Car Washing Horror Stories

Over the weekend I was browsing for Bentley. I guess for the few hundred K they go for they now include "dealer installed holograms". I almost cried when I thought of the dealer skimping on the prep and the employee that ran a polisher over it. (These were new cars) I wish I had my camera.

:wall
 
this is entertaining. haha.



likewise, i've seen the scotch brite pads and the windex quick detailer. the more common horror story i think is dropping a towel/applicator and picking it up for use.
 
LOL!!!



On my second ever customer (this is my first post), she had a black honda odessey van, and it was in the 90's outside. I turned on the water hose and sprayed the hood. There was so much steam I couldn't believe it...



Long story short, she was pissed but I told her I would come back at night and finish it when it was cooler. She's still my #1 customer :)
 
A buddy of mine has a late 80's Corvette as a summer car. The paint is in pretty bad condition (doesn't feel smooth at all, in dire need of some TLC). I think he keeps it outside, exposed to all the elements.



Anyway, I was at his place one weekend and we were outside. He let his kids (9 and 5) wash the car. I just watched incredulously as they poured Dawn into a bucket of water and went at the paint with a dirty sponge, making long circular strokes with tons of pressure. Drop the sponge? No problem .. just shake it a bit and it's good as new! Then they used an old bath towel to dry. :wow:
 
I think it is a horror story every time I watch someone who calls themselves a professional detailer wash a car with out the proper contaminant controls, does not reclaim discharge nor properly dispose of waste water!



I get nightmares that our Professional Industry will get so over regulated as a result ... you should too!



-jim
 
Relaited said:
I think it is a horror story every time I watch someone who calls themselves a professional detailer wash a car with out the proper contaminant controls, does not reclaim discharge nor properly dispose of waste water!



I get nightmares that our Professional Industry will get so over regulated as a result ... you should too!



-jim
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They made storm drains for waste water.. Works great.. :think2
 
Please tell me you are joking ... for a second, Ithought you were from Western kentucky ... my feable attempt at humor back at ya.



Storms drains here in So California are a serious threat to the Detailing Industry.



I am off to go to the State Water Control Board and give testimony.



Part of it is to let the governing bodies that not all Detailers express this sentiment. The good ones can and are complying with standards to protect discharge into the storm drains, and the others, well, they should be removed from this industry at once!



-jim
 
My brother bought a Green Pontiac G6 from Enterprise about a year ago because his car bit the dust and needed something ASAP. It was only a couple years old and looking at it, it didn't look that bad (other than some scratched up hub-caps). So for christmas he wanted me to detail it...I wash it and realize that the paint is unbelievably rough. It ended up taking me a full day to try and get this thing in decent shape, Ive done it twice now, and it gets a little better each time but it'll never be alright. Me and my dad joke that the guys at enterprise must have washed it with a metal bristled brush or something, just scratched and swirled everywhere and it feels like there's no clear on it. This car will soon be the second victime of my new G110 and M105/M205.
 
The owner of the company I work for runs hus 750i through the cloth wash across the street every day.



A guy at work had an egg thrown at his car, a brand new (a day or two off the lot) toyota matrix. I watch in awe as he vigorously scrubs the egg off with a red shop rag that gets recycled and returned with metal shavings still in it, and SD20, an industrial degreaser. Meanwhile I get mad every time I see another swirl or scratch in my 7 year old car.



My dad has a pre-payed carwash thing with Holiday gas stations, they exclisively have very violent cloth washes. The leading edges of the fenders are actually absent of paint. Worn all the way through the primer.
 
My worst horror story is my father. Growing up he said to never used car washes that have brushes. In fact, I don't take my cars to ANY car wash save for the Escape which I don't really care about. However, I refuse to use any brush on it's paint.



Well, for some reason in the past few years he always takes his four cars to the car wash. Won't wash them by hand anymore. Maybe it's because he's lazy or just getting up there in age. Fine, fair enough. Then one day I'm over and I see horrible scratches all over the Jeep which is a dark green. I asked what happened to the Jeep and they looked at me funny. Later I found out that he goes to the car wash and uses the WHEEL brush on the paint!!!! He justifies that he cleans out the brake dust first.



I asked him if he was senile. You can see the marks on all the cars now. The other three are silver. What a shame.
shakehead.gif
 
Polygon said:
My worst horror story is my father. Growing up he said to never used car washes that have brushes. In fact, I don't take my cars to ANY car wash save for the Escape which I don't really care about. However, I refuse to use any brush on it's paint.



Well, for some reason in the past few years he always takes his four cars to the car wash. Won't wash them by hand anymore. Maybe it's because he's lazy or just getting up there in age. Fine, fair enough. Then one day I'm over and I see horrible scratches all over the Jeep which is a dark green. I asked what happened to the Jeep and they looked at me funny. Later I found out that he goes to the car wash and uses the WHEEL brush on the paint!!!! He justifies that he cleans out the brake dust first.



I asked him if he was senile. You can see the marks on all the cars now. The other three are silver. What a shame.
shakehead.gif
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Something about getting up there in those years... They do things we never thought they would... :(
 
I've seen this group of guys cleaning their cars at the gas station,when this other dude comes up with the roll of paper towels and they start drying their cars off with that and putting wax on the cars with it also.
 
Yamaha0219 said:
My brother bought a Green Pontiac G6 from Enterprise about a year ago because his car bit the dust and needed something ASAP. It was only a couple years old and looking at it, it didn't look that bad (other than some scratched up hub-caps). So for christmas he wanted me to detail it...I wash it and realize that the paint is unbelievably rough. It ended up taking me a full day to try and get this thing in decent shape, Ive done it twice now, and it gets a little better each time but it'll never be alright. Me and my dad joke that the guys at enterprise must have washed it with a metal bristled brush or something, just scratched and swirled everywhere and it feels like there's no clear on it. This car will soon be the second victime of my new G110 and M105/M205.
Click to expand...



I used to be a Car Prep for Enterprise. You're pretty close about the metal brush. We use a nylon brush and we just let it sit on the ground. It picks up dirt and little pebbles etc etc. I only got paid 9 bucks/hr lol.



NEVER buy a car from a rental place. We beat on it like crazy. The price sucks too. I looked up a civic and it was the same price with 20,000 miles as my BRAND NEW civic. Same model year, same trim. I bought my brand new civic for 17k. Enterprise was selling it with 20,000 miles for 17k.
 
this isnt a car wash story, but a few months back, I was working on a Porsche 933, polishing the mirror, when the wind blew the tie string from my shorts near the rotary, getting it caught and pulling my shorts. I stepped away from the car so I wouldnt hit it, but the rotary totally dug into my shorts (dangerously near my privet area) and jammed itself after almost pulling my testicles off:sosad. I was working in my customers warehouse during the day and blew the breaker(because the rotary was jammed in my shorts) to half his production line!



Well.. at least the Porsche came out awesome..

a24e47d3.jpg




:LOLOL:LOLOL:buffing::buffing:
 
In my old neighborhood I swear I saw the doctor down the street QDing his Boxter. It gets worse. He was using paper towels and windX.

I wanted to go back to make sure it wasn't Jose Zuniga beauty-fying the Porsche.



One of my best buds washed his moms Karrman Beetle with 409, removed some paint. He was about 6-7 at the time, so he wasn't killed. Good thing he didn't wash his mom's primary car, a black BMW.
 
BUMP:

Today I went to the local AutoZone and saw a guy spray tire foam all over his black Vette. I asked him why he was using it and he claimed the shine is second to none!
 
David Fermani said:
BUMP:

Today I went to the local AutoZone and saw a guy spray tire foam all over his black Vette. I asked him why he was using it and he claimed the shine is second to none!
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Lol. C4 right?
 
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