I had a chance to sit and reflect of my experience with the two day class.
The venue
There is nothing better than looking out and seeing the Indy 500 when it comes to vehicles!!! The garages were well protected from the elements and other than the temp outside is was extremely comfortable. The outside temp was not that bad during the midday when it was a little warmer but there is ZERO that could be controlled about that and I am by no means stating ANY displeasure with that.
Conclusion: Awesome.
The expectation going in
Like any workshop I have attended in the past dealing with photography (Another passion of mine), I expected to learn one thing each day. That was a comfortable expectation for me going in. If that is met, I would consider this complete and successful.
This was not the case however! I learned just about everything that was shown. Why? Because of repetition and triangle learning - Learn a foundation and then build on that approach. Learn the vocab, then sentences, the paragraphs to essays and completing with writing books. This class seemed to be founded on that. Clean then evaluate and inspect then contaminate removal if needed all the way to ceramic coatings for each and every car totaling approximately 12 times we did the process. The repetition was there and I learned MORE than just one thing per day.
Conclusion: Expectations exceeded.
While I have already discussed the teaching style in general you made mention that you didn’t get to everything on the agenda. Your agenda is very detailed and thorough. You have managed to cram 3 days into two. Could we have done with one less car on Friday? Yes and No, Yes we could have and that would have made it so you might have touched on the missed topics BUT, NO! That one additional car cemented things for me. So, for others who stated you missed covering something, I said your Friday and Saturday classes were perfect for me! I missed nothing! Saturday’s class was jam packed again but equally as informative and built on the same principle. My opinion is if you changed something in this area, you are messing with perfection and that’s a slippery slope.
Conclusion: Perfect.
The companies you had there representing. Oh-my-god! FAN-Freeking-Tastic!.
First I will discuss Sonax, then Flex. Just outstanding!
SONAX
I personally talked to all members of the Sonax crew. Their knowledge was incredible on their product. Dimtri was a fantastic addition being there from afar. I could just go on and on but the one things that I DID notice right away was the fact that while they were there representing their companies, they not once talked down about another product or company.
If there was another product being discussed, they did not talk down about it or slide one of their products in place of the other companies, instead, they helped with a technique being discussed. They could have said, brand-x’s polish is horrible and here use ours….they didn’t. What I received was, “If you slow the passes down a touch, you’ll get more correction!”. Nothing bad about the product just a technique of the way I was working that could be translated to ANY product. They were concerned about my physical application and polishing process.
From the Sonax crew again, Jason was another standout person to me. I got to talk to him and he helped me get my head around some items relating to transitioning form another product to theirs WITHOUT pressure or pitch. I wanted a new system and he listened to my needs. He asked what I was using and when I told him, he said that I should really look at their system, we were going to use the next day(Saturday). It sounded like it would fit the bill. Nothing about talking down about my current product I had, just that the Cutmax and EX 04-06 system they had there was close to the system I was using in characteristics. I should evaluate the product and see first-hand which product I liked.
Usually rep’s at workshops dig or downplay other companies products. Not with Sonax. What a great group of guys.
Flex was the same
They didn’t talk about one companies chemical over another’s but instead were focused on tools. Making sure my curiosities about a tool was tested and satisfied. When I showed fears about rotaries, they were there to help with technique and when I still said I didn’t feel comfortable with rotary they NOT ONCE told me “That’s what the pro’s use!” They got another device and told me what was the same and what was different.
Nobody treated me different and I told them upfront when they asked if detailing was my profession it was more and an obsessive hobby. Many companies who come to workshops once they find out I am not a mass buyer or not able to purchase every tool they bring, are very hands off then.
I will admit I have loved their tools since I first got my 3401 many years ago. I probably was a little biased with the company and products but I went in with an open mind. I had a friend purchase a Griot’s Garage polisher last month and loves it. I have also heard great things about Rupes and their system. I tried them at this event.
I even went up to a Flex person at this event (without knowing at first) and asked him if he knew if there was an open Rupes polisher lying around. What did he do? He found me one. He easily could have told me that while this brand is good, use ours.
The whole FLEX company could have forgone the first day as it did not apply to their polishers. They did not. They were there helping the event even if it meant they were helping us with others tools. They even had the big wig of Flex North America, Bob, there. Seeing this told me I was using a company’s tool that first cared about the knowledge and process of the individual person and then cared about their tools. Seeing this and their attitudes while at the event, I knew I had the company with the right attitude and because of the old infomercial line, “Try the rest, stick with the best!” I would be sticking with the Flex line.
I will end my review here. I could write pages and pages on how great this even and you were. I will admit that when you asked me if my car had ever looked this good, it was a rough answer for me to admit…No!. I had wanted it to look that good and tried many times to get it looking this good and keeping it looking this good but I didn’t. I thought I had the knowledge based on the articles and many years of being a member of the forums and watching your how-to videos. NOTHING BEATS A HANDS ON CLASS.
I was making mistakes right and left during my washing phase. I thought I was the most meticulous and non-damaging/ scratching washer there was. My car saw the inside of a car wash once (I had forgot this until my wife corrected me). I had the pleasure of following a trash hauler in a construction zone that was leaking a fluid and spraying me. I had to take it through a car wash as an emergency to get this junk off as I had no time to clean it myself the next few days. I cringed going through and thought when I got out and looked it over, nothing happened to it.
I babied this car for 13 years and via hand washing and using the same product over and over, believed that it would not get microfine scratches. I saw in the bright sunlight that it had scratches and it killed me. I polished it using a 6 step process every start of the summer: Wash, Clay, Wash again, Compound, Polish, Finish and then, an expensive wax. All of these products purchased via AG.
Without seeing the FULL start to finish process, I would never have believed that I could eliminate some steps and get a better looking car. It was the “hands on” of the class under the eye of you and the companies you brought in to help, that showed me how to correctly do the whole process.
When I thought I was doing things right, I was shown I wasn’t. I learned for two days and numerous cars how to do things right. Show me once, I got it but I will forget something when I try it myself. Show me twice, I will learn it a little better. Show me 10-12 times over the weekend, I have it cemented!
I know I am all over the place on this review/critique. I am still in little kid at Christmas mode discussing this class. I want your bosses to know, I want Flex’s heads to know as well as Sonax’s bosses/heads to know how great you and they did over the weekend.
People write “Excellents” and 5 out of 5 or 10 out of 10 on their critique. I wanted to give more than that back to you and tell you that from my end, you went over the top and you should change nothing.
Hopefully you can follow my babblings.
Thank you sir.
Tom Quinn.
