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DetailKitty

DetailKitty

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I told a friend I would detail his wife's Ford Edge... this will be my very first PAID detail job. Everything to this point has been my own vehicles and/or favors for friends/family.

Luckily, he is a detailer himself (he does detailing on the side), so the vehicle isn't in bad shape. He has 3 children under 5 and just has no time to clean it up for spring. He even told me he'd clean the inside for me and not to worry about that.

I'll be tackling this mid-May, so stay tuned. Any advice is appreciated.
 
I'm sure you know what products you will be using. If not, need recommendations?
 
FUNX725 said:
Are you already friends, with the Friend's Wife?

Bob
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Nope- just her husband.

Legacykid said:
You got this, looking forward to seeing the work!
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Thx Eric! :xyxthumbs:

GenesisCoupe said:
I'm sure you know what products you will be using. If not, need recommendations?
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I Plan on doing a wash (Optimum), Wolf's Chemicals Deironizer, and Nanoskin to start.

May do some polishing (would use M205 for that).

And not sure about my LSP. I like doing sealant with a wax overtop. If I use a sealant, I'll go with Wolfgang's DGPS. I have several waxes to could use... not sure which I will try... P215, Ultima PGP or maybe Son1cwax Protowax 93.

Oh, and it's a pearl white... so no nightmare black or anything ;)
 
You'll be fine judging by the looks of your mini. Just take your time and you shouldn't have any issues.
 
KMG said:
You'll be fine judging by the looks of your mini. Just take your time and you shouldn't have any issues.
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Funny you say that... I asked him what steps he wanted me to do, and his response: "I want it to look like your car".

I'll take that as a compliment :dblthumb2:
 
Just have fun and kick Azz!! You will be fine and I am sure you will do an excellent job!!!

Please show pics of before and after if you can!!
 
Nice to hear about that! Seeing your history on forum I'm pretty sure you'll be fine!

If I have to give any advice, that would be:

Feel confident you have knowledge which means power for detailing. When in doubt, create a thread here using words like 'Urgent Help Needed - Can't get rid of swirls', or etc, I've done this many times during details and got supported by the geeks almost instantly (real-time support here is gold class).

Avoid going too deep on things you're not sure enough - Play on the safe side. That means, avoid creating problems (making things worse) without needing to.

For the nanoskin, use plenty of lube and GLIDE it over surface, don't SCRUB. Inspect the finish after some passes of nanoskin to see the level of marring you may face afterwards. Nanoskin marring may look ugly at first, but goes away easily just after light polishing.

Avoid Nanoskin on tricky areas to polish, if it leave marring there, you'll have to go after every marring spot by hand after, which may be extremely time consuming and boring!

One example is in the inner part of side mirrors, it's easy to nanoskin there, but it's PITH (in the Head) to get a polisher there. Switch to conventional light grade clay for those spots, will save time at the end.

Tape the Trim!

Use a swirl finder light and inspect the paint when the car arrives, and every moment you can while in between sections. This way you will avoid unwanted surprises at the end like a less than expected finish when putting the car in the sun. Beat a though swirl finder light, you'll beat the sun.

Follow our friends suggestions, and have fun!

Hope that may help you getting some general ideas, wish you best of luck and that this detail brings you more and more in the future!

Count on me,

Kind Regards.
 
This should be an enjoyable thread and I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing more Monica!! :props:
 
Thank you all for the positive feedback :xyxthumbs:
I appreciate the vote of confidence.
 
I'll be subscribed. Don't think you need any additional information until and if the time/moment arises. :props:

Good luck,
Art
 
Send it to Dave and offer to pay him 65% of what you're getting for the job 8-)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Well this original job hasn't been booked yet, but I officially booked a Mazda 3 Speed for the first weekend in July.

BTW- they say it had the "polyurethane protection" applied at delivery of the car... does this matter? From what I saw looking at it the other day, it doesn't look like ANY protection or wax even is on this thing.
 
DetailKitty said:
Well this original job hasn't been booked yet, but I officially booked a Mazda 3 Speed for the first weekend in July.

BTW- they say it had the "polyurethane protection" applied at delivery of the car... does this matter? From what I saw looking at it the other day, it doesn't look like ANY protection or wax even is on this thing.
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Be wary on the Mazda if you are doing an interior detail also. They have such short nap carpets its more like just fuzz that holds in every single particle of dirt. Have an air compressor or hard bristled nylon brush on hand or it will take you forever to vacuum.

Polyurethane protection... translation is they sealed it. Proceed as normal.
 
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