Help, detailer did more harm than good!

bluec · 10-07-04, 10:05

Well long story short, I went to a detailing shop 10 mins from my house. Discussed with the owner how I worry about new scratches and swirlmarks being introduced by in-experienced detailers. He assured me that he'd use his highest experienced detailer and he wouldnt worry about him causing any problems. So I payed $125 for a wetsand (2000grit), high speed buff, and wax. They got rid of quite a few larger scratches in my hood, but ****ed everything else up in the process. They introduced a million new scratches and swirl marks. I can see holograms in the hood allover, and it just makes me sad. I didnt notice it till I got home from work, since I picked my car up from there and headed straight to work (was in a hurry). So Ill be stopping by this shop right away tomrow. Im so dissapointed. The detailer worked on it from 7am-3pm, so I was expecting a decent job to be done. I dont know what to do now, im so depressed, I was hoping for a deep shine and to get rid of the oxidation.

My car is red, and its a '99, so I wanted to bring back that deep red shine ive always wanted. Im not even sure if they can do a good enough job to fix it. Maybe I should ask for my money back and go out and buy a PC.

Ive done all the detailing on my car since ive bought it in January, but I thought Id go all out and pay a detailer to use a rotary buffer on my car, since you can only do so much by hand. Im so sad it came out worse in alot of spots. It almost seems like they skipped a few steps, it seems hazy in some spots.

Any advice before I go tomrow morning? Im gonna try and be as nice as possible about this, but it makes me angry that they'd go and **** it up after I explained my worries.

SVR · 10-07-04, 10:22

The bastards! 2000 grit is reasonablly fine but not far from 1500 which is where alot of the serious cutting compounds begin. Maybe he should of used 2500 - 3000 grit paper, far less aggressive.
A machine buff and then wax, he's definately missed some steps.
Find out what compound he used. You don't just buff then wax,
My process would have been, cut, a few passes with a combo of SMR brands, wet look polish, hand glaze, multiple coats of sealants and a two step synthetic and carnuaba wax if you wanted it.

Seems like there are alot of averagely skilled detailers opening up shop. There's more back alley detailers then us that's for sure.
The problem is that the average motorist sees their clean but dull car finally get some gloss to it and are overwhelmed with the results whereas we would be shocked with the holograms, all the blemishes still in the finish and lack of that killer shine that scottwax and the other autopian legends achieve.

bluec · 10-07-04, 10:26

Well I explained I wanted a wetsand, compound, polish, and wax. I think they skipped the compound. It seems so hazy in some spots. The wetsanding doesnt seem the be the problem, it seems they did a ****** job buffing, cause there are holograms allover the hood and swirls everywhere.

Thats why im worried they wont be able to fix it, cause they dont know what the hell they are doing. Im not paying for their mistake and inexperience though, im getting this fixed no matter what.

SVR · 10-07-04, 10:36

Well any shop that does the damage can't possibly fix it cause they don't know what they are doing in the first place
Maybe they used a lambswool pad on your late model car's finish or the compound or polish they used causes lots of swirls
There are lots of professional compounds that cause swirls no matter what you do and that's why a swirl removing combo should immediately follow and finally a polish before sealing.

It must really piss you off. Once it's fixed, do all the work yourself.
My business will be mainly hand as I believe that a machine should only be used when absolutely necessary. They cut much more paint off than the same product by hand.

Good luck

NorthPac · 10-08-04, 06:55

The Detailer sounded like he ever did heavy duty compounding before. I only used it twice and that is with a 4x4 truck that went through the brush and the other was getting out orange peal. I know its a lot of work.

So bluec did you know using 2000 grit & compounding you are going to have showcar "gross" finish look? and did you know it takes a lot of love of workmanship to make it happen. $125 is to little for the work involved. I would go back there & talk to them, I'm sure things can be worked out and offer them more then $125. I know they should of finish the job that they agreed on or they should of ask for more $ to finish the job.
A detailer prides himself on workmanship and I'm sure that price got in the way, we are all human

bluec · 10-08-04, 07:11

Quote:

Originally posted by NorthPac
The Detailer sounded like he ever did heavy duty compounding before. I only used it twice and that is with a 4x4 truck that went through the brush and the other was getting out orange peal. I know its a lot of work.

So bluec did you know using 2000 grit & compounding you are going to have showcar "gross" finish look? and did you know it takes a lot of love of workmanship to make it happen. $125 is to little for the work involved. I would go back there & talk to them, I'm sure things can be worked out and offer them more then $125. I know they should of finish the job that they agreed on or they should of ask for more $ to finish the job.
A detailer prides himself on workmanship and I'm sure that price got in the way, we are all human

They called me right away in the morning, saying they would need $180 to remove every scratch in the car I wanted gone. I told them, id prefer to stick with $125, but would it be possible to acheive that same deep shine if I were to pay $180? They said yes. I only cared about a deep shine, and they never said anything about ADDED in scratches. So thats why im confused.

wifehatescar · 10-08-04, 07:14

Get your money back and go somewhere else!!!!

If you post your location, maybe there will be someone more experienced on this board local to you who can help you out.

Labster · 10-08-04, 07:17

Quote:

Originally posted by NorthPac
The Detailer sounded like he ever did heavy duty compounding before. I only used it twice and that is with a 4x4 truck that went through the brush and the other was getting out orange peal. I know its a lot of work.

So bluec did you know using 2000 grit & compounding you are going to have showcar "gross" finish look? and did you know it takes a lot of love of workmanship to make it happen. $125 is to little for the work involved. I would go back there & talk to them, I'm sure things can be worked out and offer them more then $125. I know they should of finish the job that they agreed on or they should of ask for more $ to finish the job.
A detailer prides himself on workmanship and I'm sure that price got in the way, we are all human

The price shouldn't get in the way of the worksmanship put into this car. If the detailer told him $125 to make his car shine then he shouldn't have to pay extra to get his car looking right. What they did is a down right shame and it gives detailers a bad image, period.

I would go in and ask for my money back and find another detailer that can do it. Post up your location and maybe someone on here can give you a suggestion or sell you their services.

gone2vegas · 10-08-04, 07:49

Quote:

Originally posted by NorthPac
So bluec did you know using 2000 grit & compounding you are going to have showcar "gross" finish look? and did you know it takes a lot of love of workmanship to make it happen. $125 is to little for the work involved. I would go back there & talk to them, I'm sure things can be worked out and offer them more then $125. I know they should of finish the job that they agreed on or they should of ask for more $ to finish the job.
A detailer prides himself on workmanship and I'm sure that price got in the way, we are all human

Are you kidding me? It's not up to the customer to know what's involved and to price the job accordingly. That's the job of the business.

Definitely get your money back and take it somewhere else, preferably a member here.

bluec · 10-08-04, 09:16

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the support. I took some 3M Swirl Remover for dark cars, to a small spot on the hood. It somewhat helped remove a little swirl marks, but I think its gonna need some in-depth work.

Im probably gonna ask for my money back, then go out and buy a PC. Im sick of expecting a great looking car, and then feeling depressed all night about $125 down the drain.

BTW, im locating in the twin cities, MN. So any of you guys out in this area, i'd be willing to pay money to restore the shine on my baby.

SpoiledMan · 10-08-04, 09:22

If you were in the LA area, I would do it for free just because of the experience that you've had!!

MacGyver · 10-08-04, 10:23

I have to believe that $125 is way too cheap, I charge an average of $50 a panel for anything involving a wet sand as the first step, at the minimum your project would cost $500.

It sounds like it was more a quick buff job, unfortunatly, this type of work happens more times than not because the average consumer cannot justify spending $500 to $1500+ for a quality detail from a quality shop.