PA DETAILER
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- Mar 5, 2011
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Top coat of pure bead.
What did you do today, in regards to detailing?
- Thread starter Eldorado2k
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Setec Astronomy
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- Aug 31, 2010
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I'm not understanding...were they saying that they were dropping them for business-related reasons? Or product-related? I guess I don't know how to parse "not detailer friendly".
labo made decisions that did not support detailers. Im not privy to what the decisions were
Setec Astronomy
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Business decisions? Like how the products are sold or distributed? Or product decisions like cheapening them, putting hazardous ingredients, etc.?
EDIT: I mean it sounds like you don't want to use the products anymore, so I'm trying to understand if that's on principle because they didn't treat their business partners fairly, or if you got the impression the products aren't good, or aren't good anymore.
yeah business decisons, thats all i know man. Here is autoality's number, Feel free to ask them all the questions ya got.412-860-8710
Setec Astronomy
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No, I'm good--I was just trying to understand if it was product problems/issues. Because everything is available direct from Labo USA, although not at that detail club pricing.
Nah dont get me wrong i still want to use thier products! They make great stuff. I finally had thought i found my go to, with no desire or need to try something different. But plan and simple bud im not paying full price for it. Atleast without not trying some other brands first and giving an honest effort to find replacements
My main product i use is primus 2.0 its so versitile and can cut it so many different ratios. Looking like koch chemie has a product called multistar that might fit the bill. Only downfall is its only sold in 5L jug. Which is fine except for when i want to small size first to test product.
DanaDetailingPros
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- Aug 7, 2022
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I did this car, and I bet it has never been cleaned inside since it was bought in 2022. Used TRC Ultra Air Blaster for almost an hour. Spent 4 hours on the interior. I was fooled with the custom fit rubber mats and didn't look carefully to see the actual condition. Lesson learned. I even had to use my Mytee 8070 extractor. The carpet was saturated with dust/dirt. He just moved here from Washington, and I could swear he lived on a farm. Top it off two small kids. Spent a full day on this one.
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I just saw this same post online and some retailers also jumped-in to support Autoality. They did not say what the business decision was but it sounds like many retailers for Labo are taking a stand. If Labo loses their US market access, I bet they'll fix those decisions soon.
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Setec Astronomy
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Yeah, but they still have the Labo USA site where you can buy direct. Although I vaguely remember that operation may have been run by Carzilla, so it could also be affected by these "decisions". Could it simply be that Labo is setting up their own US/North America distribution? Or, if Carzilla is the master distributor, is the tariff situation affecting things?
EDIT: I seem to recall Carzilla stopping shipping to the US recently, but I could be wrong.
It sounds like people still don't want to pay full price so they'll have to figure that out and take care of heavy buyers and professionals. I've never been part of the Autoality club but it sounds like a very good program.
Interesting point with Carzilla. I can't refute or confirm it but that would make a lot of sense if they had/have master distribution rights.
If the thought is to do it for themselves in the US, best of luck to them. So many companies think they can cut the middlemen easily and rarely does it work that way (this isn't just specific to detailing either). I believe one of the THOR guys recently uprooted his life to Chicago to fix the 3pl issues as a great example.
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Setec Astronomy
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Well, this is the message at Carzilla right now:
Notice for US Customers:
We’ve temporarily placed a hold on cross-border shipping due to recent U.S. border policy changes causing shipments to be rejected or significantly delayed. As a result, we’re not shipping to the U.S. at this time. We’re actively working on solutions, but this may take some time—thank you for your understanding. We may resume U.S. shipping later in August. We apologize for the persistent issues.
They seem to have a full slate of Labo in stock. Then I went to the Labo USA site, and under the contact info it says "all orders placed on this website for delivery in the US are shipped from..." and they give an address in Charlotte, NC. That's the address for Parks Car Care. However if go to the Parks website, they only have 3 Labo products shown.
I still remember when the Labo products first started being sold here, if ordered from the Labo website the product came from Labo Canada...which was Carzilla. At least that's the way I remember it. It may be that later Parks took over the US distribution...and if THEY are the master distributor, then maybe they are the source of the problem that some of the other resellers are having.
solsbury
Member
- Sep 5, 2022
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If anyone is in the market for a spray-and-rinse sealant, check out Sonax Hypercoat.
It just landed in the US. Previously, it was sold only overseas, meaning it was difficult and expensive to source. I paid something like $80 bucks to import it from a german seller on ebay.
It dilutes down to 1:100 (or 1:200 if you want to stretch the bottle) meaning the $43 1L bottle (on autogeek) goes a very long way. I typically mix up 300ml @ 1:100 which equates out to ~13 cents of product.
The durability, beading, and slickness it leaves behind are all excellent. Its especially great on glass, where I've seen it last months from a single application.
It just landed in the US. Previously, it was sold only overseas, meaning it was difficult and expensive to source. I paid something like $80 bucks to import it from a german seller on ebay.
It dilutes down to 1:100 (or 1:200 if you want to stretch the bottle) meaning the $43 1L bottle (on autogeek) goes a very long way. I typically mix up 300ml @ 1:100 which equates out to ~13 cents of product.
The durability, beading, and slickness it leaves behind are all excellent. Its especially great on glass, where I've seen it last months from a single application.
Well, we “moved” (sorta) way earlier than expected. Apartment we were looking at basically gave use 2 months for 500 bucks. We save that in gas over the time. Though technically we still split between the places for now.
Anyway the car stuff. I polished the gti with m302, i have to lament the lighting in that space because it definitely had swirls I couldn’t see without the sun. I even tried the swirl finder light. Either way the polish improved it.
The whole thing was a bit of a rush with the move coming. I was on a timeline with packing etc, so i wouldn’t have had time to compound (also out of compound)
I applied phobic to everything but the front bumper. I dropped my last applicator on the last third. Used a towel instead and went extra heavy to compensate. It will probably fail first but at least the doors got the full coating experience. I ran out of time to do the front bumper, but hey it’s phobic it’s easy.
I found out our new apartment has a car wash station. It’s just a hose and a covered spot but heck the water isn’t so softened I can’t rinse the soap off.
I had some ads shampoo in my bag and used that and I might have to rethink all my shamoo impressions now that I have normal
Water to work with.
Final thought this was my first wash with the mohs on the atlas and holy cow im happy with the water behavior.
Anyway the car stuff. I polished the gti with m302, i have to lament the lighting in that space because it definitely had swirls I couldn’t see without the sun. I even tried the swirl finder light. Either way the polish improved it.
The whole thing was a bit of a rush with the move coming. I was on a timeline with packing etc, so i wouldn’t have had time to compound (also out of compound)
I applied phobic to everything but the front bumper. I dropped my last applicator on the last third. Used a towel instead and went extra heavy to compensate. It will probably fail first but at least the doors got the full coating experience. I ran out of time to do the front bumper, but hey it’s phobic it’s easy.
I found out our new apartment has a car wash station. It’s just a hose and a covered spot but heck the water isn’t so softened I can’t rinse the soap off.
I had some ads shampoo in my bag and used that and I might have to rethink all my shamoo impressions now that I have normal
Water to work with.
Final thought this was my first wash with the mohs on the atlas and holy cow im happy with the water behavior.
Klasse Act
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- Feb 21, 2012
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Got a buddy to try Feynlab v3 RW on his coated Kona N. Then used the leftover RW to clean his tires & wheels AND his engine bay. Then dressed the engine bay with a new to him product...Koch Chemie Mp, another convert on both...oh yeah, applied Feynlab Ceramic Spray Detailer on the paint
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Klasse Act
Well-known member
- Feb 21, 2012
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Here's another shot of the KN
Got a buddy to try Feynlab v3 RW on his coated Kona N. Then used the leftover RW to clean his tires & wheels AND his engine bay. Then dressed the engine bay with a new to him product...Koch Chemie Mp, another convert on both...oh yeah, applied Feynlab Ceramic Spray Detailer on the paint
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Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
Big Dave
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- Jan 7, 2018
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I did a RW on the FJ with Ech2o, it wasn't too dirty, and it's got a layer of Reload 2.0 in it, so it was very easy. I didn't touch the wheels, but I put some 303 Aerospace Protectant on the tyres, I found a half bottle sitting at the back of the shelf, and tyres would be the only thing I'd use it on now, I could use it on the engine bay I suppose, whenever I decide to do that again.
Silly Rabbit
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- Apr 29, 2021
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How does it compare to their Spray & Seal? I assume better, but is it signifigantly better? S&S is a really decent product itself.
Flash Gordon
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- Feb 6, 2010
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Nice investigative work as usual gman.