New as of a couple weeks. Washed my car for the first time today!

Lime

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Hi all,

I'm new here as of a couple weeks. After reading a whole bunch of posts, I was all fired up to clay my car and buff it out, but I chickened out and made an appointment with a local detailer for a total makeover and paint correction instead.

The appointment isn't until the last week in March, so I celebrated today by washing my car with my new Autogeek stuff! I hate to admit it, but this is the first time I have washed a car since I was in Junior High and we held a carwash to make money to go to Kings Island. It was fun!

I have a million questions, so please watch for them!
 
How much are you getting charged if you don't mind?
 
Welcome to the forum!

I hope it is very respected and well rounded detailer that you chose.
 
LOL, no I don't mind, but it is more complicated than just a price. My car, a 2004 Mustang, has always been kept clean except to me that meant running it through a drive thru carwash with brushes. He's going to get rid of the light scratches, fix a couple of door dings, clean the convertible top, fill in a couple paint voids (chips) with paint and buff or sand that out and get rid of some overspray orange peel by wet sanding. It is an exterior detail only, and he said he'd take a look at the wheels, but no promises. I have a lot of little tar stuff on there. Maybe a couple of other minor things and it's $200.00. I might have him repair a big long LONG white/ light gray scratch that is down into the primer. If I do, I'll expect to pay more money, and well get it figured out before I leave my car there so we're both clear on what I expect.
 
That's really cheap, especially including wetsanding the orange peel! Where are you located?
 
What can I say? It's a gem of a little car and any man between the ages of 25 and 35 seems to be in love with my car. I get comments on it all the time, but only males, and only in that finite age group... Oh, and elderly women like it, too. Hahaha. His shop was filled with enormous black SUVs and full size black vans. Maybe he was so happy to see a car that wasn't black and enormous that he low balled it?

He doesn't know it yet, but I am going to ask him to use the new DP paint sealant I just bought from here instead of the regular stuff he uses. I was going to print the web page from the store with the directions on it and give him the bottle I bought and ask him to use it. Is that rude to ask? This is an open question to any detailer reading. I'm honestly not sure if it would be considered too rude to ask.

Thanks for the welcome.
 
I have a bad feeling that you may be paying $200 to have different (possibly worse) paint problems than what you currently have.
 
Why do you say that, Great Avalon? Because of the cost?
 
I would run from that 200 is way too cheap take that 200 buy a da some pads and a light polish and your off to a better start. Or find someone that is opticoat pro or cquartz finest authorized installer. Not saying you need to use those products just typically the sign of a person that is good at their work.
 
Yea. Like Subie said, that is really cheap. I'm not sure where you are located. I think detailers in my area will charge $400-700 for that, probably on the higher end due to the wet sanding.
 
L. My car, a 2004 Mustang, has always been kept clean except to me that meant running it through a drive thru carwash with brushes. He's going to get rid of the light scratches, fix a couple of door dings, clean the convertible top, fill in a couple paint voids (chips) with paint and buff or sand that out and get rid of some overspray orange peel by wet sanding. It is an exterior detail only, and he said he'd take a look at the wheels, but no promises. I have a lot of little tar stuff on there. Maybe a couple of other minor things and it's $200.00.

For all that is going to get done this is very very low.

The thing that worries me is the wet sanding. Its known that factory clear is very very thin to begin with. Its usually no thicker tan a sheet of sticky note paper (Thats Thin)!!

Not only that but typical paint thickness (overall) is usually 3.0 mils and that too is thin. Along with the danger of thin paint on a new car there is a greater chance of the paint being even more then on an older vehicle that might have been polished out before which will reduce the thickness of the paint even more.

When wet sanding a factory paint you can safely remove up .5 mils and that about it.(not very much at all) Anymore then you run the high risk of burn through which would then require a repaint of that panel. With orange peel on a factory paint job its best to learn to live with it and keep it looking its best.

If I were you I would do some question asking. Anyone with knowledge that does wet sanding will have a paint thickness gauge on hand and will take measurements before doing any work at that level. I would ask if such tool is available by the the detailer and if he can take measurements of you paint. A healthy factory paint should show in the range of 3.0-4.0 mils some times a little bit higher but not much.

Additionally find out about tools, products, and process. The detailer should be using the least aggressive method and not just jumping with with a rotary and wool pad (unless recommend and enough paint is there to do so). If such aggressive combo is needed find out what steps are taken after that like the finishing process like foam finishing pads and a polish to remove and holograms that might have been inflicted into the paint from a rotary, wool pad, and compound.

Knowing some of these finer details will been help you decide if this is the person you want touching your precious car and performing the work.

When dealing with work like that at that price I would be very cautious. Its ok to decline the service should you not feel comfortable.

What is you location? There might be a member here who might be able to assist you in having your vehicle done properly if you need it.

Hope I have been some help. :props:
 
does he have a website so we can look at it? red flags are popping up in my mind.
 
What Evan said above is why I don't want too do it myself. I was going to, There is a thread here where I asked a few questions, but as I said, I chickened out. http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...s/76893-paint-thought-3-but-probably-5-a.html

Yes, I asked all the right questions, but I only learned about a paint gauge a couple of days ago, after I made the appointment, so I will remember to ask that question before I drop her off. Btw, the orange peel is an overspray of clear coat from a not-so-good prior body work job. I've been toying with getting that quarter panel repainted because the paint match wasn't great and getting that long scratch (happened after the body work - I kind of run into things like mailboxes on occasion) fixed and the new paint going way beyond the quarter panel to the passenger door and front apron to fix the mismatch. I hope that makes sense. The body work estimate was $1000.00, but the scratch is only on the quarter panel and only down to the primer, and I'm not sure if the paint mismatch bothers me quite that much! I think the detailer could semi-fix that scratch (for additional money), not as well as the body shop, but possibly well enough. I need to decide how much it's worth to me.
 
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