Mistakes Made LETS HEAR THEM!

F

Fishroes

Member
After reading Sir Accumulators post in the layering black fire thread thought it would be a good idea to start a thread about what not to do in detailing. I’m pretty sure all u folks have made a few mistakes along the way. Most threads here are what to do, not what not to do. Hopefully that will help folks also. I really can’t contribute yet, I’m just maintaining 2 newer vehicles (clay, polish with DA and lsp) Have 3 other ones that need correction though. When the weather warms I probably can contribute. Just bought a rotary and wool pad. LOOKOUT paint here I come!!! I watch Every episode of This Old House and I have never seen nobody make a mistake. They could probably do a bloopers series if they wanted too. LOL
 
I tried to help an acquaintance with an OCD obsession about swirls and scratches. He was the second owner of the vehicle in question, and knew the area in question had been re-sprayed by the original owner. He had already taken a rotary to the paint (which probably was responsible for many of the defects he was obsessing about). Long story short, I tried to polish out the defects and quickly went through the very soft and very thin clearcoat and paint down to the primer. I honestly was shocked by how quickly it happened.

I wound up paying to have the hatch re-sprayed. That soured my taste for making other people`s problems my own.
 
I like 16oz bottles and use the same style. I like symmetry.

Long story short I grabbed a bottle of diluted Gyeon Cure. Ooops I actually grabbed a bottle of 3D sprayable dressing. Took a solid hour to get it off the hood.

Yes the bottles were labeled. I now use colored coordinated Kwazar sprayers
 
When we first started we tried everything out there before figuring out techniques versus products. Got very lucky and met Rod Kraft who was with meguiars when they gave training classes. Got me pointed in the right direction and most importantly explained why things are done the way they are. Now he works for Griot’s and we’ve taken it to another level. Also learned to not over promise about scratches and how important it is to measure the paint before going after scratches!
 
TC, did something similar with meguiars retail bottles.

Went for the ult detailer after a wash, ended up cursing at the ult interior detailer wondering why it was as streaking like crazy any and super hard to buff all the residue ��
 
My worst feeling was back in the early 2000’s. I was asked to remove an old vinyl dealer sticker by a customer at my Dad’s car lot. It was a 1996 Mustang and the vinyl sticker was faded and in rough shape. I heated the sticker and paint with a heat gun to aid in removal of the sticker. I applied too much heat and was having difficulty removing the vinyl so I reached for a tool I had used in the past. A razor blade!

The paint must have softened from the heat and when I went to begin “carefully” start the removal I caught the paint and the razor blade dug through the paint down to the primer. I immediately showed the owner, and he was very cool with it. My dad offered to have it painted and he refused to allow it. I don’t think he ever fixed it. I will never make that mistake again. I now own plastic razor blades. I’m much less careless with the heat gun.
 
nickclark08 said:
TC, did something similar with meguiars retail bottles.

Went for the ult detailer after a wash, ended up cursing at the ult interior detailer wondering why it was as streaking like crazy any and super hard to buff all the residue 😳
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Been there done that:)

Thankfully Meguiar’s Xpress spray wax doesn’t cause any damage to interiors. The Meguiar’s professional bottles for Xpress and Quik interior look identical. I always double check now. I actually didn’t mind the mistake the Xpress Wax has almost an air freshener scent.
 
I dunno if I have enough time to list all the mistakes I`ve made.

Needless to say, they were all made out of carelessness, laziness, thinking I know something, or overthinking. (or not thinking)
 
`PRND[S said:
;2129630`]I tried to help an acquaintance with an OCD obsession about swirls and scratches. He was the second owner of the vehicle in question, and knew the area in question had been re-sprayed by the original owner. He had already taken a rotary to the paint (which probably was responsible for many of the defects he was obsessing about). Long story short, I tried to polish out the defects and quickly went through the very soft and very thin clearcoat and paint down to the primer. I honestly was shocked by how quickly it happened.

I wound up paying to have the hatch re-sprayed. That soured my taste for making other people`s problems my own.
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You polish/fix enough of others mistakes and eventually you’ll get “burned”. The owner I’m sure went crazy with with the rotary. Did you get a paint gauge after that?
 
Ronkh said:
I dunno if I have enough time to list all the mistakes I`ve made.

Needless to say, they were all made out of carelessness, laziness, thinking I know something, or overthinking. (or not thinking)
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Ron, the former “Best Detailer” doesn’t make detailing mistakes. The cars in question all obviously shifted due to some mechanical failure and caused the improbable blemish:)
 
My mistake I’m dealing with now is geared for those starting to do it as a full time or part time business is charging to little for the job. When all products and supplies were taken care of I was making anywhere between $1-5 hr cause not everyone is as ocd bout paint as I am.


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Some of you have heard my biggies before, but anyhow:

-Burned clear with PC/4" Polishing/3M05937 of all combos! Only time I`ve ever done that to a paintjob in the 40-some years I`ve been buffing cars.

-Overthinned the paint on a few, including the `93 Audi (very different from "burning" the clear). Yeah I have an ETG, no I don`t really have any excuses other than (and I`m serious) I`d rather have risked/lived with the resulting paint damage than still see the marring I could`ve left...every time I`ve done this it was an informed judgement call; my game/my rules. Upside was that I`ve found that exposed pearl/base/primer coats can actually hold up, and even protect, quite well for many years.

-Using the steamer, I`ve melted the plastic retaining clip for a hood-prop rod, the carpet in two vehicles, and the doorpanel fabric one one. Still don`t get the carpet damage since the exact same procedure worked fine on all the surrounding areas of the same carpet.

-I`ve ASSUMED that a final light wipedown with FK425 wouldn`t mess with recently applied Collinite 476S. Wrong...had to strip/redo a car that had been ready to go.

-I`ve botched the layering of FK1000P and had to deal with the resultant pseudo-holograms.

-I`ve left holograms, of some degree, on every b/c car I`ve ever rotaried. ALWAYS cleared `em up with a RO/DA, but still...I just never got 100% dialed-in with regard to finishing out hologram-free, finally quit caring.

-I`ve chipped paint with the metal fittings on a hose because I dropped it instead of setting it down carefully.

-I`ve marred paint by not replacing the QD that attaches the Foamgun to the hose soon enough (popped off under pressure).

-I`ve marred paint by allowing the uncushioned edge of a work platform to hit the vehicle when I bumped into it (upside: discovered that many layers of KSG can provide an amazingly effective barrier/sacrificial coating that can minimize such damage, lucky me!)

-I`ve marred paint during the wash by not retesting my Wash Media frequently enough.

Eh, I must be missing something (and if anybody here remembers any OOPS! I`ve posted about, please mention it)....that`s an incredibly (as in "just not credible") short list for a guy who started in the mid-70s and I`m sure I`ve botched up more stuff than that, but nothing else is coming to mind. I *am* awfully careful about what I`m doing and quite dedicated with regard to thinking stuff through before/during/after any procedures. Even now I`ll think on something like my Maintenance Wash Regimen for extended periods on a regular basis, filling pages with notes/thoughts. And I maintain a very good focus on the task at hand, don`t even have the tunes on any more lest I be distracted. As with almost everything else in life, virtually all of my mistakes could`ve/would`ve/should`ve been avoided by more, or better, thinking.. so I keep working on that.
 
Sir Accumulator you just jump started my brain. I said in first post that I haven’t really screwed up, well I have. Was washing the wife’s 2017 Highlander (it was probably 3 months old). Rinsing with gas pressure washer (2 piece metal wand that screws together) threads got loose and I didn’t know it. Outer half popped off and hit right below the bottom of hatchback. Put scratch on door and horizontal surface below door. The wife seen it I told her I don’t know what happen! Touch up paint will fix it. Haven’t got around to it yet
 
re-tired said:
Wasted to much $$ on to many products I never really needed
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No kidding. I was doing just fine with M105/M205 and a Gold Class paste wax for a weekend warrior... then I found Autopia/Autogeek. My wallet hasn`t been the same since.

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