Us vs the general public

Spiney

Spiney

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I took my 96 SVT Cobra to a show yesterday. It's black. As soon as I pull it in the car wrangler ask me how I've kept it scratch free for this long. Many people commented on how nice it is for a 16 year old car. I on the other hand see every swirl mark, scratch, and watermark on it. It unfortunately has plenty. That will be fixed once I get all my AG tools working on it. I told the wrangler that the scratches are there when you look closer. My wife tells me to just say thank you, and hold my tongue.

Have you experienced similar reactions from people when you know the real story.

One other thing a friend and longtime Mustang owner told me next time I'm headed to a show and don't have time to really correct it use Turtle Wax Black detailing spray. He's an experienced detailer having run his own shop for several years. He told me he tried it on his Wife's Black Taurus SHO and was amazed how many sins it hid in between washes.

Any experience with it? And yes I know that on this forum Turtle Wax gets about as much respect as Rodney Dangerfield. Thanks, Spiney
 
My wife basically falls into the "general public" category. I start talking about buffer holograms and swirl marks and her eyes start to glaze over. She was perfectly happy driving her car through the car wash a couple times a year before she met me. Man... spouses of detailers don't realize how good they have it.
 
I think my girlfriend might be the worst. I talk about using rain-x on her windows because she was amazed by how the water beads up on my windows and rain-x is allot easier to use than sealants/wax/w.e and she drifted off into space
 
My wife is a pip..... she says, "It is just a car" so often my eyes glaze-over. She will never let go of her DD, but many times she will take my VW as she does her errands because, "my car gets better gas mileage". LOL
 
Dave,

Most mortals do not have the eye, appreciation, or appetite for our obsession.

We fall into a very selective bucket. Our buckets are clean to the nth degree with not a single speck of dirt and debris to be found. These buckets are dried after use and are stored with covers firmly in place so that airborne dirt and dust cannot settle in them between use......

When you consider the average person is very satisfied taking their car through an automatic car wash then having a couple of guys dry it with bath towels it sort of puts things into perspective doesn't it?

Don't worry Dave, we understand......:dblthumb2:
 
I have had one person compliment me on my cars paint. The person seemed amazed. Now the paint wasn't perfect but it still looked good. I told him I do detailing on the side gave him my number haven't got a call. But the fact that some people don't care for such nice vehicles is disappointing.
 
I don't have a toy to take to cruize nights anymore but I still go the weekly car cruizes and here's what I notice now that I'm a member of this cult......urrrr, forum:

ALL THE MUSCLE CARS WITH SWIRLS ON THEM!!!

These are cars that sit in the garage most of the time and a chunk of them are owned by guys whom are retired too, what's the exuse! I can't believe that 8 out of 10 cars are swirled to some degree, some are REAL, REAL bad too! My g/f's Mazda 6 has waaaaaay fewer swirls than 80% of the "show cars" at these cruizes and it needs some attention from yours truely, just gotta find the time on the weekend and less humid weather too.

BTW, I would just say thank you when someone compliments you on your car too.
 
I feel like the sad reality is that most of the general public simply doesn't care.
 
Yeah, I was at a event Saturday that had a little car show going on along with it. Mostly classics and muscle cars and some custom roadsters, but very few of them had anything close to swirl free paint.

Some looked awful, especially around the front fenders. I would have liked to stay and see who won.
 
The general public doesn't know you can remove small scratches in paint .
 
To the general public, the car is an appliance, to us it's paint that needs to be cared for......not just washed...
 
Spiney said:
I took my 96 SVT Cobra to a show yesterday. It's black. As soon as I pull it in the car wrangler ask me how I've kept it scratch free for this long. Many people commented on how nice it is for a 16 year old car. I on the other hand see every swirl mark, scratch, and watermark on it. It unfortunately has plenty. That will be fixed once I get all my AG tools working on it. I told the wrangler that the scratches are there when you look closer. My wife tells me to just say thank you, and hold my tongue.

Have you experienced similar reactions from people when you know the real story.

One other thing a friend and longtime Mustang owner told me next time I'm headed to a show and don't have time to really correct it use Turtle Wax Black detailing spray. He's an experienced detailer having run his own shop for several years. He told me he tried it on his Wife's Black Taurus SHO and was amazed how many sins it hid in between washes.

Any experience with it? And yes I know that on this forum Turtle Wax gets about as much respect as Rodney Dangerfield. Thanks, Spiney
Click to expand...

I used some tw black box on my last truck for some chips/scratches on the front bumper. I wasn't impressed. I haven't used the detailing spray, I assume it's the same, more hype than results.
 
BobbyG said:
Dave,

Most mortals do not have the eye, appreciation, or appetite for our obsession.

We fall into a very selective bucket. Our buckets are clean to the nth degree with not a single speck of dirt and debris to be found. These buckets are dried after use and are stored with covers firmly in place so that airborne dirt and dust cannot settle in them between use......

When you consider the average person is very satisfied taking their car through an automatic car wash then having a couple of guys dry it with bath towels it sort of puts things into perspective doesn't it?

Don't worry Dave, we understand......:dblthumb2:
Click to expand...



Lol , I actually cringed when you said "automatic car wash", and the guys with the towels are the worst.
 
Spiney said:
I took my 96 SVT Cobra to a show yesterday. It's black. As soon as I pull it in the car wrangler ask me how I've kept it scratch free for this long. Many people commented on how nice it is for a 16 year old car. I on the other hand see every swirl mark, scratch, and watermark on it. It unfortunately has plenty. That will be fixed once I get all my AG tools working on it. I told the wrangler that the scratches are there when you look closer. My wife tells me to just say thank you, and hold my tongue.

Have you experienced similar reactions from people when you know the real story.

One other thing a friend and longtime Mustang owner told me next time I'm headed to a show and don't have time to really correct it use Turtle Wax Black detailing spray. He's an experienced detailer having run his own shop for several years. He told me he tried it on his Wife's Black Taurus SHO and was amazed how many sins it hid in between washes.

Any experience with it? And yes I know that on this forum Turtle Wax gets about as much respect as Rodney Dangerfield. Thanks, Spiney
Click to expand...

From time to time I try and remember what vehicles used to look like. Because once you develop the eye there is no turning back. What really sucks is when someone wants a wash ,clay and wax or when you attend a car meet/show and you see the damage. People don't see that. They are like car looks amazing meanwhile you know the damage is there.
 
Gotta face the facts; most people either don't care, don't realize the difference, or don't have the time. I'm sure we all have things we don't realize about ourselves that someone in that particular field/hobby would cringe over. I'm sure a computer programmer would scratch his/her head over why I don't regularly update my home PC, or get the latest virus protection, or any virus protection at all for that matter. A professional painter might wonder how .5mm of wall paint made its way onto the ceiling. The same can be said for just about anything, and unfortunately, there are a lot more things that we all fall into the 99% category than there are things we're in the minority; we just don't realize it. :xyxthumbs:
 
Y2KSVT said:
Gotta face the facts; most people either don't care, don't realize the difference, or don't have the time. I'm sure we all have things we don't realize about ourselves that someone in that particular field/hobby would cringe over. I'm sure a computer programmer would scratch his/her head over why I don't regularly update my home PC, or get the latest virus protection, or any virus protection at all for that matter. A professional painter might wonder how .5mm of wall paint made its way onto the ceiling. The same can be said for just about anything, and unfortunately, there are a lot more things that we all fall into the 99% category than there are things we're in the minority; we just don't realize it. :xyxthumbs:
Click to expand...

Very well said. And there are plenty of websites out there for every kind of hobby/enthusiasm where the members cringe over the lack of pocket squares in our sports jackets or use of the wrong shaving cream. It's an amazing world.
 
I was actually at a show a week ago and a quick rain shower came through. I cringed at what I saw afterwards! Guys wiping down expensive paint jobs with the California Jelly Blades, and one guy that owned a sweet Barracuda used an old Bath towel. I waiting for the drops to mostly evaporate, then broke out the WW and Microfiber towel.
 
The biggest horrors are often seen at car shows. I honestly think that it's about the bling and wow factor in terms of cool stuff on the car.., not how well it's detailed. I see so many people drooling all over cool cars that look like they were washed with a burlap bag. Drives me crazy....
 
I work fairly close with a local performance shop and they are my guinea pigs. I start talking about swirls or oxidation and get stopped mid sentence and told "that's why we have you, I have no idea what you're talking about. Can you fix it?"

Spent three days on their GTR and their fabricator kept coming to look, saying he wasn't seeing any difference, but added that he didn't know what he was looking at lol. All I could do was laugh. Once he saw the final results, and the picture thread I posted on a local automotive forum, he was blown away. "I thought it just needed a good wash and wax or whatever, but how do you DO that???"

It's amazing once people are educated with just a few basic terms on how to locate and define a defect, the level of respect people have for you after completely turning around the finish on a car.
 
RoadRageDetail said:
I work fairly close with a local performance shop and they are my guinea pigs. I start talking about swirls or oxidation and get stopped mid sentence and told "that's why we have you, I have no idea what you're talking about. Can you fix it?"

Spent three days on their GTR and their fabricator kept coming to look, saying he wasn't seeing any difference, but added that he didn't know what he was looking at lol. All I could do was laugh. Once he saw the final results, and the picture thread I posted on a local automotive forum, he was blown away. "I thought it just needed a good wash and wax or whatever, but how do you DO that???"

It's amazing once people are educated with just a few basic terms on how to locate and define a defect, the level of respect people have for you after completely turning around the finish on a car.
Click to expand...

+1

I was telling my mom about a black AMG I did some paint correction for. The next day at work she was talking to a group about my business and dropping a few generic terms like oxidation, swirl marks, etc. I guess a guy immediately perked up in his seat and was like "remove swirl marks!?" She gave him my card and I'm doing both his cars next weekend. I think they are black paint too so it will be extra fun! But yeah, the rest of the group probably had no idea what she was talking about.

Sent from my LG-VM701 using AG Online
 
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