Detailing products at the LA Auto Show

Mike-in-Orange · 01-12-06, 05:47

I thought I'd put this here rather than any other section because, well, it's just all so silly.

I was at the LA Auto Show today and in the aftermarket section, which I thought was mostly just a bunch of crap, there were at least three different booths with guys hawking the same wax - something called Z Best Car Wax, or something to that effect. Each of these guys was using a black car hood for their demo, and of course I just had to listen in on at least one pitch.

Now, the overhead lighting showed a pretty good amount of swirling in the paint, so when the guy started talking about how safe this stuff is and actually mentioned that over time it will eliminate all the swirls in your paint, I couldn't help myself. I asked him how many times he'd waxed that hood since the show started and he said it was so many times he couldn't possibly count! So I pressed him: was it more times that you'd expect your average person to wax their own car over a 5 year period? He laughed and said he'd been applying and removing wax several times an hour over the last several days, so, uh, yeah.

He didn't look happy when I asked him why the hood was still full of swirls then.

I walked away before he could answer. Or hit me.

At least I did this when nobody else was around, so it's not like I actually cost him any business. But come on!!

SpoiledMan · 01-12-06, 05:54

Yeah, I had fun with one of those guys yesterday. Only thing was, it wasn't me that was pointing out the swirls. I gave the guy a card.

the other pc · 01-13-06, 03:08

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Mike-in-Orange · 01-13-06, 07:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpoiledMan

Yeah, I had fun with one of those guys yesterday. Only thing was, it wasn't me that was pointing out the swirls. I gave the guy a card.

LOL!!! I wonder if the reaction I got from the guy was because he'd heard it before - and had your card in his back pocket!!!

SpoiledMan · 01-13-06, 07:39

It might have been but I gave the card to the potential customer that kept pointing out the swirls no matter how many time he applied the "glaze."

a.k.a. Patrick · 01-13-06, 07:40

My son asked one of the vendors why there were swirls on the panel he was demonstrating his product on..........

Mad iX · 01-13-06, 07:42

"Swirls? Oh it's just the reflection of the ceiling."

"Swirls? Yeah that means the paint's been polished."

Wally · 01-14-06, 02:23

I went to the "Belgian Auto Salon" yesterday and had a hilarious time !

http://www.salonauto.be/public/default.aspx?lang=EN

EVERY car, including 10 M$ Rolls Royce and other exclusive cars such as Lambo's, Ferarri's, Porsche etc were full of swirls.
Of course, the main lightning were a sort of studio beams but come on, I saw several "detailers" walking around with a spray botlle containing a bleu-ish liquid (I suppose window cleaner, it smelled like it...) and a buch of cotton rags, constantly removing finger prints and so.

There were also several of them "wizards" selling high grade car care products.
Like said before, they were standing there now for 5 day's , and the panels that they were using were still full of swirls, when I mentioned it at one guy, he answered very cool : "I make swirls in the morning, to remove them during the day..."

At least, I spoke to a guy from a Mercedes dealer in my town, talked to him about swirls and we have an appointement next week, then I will show him on his own black car what "show-n-shine" really is...