why others uses 4 steps in detailing?

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tenga

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the detailing shop here uses 4 steps in detaling...they told me they're using:

step1: compound
step2: cleaner
step3: glaze
step4: sealant

is the process correct? and can you give me an example of this process for meguairs and mothers product because im really confused cause sometimes there are article with polishing as step....

thanks alot and more power =)
 
tenga said:
the detailing shop here uses 4 steps in detaling...they told me they're using:

step1: compound
step2: cleaner
step3: glaze
step4: sealant

is the process correct?
Click to expand...


These are kind of the common steps, I could get technical and dissect the words a little but that's not important because words and wording can be fuzzy...

There are two GENERAL categories of car detailing,

Production Work
A one-step product is used on the paint that will clean, polish and protect in one step

Show Car Detailing
This is where a multiple-step procedure is used and dedicated products are used for each step,
​

The basic steps are for multiple step jobs would be...

Compounding - To remove serious or the deeper below surface defects like swirls, scratches and water spots

Polishing - To maximize the gloss and clarity by refining the finish to a higher level after the grunt work is done by the compounding step

Finish Polishing or Jeweling - This is typically an optional step and whether it's done or not depends upon the price of the job and the person doing the work.

Protecting or Sealing - This is what most people would think of as applying a "Car Wax", in today's lingo people either use a wax or a paint sealant, they both do the same thing so you typically use one or the other. The purpose of a wax or paint sealant is to seal and protect the paint while adding the finishing beauty touch at the same time.
​



The Step 3 "Glaze" you listed could be what the specific shop you're dealing with refers to as "Finish Polishing" or it could be they really mean to "Glaze" the paint. Glazing is something that is typically done at body shops on fresh paint because typically body shops don't seal fresh paint until after 30 days of air cure and because typically body shops don't allow waxes and paint sealants into their environment because it can cause fish eyes in new paint job. So historically, glazing is done with water soluble non-abrasive polishes to add the finishing touch after wetsanding, compounding and machine polishing and the glaze is used to mask or conceal the swirls the body shop Technician inflicts into the paint.


A true professional quality multi-step paint polishing process to a car in neglected condition, that is a car that has swirls and scratches, should cost you around $200.00 on the low end and up to $500.00 to $600.00 on the high end.

This is for paint only, this doesn't include vacuuming the interior, dressing tires, and all the things most people associate with getting their car "Detailed".

The reason for this is because a true, pro quality show car detail is going to take one person from 8 to 14 hours if it's done in a single day.

A Production type detail job will include detailing the entire car inside and out but the only way a detailer can make money doing this is to ONLY do one thing to the the paint besides washing it because paint polishing work is time intensive.

Time is money...

Chemical costs and pad wear-n-tear are also cost factors that detailers have to take into consideration.


Just because a shop offers a multiple step process, that doesn't mean they do good work and the norm believe it or not is they don't do good work. You need to research the shop, (like you're doing), and make sure they do in fact know what they are doing.

See these two threads...



DISO = The Dealership Installed Swirl Option

The story of 3 H's - Horrendous, Horror Story and Hack Detailers...



More to come...

:)
 
Real quick...

What you don't want is to let a shop detail your car where the only pad they're using is a wool pad on a rotary buffer, this will guarantee you will have swirls in your paint after the wax or sealant starts to wear off.


A true professional will finish out with a foam pad, not a fiberous wool pad, either cutting or polishing.

Most hack detailers do everything with a wool pad on a rotary buffer.


:)
 
Mother's and Meguiar's make both a Professional Line and a Consumer Line, if you are dealing with a pro shop they should be using products from the professional lines...

There are so many products I can't list every combination a shop might use...

Here's the real question...


Are you asking these questions because you want to take your car to this shop but want to make sure they do a good job?


If so, ask them...

Specifically, what product do you use?
(Get the name on the bottle and a part number)

What tools do you use?
(Rotary Buffer, DA Polisher, Cyclo etc.)

What type of pads do you use and what type of pad, tool and product do you use for the last machine step not including applying the wax or paint sealant.


What do you apply for a wax or paint sealant?
​

Recommended
Another option would be to find a Pro Detailer that hangs out on a forum like this in your area and you can see the quality of their work by the "write-ups" they post here on the forum.


Something I type all the time goes like this,

The best detailers are detailers that hang out on forums like this because they are always self-educating themselves... they know the best techniques and the newest proven technology because we discuss these topics everyday.

Detailers that don't get on forums only know what they know... it could be good or bad, it could be from the Caveman days...


  1. Where do you live?
  2. What are you working on?
  3. What is your goal?

:)
 
I would assume that their,

step 1 is a heavy compound with a wool pad to level the scratches out of the paint.

step 2 would be a lighter swirl remover to clean up some of the deeper swirls and buffer trails left behind from the first step.

step 3 is a glaze most likely applied with a foam pad to gloss things up and hide, fill or cover up the buffer trails and/or marring left behind from the second step.

step 4 is a sealant applied over the glaze to seal in the fillers so they don't wash out the first time it rains.

Now realize that these are assumptions and we all know what they say about assuming.

This sounds like production detailing in where the detail shop pumps out a volume of cars in a short period of time. It's not wrong but rather a different type of detailing than what you see here on internet forums.

What you normally see here is either the enthusiast detailer or professionals doing total paint corrections going through multiple polishing steps, starting with the least abrasive method first to dial in a process that removes "just enough" clear coat to obtain the desired results. This takes a lot of time and patience to achieve and the masses are not willing to pay for paint corrections so the market is saturated with production detail shops like the one that you talked to.

In the case of the detailer that you are wondering about, what he is doing is what I refer to as "hogging off a bunch of clear coat" by using a heavy compound and wool pad to ensure that there are no scratches left behind. Then he uses a swirl remover to clean up after step one which removes even more clear coat but doesn't finish down perfect so in the interest of time and more production he slathers on a filler type of glaze to hide the mess that he leaves behind. This glaze eventually washes off and the buffer trails and marring stick out like a sore thumb on sunny days.

This is a case where an unsuspecting customer who has not done the research into how paint polishing really works goes in to a detail shop and has half the clear coat cut off of their car just to end up with a mess in a month or 2. There is only so much clear coat on a car to be cut off but that detailer doesn't care about that. He only cares about getting paid.

Personally I try to educate my clientele to steer clear of this service but some don't care and ask me to do it anyway. In this case i offer them a single stage AIO type detail and if they won't settle for that I send them down the road because I have a reputation to uphold. The word of mouth that passing on a job like this creates is either that I do it right or don't do it at all which is good word of mouth or that I wouldn't do the job and I don't want to work which is not really good but it is better than being known as a "hack". I hope this helps explains things for you.
 
for the chemical i really cant tell because the put their chemical on a bottle(looks like a ketchup dispenser hehe).

they use rotary and da polisher. a random orbital polisher(rupes) for waxing.

pads. i saw meguairs, dupont 3m? and lakes.

1. i live in the philippines
2. i work on my personal car/s
3. my goal? i have a carwash buz, i want to put a auto-detailing and so im gathering info such as techniques, products, tools and pads.

thanks-
 
tenga said:
3. my goal?

i have a carwash biz,

i want to put a auto-detailing and so im gathering info such as techniques, products, tools and pads.

thanks-
Click to expand...


Well if you want to become more knowledgeable about detailing then you're on the right forum...

The best thing to do is invest time reading because you're hand-on ability starts with gaining head knowledge...

Lots of reading here, skim through all the topics on both pages and start by reading the topics that interest you the most...


How-To Articles

Articles by Mike Phillips 2


Videos too...

How-To Videos


Again, thank you for taking this out of Private Messaging and posting it on the public forum... I can't tell you how much I appreciate it...


:)
 
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