Timing of process - Into Detail

[artikxscout]

Alright guys, it seems it's taking me too much time to work on some vehicles. I want to see which areas I'm slacking behind and what tips are available to speed up the process / make it more efficiently. Please fill this out and see how you compare with everyone else too. Let me know what else should be included on the list.

Car you're trying to detail: 2003 Black BMW 330i
1. Swirled, but does not need compounding.
2. Heavily contaminated with sap and rail dust.
3. Interior is in okay condition, normal wear and tear with dirt stains and say a sticky substance in the cup holder. Car needs vacuuming.

Exterior:
1. Wash (ONR or Traditional): 30-40 Minutes
~Paint: 15 Mins
~Drying: 5 Mins
~Wheels: 15-20 Mins
2. Clay: (whole car, hood and fenders especially contaminated): 1 hour
3. Re-wash / ONR Spray - 5-10 mins
4. Polish (testing spot) - 30 minutes (finds out it needs a 2 step, SIP & 106FF)
5. SIP Polish (temperature outside is around 67°F): 2 hr - 2.5 hr (rotary)
6. 106FF Polish: 1.5 hr, not much hazing. PC speed 6.
7. AIO via PC: 15 minutes
8. Selant Via PC: 20 minutes (95% cleared, some spots might be seen later)
9. Wax (optinal you can leave this out)
10. Windows (Inside & Out) - 7-10 minutes
11. Dress Tires (you have an applicator): 5-8 minutes
*Exterior trim does not need dressing.

Interior:
1. Vacuum: 15 minutes (including taking and putting back in carpets)
2. APC Vinyl: 15 minutes
3. Dress Vinyl w/ 303: 5-10 minutes (you can skip step 2 if you do this automatically)
4. Clean up cup holder's mess: 10 minutes
5. Leather does not need conditioning, but you can add it here too if you'd like to share.

ETF (Estimated time to Finish): 7-7.5 hours

Something like this takes me on average 6.5-7.5 hours. The hardest part for me is trying to find out which polish/pad to use. I think temperature has a lot to do with the testing part. I know some combo that I use will take out around 80% on an unshaded panel, and completely finish out on a heated panel. Oh, and wheels takes me forever when I use ONR since the brake dust is caked on and I can't reach to all the places with my brushes.

[Got_Leather]

I clay the car while washing it. I use the soap as the lubricant. Cut back atleast 45min-1hr for me all in all. Don't have to wash and dry a 2nd time.

Also, use something stronger on the wheels to get majority of them cleaned before hand.

[mixxer]

shouldnt take an hour to clay 30 min tops,that job would take be about 6 hours + or - so your in the ballpark but i use pc and flex.

[artikxscout]

I just read up on people using the soap to clean, but the only problem is that i'm afraid of marring the car with loose dirt. So you guys wash first, rinse, resoak and then clay? I've heard of leaving the QD on after claying too, but sometime the water turns brown or with sediments in it, so I don't dare to polish without a second wash or wipedown.

[Got_Leather]

yes, I give it a nice wash, then re sud the clean panel and clay away

[toyotaguy]

i wash, then clay...no need to dry...just wash, rinse, clay. Any water spots on the paint get removed by the clay since they are so fresh, and those that dont will be removed by polishing/compounding...I only really dry the windows at this point.

If I am using ONR, I do one whole side of the car before drying. It doesnt dry like just water does. It almost acts like DI water, but not quite.

Using ONR and megs safe degreaser on wheels takes me about 15 minutes...only faster way is to use megs WB with a hose and a quick swipe of the boars hair brush...even then, its about 10 miutes, so I only save about 5 min, not a big deal.

interiors take about 2 hours or so.

Outside takes 3-4 hours...using a PC, rotary I only cut out about 30 min so far. I need to speed this up. It took me 3.5 hours to HTEC/wool/rotary, 83/orand/pc, then poliseal/megs yellow/pc an audi, so a BMW "SHOULD" clean up faster with softer paint...

but average is about 5 hours for a car, 6 for a fullsize truck, and 8 for a SUV 9read escalde/suburban) in moderate shape. The trashed ones get overhauled and take me longer. I usually work alone. I have a TRASHED solara to take care of today and tomorrow...its going to take at least 10 hours total...but its for a friend to hopefully get me some more business, so the prices is not even close to what I would have charged someone else...

[David Fermani]

Ouch! There's no way I could do all those steps in less than 8 hours. I've been spending 10-12hrs just on my exteriors alone. If there was more day light, I would easily get carried away. This time of year, there's times where I'm not able to see the 100% finished product in direct sun light. I wish I could have more clients willing to leave their vehicles at my home so I could spend 20 hours on them. I guess because I don't do this for a living any more, I don't track my time throughout the job like others do? I just try to be as realistic as possible for a day's worth of work.

[NCZ13]

i have a problem managing my time as well. i just got done with an black 05 altima (first black car) it had a ton of swirls and scratches, and i can safely say it was 90% swirl free.

heres my process.

wash
clay and polish panel by panel.

i 3 stepped on this car. XMT#3 via UDM w/ LC orange
XMT#2 with white CCS pad
XMT carnuba glaze w/ CCS grey pad

i would say the process took me...12 hours... on exterior alone.

is there someting im missing here? luckily my friend left me the car for the weekend, but how can i do paint correction if i dont have the car for the whole day?

should i be going over the whole car with the orange pad, followed by the white pad, then glaze? instead of doing it panel by panel?

i forgot to mention i rinse the car off after i polish to remove the dust residue... and i dry with MF. then i seal.

[Got_Leather]

not sure for others but for me, i do panel by panel. This assures me the finish is swirl free. 12 hours is a long time. Then again, if your just starting out 12 hours isn't horrible either. I do alot of exterior details only and it takes me 5-6 hours usually for 95% defect free paint. Thats with pass of orange, then pass with white. Sometimes I have been able to just use a white pad with a mild polish and it came out good enough. Very rarely though for that.

[Jakerooni]

OK first off the thing that saves time is obviously having the right tools for the job. A heated powerwasher will literally take a hours job with the 2 bucket system down to about all of 5 minutes or so. Same way with a heated carpet extractor over the shop vac and scrub brush. So if it's taking you excessivly longer than you think it should to do a proper detail look into upgrading your equipment. A rotary will save oodles of time over hand buffing or even the PC/UDM polishing. Can you do with the hand wash 2 bucket method with a D/A and still get the same of like result as a pro set up with all the bells and whistles? Of course but the cost is time. What take you 10 hours I can get done in 4-5 hours.

But regardless... The very last thing you should ever worry about as a detailer is time. doing the job right is always more important than doing the job quick. If your customer satisfaction is 100% then start picking up little things here and there to take off some time. But if you don't get anything but estatic happy faces when the customer picks up their car (or you say it done) then keep refining your process until you've achieved it.

[artikxscout]

how do you substitute the powerwasher for a 2 buck wash? Would you foam the car first and just use the exsisting foam on the car as your wash or do you still have a bucket?

[jsatek]

I time and schedule EVERYTHING. Time = Money.

If I go over my allotted time, I am operating at a loss.
If I go under my allotted time, I am operating at a profit.

You don't need to follow Autopian best practices for each and every step to get top notch results.
Example: Going through the time for a delicate 2 bucket wash when you are going to hit a finish with Menzerna SIP or similar abrasive.