Hi guys
I chip in now and again for Paul as his marketing and PR guy to help put things in context. Time prevents me from being a more fully-fledged member of this community, so apologies if most of you have never heard from me before.
Anyway, a few points of (possible) enlightenment!
- Melting carnauba... as is pointed out, raw carnauba itself can't be melted in the hand. It isn't very precisely worded, it is meant to imply that the carnauba wax blend 'melts' in the hand... warmth certainly softens the mixture, but this is probably to do with the oils/glycerine etc. in the product more than the wax itself.
- Eating Zymol... I am not sure I would eat a wax like Zymol, knowing what I know about wax manufacturing in general. It may contain edible substances like carnauba, but you don't know the other elements to the manufacturing process. Remember that extraction of carnauba wax from the carnauba palm may also involve some pretty exciting techniques.
- Cost of Zymol Royale... you do, as long as this stands, get free refills for life. The pricing reflects exclusivity, packaging, branding and marketing more than the raw material cost of the wax. Remember, you can tell the time cheaper than with a Rolex. In my personal opinion, there are many products which may approach the performance of Royale at a lower cost. I am not sure that Zymol would even dispute this, like Rolex probably don't claim their watches are the most accurate timepieces in the universe. You are paying for something 'more'. If you are a pro detailer, you may not wish to pay for this added something.
- Fifth Gear video... I mentioned this on another thread, but this video of Paul in action was repackaged, reformulated and re-edited for a mass TV audience, not for a panel of pro-detailers. It had the effect of bringing detailing to people that didn't even know it existed. Do you think the '£200' detail would get the press excited? The TV shoot took a day, not the two weeks that a Pinnacle Miracle Detail would take. Two buckets weren't used because the car was clinically clean anyway and a mass audience would be unlikely to pick up on the one bucket/two bucket technique.
- Over-polishing. Paul only polishes cars when it is necessary and when the paint depth allows him to do so. A lot of his customers do ask for paint correction to remove swrilmarks etc but this isn't done every couple of weeks on a car. Also, Paul can measure before/after paint depths. His techniques and products allow him to take only a few microns off, rather than hundreds at a time.
- Cost of Pinnacle Detail. Most of Paul's details cost about £300-500 without paint correction, £600-900 with, over 1 or 2 days. The Pinnacle was an extreme showcase of his potential services, taking up to two weeks. He could do a 'half-Pinnacle' for £2400 but then this wouldn't be the pinnacle, would it? Paul's hourly rate is £75 per hour, and this includes all material and capital costs, including paint depth gauges, Mercedes van, Zymol Royale etc. Volkswagen dealers over here charge upwards of £80 per hour for an oil/filter service, so he's not too much of a 'rip-off' or 'snake oil merchant'. If he does the Pinnacle in half a day and the car looks rubbish, please tell me and I'll stop marketing him in the way that I do
- Top Gear article? Not sure he has had any more than a cursory mention in Top Gear magazine. If he has, please tell me. He has had features in Autocar and Auto Express though, as you can see on the press page at
Miracle Detail
Finally, many thanks for your comments, good and bad. I even learn stuff from the criticsm. The main point is that although Paul may have competitors in the detailing business, even at his level, we wanted to bring detailing to the masses and show that washing cars isn't just a Sunday morning chore. Also, swirlmarks, contrary to popular belief don't come with cars as standard! We still have some education to do.
All the best,
MA
