all things as I didn't want to premanently mar the finish. The van was next. The biggest improvement was in the appearance of the rims believe it or not. I did them by hand to see just how much of the corrosion I could get off and the answer was "not much". They were severely pitted and had absorbed a lot of brake dust and dirt. The paint was a different story. HAving had the same color on my Mazda pickup I was familiar with the results I could get and knew exactly how to approach it. I've always found Ford's paint to be pretty easy to work with and while I did have to deal with a ton of staining, the end results were pretty nice. As others have posted, the before and after is sometimes what REALLY makes you love this stuff.
The grand finale - The customer came to pick up the vehicles that evening and I was met with rave reviews. He admitted that the paint had gone unwaxed for nearly 2 years. Luckily ( and I think a lot of people here who have been doing this for a while will agree) I had taken the step of walking around the vehicles beforehand and explaining everything that was good and/or not so good as far as vehicle condition. He had no idea what the mystery substance was and I had to point out that by leaving it on he had actually marred the clear coat. In the end, I had a satisfied customer who has already made a return appointment. Next time around it should be a little easier to get his vehicles where I want them as I know who the last guy to work on them was
For pics see link below. Thanks for reading!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.119436908162948.16882.109934539113185&type=3
I was a little nervous as I was working with my old gear and mostly by hand (still on the fence about which new gear to buy...) and while I knew I would get nice results, the first time you're doing it for someone who ISN'T your friend or family can be a litltle daunting.
The skinny : Customer brought me 2 vehicles - Ford conversion van and a Ford F-150 pickup with fiberglass tonneau cover. The truck was in pretty nice shape but had a few stains (notably from the ink on the pinstripe and logo which had been severely neglected). It was also suffering from corrosion on the rims and chrome wheel inserts. The van was in relatively good shape, but the paint was pretty bad and needed a lot of elbow grease. There were imperfections here and there and a mystery substance that took me a while to remove by hand (I didn't want to chance it with the buffer as I was unsure of the origin). The rims were all but shot appearance-wise as they were pitted from corrosion.
The truck was the first that I worked on and was relatively easy. I did manage to remove some of the rust with light pressure on a Dobie pad of all things as I didn't want to premanently mar the finish. The van was next. The biggest improvement was in the appearance of the rims believe it or not. I did them by hand to see just how much of the corrosion I could get off and the answer was "not much". They were severely pitted and had absorbed a lot of brake dust and dirt. The paint was a different story. HAving had the same color on my Mazda pickup I was familiar with the results I could get and knew exactly how to approach it. I've always found Ford's paint to be pretty easy to work with and while I did have to deal with a ton of staining, the end results were pretty nice. As others have posted, the before and after is sometimes what REALLY makes you love this stuff.
The grand finale - The customer came to pick up the vehicles that evening and I was met with rave reviews. He admitted that the paint had gone unwaxed for nearly 2 years. Luckily ( and I think a lot of people here who have been doing this for a while will agree) I had taken the step of walking around the vehicles beforehand and explaining everything that was good and/or not so good as far as vehicle condition. He had no idea what the mystery substance was and I had to point out that by leaving it on he had actually marred the clear coat. In the end, I had a satisfied customer who has already made a return appointment. Next time around it should be a little easier to get his vehicles where I want them as I know who the last guy to work on them was
For pics see link below. Thanks for reading!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.119436908162948.16882.109934539113185&type=3
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