Detailing

Author
Discussion

stebbo

100 posts

98 months

Wednesday 28th December 2016
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DJMC said:
That's just what I was thinking!

Perhaps the posters here are just trying to justify spending £1000+ getting someone else to make their car look shiny rather than spending a few hours doing it themselves?

I see no reason for spending this much when I can clay, cleanse, polish, and wax for under £100 on a brand new car and then have loads left over to keep it shiny?

PPF will have to be replaced expensively if it gets scuffed. As for ceramic coatings, what do you do when a stone chips the paint?

Just a load of old hogwash. Emperor's new clothes etc...

Oh... and "Bah... Humbug"
What about labour?
When you say polish, is that with a machine to remove all defects?


stebbo

100 posts

98 months

Wednesday 28th December 2016
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xjay1337 said:
Because a decent machine polisher costs around £275 - That's what my Flex rotary cost me.
You can get a good DA for about 110 to 120. But the rest of you post is spot on.

DJMC

3,431 posts

102 months

Wednesday 28th December 2016
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Polish with elbow grease, not some stupid rotary machine which will take all my paint off.

Brand new BMW X1 clayed, decontaminated, hand polished, waxed, in around 2 1/2 hours.
Perfect. And I speak as a prize-winning hand finisher of car paintwork.

xjay1337

15,966 posts

117 months

Wednesday 28th December 2016
quotequote all
DJMC said:
Polish with elbow grease, not some stupid rotary machine which will take all my paint off.

Brand new BMW X1 clayed, decontaminated, hand polished, waxed, in around 2 1/2 hours.
Perfect. And I speak as a prize-winning hand finisher of car paintwork.
Absolute nonsense. laugh

Quoted for posterity

"stupid" rotary machines take 2-5 microns of "paint" (clear coat) off. You can polish the average car once every couple of years for it's expected lifetime and never suffer a strike through or remove the clearcoat to reduce UV protectiction.

You can't achieve a smooth consistent finish by hand. At all. It's also tiring, time consuming and can be messy in some cases.

And certainly you cannot work effectively and to "prize winning" standard in 2 1/2 hours.

Using a clay bar, Super Resin Polish and Extra Gloss Protection doth not a detailer make you .

DJMC

3,431 posts

102 months

Wednesday 28th December 2016
quotequote all
xjay1337 said:
Absolute nonsense. laugh

Quoted for posterity

"stupid" rotary machines take 2-5 microns of "paint" (clear coat) off. You can polish the average car once every couple of years for it's expected lifetime and never suffer a strike through or remove the clearcoat to reduce UV protectiction.

You can't achieve a smooth consistent finish by hand. At all. It's also tiring, time consuming and can be messy in some cases.

And certainly you cannot work effectively and to "prize winning" standard in 2 1/2 hours.

Using a clay bar, Super Resin Polish and Extra Gloss Protection doth not a detailer make you .
I'm sure, in the right hands, a rotary machine is OK, but not for people who don't know how to use them (aka stupid, like me).

Tiring? Ah, bless.

Are you prize-winning also, to be able to dictate to me, a prize-winner, what to do to achieve great results, and cheaply too?

Who said I'd used EGP?

BogglemanGTS

235 posts

104 months

Wednesday 28th December 2016
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How black should look from the factory. I know it's not a Porsche, but it does show off a good detailer.
I loved that car until I realised how "wibbly" they are.




finestjammy

741 posts

172 months

Wednesday 28th December 2016
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DJMC said:
I'm sure, in the right hands, a rotary machine is OK, but not for people who don't know how to use them (aka stupid, like me).

Tiring? Ah, bless.

Are you prize-winning also, to be able to dictate to me, a prize-winner, what to do to achieve great results, and cheaply too?

Who said I'd used EGP?
I think the point that is being made is that you are not a detailer by profession. I can do a spot of plastering, but it won't be at the standard a qualified, experienced, plasterer would do for example. I don't see an issue with, for example, paying a professional at the top of their area of trade £35 an hour. If you have a finish you're happy with then that's great, but you can't compare a spot of claying and polishing to a professional paint correction detail.

It's easy to belittle any trade/profession that you don't fully understand, which solely using your posts so far I don't think you do. Who needs financial advice in the age of the internet? I can do the job just as well mysel surely? wink

Now get polishing that Cayman biggrin

scott-3pjrj

148 posts

89 months

Wednesday 28th December 2016
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Its down to personal preference at the end of the day personally I enjoy spending hours detailing car and unless it was covered in swirls etc I wouldn't pay a professional to do what I enjoy doing . Seen some proper damaged paint work after a someone has machine polished a car incorrectly defo leave it to the experts !! In my experience it takes me a full day to detail motor with in between maintenance about a hour ish.

xjay1337

15,966 posts

117 months

Wednesday 28th December 2016
quotequote all
DJMC said:
I'm sure, in the right hands, a rotary machine is OK, but not for people who don't know how to use them (aka stupid, like me).

Tiring? Ah, bless.

Are you prize-winning also, to be able to dictate to me, a prize-winner, what to do to achieve great results, and cheaply too?

Who said I'd used EGP?
So you have gone from award winning to "stupid".

You can use a DA if not experienced, they are a lot easier. But not as effective and more time consuming. They have their place on certain finishes (very very soft paint for example).

You said that £1000 is not worth it and you could achieve the same results at home in a couple of hours.

I gave you my professional opinion why, frankly, you're talking bks.

But hey. You crack on. Its a nice little earner for me repairing the damage you have done.


Here's a bonnet of an XC90 I did a couple of years ago.
The owner came in because originally it had "some scratches" on the bonnet and he decided he would "polish it" with Farecla G3 Scratch Remover.

While not 100% (didn't pay for 100%), you can see a dramatic and clear improvement in the finish before and after.


https://www.instagram.com/p/4bgyMEpXI3/

Maxym

2,020 posts

235 months

Thursday 29th December 2016
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Well I thought it was worth the not inconsiderable cost. Two-stage paint correction then GTechniq Crystal Serum followed by EXO. PPF to bonnet, front PU, mirrors, sills and in front of and behind rear wheel arch. Interior detail.

Liked the idea of ceramic coating but wouldn't risk doing it myself. I can polish out imperfections, swirls etc but not to the same standard as this on the whole car. Wasn't sure about PPF but decided to give it a go. And it would have been difficult if not impossible to find the time to do it myself, so I was happy to pay for some professionals' time.

The job is more than just a good 'un IMO. It's now looking just as I want it and it shouldn't be difficult to keep it that way. BTW, no-one washes my car except me.

mdianuk

2,890 posts

170 months

Thursday 29th December 2016
quotequote all
DJMC said:
Perhaps the posters here are just trying to justify spending £1000+ getting someone else to make their car look shiny rather than spending a few hours doing it themselves?

I see no reason for spending this much when I can clay, cleanse, polish, and wax for under £100 on a brand new car and then have loads left over to keep it shiny?

PPF will have to be replaced expensively if it gets scuffed. As for ceramic coatings, what do you do when a stone chips the paint?
I suspect you are lacking any real knowledge regarding what detailers do tbh. A new car detail wouldn't cost more than £800 providing the factory paint isn't too bad, but it certainly isn't something you could replicate for under £100 "in a few hours", even for an award winner (ha!). You admitted yourself later that you don't have the expertise to rotary polish, so why claim you can do a similar job when you can't! You are also mistaken by what ceramic coatings do; they don't protect against stone chips, they merely offer a level of protection to the lacquer and paint underneath from day to day grime, droppings etc, and make the wash much easier to achieve 'just out of the detailer' appearance over and over again. I'd agree carrying out much of the work yourself can be enjoyable, I use to do it myself, but these days, I'd much rather than expert lovingly restore or improve the paint and I just keep on top of it.

Fl0pp3r

859 posts

202 months

Thursday 29th December 2016
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OP - PWPro in Mansfield are very good i've heard. Daaan saaaaf I can strongly recommend KDS in Gillingham.

Having your car professionally detailed is well worth it from time to time imho - it gives you a great base finish which is hard to achieve without the right technique and conditions, and you can maintain it yourself at home. thumbup

blueg33

35,589 posts

223 months

Friday 30th December 2016
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My wife's new Octavia Scout was delivered in October. I asked the dealer not to prep it but leave all of the factory protective files, stickers and padding on the car. The care went straight to a detailer who did gtechniq protection outside and in. He had the car for 2 days, fixed a light scratch in the bumper under the protective plastic, took the wheels off and sealed those too.

The car looks amazing, is a doddle to clean, grime and brake dust on the wheels just rinses off. All in all less effort to keep looking

Bargain for £550. My new (to me) Evora will be with him after Christmas.

He is also a ph member and comes highly recommended.

DJMC

3,431 posts

102 months

Friday 30th December 2016
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xjay1337 said:
So you have gone from award winning to "stupid".

I gave you my professional opinion why, frankly, you're talking bks.
Charming. Bet your customers love you though. wink

I'm not a professional paint finisher, just fortunate enough to understand what needs to be achieved to be a prize-winning "spare time" amateur.


Sparkyhd

1,792 posts

94 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
Maxym said:


Well I thought it was worth the not inconsiderable cost.
Nice job. Assuming this is Elite in Maidenhead then my Boxster was sitting in the same space two months previous for a similar treatment. Alex knows what he's doing and the fact he drives an old 911 shows he appreciates the marque.

xjay1337

15,966 posts

117 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
DJMC said:
Charming. Bet your customers love you though. wink

I'm not a professional paint finisher, just fortunate enough to understand what needs to be achieved to be a prize-winning "spare time" amateur.
You're not a customer. And I call a spade a spade at the end of the day.

You were talking crap giving poor advice.

What prize exactly did you win.

stebbo

100 posts

98 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
xjay1337 said:
What prize exactly did you win.
A coconut from the summer fete I think

Maxym

2,020 posts

235 months

Friday 30th December 2016
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Sparkyhd said:
Nice job. Assuming this is Elite in Maidenhead then my Boxster was sitting in the same space two months previous for a similar treatment. Alex knows what he's doing and the fact he drives an old 911 shows he appreciates the marque.
Yes. Alex is a self-confessed 'Porsche nut'. Love his 964.

JohnGK

157 posts

126 months

Monday 2nd January 2017
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Hopefully the link works, my Spyder earlier in the year. Like I said before bring it to a standard and then maintain it, I usually spend a good 3 to 4 hours on a maintenance wash.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=159792...

hixster

354 posts

216 months

Friday 24th March 2017
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Off to 'all that gleams' http://allthatgleams.co.uk/ on Monday for some swirl correction, polishing and a ceramic coat - will post pictures back.