View Full Version : NY Times article on auto detailing
jcattarulla
12-24-2002, 10:00 PM
NY Times, Friday, December 20, 2002:
"There is an automotive cult whose members worship at the altar of wax. They prey to the gods of weather to keep rain and snow at bay. They prize arcane combinations of potions and lotions. Their obsession is the car that gleams..."
The venerable NY Times then quotes a statistic from none other than Mr. Barry Meguiar:
11% of the population purchases 75% of the car wax. Yea, no duh. I`ve got enough wax in my garage to do all the cars in Rhode Island, twice.
Did any of you see this article? I read the times religiously, and their Sunday auto section is crying out for a weekly detailing article- any thoughts, guys?
Whaddya think? Should Autopia pitch the times on doing a weekly piece?
John
samiam513
12-24-2002, 10:32 PM
care to scan the page? newyorktimes.com wants me to pay to read the article.
imported_BretFraz
12-24-2002, 10:35 PM
Originally posted by samiam513
care to scan the page? newyorktimes.com wants me to pay to read the article.
You can sign up for the Times online. It`s free. I did it to read the article. Look at the website again.
Originally posted by jcattarulla
The venerable NY Times then quotes a statistic from none other than Mr. Barry Meguiar:
11% of the population purchases 75% of the car wax. Yea, no duh. Heh heh, I believe it! I have too many "protection" products lying around as is - some I wonder why I bought...
I signed up too (free and instant :up) and you can see the article obliquely referring to QD spray and CCDs. The opening paragraph had me thinking they were going to mention Autopia, because that definitely sounds like us! :D
I think the articles idea, while interesting, would be a poor substitute for joining the forum and buying the eBook, especially since a lot of detailing is done on a case-by-case basis. A Q&A column would have a similar problem and could end up more nebulous and vague than the car care column done in Popular Mechanics. Just my 2 cents.
Nagchampa
12-24-2002, 11:31 PM
Originally posted by 4DSC
Heh heh, I believe it! I have too many "protection" products lying around as is - some I wonder why I bought...
I signed up too (free and instant :up) and you can see the article obliquely referring to QD spray and CCDs. The opening paragraph had me thinking they were going to mention Autopia, because that definitely sounds like us! :D
I think the articles idea, while interesting, would be a poor substitute for joining the forum and buying the eBook, especially since a lot of detailing is done on a case-by-case basis. A Q&A column would have a similar problem and could end up more nebulous and vague than the car care column done in Popular Mechanics. Just my 2 cents. I agree! I also think the average Joe only wants to know just enough to get him by, like what is the best wax for a blue car, etc.
Scottwax
12-25-2002, 01:46 AM
11% of the population purchases 75% of the car wax.
Good, that leaves a huge percentage who need me to come out and detail their cars. :up
Jon718
12-26-2002, 10:46 AM
Heres the article I cut and paste it from NYT`s website:
PS: Hopefully my neighbors read the article and understand why I`ll detail my car in the 30 degree weather....
There is an automotive cult whose members worship at the altar of wax. They pray to the gods of weather to keep rain and snow at bay. They prize arcane combinations of potions and lotions. Their obsession is the car that gleams.
"We want a smooth, glasslike surface on our paint, where water rolls off in beads," said Dennis Salvo, 33, a clean-car fanatic turned professional automotive detailer in Madison, Conn., who serves a clientele with standards of car perfection akin to his own. "Contaminants slide right off with a wash."
Clean-car aficionados also want sparkling window glass, supple leather upholstery, spotless carpets, shiny wheels and clean-as-new tires. — and they want this immaculate state all the time.
Some in the clean-car cult shudder at the thought of an automatic car wash and will only hand-wash; others will go to car washes, but only those that are touch-free — using water jets and chemicals but allowing no friction from cloths. Some let professional detailers wax their cars; others insist on doing that job themselves. But for all, cars must glow with cleanliness.
"Our cars are cleaner than our kitchen," said Barbara Scardino of Brentwood, Tenn., whose husband, Michael, calls himself a "car clean freak" and maintains a red Honda S2000, a black Volkswagen New Beetle and a silver Chrysler minivan. "I believe in car washes," Mr. Scardino said. "You can`t get enough water and detergent volumes at home with a bucket." But after a car wash, Mr. Scardino will do extra drying with a chamois cloth he keeps handy, and he details the cars himself periodically, getting the nooks and crannies that car washes miss.
And that is only the beginning of his car-care ritual.
"I believe in waxing," he said emphatically. He massages each car three times a year with a carnauba-based wax. "I use the cool method," he explained. "The garage is cool and the music is cool." (He favors cool fusion jazz.)
"I play Jobim," he said, "and I just take it easy, doing a small surface at one time." With Zenlike concentration and mental detachment, he uses two cloths. "Wax on with one, wax off with the other," he said. He likens his method to the scene of ritualistic car waxing in the film "The Karate Kid."
Before waxing he uses a glaze "to remove scratches and swirls." This is the process Mr. Scardino — an advertising creative director — has seen often when cars are prepared for commercials.
He does not like dust. He uses an anti-static spray that repels dust particles. And he removes dust that settles later with a special wax-impregnated mop.
Do car cleaners have a special love for their cars or do they just love to clean? According to Barry Meguiar, chief executive of Meguiar`s, his family`s automotive cleaning products company in Irvine, Calif., and host of the television show "Car Crazy" on the Speed Channel, "it`s a mindset."
"I hear lots that keeping the car clean is therapy," he said. "People wax year-round, even when it`s snowing. There`s a peace of mind that people get from locking themselves in the garage when the weather is bad outside, turning on music, and cleaning the car." Eleven percent of the population, he added, purchases 75 percent of the car wax. He caters to this core group, as he calls it, with scores of cleaners and protectants for exterior, interior, wheels and paint, and with lots of waxes. The company`s Web site, www.meguiars.com, provides specific car-care "prescriptions" for individuals, based on information like ZIP code of residence and the color, age, make and mileage of the car.
April Bastian, 34, a dental assistant in Madison, has special buckets and brushes for cleaning the wheels, paint and top of her dark-green 2000 Volkswagen Cabrio, but she has no garage. "I`ll go out with winter gloves underneath rubber gloves if the water in the hose isn`t frozen," she said. "I will go to a coin-operated wash if I can`t use my hose." When she is forced to use the car wash, she takes her own sponge and chamois. Three times a year, she takes her car to Details by Dennis, Mr. Salvo`s business, for waxing and detailing, for about $120. (Details by Dennis grew from demand, Mr. Salvo said. People saw his own super-clean cars, he said, and asked where they could get the same kind of perfection.)
"I don`t know how people can drive dirty cars," Ms. Bastian said. "I notice particularly clean cars as they pass me, and if mine is dirty at the moment, it reminds me I`d better get it clean right away."
She has not been able to persuade her fiancÃ, John Lariviere, to stick to the same standards. He drives an always dirty Dodge Durango, she explained.
"He kids me about my car cleaning," she said. "But if I had time, I`d wash his car, too."
imported_Intermezzo
12-26-2002, 10:57 AM
Originally posted by Jon718
Before waxing he uses a glaze "to remove scratches and swirls." This is the process Mr. Scardino — an advertising creative director — has seen often when cars are prepared for commercials.
Nice article! It sounds like this guy has called Meguiar`s customer support a few times. :D
White968
12-26-2002, 11:30 AM
Couldn`t they have gotten a real enthusiast?
Originally posted by Jon718
Heres the article I cut and paste it from NYT`s website:
Michael, calls himself a "car clean freak" and maintains a red Honda S2000, a black Volkswagen New Beetle and a silver Chrysler minivan. "I believe in car washes," Mr. Scardino said. "You can`t get enough water and detergent volumes at home with a bucket." But after a car wash, Mr. Scardino will do extra drying with a chamois cloth he keeps handy, and he details the cars himself periodically, getting the nooks and crannies that car washes miss.
He runs his S2000 convertible through a Carwash? :o and I am guessing he never heard of QEW. :D
Originally posted by Jon718
"I believe in waxing," he said emphatically. He massages each car three times a year with a carnauba-based wax.
So the guy is running his cars through commercial carwashs and still gets four months out of his carnauba.
mrdetailer
12-26-2002, 02:17 PM
Took wife to airport. Last words were "Don`t you dare clean the inside of my car while I`m gone." Darn, she knows me.
Doesn`t look like any of those people would qualify to be true autopians. 3 months on a Carnauba after taking it to car washes? Way too long. Not a mention of a clay bar, sealants, or a Porter Cable. They`re just not obssesive car detailers.
thegeek
12-26-2002, 03:11 PM
Originally posted by Jon718
He does not like dust. He uses an anti-static spray that repels dust particles. And he removes dust that settles later with a special wax-impregnated mop.
What is this they stuff they talk about?
Mindflux
12-26-2002, 03:14 PM
Originally posted by 94AccordSedanEX
What is this they stuff they talk about?
I`m guessing a California Car Duster (For the wax impregnated mop).
imported_Aurora40
12-26-2002, 03:51 PM
Originally posted by Jon718
"I believe in waxing," he said emphatically. He massages each car three times a year with a carnauba-based wax.
Ha ha... What a fanatic!! Three whole times a year!! And it goes on to say he uses two whole cloths to do it! What a maniac! In my arsenal I only have half a cloth and a torn shard of foam... ;)
What`s with the carwash fan? He can`t get enough water volume out of his hose? :nixweiss He can`t get enough detergent on his car?? Yeah, you can never have enough detergents on your paint. I try to spray the car down with Tide when I wash it...
Neat article, though. Thanks for posting it :xyxthumbs
Jngrbrdman
12-26-2002, 04:19 PM
Originally posted by Jon718
[B]There is an automotive cult whose members worship at the altar of wax.
That is totally untrue. We don`t worship an alter of wax. That would be silly... However, put a jar of wax on and alter then you might get some worshiping going on. It would have to be the right kind though. Extensive testing would have to be done to prove that it is the calliber of wax that warrants worship. I wouldn`t just bow down to just any bottle with the word `Carnauba` on it. That would mean that I would have to worship laxitives and Tic Tacs too. Ridiculous...
They pray to the gods of weather to keep rain and snow at bay.
What? Not just `No` but "Hell NO!" I don`t pray that it doesn`t rain. I need it to rain so it will mess up everybodys car and they can come to me to have it detailed. Not to mention that I need it to rain so I can test the durability of different products and also so it will mess up my own car so I can wash it. Sheesh... Talk about a generalization...
And he removes dust that settles later with a special wax-impregnated mop.
Arahahahahghahgahghahghaghahgahghaghahghahghaghagh !!!!!!! Oh God, the horror!!!!!!! ;)
I`m pretty sure that 3 times a year part is a typo. I`m sure he meant 3 times a month... right? C`mon guys.... back me up on that. Nobody could go that long between waxes... could they?? :nixweiss :D
Jon718
12-26-2002, 05:13 PM
Well the New York Times always edits out a lot of the stuff. They prob. didnt want to get to comprehensive and detailed as your general NYT reader is not going to ask "hey what sorta clay bar did he use or what brand quick detailer is he using?" But I think if they really showed the kinda things we do on this forum they would suggest we see a therapist....but what they don`t realize is detailing for the most part is therapy for all of us (I hope?)