Tips and tricks that help produce same results?

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Prerunner06

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Looking for ways to lock down a process to produce produce results that are consistent and quick...

Little background on my situation. I have been into detailing for a while now. Then started doing some weekend warrior work here and there. Then about a year ago a customer/friend approached me with an offer to work for him full time at a new dealership he was starting. Working with higher end used cars. I jumped at the opportunity at first it was great maintaining a fleet of 50ish cars and detailing new ones coming in. A month later he partnered with a larger dealership. I now maintain 4x the amount of cars and detail 2-3 a day. I went from what I call boutique detailing to full production detailing and can't hook a groove to produce consistancy. I am really wanting to up my game for year 2

Sorry for the longer post
 
What stage in your know detailing you want to take less time?
And what is your methods know?
If the products is sold on AGO what products do you use?
What detailing machines are you working with?

It's hard to setup a work routine that works on every car. They are in so much of different conditions so you approach them after that. But some kind of of base cleaning method and maintance you could have that is effective. And then tweak it after the conditions they have. Then you have the what your employer expectations from your work. Just some thoughts about things to know to discuss on what different ways to see if we have some input on how we do it instead. And maybe do it so you are intrested to test it out if you benefit to it.
 
We do "production work" one day a week, anywhere from 4 to 10 cars depending on the whims of the customer and the weather. Like was mentioned above, every car is so different that it's hard to give specifics, but working as a team we've found that one way to streamline the process is.

1. Have your setup rock solid. We're mobile, so we have the generator and vacuum permanently mounted in our trailer. There's two things we're not tripping over. We setup so we have all our tools out and we put them in the same place every time. When we use them, we put them back in the same place.

2. Have a process that works for you. We pull a car into our spot and the first thing we do is open the doors, check the damage inside and pull all the floor mats out. One of us grabs the vacuum hose and starts hitting the inside, the other sprays down the tires and wheels, lets it dwell and then starts cleaning them. After the tires and wheels are clean, we both turn our attention to finishing the inside. Once the inside is finished, we soap it and double team the wash and dry.

3. If that car needs more attention, we move it to another spot and pull in the next car and one of starts working on the next car while the previous car is sealed or waxed or whatever is going on.
 
The interior is what kills me the most. Right now I pull a car in pull mats vacuum mats and interior. Then I work from the doors inward. Drivers front then rear the pass rear then pass front. Cleaning plastics etc. Then hit the jams with degreaser and move the car outside and pressure wash them out hit engine bay. Wheels then paint them back inside for dressing then parked for photos
 
Which vacuum attachments do you use the most?

What’s your process for cleaning wheels & tires? I’d recommend using Meguiars Wheel Brightener for the wheels and Meguiars Super Degreaser for the tires & wheel wells. Dilute both of them 4:1 [4 parts water, 1 part concentrate] and if you can get away with simply spraying on, letting dwell for the directed amount of time and rinsing off with a pressure washer then you’ll save some time there..

Invest in a 20’ vacuum hose if you haven’t already done so.
 
Have a 20' hose mainly use a crevice tool and a mini detail kit for tight spots. Brush attachments for less dirty carpets.
 
Prerunner06 said:
Then I work from the doors inward. Drivers front then rear the pass rear then pass front.
Click to expand...


i do first rear doors than front doors , that way you move the seats only once....
rear driver,front driver, rear pass, front pass, trunk
 
Prerunner06 said:
Have a 20' hose mainly use a crevice tool and a mini detail kit for tight spots. Brush attachments for less dirty carpets.
Click to expand...

Cool, I’m about to pull the trigger on a 20’ hose myself. What diameter is yours? I’ll probably get a 2.5” hose because most of my favorite attachments are 2.5” and I can use an adapter for the smaller 1.25” ones. I wish it would be as manageable as the smaller diameter hoses but I guess you can’t have it all.
 
We use a 50' hose. No more lugging the vac anywhere. Just unroll the hose and turn it on. Very nice to not have the vac in the way all the time anymore.
 
sudsmobile said:
We use a 50' hose. No more lugging the vac anywhere. Just unroll the hose and turn it on. Very nice to not have the vac in the way all the time anymore.
Click to expand...

So you don’t think 20’ is quite enough?

What vacuum do you use?

What diameter is your 50’ hose?
 
20' is not enough to keep the vacuum in the trailer. I try to keep our work area as clutter free as possible. With 50' we can vacuum a car parked in just about any configuration to our trailer. We use the big, new Shop Vac that has the see through canister. The hose is just pool vac hose that has the correct fitting glued to it. It works fine, we notice no suction difference from 20' to 50'. We used a 20' hose for a few months.

This is a 2012 M5 that we did yesterday. The interior was absolutely disgusting didn't look like it had been vacuumed in quite some time. You can see that the 50' hose works fine.

View attachment 62757
 
sudsmobile said:
20' is not enough to keep the vacuum in the trailer. I try to keep our work area as clutter free as possible. With 50' we can vacuum a car parked in just about any configuration to our trailer. We use the big, new Shop Vac that has the see through canister. The hose is just pool vac hose that has the correct fitting glued to it. It works fine, we notice no suction difference from 20' to 50'. We used a 20' hose for a few months.

This is a 2012 M5 that we did yesterday. The interior was absolutely disgusting didn't look like it had been vacuumed in quite some time. You can see that the 50' hose works fine.

View attachment 62757
Click to expand...

By “pool vac hose” I’m assuming it’s 2.5” diameter hose?

The cool thing is that if I somehow need more than 20’ [which is what I plan to buy] I can connect my current 7’ hose to make it 27’ feet.

And if that still isn’t enough, I can connect the 10’ Orange hose for a total of 37’ feet.

I’ve never seen or heard about the new Shop Vac with see through canister. Weird since I consider myself somewhat of a vacuum nerd.
 
Shop Vac SVX2. I'm not looking to add a bunch of hoses. You have your system, it works for you. We get where we're going, we unroll the hose, kick on the genny, we have a vacuum remote on the working end of the hose, boom we're in business. If the customer has two cars, boom we're in business.

View attachment 62758
 
IMO:
Using a pressure washer will expedite
the exterior car-washing tasks.


Bob
 
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