How times have changed

C

CharlesW

The Rainmaker
The recent thread about some wash and wax sponge made me think about a few things that have been added to the detailing world that many of us would have really turned up our noses at. At least I sure would have.

Clay: If someone had come up to me with a clay bar and told me he was going to use it on my vehicle, I would have sprayed him down with a hose.

Waterless Washes: Wash my car without using any water? That's crazy talk.

Rinseless Washes: Wash a complete vehicle with a gallon of water and no hose? Another crazy one.

WOWA Sealants: Wipe it on and you are finished? More crazy talk.

MF Towels: You are trying to tell me I can dry my vehicle with just one towel? Go away. It takes at least three and sometimes four good cotton terry towels to do the job.

AIO Tire Cleaner & Dressing: Yeah, and it probably doesn't clean very well and does an even worse job of dressing the tires.

Chances are I'm forgetting some others, but all of the above are now part of my product list and 10 years ago I wouldn't even have considered them.

Disclaimer: I am not endorsing the magic sponge by any means, but who knows what the next step will be?
 
me too ... gel dressing ..no way...now i cant live without it ...aerosol dressing yea right .....citrus based cleaners ...you have to roll with it or get left behind
 
Who remembers baby oil on dashboard or brake fluid on tires. I hope im not highjacking your thread Charles.
 
atkinsonair said:
Who remembers baby oil on dashboard or brake fluid on tires. I hope im not highjacking your thread Charles.
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No problem with hi-jacking the thread. It doesn't have any real direction to start with. :D

While I'm certainly old enough, the baby oil and brake fluid are a couple of things I never used or even heard of in the old days. I do remember an uncle that mixed a small amount of kerosene in his car wash solution, though. He felt it helped remove road oil, (It probably did), and left the paint more shiny. In those days, waxing a car was not nearly as easy as it is today. My father used Simonize paste and it was a real chore to remove. He probably did it no more than twice a year.

My original point was the number of products we accept and use today that are very contrary to what we believed just a few years ago.
 
CharlesW said:
No problem with hi-jacking the thread. It doesn't have any real direction to start with. :D

While I'm certainly old enough, the baby oil and brake fluid are a couple of things I never used or even heard of in the old days. I do remember an uncle that mixed a small amount of kerosene in his car wash solution, though. He felt it helped remove road oil, (It probably did), and left the paint more shiny. In those days, waxing a car was not nearly as easy as it is today. My father used Simonize paste and it was a real chore to remove. He probably did it no more than twice a year.
My original point was the number of products we accept and use today that are very contrary to what we believed just a few years ago.
Click to expand...

My wife asked me why I wax so much too. Because her father only waxed his car twice a year.
 
wool pads only , no PC and a one speed buffer usually a wren brand ........ and you used rubbing compound first ............. if there was a lot of oxidation .............
 
CharlesW, I'm surprised you used cotton towels only to dry. I remember using old castoff bath towels, never thought to buy a new fancy bath towel solely for use on the vehicles/boats. :idea Also used chamois, the real deal not these new fangled synthetic numbers. :D Didn't use a blower for drying either, the broom you used to sweep the sidewalk after mowing and edging wouldn't have made a very good tool for drying. :yikes:

No baby oil or brake fluid, but did use the scrubbing products (ala Comet, etc.) for cleaning white sidewalls.

Not even a single speed machine, by hand/elbow/shoulder/back. But hey, we were young back then. ;)
 
At car shows yrs ago ( in the 70's) we used to put vaseline petroleum jelly on the tires to give it a shine. Looked good at the show but collected everything on the road on the way home!!!!
 
What I was trying to get across was not all the weird things we did in the past, but how some of the things we considered weird are now commonplace in the detailing world.
The things I listed are things I use today that would have been considered a no-no just a few years back.
 
Understood, guess we all got sidetracked!!!! But just think of the stuff that we did use (pledge, vaseline, baby oil) that we would NEVER use today.

Hey we made do with what we had and of course like you said, a lot of things we would never have thought of using like clay and such. I guess its just a vicious circle - who knows what the latest and greatest item to use will be in the future!!! (hope its not the shamwow!!!!!!)
 
grisby said:
At car shows yrs ago ( in the 70's) we used to put vaseline petroleum jelly on the tires to give it a shine. Looked good at the show but collected everything on the road on the way home!!!!
Click to expand...

Man I'm a young buck. Vaseline of wheels :wow:... how long did it take to apply?
 
my boss at my part time job had diff porsche's from the 70's and 80's which had a black centerpiece and polished lip wheels, and he always said porsche owners did this often in the day. actually did it a few times for him, and actually, did leave a nice finish lol. cant say what it would do for other type wheels
 
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