My first paid detail

G

golfdude

New member
The car was cleaned over two days, with roughly 14 hours put into it. The interior was done on one day, taking 4 hours, and the exterior took nine and a half hours to complete. Any tips to make the time shorter (it was all by myself for this one, and when I was done I had suffered from exhaustion)

My process was as follows:



Interior:

-Clean interior vinyl/dash with Sonus Leather Cleaner (it is formulated to clean vinyl)

-dress interior with Sonus Total Eclipse

-vacuum interior

-try to clean carpets with 303 Upholstery and Fabric Cleaner (the stains were old coffee)



Exterior:

-Turtle Wax Bug & Tar Remover for the front end

-wash with Sonus Gloss Shampoo

-Sonus claybar (this part really took a long time since a lot of tar was etched into the paint

-Sonus SFX 1 with Sonus Orange pad for heavily scratched areas

-Sonus SFX 2 with Sonus Green pad to remove swirls

-AIO

-P21S



The following pics are after the wash, before the polishing...the after pics of my labor will come soon (sorry for the lack of many detailed pics, but I was in a rush, and when I was done, the owner needed the car immediately):



553rxk




553s0l




553teh




553tzn




553uab




553ucy
 
looks like the interior was a piece of work. cupholders like that are my nightmare, so are those mats ;) post those afters of interior when u get em
 
I tried my best with everything, but I wasn't too impressed with the cupholders. I felt that the biggest improvements were in the dash and consoles, but my camera seemed to have lost my pic of the console...it was very dirty and hairy, yes, hairy. Tips, suggestions, arguments, complements are all fully welcomed...

After:



5549r4




5549y9




554a4p




554aat




554aqs




554cbd




554cig




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554dja
 
How much..



Ya need to work on those mats a little more.. other wise it's a great start a good color AIO is great maybe If you could a sealent would be best to top unless your going to see the car regularly Upp would look great on that car.



Nice job...
 
I charged $135...the package was initially $150, but because the customer brought her car to my house, I gave her 10% off (that's my motto). When you say sealant, do you mean I should of used AIO Sealant glaze, for example, for it's long-lasting properties?



The mats were a pain in the ---. I was there for almost an hour trying to remove all the crud...I tried different techniques to remove the stains including spraying the 303, and immediately scrubbing, and then I tried to keep the 303 there for some time...I used probably half of the bottle just trying to remove the stains, but they never fully came out! Any help with that? Also, old gum was in one of the mats, and I couldn't try to remove it either. Nevertheless, the customer's jaw dropped when she saw the car. Again, any tips for reducing my working time?
 
xfire said:
When you say sealant, do you mean I should of used AIO Sealant glaze, for example, for it's long-lasting properties?



The mats were a pain in the ---. I was there for almost an hour trying to remove all the crud...I tried different techniques to remove the stains including spraying the 303, and immediately scrubbing, and then I tried to keep the 303 there for some time...I used probably half of the bottle just trying to remove the stains, but they never fully came out! Any help with that? Also, old gum was in one of the mats, and I couldn't try to remove it either. Nevertheless, the customer's jaw dropped when she saw the car. Again, any tips for reducing my working time?
Click to expand...





ok AIO is a Base .. then you seal with ...SG UPP WG BF or whatever you like.





HOT WATER heat will help dislove the crap in there and then suck it up with a bissel or a shop vac..
 
Sometimes with nasty interiors I will use a diluted APC and just soak down the really nasty areas and let the APC dwell to break down all of the crud. Then I wipe with a MF, if it needs more cleaning I will hit it again. I have been reading great things about steamers. The steam is supposed to just melt/liquefy all of that muck so that it just wipes easily away.
 
Woops, I forgot to tell you that I also tried a steam cleaner on the carpet...maybe I was using it incorrectly? It's call the Steam shark and it was bought from Sears. I let it steam the stains for about 8 seconds after spraying 303 (to activate the suds) and nothing seemed to impove.
 
xfire said:
Woops, I forgot to tell you that I also tried a steam cleaner on the carpet...maybe I was using it incorrectly? It's call the Steam shark and it was bought from Sears. I let it steam the stains for about 8 seconds after spraying 303 (to activate the suds) and nothing seemed to impove.
Click to expand...



How much did you pay your steam cleaner? Do you know the tempature of the nozzle (spraying area)? Mine is 220 degree and work pretty good.
 
I found that oxi clean has taken out some of the toughest stains for me. The steam shark has worked well for me detailing under the hood an wheels.
 
The plastic screw cover was missing when I started.



I really don't know how hot the steam gets from the Steam Shark...maybe someone else can answer that question?
 
Wow, I feel really embarrased...I personally didn't even notice that. Well, I honestly do not recall that piece being there in the first place, and that is why I answered your question by stating that it wasn't there. But I guess that piece was there in the first place and you have left me stumpt (I guess I never took notice of it). I really don't know what happened to that, but I must say you really have some good eyes. The detail was last week, so I really don't recall much about such a little object. But I will definitely ckeck on the car tomorrow to see if maybe it dropped under the seat or something. But, the missing piece explains how the cupholder was able to come out of the console. Please don't think that I am trying to make an excuse up, but I really just didn't notice the piece.
 
I know what you mean about those friggin' mats....I spent an hour on my mom's coffee stains and they are still 25% there. When they are there for numerous years, then most likely nothing but EXTREME extraction will get them out. I also use 303 APC, Spot Cleaner, and Fabric Cleaner; then Oxi clean, and then a combo of all that with boiling water+extraction with a 5 hp wet/dry vac. Still nothing...
 
xfire said:
Wow, I feel really embarrased...I personally didn't even notice that....... Please don't think that I am trying to make an excuse up, but I really just didn't notice the piece.
Click to expand...





Don't be embarrassed.

Nobody here thinks you're trying to make an excuse.



You did a nice job.



Rick
 
Option 13 said:
Don't be embarrassed.

Nobody here thinks you're trying to make an excuse.



You did a nice job.



Rick
Click to expand...



Thanks alot for your support. It's very comforting for me to know that I have not made a complete fool of myself, but I will still go tomorrow to see what happened to that little plastic piece:up
 
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