Old School Technique. Saves time!

statusdetailing

statusdetailing

New member
Joined
May 15, 2012
Messages
1,325
Reaction score
0
I'm 27 but learned a lot from a guy that owned a big detailing shop in the 80's and 90's. He can absolutely FLY through a car and do a great job. It's unbelievable.

Thought I'd share an old school technique that I use to fly through a 3 step job.

It's great because it

  • Saves Time
  • reduces chance of swirls
1. I compound the vehicle using meg's wool cutting pad and m105. I move fast. I'll do the hood in 2 or 3 sections, for example. There's just no money when you move slow. I never use a da for compounding...takes all day. I still use very good technique and lighten up the last couple passes, but do not use up all the product. I leave some on the paint for lubrication. This is where a lot of guys screw up.

2. I remove compound with wet microfiber or quick detailer. I polish using an orange ccs pad and m205. I just lightly polish or spot polish lower panels most of the time. The average person doesn't know the difference and the sun usually doesn't hit those panels in the same way.

3. Here's the technique!
Moving on to wax...I do not remove the polish like most guys. I remove polish and apply wax at the same time by applying the paste wax with a damp microfiber towel. I'll flip the towel a few times so that I'm not building up a ton of polish residue.

The main reason I do this is because the wax and damp microfiber easily removes polish and will not instill swirls into the paint. If you are wiping off polish and then waxing you are adding another step where you have a chance of swirling the paint. Also, when you apply wax with a damp microfiber, it VERY easily wipes off and will be streak free.

This method will save 10-30 minutes and imo gives better results.


Some of you guys will probably argue that I may be affecting the durability of the wax by using this method, but I haven't experience this. I'm currectly using Max Wax with excellent results.


Disclaimer: This method would be mostly used on regular everyday drivers and dealer cars. If a nice car came in (and they were paying me accordingly), I would probably slow down a little and ad a finer step after m205, using the DA if the paint needed it.

What do you guys think? Looking for opinions.
 
and obviously this wouldn't work well if you were going to apply a sealant like opti-seal or coat. You'd want to do a wipe down or wash with dawn. Just thought I'd ad that.
 
IIRC, this technique was also promoted by Optimum when they first came out with their polishes, 6-7-8 years ago. The formulas were a bit different then, but the idea was that you would compound and not buff off the excess, just go right to the polish on top of the compound residue (in those days there really wasn't much residue anyway, not sure about now), and then you took off the polish residue using OCW.

At least that's the way I'm remembering it.
 
I've done compounding and then gone straight to polishing before mostly to reduce marring on some soft paints, but that was always after doing tests spots and knowing my technique was good on the rest of the car. The only issue I see with your technique is durability of the LSP. I would have to think that it would be affect if you are applying an LSP to polish residue, and not clean paint.
 
I dunno about this. I don't think there is any substitute for quality work done at a comfortable pace.

I also don't like the comment about using this method on daily drivers and not on nice cars "paying accordingly"
Call me "old school" but I like to think every client is paying me accordingly.
 
wgilles said:
I dunno about this. I don't think there is any substitute for quality work done at a comfortable pace.

I also don't like the comment about using this method on daily drivers and not on nice cars "paying accordingly"
Call me "old school" but I like to think every client is paying me accordingly.
Click to expand...

:iagree::iagree:
 
Guys, I'm just saying there's a huge difference between a $4000 ford focus that you are getting ready for a dealer and a 50,000 + Porsche. Huge difference, and if you're doing the same job on both, you're going broke.

A dealer might pay 100-175.

A porsche owner who wants paint correction is going to pay at least twice that, and extra precautions should be taken.
 
Step 2 sounds like a hack job, nobody likes a hack detailer.

I get it, you do production work and only see money, but most people here prefer quality over "doing fast work".

Just my opinion, deal with it.
 
bmwgalore said:
Step 2 sounds like a hack job, nobody likes a hack detailer.

I get it, you do production work and only see money, but most people here prefer quality over "doing fast work".

Just my opinion, deal with it.
Click to expand...
I totally missed that step when I was reading, I'm with you, that seems like a hack job. I think people would rather have a nice one step polish and a few swirls left over, than a half done 2 step.
 
statusdetailing said:
Guys, I'm just saying there's a huge difference between a $4000 ford focus that you are getting ready for a dealer and a 50,000 + Porsche. Huge difference, and if you're doing the same job on both, you're going broke.

A dealer might pay 100-175.

A porsche owner who wants paint correction is going to pay at least twice that, and extra precautions should be taken.
Click to expand...

The thing is...if the owner of the $4000 Ford Focus wants their car in show room condition, then do it and charge them accordingly. Don't accept a job for a full on paint correction of a cheaper car and charge them less just because their car is "cheaper."
 
I see both sides to this I guess.

The devil's advocate in me says for some people (like me) that $4000 ford focus is someones pride and joy!

I think others got this right with just charging accordingly. If you feel since the car is not new or "top-quality" cosmetically, maybe just charge/offer the appropriate package. That way the customer feels that you did everything for his money, not sidestepped.

Cool trick though. I will try it on my car sometime.

Don't take posts personally, everyone has their own philosophy and that's cool:) Sometimes agree to disagree is the best response!
 
I would like to think if I brought my car to you, thus I am TRUSTING you because I THOUGHT you KNEW WHAT YOU WERE DOING, you would give me the same service as a paying customer than just because you judge my car that it's not a high-end luxury car, and I don't know the difference between a swirl and a squirrel, so it doesn't matter to fool me if I don't notice...
 
@statusdetailing:

Also, I remember a while ago you made a tread asking "how to get more costumers"...
Well, rushing jobs, cutting corners, doing half arsed polishing, treating inexpensive cars as lesser costumers and focusing ONLY on the money per hour IS NOT the answer.. Just saying..
 
Putting wax on without removing polish seems like a bad idea.
 
I have a small dealer that is local to me that brings cars and says, "We're willing to pay for all of your magic on this one" and sometimes he says "This one needs to be a real cheap and quick turnaround". He doesn't care how I make it look great as long as it looks great sitting on his lot. It is clearly understood that I reserve the right to say "Nope, can't be made to look great for that cheap". Then we negotiate a little and I get the work and I also get his clientele's vehicles to do correction work while paying him a small finder's fee in cash or barter.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
IIRC, this technique was also promoted by Optimum when they first came out with their polishes, 6-7-8 years ago. The formulas were a bit different then, but the idea was that you would compound and not buff off the excess, just go right to the polish on top of the compound residue (in those days there really wasn't much residue anyway, not sure about now), and then you took off the polish residue using OCW.

At least that's the way I'm remembering it.
Click to expand...

When our Compounds and Polishes were DAT, that was a huge time saver...but, it's no longer recommended with the new versions: SMAT.
 
I work at a dealership, won't say the name. I don't like the methods being used. They will mix, compound, correction creams and polish together then go at it with good old rotary and wool pad. Then wash the car again and then at polish with a dewalt sander. I say sander because all it does is vibrate.i forget the model number. Anyways when I started I would compound the car adding a couple drops to the pad then working in sections. When they saw me doing that they said that's not how we buff here. Well I started detailing about 7 years ago and still have a lot to learn but I always think about the person who sees the car afterwards. I want to be known for good work, but considering they pay flat rate and times vary per car. They will rush through a job to make money. I'm already forced to do a half ass job. All these guys could be on their fourth car while I'm on my second. Irritates me as I really do enjoy detailing. My manager told me I can do it how I know but when i do its like everyone is watching me. I don't think you have the car washed again only to put the car through to get slapped by brushes and everything else in there. These are not your cheap every day beaters. These are high end cars. You just can't get quality work with the times given per car. Plus a lot of the chemicals suck. It's all the same with each and every car. I really wish they let me get a pc7424xp to add polish to the car,so for now I do it by hand. I can go on and on!!!
 
Last edited:
You guys are right about one thing, I'm in it to make money. I have no problem getting customers. I posted recently about getting higher end cars, which are tough to get. I don't live in a huge city. Sure, there's plenty of exotics in LA, Miami, Austin etc. I'm not there. I'm production minded, and I do what I need to do to make my customers happy and still make money. If my customer is on a 180 budget and needs their paint looking good, I'll do the previously mentioned job. They are always happy. If he paid me 300 he would get a true 3 step and I would finish and apply wax with the da. I'd probably apply opti seal or pinnacle or both.

If I did the same for low paying customers and high paying customers I'd be living and detailing out of a van...down by the river.
 
No hard feelings btw. I'm just very opinionated and like to argue just for the heck of it. I'm alway listening and open to suggestions. Thanks for the input, guys.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top