if you knew then what you knew now....

[tssdetailing]

so what did you used to do, either before becoming a pro or while you were developing your business before you knew better?



well before i knew better or even considered my self a car fanatic, i used to remove wax with a terry cloth towel.....oh what was I THINKING?!

[imported_Devilsown]

I to am guilty of the terry cloth sin. Im trying to think what else

[Setec Astronomy]

You know for some of us, it doesn`t seem that long ago that there wasn`t such a thing as microfiber towels, and terry cloth was what was recommended...my Meguiar`s #26 containers say to wipe off with a "fresh cotton terry cloth towel".

[WAS]

My Meg`s Gold Class Liquid wax says to remove with a cotton terry towel. So yes, I also am guilty of using terry cloths for that. Also, before becoming a pro detailer, I didn`t notice swirling buffer trails and other such paint defects as much as I do now. Honestly, there isn`t a single car on the road that I`ve seen that doesn`t have swirls.

[Dan]

I think the whole concept of swirls. I don`t think I even really noticed them that much or just thought it was normal. Its really a curse though.

[tssdetailing]

that is SOOO true! I can`t even appreciate regular cars now b/c all i see are swirls and orange peel.



Another thing I used to do was use tire shine on the engine components! Made it nice and glossy, then after driving it to a show-totally covered in dust.

[dennn]

I do not recall swirl elimination being the primary concern of detailing 15 or so years ago. In fact, it didn`t seem too long ago that people were more concerned with filling in swirls than removing them. But times have changed.



I started using the regular Porter Cable about ten years ago. Of course, back then, there weren`t that much pad selections. And most of the finishing pads back then were almost as coarse as the light cutting pads are now. There were definitely not a lot of choices on pad sizes.





With the introductions of Microfiber towels, ultra soft polishing pads, and ultra fine polishes, people are able to achieve extreme gloss that were unprecedented!!!



cotton terry cloth was considered the best material for applying and removing polishes and waxes!!! There were no microfibers back then. Certainly not 20 years ago!!!

[tssdetailing]

that`s really interesting-sorry to point it out, but man, that`s really showing your age man!

[Accumulator]

The primary change in my detailing over the last few decades is that I now inspect under *VERY* demanding lighting, whereas before I was satisfied if things looked OK most of the time (i.e., in "normal lighting"). MF is nice, and the foamguns have made it easier to keep things marring-free, but I really don`t think I`ve changed what I do all *that* much since the days of single stage lacquer.



Speaking of showing one`s age ....

You know for some of us, it doesn`t seem that long ago that there wasn`t such a thing as microfiber towels, and terry cloth was what was recommended...

Right. And some terry is perfectly OK (anybody felt a "Koala Soft" towel recently?). It`s just a question of whether [whatever`s touching the paint] mars the finish or not. For me, the nicest thing IMO about MF is "no surprises". Used to be you could mar the paint during the final wax buff-off if you grabbed a fresh towel that had somehow gotten a bit coarse since the last time you used it.

I do not recall swirl elimination being the primary concern of detailing 15 or so years ago. In fact, it didn`t seem too long ago that people were more concerned with filling in swirls than removing them. But times have changed.

While filling was much more common decades ago (when the Meguiar`s Pure Polishes, 3M SMR/IHG, and other such stuff was the usual penultimate step and before sealants came out), polishing out the majority of the marring out has always normal *for me* since forever.



It seems the big jump was when foam pads came out; before that you either let the products fill after using wool or you did the "hand rubbed" thing. FWIW, I`ve only been machine polishing my own cars since I got my first Cyclo in the mid-`80s. Before that I did them all by hand, in part because of my experiences using rotaries/wool on other people`s cars. There was only one foam pad for the Cyclo (the green one) until, IIRC, around 1988 when they first expanded the line with the white finishing/waxing pad.



Mike Phillips would know when Meguiar`s started their line of foam pads (late `70s perhaps?). IIRC those were only for use on rotaries.



By the time Griot`s started selling RO sanders for use as polishers around 1990, there was a wide assortment of 5-6" pads- different foams in both smooth and waffle texture.

[Pats300zx]

I remember when the best thing to wipe your car down with was a diaper. Now they are only good for catching p**p

[Tru_Shine]

lol. that was on that metropolitan detail video, he wipes a lambo or a Ferrari with a baby diaper. I was like "What??"

[rdorman]

I used Terry Cloth towels for seven years on the single stage laquer paint on my Cobra. No swirls. So, there are some good ones out there.



Not being in the business... the first time I waxed the forementioned car I used WAY to much of a high carnuba wax, applied it to the whole car and let it sit. It was covered with a yellow ROCK hard coating that took many, many hours to knock down. Lesson learned! Once I learned how to use that wax correctly it was an `easy` wax to use.



I also used to have one of those 10" car parts store polishers... though I was so cool. Until I discovered how useless that was! My PC works much better.

[99blackSE]

I used a brush once *shivers* back when I was 15, used terries on paint and didn`t notice swirls at all. I was a religious user of Megs DC system as well heh.

[Mr.Concours]

If I knew what I knew know-



Took me a long time to stop only being loyal to only one brand of product,I realised that there are in fact lots of different `very good `products out there,however conversly if someones say `wax` is very good it doesn`t follow that there glass cleaner,vynil cleaner ect is on par with the great wax you`ve found.

[imported_Gears]

Once used soap powder for a dishwasher to wash my car. I thought if it claims to

have a sheeting action and dry without spots it would be just the ticket for my ride.

Man o man that stuff was like washing with sand and gravel.