Lightroom Shots from my Detailing Studio!

**macdude** · 10-23-2010, 03:37 AM

Hello everyone!

Been a forum member here a while back but have been a closet lurker. Thought I`d pop by and share some photos taken recently. I had just built a brand new state-of-the-art detailing studio to accommodate the volume of cars that we detail here in Malaysia. And as with detailing, there are constantly cars being detailed on overlapping schedules. It`s been a blast putting together a detailer`s wish-list for the perfect batcave.

As I am also a keen photographer, part of the items on the list was for a photography light-room(which doubles as an inspection room for LSP streaks, smears and what-nots). Those of you who have known me from years back would be familiar with the photos I took outside my previous detailing garage and shared on Flickr here.

Here`s the first right-hand drive Mercedes Benz AMG SLS in the world. Had to keep it till now because of a previous press embargo. Glad to share it now, enjoy the shots!

**David Fermani** · 10-23-2010, 06:27 AM

Very nice website and work space. Seems like a wonderful gallery to show off you work. Can you explain how your 25 bay shop is set up? I`d love to see pictures of the whole place. Is this an underground parking garage? Are there wash bays?

**Woob** · 10-23-2010, 09:30 AM

Unbelievable! More pics!

**Toymachine2009** · 10-23-2010, 01:27 PM

Wait thats a detailing shop? So all those cars in there just got detailed??

**detailman1** · 10-23-2010, 03:03 PM

Bomb *** the real deal

**macdude** · 10-25-2010, 11:44 AM

Originally Posted by David Fermani

Very nice website and work space. Seems like a wonderful gallery to show off you work. Can you explain how your 25 bay shop is set up? I`d love to see pictures of the whole place. Is this an underground parking garage? Are there wash bays?

Hi David,

Thank you for the kind words. My detailing studio is located inside a new commercial retail/office/f&b complex at ground level which we picked so that low-profile cars can access the floors without any steep inclines/declines. The studio is security-equipped with CCTV`s, gated-access, proximity card systems, complete fire-fighting system and a third-party central monitoring system. It`s about 12,000 sq ft so we placed security as a priority to monitor the entire area. Here are some photos to share...

Surface Preparation

Essentially I`ve got 4-wet bays that comes with it`s own quad-stage de-ionized water purification system for surface preparation and includes individual cold & steam high-pressure jets. Once the wet-works are completed, I`ve got a combination of air-compressor dryers and forced-induction blowers to dry each car effectively.

Interior Detailing

On the interior detailing portion it`s 8 bays. It`s fitted with specialized steam extractors that can clean exotic materials like deep-pile carpets and alcantara at 5% moisture and also regular extractors for general upholstery.

Paintwork Detailing

Moving to the paintwork detailing bays, I`ve got 8-bays which are a combination of standard detailing bays, vertical-access detailing bays(lifts) and discreet detailing bays(curtained-off to keep new-cars being polished discreetly). This excludes overflow sections. Each detailing bay(that includes interior and wet bays as well) is packed with fluorescent lighting equipment which is daylight balanced for accurate color-rendering of each car`s paintwork at approx 400lux. Each car is flanked by a secondary bank of four metal-halide inspection floodlights to pick-out every single imperfection mimicking variable daylight exposure.

Special Applications Booth

In the furthest section of the detailing studio is a special applications booth which is equipped with an air filtration system complete with an extractor similar to paint booths as we use it to apply our proprietary paintwork coatings and is cured with several banks of UV-lights. This clean-room is the brightest and also where we perform custom 3M vehicle film wraps and for window tints as well.

Inspection Rooms

We nickname this the darkroom because of the black walls, ceiling & marble flooring. They absorb the lights from the florescent tubes, metal halide inspection floodlights and PLC lamps. It doesn`t bounce or reflect light from the surfaces. These combination of lights allow us to inspect the car in the various low ambient settings as those found on motor-show floors, showrooms and hotel lobbies. They contrast with the paintwork detailing bay lights. This section is fully air-conditioned and has it`s own ionizer and air filtration system. They double up as thermostatically-monitored storage rooms over extended periods of time.

Lightroom

This is a photography studio purpose built for shooting cars. It spans a massive overhead lightbox engineered with 400 fluoro tubes and has 10 fans cooling the lights. Walls and the fire-resistant polyurethane flooring are white in color. I use it to commercially produce assignments and custom albums for my clients seeking to document their automobile collection.

The Lounge

Here is the customer lounge which is an industrial grunge design and has audiophile speakers, a plasma screen, a concrete-cast conference table equipped with powerpoints for notebooks, WiFi-access, a drinks dispenser and finally is iPad-equipped for clients to browse and play games while waiting for their cars.

That`s the place in a nutshell. There`s a separate office area, a children`s room for my kids to do their homework/play and a nicely sorted warehouse.

**ShineTech** · 10-25-2010, 05:09 PM

Wow, this is truly an amazing facility. Nicely done.

**kakeuter** · 10-25-2010, 07:11 PM

Far beyond anything I could dream up, congrats on your success!

**macdude** · 10-26-2010, 08:26 AM

Originally Posted by Hemin8r

Wow, this is truly an amazing facility. Nicely done.

Hey buddy,

Thanks! Are you still posting on Flickr?

**macdude** · 10-26-2010, 08:28 AM

Originally Posted by kakeuter

Far beyond anything I could dream up, congrats on your success!

Thanks kakeuter

Here`s a rare Ford GT40, a kit custom-built in South Africa. It`s been on a local classic car circuits and is also the only unit in the country. There`s something timeless about this Ford!

**seech** · 10-26-2010, 08:55 AM

Darren, simply amazing. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

**tssdetailing** · 10-26-2010, 10:09 PM

I dont` want to sound unprofessional here, but

O.

M.

G.

You have a the mack-daddy of detailing facilities!

**tssdetailing** · 10-26-2010, 10:15 PM

Originally Posted by macdude

Surface Preparation

Essentially I`ve got 4-wet bays that comes with it`s own quad-stage de-ionized water purification system for surface preparation and includes individual cold & steam high-pressure jets. Once the wet-works are completed, I`ve got a combination of air-compressor dryers and forced-induction blowers to dry each car effectively.

Interior Detailing

On the interior detailing portion it`s 8 bays. It`s fitted with specialized steam extractors that can clean exotic materials like deep-pile carpets and alcantara at 5% moisture and also regular extractors for general upholstery.

Paintwork Detailing

Moving to the paintwork detailing bays, I`ve got 8-bays which are a combination of standard detailing bays, vertical-access detailing bays(lifts) and discreet detailing bays(curtained-off to keep new-cars being polished discreetly). This excludes overflow sections. Each detailing bay(that includes interior and wet bays as well) is packed with fluorescent lighting equipment which is daylight balanced for accurate color-rendering of each car`s paintwork at approx 400lux. Each car is flanked by a secondary bank of four metal-halide inspection floodlights to pick-out every single imperfection mimicking variable daylight exposure.

Special Applications Booth

In the furthest section of the detailing studio is a special applications booth which is equipped with an air filtration system complete with an extractor similar to paint booths as we use it to apply our proprietary paintwork coatings and is cured with several banks of UV-lights. This clean-room is the brightest and also where we perform custom 3M vehicle film wraps and for window tints as well.

Inspection Rooms

We nickname this the darkroom because of the black walls, ceiling & marble flooring. They absorb the lights from the florescent tubes, metal halide inspection floodlights and PLC lamps. It doesn`t bounce or reflect light from the surfaces. These combination of lights allow us to inspect the car in the various low ambient settings as those found on motor-show floors, showrooms and hotel lobbies. They contrast with the paintwork detailing bay lights. This section is fully air-conditioned and has it`s own ionizer and air filtration system. They double up as thermostatically-monitored storage rooms over extended periods of time.

Lightroom

This is a photography studio purpose built for shooting cars. It spans a massive overhead lightbox engineered with 400 fluoro tubes and has 10 fans cooling the lights. Walls and the fire-resistant polyurethane flooring are white in color. I use it to commercially produce assignments and custom albums for my clients seeking to document their automobile collection.

The Lounge

Here is the customer lounge which is an industrial grunge design and has audiophile speakers, a plasma screen, a concrete-cast conference table equipped with powerpoints for notebooks, WiFi-access, a drinks dispenser and finally is iPad-equipped for clients to browse and play games while waiting for their cars.

That`s the place in a nutshell. There`s a separate office area, a children`s room for my kids to do their homework/play and a nicely sorted warehouse.

I love that you call it a "studio" not a garage, or detail shop. I like your signature too, it`s very much true and inspirational. What`s your trick from keeping surface dust from accumulating on the cars in storage?

**macdude** · 10-27-2010, 01:00 AM

@seech: Thanks mate!

Originally Posted by tssdetailing

I love that you call it a "studio" not a garage, or detail shop. I like your signature too, it`s very much true and inspirational. What`s your trick from keeping surface dust from accumulating on the cars in storage?

Hi Jaison,

Dust is kept to a minimum in my facility because I run evaporative cooling systems throughout and they have filters built-in. The humidity actually helps in terms of dust reduction. Once the cars are completed and ready for delivery they`re usually moved to the display room which is fully air-conditioned and has ionizers and air-filters to further reduce dust contamination. The cars in the active detailing areas are usually covered overnight with microfiber car covers which are cleaned daily and placed/removed by at least 4-crew members for each car to ensure no friction is exerted on the paintwork surface.