Do dealerships use dual action polishers?

Barry Theal

New member
This local dealership now does. :waxing:



Its only been a few months since we opened 3D Products of Manheim. Let me tell you it has been a huge success so far. Scott, Matt and Myself have been making a huge impact here locally distrubuting 3D Professional Car Detailing Products in Pennsylvania. As things move foward, our goal was to infiltrate into local dealerships and focus on a select group. In the few months since our opening we have made a statement and then some! Its been a huge blessing. Along the way we have established over 40 accounts already and pretty soon we will be launching our retail website. Along with selling products comes educating the end user on proper detailing and product usage. Several weeks back one of our lager accounts who have I think 9 new and used car dealerships ask us to come in and do some training. We set the date and had a blast. I was pretty excited about this and thought I would share some photos. I hope you enjoy them.



It was a small 6 hour training with the first half of it being educational and the second half being hands on. It was my focus to introduce proper DA paint correction and polishing.



First thing first! Lets get rid of the old suppliers banner and hang a brand spanking new one up!



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Here we were getting prepared for the event. I was about ready to start the Education Side of it. I had a white board set up. I was explaining the proper movents of DA Polishing. I got into all kinds of crazy things about stroke size, pressure, speed, and all the other crazy things thats involved with polishing.



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Had the guys a little confused. Whats that shiny thing on that dewalt polisher? Yup thats the crazy defect killer called the Dynabrade strapped and loaded with a 3D Orange Foam Euro Pad.



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Here we began to use the 3D Nano Prep towel and 3D Final Touch to cleanse the paint surface and remove the surface contaminants. I was Point out some defects in the paint. It had some etching.



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We were under flourecent lighting with isn't the greatest for spotting defects, so I broke out the Streamline LED light to really enhace the defects.



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Here I was demonstrating proper machine speeds and settings. The 3D polisher was armed with our Ultrafiber Cuttiing Pads and some HD Uno.



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Employees of the dealership really got involved and were loving the dynabrade.



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This gentelman here is one of the painters at the bodyshop they have on premise who was intrigued by DA Polishing. We had a great conversation about sanding and polishing.



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Here is Nick our parttime employee helping out. You may remember Nick as a helper in some of my write ups for Presidential Details.



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Here is the Reconditioning Manager and myself talking a little. Its not just about polishing. We discussed shop effeincy and ways to improve there overall performance. This guys is all business and very smart in running a shop.



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This gentleman never held a polisher till this moment. Withing minutes he had a dialed in finish like a boss!



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Scotts knowledge of chemicals has really come along way.His efforts into building 3D Manheim has been incredible. Here he was discussing a bunch of samples we had.



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At the end of the day all the employees recieved some free HD shirts courtesy of 3D Manheim, but now most importantly we had our first 3D Detailers Trained. It was a huge success. Its amazing what open minds can do!



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At the end of the day I want to thank Nick, Scott and the incredible guys at the dealership for giving me one amazing day! :smile1:
 
Glad to see and hear things are going well!!! Looks like you opened up some minds!! Looking forward to the website!! In the meantime--is 3D Products of Manheim a retail location that I could stop in to pick up a few things as I'll be in Lancaster in mid September???
 
3D of Manheim taking on Lancaster County LIKE A BOSS!!!



It's truly awesome to see a gentleman who went from the brink to A-List detailer and STILL finds time out of his busy schedule to help folks out improve their game regardless if it's someone from a high volume dealership to someone who hasn't even waxed their ride let alone detail it, to the Autopian fanatic in all of us! My hat is definately off to you, Scott, Nick, and the rest of your team! Very inspiring to say the least.

So when are you guys gonna have an Autopian meet up?!? Show'em how we roll in Amish Country!! LOL :rockon1:
 
Charlie, there are small, family owned dealership who still do want to do what is right.

Had a few hundred of them send their people to the PrepExcellence course at Automotive International over 13 years.

Problem was that when their "managers" changed and were on a "profit center" bonus program, all the training, etc went away. (cheap products, fast, get it shiney methods, low pay, etc)

As most who have read my posts over the past few years, I was in on the first big go-around using dual actions back in late 89.

I quickly saw the benefits, when used for what they could do at the time, and when I left Finish Kare and moved to AI. brought that type of machine technology to not only our auto processing centers but added it to our PrepExcellence Training Course.

So, since Jan of 1996, the use of a dual action, it's posistives, it's limitations, etc have been a big part of training folks regarding the various methods of polishing a vehicle's finish.

Will be gone/retired for 4 years the end of the month, but I know that Tim still teaches the great abilities of a dual action polisher for today's finishes.

Grumpy
 
:funnypost Who knows? Maybe one day Tunch will hire me as The Director of Training Then you will get an Army. For now though:hifive: its just something I really love to do.
 
David Fermani said:
Then there'd be even less need for detail shops.... :(



I don't agree; there are a lot of dealers for whom outsourcing is still more cost effective than having an in house department or individual. It is the larger high-line and even manufacturer franchise stores with their own operations (who already aren't using detail shops) that are in desperate need of training and education about modern equipment and techniques.
 
Less and less dealers are outsourcing to detail shops these days. I can't remember the last one that reverted. Especially when there are so many labor mills making their way to the market too. Here's a big outfit: Teph Seal - Auto Appearance that has tried sucking up business in the Metro Detroit & Florida markets.



My point is, by giving better training to the dealership, the detail shops have an even greater chance of loosing dealer business. Dealers hate loosing that potential on-site profit vein to detail shops. You make detailing easier, then they are more apt to keep things under their roof. i.e. less goes out to the detail shops.



I'm afraid to say that most dealers should be doing things themselves. It makes more sense. It's the small ones that can't keep a person busy with work where they can justify sending things out.
 
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