Finishing Quick Jobs

mnehls86

mnehls86

New member
So I have a really bad habit of including more work than I quote people mainly because I hate working on a car and having the end result not be near perfect. I just do this as a hobby but would like to just do a wash, clay, wax and vac and be done in a reasonable amount of time but usually I throw in a single stage polish, engine cleaning and protecting the interior and 8-12 hours later I feel good about the end result but my day is pretty much gone and little money to show for it. Now I know all that is my fault for volunteering my time but what do you guys use to finish up these quick jobs and feel satisfied with the end result? Something with fillers? AIO's? And what is the durability of some of these products you use?
 
I feel satisfied knowing the customer got what they paid for, plus maybe a LITTLE more. I have packages ranging from $100 - $1000. They pick the package that fits their needs and budget, and I give them everything they are paying for plus maybe a trim resto or something extra if they need it. What I won't do is things like engines, headlight restos, 1 steps, or something like that unless they want to step up to a bigger package or do an add on. I used to, but that was when I was trying to get established and get my work out there. Don't sell yourself or your services short.
 
hey man i completely know where you are coming from

you want to give them what they pay for and something more to show your work but it seems you might be going a little overboard

i used to completely hook people up because i had my gf helping and now she does not help me anymore so i have to explain to the customers when i am booking that it is just me and that it now takes longer but i still get everything done that is included- just that i dont have the extra time to throw in a headlight polish or little something extra here an there

some of my basic washes/vacuums were ending up getting almost a full interior detail

you just cant do that- you have to find a place to draw the line and not go overboard

i know its hard but you're not doing this as a charity, right?

and another thing i noticed was that i would only get one detail from my regulars because i kept going overboard on the basic washes/interiors for them, thus they never needed a detail again- whoops

now when i see a vehicle in person and they ask "can that come out" i reply with "yes, but that's going to only be something covered in the full interior detail" and i have noticed my sales going up- which definitely helps reward the time put in
 
mnehls86 said:
...what do you guys use to finish up these quick jobs and feel satisfied with the end result? Something with fillers? AIO's? And what is the durability of some of these products you use?
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everyone has their go-to or preference. you could do so many different searches and find numerous threads comparing this product to that product

i like sun-friendly products because most of my work is done outside as it seems the typical family does not have free space to put their vehicle in their actual garage- what the heck?
i have been pretty pleased with the results of XMT 360 and XMT finishing glaze. Just recently starting ordered some Poorboys to give a try.

durability obviously will not be as good with an aio as a two step and sealant or wax but i guess it just depends on each vehicle's condition and what your goals are compared to what they are paying you for :)
 
Just throwing this out there from my experience, You know 95% of people wont notice a difference in a car you clay and hydro in 30 min and one you polish. The thing to keep in mind is for the service you sale. Just exceed expectations. A customer is more likely to notice a dirty window then a swirl on the paint. So while you feel better at the end of the day. They feel the same. I'll never forget this I did a husband and wife's car. One was a GL550 black and the other what a white 911. The GL550 took me like 3 days and I poured my heart out into that car. The husband picked it up and swapped with 911. The 911 I did in like 5 hours. When they came back they were drooling over the 911 that was far from perfect just clay'd and BFWD. The GL and I quote "looks shiny, thanks" :wall. That GL was a dripping wet glowing gem and 911 looked like garbage, but to them.... Moral of the story customers don't see what you see, They don't think like you think. Almost all of them are perfectly happy with a swirled up car if its shiny and beads water when wet. More importantly the little stuff. Cup holders, door jambs, windows, wheel arches, bugs, vacuuming. You just gonna frustrate your self giving away services. Been there done that toooooo many time.
 
Jsmooth said:
Just throwing this out there from my experience, You know 95% of people wont notice a difference in a car you clay and hydro in 30 min and one you polish. The thing to keep in mind is for the service you sale. Just exceed expectations. A customer is more likely to notice a dirty window then a swirl on the paint. So while you feel better at the end of the day. They feel the same. I'll never forget this I did a husband and wife's car. One was a GL550 black and the other what a white 911. The GL550 took me like 3 days and I poured my heart out into that car. The husband picked it up and swapped with 911. The 911 I did in like 5 hours. When they came back they were drooling over the 911 that was far from perfect just clay'd and BFWD. The GL and I quote "looks shiny, thanks" :wall. That GL was a dripping wet glowing gem and 911 looked like garbage, but to them.... Moral of the story customers don't see what you see, They don't think like you think. Almost all of them are perfectly happy with a swirled up car if its shiny and beads water when wet. More importantly the little stuff. Cup holders, door jambs, windows, wheel arches, bugs, vacuuming. You just gonna frustrate your self giving away services. Been there done that toooooo many time.
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very well stated
 
At least you know that you are your own worst enemy. A LITTLE something extra is nice providing that you point out what you have done for the customer at no charge. A LITTLE something is putting Aerospace 303 on the dash when you were only paid to dust it not spending 6 hours more than you've been paid for. Cleaning a spot on the upholstery is nice but polishing the car when you're paid to just wash it??? If you ever do go into business you'll go broke. Throttle yourself back.
 
I too cant help myself. The longer a car is in my garage the more I tend to do on it. I have never gone as far as doing an AIO when all they wanted was a wash N wax but I cant just vacuum carpets and leave a terrible spot that would "only take me 20 mins" if I have the time anyway.
 
Mnehls86 -

Lots of great feedback here...

My take on it - I look at it as not only a Detail, but an art project in a way....
It all has to match.....

It cant go from shiny (at whatever level of shiny you determine) to nasty dulled out yellow headlights... It all has to match...

So, you take out something fast like a rotary and a 3"-4" pad and run some compound over them to clean them up and make them look better - enough to match... not perfect..Unless they are paying for that exclusive service...

You learn what will work quickly, efficiently, and not take a lot of money or your time...

Spot/s on the Headliner ? - Meguiars APC+ is stunning at removing, quickly, forever, leaving no trace or circle where the spot was...

Dirty plastic part that wont clean up good enough to match? Einszett Deep Plastic Cleaner, its gone..

Now, there are all kinds of levels of matching...you just have to determine by the price they are paying and your well written, concise, easy to understand brochure, etc., the level you are going to be giving this Client today...

Best scenario ever - big dollar Clients with equally high end vehicles, paying for perfection... You will be able to achieve and exceed but you need to always balance out the result so you dont end up on the short end...

A good all around compound that leaves great gloss quickly is still my favorite - Sonax Perfect Finish 4/6... You dont need a 2nd step after, the way I have learned to use it.. I dont really care what anyone else thinks about it or rants on about it, it flat works and works quickly, and finished with Sonax Polymer Net Shield, it will be stunning and last a long time for the Client...

Good luck with your business ! You will never run out of nice vehicles in SoCal !!! :)
Dan F
 
I hear ya, my last job I used 3in wool pads and DP all in one headlight polish and did the rears tails of a Chevy 3500 truck free of charge. Surprisingly they were in much worse condition than the fronts. They turned out great, owner liked it a lot and I got a tip :)
 
Jsmooth said:
Moral of the story customers don't see what you see, They don't think like you think. Almost all of them are perfectly happy with a swirled up car if its shiny and beads water when wet. More importantly the little stuff. Cup holders, door jambs, windows, wheel arches, bugs, vacuuming.
Click to expand...

Yeah I know what you mean. I washed the car the other day and was complaining about how bad it looked and my wife had no idea what I was talking about and said it looked good. Also regarding the 911 and GL, one of the vehicle's I put probably the most work into, when I delivered it the owner didn't even go out and check it out. He just looked out the garage and said "thanks, it looks great". Notice no exclamation point lol.

RTexasF said:
At least you know that you are your own worst enemy. A LITTLE something extra is nice providing that you point out what you have done for the customer at no charge. A LITTLE something is putting Aerospace 303 on the dash when you were only paid to dust it not spending 6 hours more than you've been paid for. Cleaning a spot on the upholstery is nice but polishing the car when you're paid to just wash it??? If you ever do go into business you'll go broke. Throttle yourself back.
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Very true. Most of it is for friends and family so I don't mind spending some extra time on it but yeah I am getting a little out of hand. Luckily as of now I am not considering doing this as a business.

dcjredline said:
I too cant help myself. The longer a car is in my garage the more I tend to do on it..
Click to expand...

Yep, I walk around it 100 times finding new things every time

Stokdgs said:
My take on it - I look at it as not only a Detail, but an art project in a way....
It all has to match.....

It cant go from shiny (at whatever level of shiny you determine) to nasty dulled out yellow headlights... It all has to match...
Click to expand...
Exactly. That is the whole point for me and that is what makes it so tough.

Stokdgs said:
You learn what will work quickly, efficiently, and not take a lot of money or your time...
Click to expand...
Hopefully sooner than later lol

Stokdgs said:
Spot/s on the Headliner ? - Meguiars APC+ is stunning at removing, quickly, forever, leaving no trace or circle where the spot was...

Dirty plastic part that wont clean up good enough to match? Einszett Deep Plastic Cleaner, its gone..

Now, there are all kinds of levels of matching...you just have to determine by the price they are paying and your well written, concise, easy to understand brochure, etc., the level you are going to be giving this Client today...

Best scenario ever - big dollar Clients with equally high end vehicles, paying for perfection... You will be able to achieve and exceed but you need to always balance out the result so you dont end up on the short end...

A good all around compound that leaves great gloss quickly is still my favorite - Sonax Perfect Finish 4/6... You dont need a 2nd step after, the way I have learned to use it.. I dont really care what anyone else thinks about it or rants on about it, it flat works and works quickly, and finished with Sonax Polymer Net Shield, it will be stunning and last a long time for the Client...

Good luck with your business ! You will never run out of nice vehicles in SoCal !!! :)
Dan F
Click to expand...
Thanks for all the tips. How fast can you apply the Net Shield? I still can't believe I haven't ordered any yet. I will try out the Perfect Finish as well. I won't bother looking into whatever others think about it unless they have tips on using it. Your responses are always in depth and end up benefiting whoever it is directed towards so I have no problem trying out anything you recommend.

512detail said:
i like sun-friendly products because most of my work is done outside as it seems the typical family does not have free space to put their vehicle in their actual garage- what the heck?
i have been pretty pleased with the results of XMT 360 and XMT finishing glaze.
durability obviously will not be as good with an aio as a two step and sealant or wax but i guess it just depends on each vehicle's condition and what your goals are compared to what they are paying you for :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the recommendations. I think the durability problem gets me almost as much as the looks. Maybe it's because I'm always tight on money and feel if someone is paying me $75-$100 for a wash, clay and wax that either the car needs to look great and/or have something protecting it that lasts more than a couple/few weeks. But then it goes back to Joe's statement about most people not even noticing.


All you guys are awesome. Thanks for the tips and criticisms so far. It all helps :)
 
to add to what Jsmooth said about customers not really noticing..take this example of my neighbor's black vette

this is just with one pass of pinnacle xmt 360 on my little megs da drill adapter and 4inch yellow megs pad.

nice improvement but obviously not near where i would have wanted it to be, but then again he thought that milkiness on his car was just from not washing it enough


you can see its still swirled pretty badly but it was "better than [he] had seen it since it was new!"
and he just paid me to wash and wax i just went overboard because he's my neighbor and has loaned me tools all the time when i need them

and the other day i did a basic rinseless and figured i would try using pinnacle liquid gloss rinseless with blackfire polymer spray as drying aid and the results were fantastic! but the customer couldn't notice any difference than normal when i just use ONR alone.
she was actually more pleased with the scuff on the leather seat that i was able to get off with my steam machine that look me about 25 seconds
 
I think I should really give an AIO like that a shot. What kind of protection do you see with the XMT 360? I think I would be happy with that level of correction on quick jobs, plus not having to follow up with anything after would be really nice.
 
mnehls86 said:
I think I should really give an AIO like that a shot. What kind of protection do you see with the XMT 360? I think I would be happy with that level of correction on quick jobs, plus not having to follow up with anything after would be really nice.
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mind you that is on a meg's drill adapter with a 4 inch yellow polishing pad
and i pressed down firmly but not really firm.

durability? i would say 3-4 months max exposed to the elements daily but i have never really tested it.
i usually top 360 with opti-seal just because i still have almost two full bottles and it seems 360 cleans and corrects better than it seals, which is okay with me

but the thing i love the most about using xmt360, not only does it correct quite well for an aio, it almost will buff down to nothing, making the wipeoff extremely easy.

i have seen longer durability out of zaino aio by itself than 360 by itself.

i recently went back and detailed a f250 that this guy doens't take good care of and it cleaned up pretty easily with a rinseless wash and it was a little over 3 months since i had last detailed the truck with 360 (via white ccs hand pad) and opti-seal on top


i expect much better results out of 360 on the cleaning and correcting side if used with a proper machine. 360 was one of my original internet purchases and i chose it because it said it was sun friendly and would buff itself out into nothing (which does not exactly work as advertised but cleanup is extremely easy because nothing really is left on the surface)
i have the spray wax and finishing glaze (personal favorite from their line) from xmt as well and they are both very nice
 
Mnehls86 -

Glad I can help !

I can correct a vehicle with Sonax Perfect Finish 4/6, wipe it down with whatever you choose, just get it clean, and apply Sonax Net Shield right after...

There is no curing, etc., needed coming from Perfect Finish.. Go right to whatever LSP you decide to use for that vehicle/price point/etc...

Sonax Net Shield goes on kind of slow, like its thick even though its a spray that comes out white and turns clear, on a yellow foam pad.. I like to spray the foam and apply rather than spray the panel and wipe it around...

I found that yellow round foam pads are pretty absorbent of this product and a soft foam pad with grabby product is not easy to use, so I started using the awesome, orange little rectangular foam pads from Tuff Shine.. They are great, easy to hold onto, and dense and smooth so they apply this product easier and dont want to absorb as much.. Very inexpensive too.. And of course, these applicators are perfect for applying Tuff Shine ClearCoat to tires...

You just wipe it on a small section, then immediately wipe it off... Dont let it dry.. If it does dry, wipe the applicator over that dried part and it will then come off when you use your clean microfiber towel.

You will know when your microfiber towel is no longer able to remove the Net Shield, so have a few on hand.. I usually use about 10 or more microfiber towels to wipe down Net Shield on an average sized vehicle... These towels will clean up easily with microfiber soap and will not be damaged by the Net Shield.. Been using the same set of microfibers for wipe off for over a year and they are doing fine...

Get set to see some serious water beading from Net Shield... Let it dry for a bit after application/wipe off, not a bunch of hours, but let it dry and whatever else it needs to do which isnt much.. Very user friendly..

The Jet Black BMW Test Vehicle I did going on almost a year now that sits outside 24x7 still beads water like crazy and dirt doesnt seem to want to stick to it as much.. It just all washes off when it rains on it again, which is frequently up here..

You are doing great !!
Good luck with this -
DanF
 
Two things I can add.

"Yep, I walk around it 100 times finding new things every time"

When people asked how I got so good at detailing (assuming I am good), I can trace everything back to the words I just quoted.

By walking around the car, and finding things I missed, I quickly learned how bad I was. Then I developed a process to ensure that I never missed those things again. Ultimately, through process of elimination, I am able to know that once a car is done, it is done. I will still go over it again, but almost never find anything.

It's a matter of having a systematic approach to ensuring each step is carried out correctly.


Secondly, I remember a Chrysler Sebring I detailed when I was first starting out. The guy left the car at my house for the day and I basically went all out, to the limits of my ability at the time.. Really put my heart and soul into it and was SO proud when I was done...

Then I saw the car about 3 months later, driving down the road.. It was TRASHED! The chrome-finish wheels that I spent an hour cleaning the 6-year old caked-on brake dust off of... covered in a rust-colored blanket of dust. The once glistening and brilliant buried under a layer of flith... I was heartbroken...

However this was a daily driver of the daughter of my client's. Even though I tried to impress him (and he paid for a basic service) it still felt unappreciated. Since that day, I offer a service for money, period. My passion I put into it is personal, although nowadays my passion is for doing the job (whatever the job) right.
 
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