Detail King

**TDMAN** · 01-21-2005, 01:50 PM

I was bored at work (as usual) and was surfing around and came up on this website (detail king). I was wondering if any of you pro`s have ever used their stuff? Are they awfully cheap or just awful? The sponsors here are awesome and so are their products. But they are just so darn expensive if you were to compare them or buy in bulk. Just wonderin`.

**The Fuzz** · 01-21-2005, 02:18 PM

Wal Mart doesn`t sponsor Detail City, some of the finest automotive ecommerce websites are our sponsors. You can ALWAYS find cheaper products out there. I hate to say this so bluntly but alot of businesses pray on what they call "bottom feeders".

They get the cheapest ingredients possible, make something really cheap and sell people looking to save some money. Or they will take a product with an MSRP of $14.95 and sell it for $12.95 and only make 50 cents on it. This does not make good business sense.

You really do get what you pay for in almost all things in life. You can eat Grade A filet mignon or you can eat Grade F Taco Bell. You can drive a new economical Hyundai for $13,000 or you can drive an ultra-smooth Lexus for $40,000.

I don`t mean to rant, I just want to stress that low prices doesn`t necessarily equal high quality. I know that you just wanted to know what people thought of Detail King. I think I banned him for not being our most "ideal" member. Nothing personal. :naughty

**scottabi** · 01-21-2005, 02:30 PM

Grade F for taco bell...thats a pretty generous rating you gave it

**MS22** · 01-21-2005, 02:34 PM

I have never used Detail King`s products but I am only responding to your quote that our Detail City sponsors are "so darn pricey". I am not trying to be rude and ignorant in any way but for the quality of the products they produce the prices are quite cheap. Even before the discounts, promotions, and give-aways they constantly offer I do not find prices to be high at all. For instance, locally I used to pay about $9 more for the 32oz DACP. The products all of our sponsors either sell of manufacture go a long way; typical application of a polish or liquid wax is between 1-2oz and cost between $12-20. If you figure in everything used for a complete detail, just rough estimates:
Soap: 1-2oz. = 1.50
Wheel Cleaner: 2-3oz. = 2.00
Clay: $20 for 8-10 uses = 2.25
Polish: 1-2oz = 1.50-3.00
Second polish/glaze if needed: = 1.50-3.00
Liquid or Paste wax/Sealant: = 1.00-3.00 (2.00-6.00 if 2 coats), all depending on what is used (6.00 being higher end sealant like FMJ or Souveran wax used twice)
Interior Cleaning (carpets/leather): ~ 3.50
Trim (interior and exterior including tires): ~ 4.00
Wear and tear on brushes/mitts/pads: ~3.00-5.00
Forgive me for anything that I forgot to list but this is just a rough estimate and some prices my be inflated/deflated but at a rough total of $20-30 (with an average total in the low $20 range) for products used that isnt all too bad. Not to mention I used rough prices of 16oz. bottles not bulk products. If you do this for profit or as a hobby the total cost of high quality products is marginal. It costs that much to go to a movie, buy a DVD or case of beer, or watch your careless neighbor run his car through the local swirl-o-matic three times. I assume all of us have wasted much more money on much less important things; God knows I do all of the time. Again I am not trying to be ignorant but our sponsors give us great products and great deals and I thank them for that. Sorry for the long post but I am very sick today and being that it is ZERO outside I`ll be confined to inside all day.

**TDMAN** · 01-21-2005, 03:09 PM

thanks for the input Fuzz. Yeah, that guy struck me as kind of cheesy for some reason. He didn`t seem "smooth" at all on his website. I have just never heard anything good or bad about them. I did call around here in Denver and found a "D.K" detailer, someone who had "bought" his program. Just wanted to be sure. No, I don`t think he`s smoooth with ladies nor does he have potential to be smoooth. I didn`t know that he was banned from here, as I have not been around that long. Thanks again.

**top detailer** · 01-21-2005, 09:13 PM

I have purchase products from Detail King, and they work really great. Some of the best products on the market. Also, I got my hp60 mytee extractor from detail king.

**ernman** · 01-22-2005, 08:50 AM

I don`t agree w/ cheap = bad. I was using the ssr line until I found hi temp products, they are alot cheaper and are just as good.

**AMDin93103** · 01-22-2005, 07:44 PM

Did the classes, tried the products.

Wasn`t impressed.

IMHO of course.

**TDMAN** · 01-24-2005, 09:43 AM

Originally Posted by ernman

I don`t agree w/ cheap = bad. I was using the ssr line until I found hi temp products, they are alot cheaper and are just as good.

My point exactly. I love Hi temp products and they simply smoke on their prices. Maybe someone could tell us why TOL isn`t a sponsor? They are awfully nice people so I can`t seem to think that they would say no, unless they simply have a policy about not sponsoring websites. I dunno.

**TDMAN** · 01-24-2005, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by MS22

I have never used Detail King`s products but I am only responding to your quote that our Detail City sponsors are "so darn pricey". I am not trying to be rude and ignorant in any way but for the quality of the products they produce the prices are quite cheap. Even before the discounts, promotions, and give-aways they constantly offer I do not find prices to be high at all. For instance, locally I used to pay about $9 more for the 32oz DACP. The products all of our sponsors either sell of manufacture go a long way; typical application of a polish or liquid wax is between 1-2oz and cost between $12-20. If you figure in everything used for a complete detail, just rough estimates:
Soap: 1-2oz. = 1.50
Wheel Cleaner: 2-3oz. = 2.00
Clay: $20 for 8-10 uses = 2.25
Polish: 1-2oz = 1.50-3.00
Second polish/glaze if needed: = 1.50-3.00
Liquid or Paste wax/Sealant: = 1.00-3.00 (2.00-6.00 if 2 coats), all depending on what is used (6.00 being higher end sealant like FMJ or Souveran wax used twice)
Interior Cleaning (carpets/leather): ~ 3.50
Trim (interior and exterior including tires): ~ 4.00
Wear and tear on brushes/mitts/pads: ~3.00-5.00
Forgive me for anything that I forgot to list but this is just a rough estimate and some prices my be inflated/deflated but at a rough total of $20-30 (with an average total in the low $20 range) for products used that isnt all too bad. Not to mention I used rough prices of 16oz. bottles not bulk products. If you do this for profit or as a hobby the total cost of high quality products is marginal. It costs that much to go to a movie, buy a DVD or case of beer, or watch your careless neighbor run his car through the local swirl-o-matic three times. I assume all of us have wasted much more money on much less important things; God knows I do all of the time. Again I am not trying to be ignorant but our sponsors give us great products and great deals and I thank them for that. Sorry for the long post but I am very sick today and being that it is ZERO outside I`ll be confined to inside all day.

Funny thing is, I don`t see 20 or $30 flying out of my wallet. You may be the disciplined controlled, "I only buy what I need and no more", but, like most people on this site, I buy PLENTY. And when you detail for profit, you need to have products that you wouldn`t use everyday, in case you run into a situation. Now, if I were to buy Wolfgang Black Tire Gel in bulk (64oz.) I would pay about $40.00. I can buy 2GALLONS (GALLONS) of show car tire dressing for $38.00. If I were to buy Poorboys Super Slick N Suds Soap ( which I have and use on my own vehicles AND selected customers), I pay $15.00 for 32 oz. I buy the other soap which is as good for #13.75/gallon. You are stating prices per use. But they don`t sell single use packets do they? So you aren`t paying 1-3 dollars because that`s not what comes out of your wallet. If you want to pay my detailing supply bill, please do and buy whatever you would like. But since you don`t and you won`t you need to know the truth. And the truth is, while the sponsors are great, have awesome products, and do many nice things for this site and the people, there are other sites that DC members know about that sell quality detailing supplies at a fraction of the cost. Maybe one of the moderators could tell us why they don`t sponsor DC. Maybe they have a blanket corp. stance that "they don`t support websites". I don`t know. But quit trying to blow smoke up my *ss about how ecoomomical they are, because you can`t compare. I`ve just showed you. I like the sponsors, I will keep buying from them limited supplies and select products, but they will never be my #1 vendors because of their prices.