Local Hacks?

[kiwigodss]

Okay, I`m a newbie. I read the FAQs and the threads for newbies and searched for the answer to my question, but didn`t have any luck. If this is the wrong forum for this, please let me know - but I`m hoping you all can help me.



I allowed my mother to borrow my well-cared-for car for a few months. When I got it back, it had a waterspot under the drivers side window, some unknown spot on the drivers seat fabric (also looks like a water spot), AND a greasy stain on the backseat from where she had spilled hamburger grease and never cleaned it up! :eek::cry:



Needless to say, she will NOT be borrowing my car again.



I`ve only owned this car for about a year now, so I`ve never had it detailed. Just vacuumed it out, used protectant on the vinyl, etc. myself. But I knew this was beyond my experience, and she offered to take it to the local detailing chain for me. I let her. She got the upholstery shampoo, but they said their stuff didn`t take out "those kinds of stains?" What the heck does that mean? Are they just feeding her a line so they can do a crappy job? Should I try to get my money back from them, or complain to their manager?



In some of the threads I`ve read here I`ve learned that foam upholstery remover is usually good for this kind of thing, but I don`t have the other tools you folks mention using with it, and I really don`t want to spend a whole lot of money buying expensive products for what will hopefully be the only upholstery stains my car sees. (I`m protective of it, but poor. Not a good combination.)



If I`m forced to do it myself, any suggestions? I`m most worried about the grease stain. YUCK.



Thanks :)

[Dan]

Hmm, maybe they thought a big white stain was a skeet shot... not sure, I would probably not want to get to close to it either...lol. I`ve always had really good luck with blue coral dri-clean on most stains. On really greasy stuff, it is often necessary to use a petroleum based product to break it down, then remove the second product with another cleaner, definately not what you want to do as a new, but dawn dish soap is a pretty good grease fighter, you could try that without much risk.

[Rob22315]

You can try using a wet/dry vac as an extractor.

[TheJeepGuy]

By me, we have two detail shops. Both are what I`d consider "hacks" in the strongest sense of the word. I manage a used car dealership, and we don`t have a full-time detailer on site, so we`re forced to go to one of these shops. I never seen such terrible detailing in my life, and I don`t expect a lot. But...When these places are charging for an exterior buff and wax, and we get back a vehicle that looks like it`s been slathered in silicone, that just upsets me. One of the shops even kind of brags about how fast he can do dealer work. He uses some sort of "cheater" wax that he applies with a spray bottle, lets haze, and putters off with an orbital. That`s not buffing in my opinion. The car looks good till it gets washed once or twice, and then it looks worse than if it were never messed with in the first place! When I questioned this, he more or less told me that we get what we pay for. They`re charging $90 for a complete detail. While that`s not much in the detailing world, at least be up front with me and tell me that that`s not going to include "real" buffing, scratch and swirl removal, or a long-lasting wax/sealant.



I even thought about re-opening my own detailing business, but I do like the security of working for someone else, and not having to worry about taxes, bills, and everything else associated with owning my own business. I`m too picky too. I`d spend an extra 4 hours on a vehicle to get it to meet my own standards, even though I`d be doing it for the same amount of money as if I would have just said "good enough".

As it is, I do vehicles for friends and family, and occaisionally that gets me a referral to someone else, but most the time they won`t spend the money to get their vehicle looking show quality, and I won`t do anything less.



I talked to one detailer out in Arizona that charged $2500 to do a complete detail job. He offered an unconditional money back guarantee, and has not had one person ever take him up on it (or so he says). His work was absolutely amazing, I will say. I get people here that balk at $300 for the same quality job! Break it down hourly, and that`s not much at all. Problem is when the idiot down the street will do a complete detail for a retail customer for half that, where do you think the uneducated person is going to go? They don`t know the difference, and trying to explain it is sometimes impossible.



I apologize for the rant, but hack detailing is one thing that just upsets me, because it makes the people think that`s all that there is out there. They`ve never been somewhere that just makes their jaw drop when they come to pick it up. Around here, detailers that are even just slightly better than average are rare, and "real" detailers (like myslef) are virtually non-existent.