what`s the worst mistake you`ve made while detailing?

[BigAl3]

so i go into the garage and open my tote filled with my polishes, etc., to give them their monthly shake. well apparently one bottle wasn`t closed all the way and as i shook it, product flew everywhere, including onto myself... :hairpull

[Saintlysins]

“92MX83’s� wiper arms and antenna face slaps were truly laugh-out-loud reading. I’ve hit retractable antenna that hadn’t retracted, those things bend and snap like umbrella’s in hurricanes – besides the paint repair as they sweep an arc across the paint – you HAVE to buy and install a new retractable antenna which as I recall where $150 to $250 and that was in the late 70’s/early 80’s.

Damn I’m old! Hope you all enjoy this long trip down memory lane as much as I liked reminding myself of how I became so anal about how tools are used now. Things have changed so much for the better, chemistry and technology has made detailing a cakewalk. Wonder what they’ll be saying in 25 years from now.

I really enjoyed this thread a while back, and since someone revived it, I’ll add mine – which go back over 26 years at a high-end auto body and restoration shop;

It was a Lotus Esprit detail with the old Black & Decker grinders that also were used as buffers (only the old-timers know what I’m talking about – the rest of you can cringe, but you really have no idea how easy you have it today), these things weighed 15 lbs and had more torque than a Caterpillar Bulldozer. Had just about finished with the ‘black ebony’ stage (threw that in for the really old timers) and was a panel away from rinse when I caught the cord with the pad in on full throttle - - I watched … in … slow … motion … the cord whip-wrapped the pad, gouged out the paint, while whip-yanking the floor lamps into another vehicle before snapping back into the car, shattering out the passenger side window and sinking through the leather into the seat-back.



Another was the frame off restoration on a Triumph TR3. Mechanicals in and the body and paint work completed and ready for pick-up for the interior. The shop was on the downside of a significant hill/parking lot. Finished rides went up top near the street to be shown off. Pulled the TR3 up the hill, pulling on the emergency brake the cable-snaps, the car rolls back down the hill as I’m panic-pumping a brake peddle that goes straight to the floor with no resistance. Picking the least valuable car to impact into was to ‘T-Bone� the landlords Cadillac Eldorado. Can’t tell you how fast I was going, but it was fast enough to fracture a shin-bone against the firewall and crack a rib with the steering column.



As I write this, I’m reminded of a late 50’s Roller (Roller = Rolls Royce). It was extensively accident damaged and to do those cars authentically, you used lead filler (yes, real lead back then, and not plastic body fillers) and hammered it into shape using torches, mallets and other finger tip busting/flesh-melting tools. Job was done, car looked great. All we had to do was to get a coat of wax on the car before we left for the night as the owner was doing an early-next-morning-pick-up. However, it was a dank, oppressively humid night. The wax went on well … but it never flashed over, it just stayed wet. We tried shop fans to no avail. All we did was make other parts of the car ‘sweat’. Ended up pulling the car into the spray-booth and turned on all the lights hoping it warm up enough to flash the wax, yet a half hour later, nothing. We did have a heating lamp – a 3 foot round, 5 bulb, infrared heating lamp on a tripod. We figured if we put it in the spray booth, closed it up and got something to eat – in half an hour or so we’d be able to buff the wax right off. Half hour turned into an hour plus … or more …

OH … yeah … it was bad … very bad. We not only raised the temperature of the spray booth hot enough to blister the paint, but also to sag the lead in area’s of the car we hadn’t fixed! To make matters worse – the panels of the spray-booth closest to the heat-lamps warped out of their frames and melted (like a drapery) across parts of the Roller. I learned more about the physics of infrared lighting that night than anyone ever need to know.

I had a good time writing this, hope you did reading it.

[BigAl3]

yet another reason not to use automated car washes! YouTube - Old Man Goes Nuts In Car Wash (All of it was captured by CCT :soscared:

[BlackElantraGT]

yet another reason not to use automated car washes! YouTube - Old Man Goes Nuts In Car Wash (All of it was captured by CCT :soscared:

That was the Express Wash n` Wax package. LOL



That was pretty funny but I hope no one got hurt from it.

[8Banger]

I used Simple Green APC on my driver`s tan leather seat.







talk about discoloration :hmph:



at least it was diluted :chuckle:

[3puttjay]

...tellng my wife I`d be inside in just a few minutes, decidng to put that one last coat of wax on at the last minute....deciding to do the chrome exhuast after I was done with the wax right before going in....and then deciding to polish my headlights up a bit just for good measure....and then finding out that my wife had already gone to sleep and was "in the mood" while I was in the garage...





Tim

Being married myself, I know how rarely that happens (being in the mood) so I feel for you.

[jaidedeye]

me and a buddy of mine were detailing ours cars and he used one of my MF towels to wipe excess tire dressing off of his wheels....he didnt tell me and i used it to wipe down drips off my car....my car was black.....

[rotts4u]

For years I have used a mild abrasive on windshields to removed films and other surfaces issues that normal cleaning would not touch. This week I was detailing a 2003 Camry with 11000, yes that is correct 11,000 miles on it. It sits in the southern USA for 5 years outside in the sun until the rear deck spaker covers were rotted from UV damage.



Well I could not get the windows clean (outside or in) with my normal stuff so I went into the kitchen to get some comex, ajax etc and all my wife had was barmaids helper cleaner for cleaning stainless pots etc. It was a powder cleaner like ajax so I started scrubbing the windows with this stuff and a brush. I could hear the adrasives cutting the crud and upon rinse they seemed smooth and film free. So I did them all. rear, wides etc etc.



I thought the exterior problems were gone. Then when the car was dried and I was inside looking out I could then see that the entire window was scratched up. Every window, everywhere.



I buffed with a DAO and it helped some but in bright light you can still see the scratches pretty good.

[KnuckleBuckett]

That is simply horrible!

[bdock]

Some stories from years back working in a detailing shop.

A buddy of mine was buffing the rear 1/4 on this Porsche that had a plastic/figerglass gas door with a little finger lip. I had my back turned working on another car, and it felt like someone punched me in the back of the head. I turned around and he had this "oh ****" look on his face. I saw the open gas gap, rubbed my head and saw the gas door was laying by my feet.



I was working on a really badly scratched Cobra R, with the "color-changing" purple/green paint. I was totally done after hours of polishing and waxing this thing and it looked perfect. I was 19 didn`t really drive stick much then, but hopped in to back the car out of the garage. Not realizing the shop owner had left the car in gear (i usually left them in neutral) I started it and just dumped the clutch. The car just launched, I almost crapped my pants but recovered and stopped the car just as it smashed into a row of plastic spray bottles filled with an array of chemicals hanging on the wall. The spray bottles exploded and the hood was just covered in apc, alcohol, letaher cleaner, etc. I put the car in reverse and as I backed away saw a nice bumper shaped indent in the drywall. Somehow the bumper was not damaged at all, but it took an hour or two to clean up the hood and fenders. And I got a long lesson on driving and parking a stick shift.



Then I had a few incidents with the lift in our shop, SnapOn scissor lift i think. I was pulling up a small BMW 318 maybe, and had no one helping me line up (although we did this all the time). I felt the left front of the car catch something, then heard a bunch of compressed air blowing out of the tire and that side of the car slowly drop. There was this tiny little "washer" like thing sticking out too far, and I somehow ran the tire right into it. I should have know to stay away from using that lift.



Sometime later I was putting a huge Cadillac DTS on the lift. We either didn`t have the balance right or that thing was just too heavy. After it was about a foot up the car slowly slid off to the side and landed about 3 inches from the wall Luckily there was no damage, but it took about 15 minutes of inching that boat back and forth to get it out of the garage, like Austin Powers in a tight parking spot.

[detaildoc]

I did my first detailing wearing jeans with a belt that had a metal buckle. Now, nothing but workout pants and a plain t-shirt.

[imported_dazzerjp]

Last week, I saw a man cleaning his car with his 3-4 yr old daughter at a coin op. The liitle girl picked up the sponge and dapped it into the shallow grit-riddled puddle next to my car. she then scrubbed half of the mans car with it. I was crying inside, but the man didnt seem to fussed!



for me pre-autopia; too much wax, using compound only and not wax, non=stick pan cleaner for bugs - still got the scars, old towels, cheap car window cleaner that burnt my trim,



since autopia, not really any thing big thanks to all those who have posted tips and advice and this trulty top site.

[Slik560]

I picked up my orbital buffer before turning it off, which splattered light polishing compound [Griot`s #3] everywhere, but that was not the real issue: The brand new, dark blue canvas convertable top on the car was up, and it took a long time to brush off each tiny spot of dried polish. I read through all of these postings and it makes me thing of all the really great cars [65 Olds 442, 68 Camaro] that I`ve owned in the past that I likely ruined because I did not know any better!!! These days I actually type up a schedule of what I`m going to do on a car and what I will use in the process. No more spur-of-the-moment washing and detailing.:nono

[fdizzle]

three years ago - " Man the car wash is so conveient - but where are these swirils coming from ?"



two years ago - " What do you mean there are better products than what kragen and pep boys sell ?"



one year ago - "Menzerna ? Never heard of it. Sounds like an overpriced german wax"



3 months ago - " What the hell is a FLEX polisher ? Probably just another gimic "





Biggest mistake ever :



" How about I try my bran new rotary on a freshly painted minicooper with buffer trails ! "



(see: http://autopia.org/forum/machine-pol...er-almost.html )

[lusid]

Oh..... Not me but, There was a minor scuff on the back end of my dad`s acura MDX, his friend "recommended they use tooth paste and a tooth brush" to fix it.



Looked like hell after wards, but I was able to buff it out thank god.