What's the worst/funniest detailing mistake you've made?

g35_coupe

g35_coupe

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We have countless threads showing how immaculate a vehicle can be in experienced hands with the right tools. This of course comes with making mistakes along the way. Anyone humble enough to share your disasters or funny stories with others to learn from? I know there's good write-ups with safeguards to put in place and avoid it in the first place, but we know doo-doo happens if we get in a rush or are ignorant from inexperience. If you're too embarrassed and don't feel comfortable owning up to it, you can phrase it as "I know this guy who once...."


And begin...
 
I dont think allot of peeps are gonna fess up to their mistakes, there scared of being made fun of or ruin their reputation.
One time I was rotary buffing my s2000 on the trunk with a megs black finishing pad and slightly bumped my antenna at 900 rpms. And left a gash on the antenna since its solid rubber. I just remove it now every time i work in that area

Sent from my SCH-I605 using AG Online
 
GPZ 550 + Armor All = Damn near disastrous 20 ft tire spinning action.

Felt like a noob & a hero at the same time.
 
When I was a kid and tasked (ordered?) by my dad to clean and wax his car, I obediently did so. This was back in the day when paste wax was hard...the same with most polishes and using any kind of power tools was unknown.

After busting my butt polishing, wiping the car down then waxing and wiping, I saw where my belt buckle left a bunch of mars in the paint! I was in a near, if not actual panic. My dad did not tolerate less than perfection from anyone...and he was the only person capable of perfection. If you asked him...he would have confirmed that.

In my panic, and really knowing little about car detailing beyond wash, polish and wax, I wet my thumb and started rubbing the mars in the paint. Thankfully, the marks rubbed out. My life was saved.

I never did tell him about that...and I learned a lesson about belt buckles and car finishes...they don't mix!
 
No joke, when I was 18, I was squeeging? (think gas station wand) my windows and when I turned to shake the water off the blade I did not turn far enough and slammed the end into the hood LOL. Left a pretty dent, luckily no paint chipped.
 
I've done more harm to myself than anything. I was hurrying one day working on an Astro van and didn't duck far enough while climbing in the back. I nailed my head on where the door latches. It jammed my neck so bad that I lost my vision and my legs went numb and wouldn't work. I fell in the back and laid there terrified.
My vision came back and legs started working a minute later.

I learned to always keep your mouth closed when blowing out cup holders and other areas. I ended up with someone else's finger nails in my mouth. No bueno.

A guy I used to work with was running a buffer at about 3000 rpms one day and he had ear buds in. Buffer grabbed the cord and ripped them out of his ears. They whipped him from knee to hip. He pulled up his shorts leg and there were bloody welts all the way up his leg. I can't imagine the damage he took to the baby maker.
 
The day I brought my 2007 Trailblazer SS home, I proceed to give it the first wash. Since I'm only 5'9", I had my trusty Werner work platform on duty to help me get the roof. I was not paying attention, rushing around, and bumped the platform right into the rear driver side door. Yup. A little ding. The truck only had 41 miles on it from the drive home from the dealership and I already had a ding. I left it there for about 3 years as a reminder of my foolishness. Finally, when I felt like I had punished myself enough, I had my PDR guy remove the ding. You would never know it was there now.
 
jmfp said:
I've done more harm to myself than anything. I was hurrying one day working on an Astro van and didn't duck far enough while climbing in the back. I nailed my head on where the door latches. It jammed my neck so bad that I lost my vision and my legs went numb and wouldn't work. I fell in the back and laid there terrified.
My vision came back and legs started working a minute later.

I learned to always keep your mouth closed when blowing out cup holders and other areas. I ended up with someone else's finger nails in my mouth. No bueno.

A guy I used to work with was running a buffer at about 3000 rpms one day and he had ear buds in. Buffer grabbed the cord and ripped them out of his ears. They whipped him from knee to hip. He pulled up his shorts leg and there were bloody welts all the way up his leg. I can't imagine the damage he took to the baby maker.
Click to expand...


I can relate......
was detailing a crew cab,long bed dually.......dropped something in the bed of the truck,climbed in retrieved it.

when I was climbing out (thought my foot was on the bumper) it wasn't I had stepped on the pintal hitch (it was open) it slammed closed with my weight on it and I went for a tumble......hitting the hitch on my way down......then hit the concrete floor after that.

passed out from hitting my head on the concrete......came to and couldn't breathe.....was in a panic by this time,luckily I had my phone in my pocket....called my buddy and told him I need help NOW!

He came over helped me off the floor.....MADE me go to the hospital....had 1 cracked rib,3 bruised ribs,a minor concusion,and had to have 10 stiches on my leg where the hitch pin ripped my jeans and cut the hell out my leg.

Now when I detail any truck....the firts thing I look at is the hitch......if theres something in the receiver it is removed before I touch anything else.......and I also got one of those long reach retrieval tools so I no longer half to climb in the bed of the truck.
 
About 8 months ago I put Blackfire Metal Sealant on my brother's entire car instead of Blackfire All Paint Sealant.... yeah, I was out of it lol
 
psynx said:
I dont think allot of peeps are gonna fess up to their mistakes, there scared of being made fun of or ruin their reputation.
One time I was rotary buffing my s2000 on the trunk with a megs black finishing pad and slightly bumped my antenna at 900 rpms. And left a gash on the antenna since its solid rubber. I just remove it now every time i work in that area

Sent from my SCH-I605 using AG Online
Click to expand...

Haha! I agree! We didnt start off as "pros". I was restoring some headlights using 3M's headlight restorer. Didnt double tape the surrounding paint & scratched the hell out of the paint surrounding my headlight.

Oh well, lesson learned the hard way. Luckily it was my own car at the time, and luckily M105 removed it. Like etch-a-sketch, never happened :D
 
BrutalNoodle said:
Felt like a noob & a hero at the same time.
Click to expand...

Laughed out loud.


Worst thing I ever did was probably to myself. While working at a car wash in high school, we were prepping a car, rushing, and as I jogged around the car my foot landed on the wet track rollers. Apparently those rollers speed up the gravity process. My temple caught a metal bar on the track. Hammer time. I officially had my cat scanned.

Be careful kids. Or wear a football helmet.
 
hahahaha so far 2 guys with more than 1k posts have confessed, ofcourse everyone else is perfect and never did anything wrong with their rotaries.
 
I like to think of myself as somewhat intelligent, but yesterday I was in route to a job to detail a Honda van...grey in color... well I use my gps to get me to my locations...so I pull up, get out, see the grey Honda walk to the door and there is a note that says do not knock baby sleeping...so I was like ok Ill just start and they will see me out here business as usual...so I start taking stuff out of the van...5 mins in the owner comes out and was like WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!! ...at this point I am a lil confused cause he looked a lil pissed....Im like Hey how are you doing Im Randy Im here to detail your Honda...he was like no your not im like huh??? To make a long story short I pulled up to the wrong House....lol major brain fart....after I explained to him who I was and showed him my shirt he seemed to be a lil cooler...so I grab my phone look down the street 4 houses down there is a grey Honda van in the driveway as explained...lol I apologized and we both laughed.

Moral of the story if you wanna know what it looks like when a person is about to shoot you....pull up and start detailing a persons car....lol

http://www.facebook.com/TopShelfMobileAutoDetailing

Like my page I need 6 more LIKES do it and I will return the favor your retuen link will be needed

Happy Detailing!
 
Was washing a car at the Honda dealership I work at and accidentally sprayed tire dressing (the "used car lot special" kind) instead of bug remover on the windshield (both products are blue in color, albeit a different color blue. I grabbed the wrong bottle by mistake). Fortunately I realized my mistake after the second or third spray. Took some degreaser and some scrubbing to get that off! Did make for some lovely beading on the windshield though. :p
 
When i was detailing my malibu for maybe the fourth time. I accidently mixed my nephew's piece of playdough for clay. I was getting angry at why it was so rough and how come it was breaking apart. Took me a whole panel to realize what i did and i had marred the crap out of my paint, and had chunks of clay stuck to the panel. Couple of hours later and my dictionary of curse phrases expended I had polished it back okay. Had a pretty buff right arm.
 
Not funny then, but lesson learned. I detailed a Co workers Kia. The next day he told me the engine wasn't running properly and the steering wheel was shaking a lot.

When I PW'ed the engine, water got under the plastic engine cover and on the spark plugs. Each plug had 1" of water topping it, causing the engine to ground out. Luckily I'm a good mechanic, and solved the issue without any future mishaps.

Sent from my Galaxy Note II using AG Online
 
Big Boi said:
Not funny then, but lesson learned. I detailed a Co workers Kia. The next day he told me the engine wasn't running properly and the steering wheel was shaking a lot.

When I PW'ed the engine, water got under the plastic engine cover and on the spark plugs. Each plug had 1" of water topping it, causing the engine to ground out. Luckily I'm a good mechanic, and solved the issue without any future mishaps.

Sent from my Galaxy Note II using AG Online
Click to expand...

Nice save!
 
I grew up in Detroit and when I was about 12yrs old, the morning after we got an inch of freezing rain, I thought I would be "helpful" by de-icing my father's work truck by throwing a pot of boiling hot salt-water on the ice covering the windshield.

I apologized everyday for two weeks, or at least until I could sit down again, I think it was about two weeks...

Lucky Joe,
Wannabe Detailer

Sent from my HTC DNA
 
arjo.reich said:
I grew up in Detroit and when I was about 12yrs old, the morning after we got an inch of freezing rain, I thought I would be "helpful" by de-icing my father's work truck by throwing a pot of boiling hot salt-water on the ice covering the windshield.

I apologized everyday for two weeks, or at least until I could sit down again, I think it was about two weeks...

Lucky Joe,
Wannabe Detailer

Sent from my HTC DNA
Click to expand...

Window crack?

My biggest mistake was accepting a girlfriend's help while I was just finishing up my old LTD II wagon from back in the 70's.
She decided to "polish" my tires for me. Took me weeks to make them look black again.

Couldn't afford to get mad at her since she is hot:drool: and I am not:cry:
 
My biggest mistake was agreeing to touch up some small dings on a white 90s Buick as part of a full detail. And I knew it wouldn't look right unless I gently feathered the edges of the spots before using the rattle can.

I learned about the defective primer GM used on tons of 90s cars, watching it literally pop off the car in business-card sized chunks every time I touched it. A small ding the size of a dime became a nightmare more than a foot-wide in moments.

Luckily the lady who owned the car was very reasonable in choosing a body shop to professionally re-paint so it was only a small loss of money to make it right.
 
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