Just Witnessed... Horror

[Imatk]

So I`m sitting at work eating my lunch and I`m watching the parking attendant "wash" one of the owner`s car.



I say wash, but I`m not certain you could call it that.



Basically... he was using the dish soap from our kitchen in a small bucket and I believe it was also a dish rag (although hard to tell as there wasn`t much rag there) which used to be red but obviously has seen better days and is now not only spotted with black dirt but frayed and ripped.



Well I watched in horror as he rubbed and I mean RUBBED the paint with this dirty dirty rag and with pretty much no suds in the bucket he was using... just a bit of water with a few bubbles here and there.



Needless to say he also used the same dirty dirty rag on the wheels AND tires as the rest of the car.



He was not using a hose either... so how did he remove the "soapy" water?



Well I was interested in this too. And then he did it... he pulled out a roll of paper towels.



Now imagine this... it`s a new BLACK Q45... it`s already starting to spot because he`s doing this in the parking lot in full sun with dish soap... and NOW he`s RUBBING (and I mean RUBBING!) the rest of the car with paper towels.



I couldn`t watch any longer. I got up with my lunch and had to eat elsewhere. It phsyically pained me to watch this take place.



But hey... the owner probably only had to pay him 50 bucks or so... I have no idea.



Just wanted to share... so sad :(

[awahl63]

Makes me sick

[Strokin04]

That must of ruined your lunch, I know I would of lost my appetite!!! Mike...

[BlueLibby04]

wow... You should of found the owner and told them you would detail his car..



It scares me to know people do stuff like this..

[bjackson8]

This seems to be the way most people take care of their cars. The sad thing is that most people don`t even care.

[kleraudio]

and i bet he would argue that his technique is perfected through years of experience in mobile detailing.:wall



its guys like this that make it so hard to sell a $150-250 dollar detail.



Jim

[Imatk]

Yes... I honestly couldn`t sit there and eat and watch anymore. I had to get up... I just heard from my buddy that sits next to me that he was using Windex on the car... the ENTIRE car... spraying it on the paint... Oh the agony!

[the other pc]

:scared: I’m impressed you were able to keep your lunch down.





PC.

[Bunky]

My wife detailed my Dakota...they ruined it. It may have lousy paint but it had even less when I saw it...I feel the pain..

[metload1]

That`s horrible! Isn`t that just plain common sense? I mean you don`t expect people to know about foam guns and expensive microfiber towels but come on! Paper towels? Gritty tire gunk on the rag that he used for the paint? Wow.




My wife detailed my Dakota...they ruined it. It may have lousy paint but it had even less when I saw it...I feel the pain..





What did she do?

[Bunky]

What did she do?



Nothing. She did not realize it. I was on a business trip and saw it when she surprised me as a gift. I knew zip about detaling so I was lazy. She tried to help.



The end result sucked. I am just now getting the entire truck repainted. Dodge paint supposedly has not been great but they really took the clearcoat off.

[a.k.a. Patrick]

Easy guys. Some people just dont know any better. Its not like you get a manual on how to detail a car when ya buy i!

Eat your lunch, eat your dinner, and feel fortunate to have a ton of friends here on Autopia......

[Imatk]

Yeah I didn`t mean to disparage the guy... I`m sure he thought he was doing the right things and didn`t know not to do the stuff he was doing.



But it was too painful to watch, it being a new black car... knowing what kind of marring was being caused.



That brings up a good question. If you see someone doing that should you say anything? Not in a bad way... just sort of try to help them in as diplomatic way as possible.



I figured if I said anything he would just get mad at me so I left it.

[a.k.a. Patrick]

Only if you have a few minutes to explain the right procedures. You could just explain that especially with black cars you need to excercise a little additional caution, rags will mar the surface with a lack of a lubricating wash soap, and proper drying implement.

And ya never "rub" black, PERIOD!

[P1et]

It`s funny how some guys just get right down offended when you try to help them with their car washing techniques.



I was at Pepboys the other day and it seemed like a gentleman was having trouble deciding on a good wax to purchase. I recommended NXT Paste or #26. He scoffed at me, said he knew what he was looking for an brushed me off. I wanted to take some of that #26 and spray it in his eyes!