View Full Version : The 2 hour "detail"
Just curious as to what you guys would do to the "average" car if you had two hours. By average I mean:
-moderately swirled paint
-dirty wheels
-some minor interior staining
-moderate surface contamination
Time break down would be cool...
I would:
Interior vacuum and spot treat - 15 min
Wipe down interior panels and treat with OLC - 15 min
Quick window clean - 5 min
FOAM and powerwash exterior and treat wheels - 15 min
ONR wash and clay the car - 30 min
Polish with Megs D151 - 30 minutes
Dress tires - 5 minutes
Optiseal Paint - 5 minutes
Alexshimshimhae
08-18-2010, 11:35 AM
dag...i take forever doing that but kudos to you for getting that done lol
Accumulator
08-18-2010, 12:16 PM
Regulars here know that I can seldom even *wash* in just two hours, but I`ve had to do some really quickie jobs before (for decidedly non-Autopian pals). Can`t help with the timeline breakdown as I was simply hustling too much.
Heh heh, I`m the last guy to provide a good answer to this one, just thought I`d post how I *did* handle it since it`s soooo out of character for me to do something like this :D
Body/paint:
-Wash with alkaline portion of decontamination system, maybe claying while doing this (yeah, it sure does eat up the clay fast)
-Dry
-One-step with something like Autoglym SRP
-W-O-W-O with Collinite 476S or 845
Wheels/tires/wells:
-Rinse, presoak with APC (used EFHI)
-Acidic wheel cleaner
-Scrub as best I could without getting fancy about it
-Dress tires
Interior:
-Vacuum
-APC on stained (non-leather) surfaces
-Quick steaming of some areas
-Meg`s #39 (is that the right number? I mean the cleaner/dressing combo product :think: ) if time permits or Meg
`s Interior QD
Glass:
-Whatever you can do fastest (exterior glass should be sorta-OK from the wash)
A recent example: a pal I work dogs with had his white Kennel-van get covered with latex housepaint overspray. He (zero detailing experience/knowledge) and I got it done in just a little more than the hour he had scheduled to work my dogs, but we didn`t do the interior. Best that van`s ever looked, even if it was really half-@$$ed by Autopian standards.
dag...i take forever doing that but kudos to you for getting that done lol
Yeah, it by no means is a complete detail, but just something I do for friends and family, but I`m always looking to speed it up even more. The above always wows them but I always want to refine the process.
Lonnie
08-19-2010, 10:31 AM
Yakky:
What is OCL on the interior??
Can you completely apply Opti-Seal to an car`s exterior in 5 minutes??:nervous:
David Fermani
08-19-2010, 11:10 AM
I wouldn`t Foam, Clay, OLC or Polish it that`s for sure.
I`d do a complete exterior wash w/AM Hydro Shine and clean the interior. 2 hours in pretty tough unless you`re set up to do high speed volume.
Old Pirate
08-19-2010, 11:28 AM
Wow, it takes me 2 hrs just to wash it. I must be getting old.................:hide:
Accumulator
08-19-2010, 11:55 AM
Wow, it takes me 2 hrs just to wash it. I must be getting old...
More likely you`re just doing it right. When washing vehicles I care about, 2 hours would probably be a new record.
Yakky:
What is OCL on the interior??
Can you completely apply Opti-Seal to an car`s exterior in 5 minutes??:nervous:
Optimum Leather Care, great stuff, but it stinks. And yeah, Optisealing a car is cake, takes about as much time as drying.
Wow, it takes me 2 hrs just to wash it. I must be getting old.................:hide:
Lol. I spend quite a while on my own cars too, but when it comes to bang per buck, or time in this case, I`m curious as to what everyone else is doing. I thought for sure people would have more aggressive routines than mine.
I wouldn`t Foam, Clay, OLC or Polish it that`s for sure.
I find that if I foam and blast the big chunks of dirt off, I can ONR faster and with less fear of marring. When I am done with the powerwash, all that is left on the surface is the oily grime that powerwashing never seems to take off.
salty
08-20-2010, 12:29 AM
The auto auction guys do it in an hour or so.
Guess what it looks and smells like. But $85 an hour is good coin.
vtec92civic
08-20-2010, 01:24 AM
Just curious as to what you guys would do to the "average" car if you had two hours. By average I mean:
-moderately swirled paint
-dirty wheels
-some minor interior staining
-moderate surface contamination
Time break down would be cool...
I would:
Interior vacuum and spot treat - 15 min
Wipe down interior panels and treat with OLC - 15 min
Quick window clean - 5 min
FOAM and powerwash exterior and treat wheels - 15 min
ONR wash and clay the car - 30 min
Polish with Megs D151 - 30 minutes
Dress tires - 5 minutes
Optiseal Paint - 5 minutes
I wish i could move that quick. Some vehicles take me a good 45 minutes or so just to do the wheels. If i could move that fast i could charge a little less and maybe have a little more work. How do you move so quick LoL.
I wouldn`t Foam, Clay, OLC or Polish it that`s for sure.
I`d do a complete exterior wash w/AM Hydro Shine and clean the interior. 2 hours in pretty tough unless you`re set up to do high speed volume.
David you are the first person i have heard of that uses AM Hydro Shine. What is your process for that and does it have any sort of protection in it? I have that in my arsenal and have used it for a while but not lately.
GaryDM
08-21-2010, 12:08 PM
This would be the way I would do it if I had 2 hours, medium size vehicles. I allow 3 hours for large vehicles. I like to keep it simple. I do the same to all vehicles unless the customer requests polish and wax or clean leather, cloth, interior, ect. My prices are for small, medium and large vehicles, 3 separate prices. I do this to all vehicles in this order. Hope I`ve not left any step out. To do this much in this amount of time will work your a** off. Sometime the customer don`t want inside cleaned so we discount from my price.
#1. I remove mat, floor mats, vacuum and wash them first, they may need more time to dry if the are carpet type rather that vinyl.
#2. I vacuum inside, and trunk and all carpeted area.
#3. Wipe inside down with damp microfiber that`s been treated with cleaner, dash, door panels, seats, console, every sq inch of inside. I clean door jams here also while I have all doors and hood, trunk open.
#4 Treat inside with dressing and trim restorer, dash, door panels, console and all vinyl areas.
#5. Close all doors and wash complete exterior, doing tires first and then they are last to final rinse.
#6. Completely dry down exterior, wipe down door jams wiping excess water out, trunk, hood and gas lid.
#7 use detail spray on all exterior, and trim restorer on exterior vinyl, and tire shine to tires.
#8 clean all windows, inside and out, doing the outside first
#9 put floor mats back in and I`m done.
mdbohica
08-22-2010, 06:10 PM
Perhaps I should refine my technique a bit...It took me 2 hours (dismissing drying time) to detail my WHEELS this weekend...hmmm