A tale of two cars: What makes one harder to detail than the other?

[imported_Aurora40]

Two cars, a Buick Regal and an Oldsmobile Aurora. Both 4-doors, both close to 200" long, both have sunroofs, both have dark metallic paint. Yet one is a lot more trouble to detail than the other. Why? Well, here`s why:







Here`s the A-pillar on both cars. In both, windshield glass is on top, door glass on the bottom (you can see the start of both side mirrors). Notice how the Aurora has the molding touch on the side/edge of the pillar, it does not protrude as far as the paint. This means by hand and even by machine you can wax/polish without touching the rubber. The Regal has rubber seals that overlap the paint. Even by hand this is annoying.







Note the C-pillars. The Aurora is very easy to polish with a machine, the Regal very hard. On the Regal, a PC or Cyclo will rub the side of the pad on the fender when polishing the C-pillar.







Note how the body panel meets the window trim. On the Aurora, it is easy to polish all the way up without hitting rubber. On the Regal, you must continue to rotate the machine as you go up, and it will impact the trim.







Here the Regal at least has no hood emblem, but look at that inset grill and how the door molding wraps around into the front. Much harder to machine polish, and more likely to get wax in crevices. The Aurora is quite easy to polish.







Here the door beltline molding is similar. But the bottom of the door is a lot harder to machine polish than the bottom of the Aurora. On the Aurora you can go all the way under if you want.







Look at the rain gutters. The Regal`s is kind of a nightmare. Tons of areas for wax in cracks, and it`s very hard to transition a machine from the roof to the part above the doors. And look at the sunroofs. I can simply retract the Aurora`s roof slightly and it won`t be touched. The Regal requires masking.



Anyway, I just found it interesting how some seemingly innocuous things can make two fairly similar cars so different to detail.

[maecrispy]

*Completely* understand what you`re saying. In the same way, I find certain makes take much longer for me to detail in general than others.



Specifically, I love detailing Honda`s and Acura`s. They have such clean lines and uncomplicated front and rears. Audi`s too (except for the hard clear.)



The worst? Jeep vehicles (especially older, more boxy ones) and Pontiac Grand Am/Prix (all that funky side molding).

[svanderbilt]

Interesting write-up. Kinda like how you can over an ES300 practically in your sleep because there`s no black moulding/trim, but there`s the black beltline trim on many 3 Series, and black bottom trim around the entire lower part of most A4`s.

[SilverLexus]

"Kinda like how you can over an ES300 practically in your sleep because there`s no black moulding/trim"



So true.



Aurora, great writeup and pics! Thank you.

[hirosh]

interesting and great write up. goes to show you how two different car companies, even though are basically sharing a lot, can have their own approach to their cars.

[tkr128]

Great write-up. It`s definately very interesting how the design of certain cars can really affect the difficulty when detailing. With the 3 cars I detail on a regular basis, there are some parts that make them more difficult to detail. On the 1998-2002 Corollas, the "COROLLA" emblem on the trunk is very difficult to detail arround and taping it off is tedious and very difficult to do. On the Accord, the rubber molding around the front windshield, like on your Regal, overlaps the paint and makes it very difficult to detail the parts around it.

[Scottwax]

Very nice write-up, Bob. I couldn`t agree more either. It can get pretty frustrating sometimes doing a car that could be easier if the manufacturer even stopped to think at some point the owner might possibly want to actually clean the vehicle.

[imported_edschwab1]

Nice write up.



Eric

[Accumulator]

Yeah, great post :xyxthumbs



There are cars I decided not to buy because of how hard they`d be to detail, even a few that I sold because of it even though I liked driving them.



Beau- You might try using products that work OK on the Audi`s black trim. Other than abrasive polishes, I just use stuff that I don`t mind getting on that part of the car (AIO comes to mind). Even most polishes aren`t a problem as long as you don`t let them set up too long. A thin piece of carboard (I use the stuff that comes with my wife`s pantyhose) stuck in the gap above the black trim can keep stuff off it too.

[Chopper]

Excellent write up, and I do agree that some cars are much more difficult to detail than others

[jimmybuffit]

Bob, oh yeah, you nailed it with your great writeup!



But I`m even more impressed with the Presentation!



Fine work!



Jim

[imported_Aurora40]

Heh, wow, I`m glad other people found this interesting. I kinda figured the thread wouldn`t get any replies and would just slip away. Every time I detail the Regal I think about how much more annoying it is than the Aurora. So I just figured I`d put it into words.