Share your Detailing Procedures

[detailbarn]

I did a car the other day while my shop is being remodeled and all my stuff is a mess so nothing was where is was suppose to be. So I had to make trips back and forth to find what I needed. In doing all this I realized how important my rountine is in being efficent. So I'm looking to see if I can't improve or just hear what others are doing. I'd like to hear from Pro's as well as everyone else. When you set out to detail a vehicle what is your procedure , interior first , vacuuming or dusting , or the exterior do you clay when you wash , lets get down to the nitty gritty. Spill the beans , share the details on how you detail...... ok I'll shut up and listen now.





PS . Mobile Detailers please share your procedures too , setup to clean up.





Thanks





__________________

Doug Lucas

The Detail Barn

 

[AdamJoe]

Here's what I do:



1. Pull car into the shop and pop the hood open so heat disapates

2. Examine the entire exterior of the car for defects and evaluate what the car needs

3. open the doors and trunk and evaluate the interior

4. come up with a game plan of what I need to do and assign a time allowance of what needs to be done to be profitable

5. Remove all trash and personal belongings from the car and discard or store for later.

6. remove all interior pieces (ashtrays, etc.) that come out, clean them and save for later

7. remove floor mats and set to the side

8 vaccuum interior, floor mats, and trunk

9.clean all interior surfaces except for leather or cloth, carpets and windows

10 clean carpets and cloth

11. clean door jams and trunk jams

12 clean leather

13 wash windows

14.use dressings and protectants

15 close vehicle up and prepare for exterior



Exterior

1. detail engine

2. clean tires, wheels, and wells

3. wash vehicle

4 dry vehicle (also dry door jams again)

5 re-evaluate any changes in process due to washing vehicle and time it out as necessary

6 perform fist step through last except paint sealant

7 spray tires with tire spray, and wheel wells with trim spray along with any other plastic trim, avoiding as much overspray as possible.

8 apply paint sealeant

9apply dressing as needed

10 clean windows

11 wax or polish wheels

12 open hood and dry remainders from engine detail. Also any compound or polish splatter from edges

13 remove compound or polish from door jams

14 re assemble interior if dry at this point ( usually is)

15 inspect the entire vehicle and perform any touch ups as needed



Hope this helped

 

[Jesstzn]

1) Pull out floor mats

2) remove all ash trays and any other pullouts / floor matts

3) Remove garbage and keep in small bag

4) Remove small personal items and store in bag

5) Large items ( coats etc) I put asided till later and then I fold and lay on seat or in trunk where ever I found them

6) Vacumm int & trunk

7) I use the Woolite mix and a MF to go over the dash/controls/consil/door panels and clean the leather

8) Apply cleaner to tires and wash

9) Wash car

10) dry

11) Blow water out of hidden areas

12) examine paint and put a little piece of blue painters tape on spots that need attention

13) mask off trim

14) polish out trouble spots

15) polish car

16) apply sealant

17) clean all door jams/ trunk edges

18) Dress tires / wheel wells

19) dress rubber mouldings

20 ) wash windows

21) lift hood and wipe edges ( I don't do engine details as yet .. drainage issues )

22) Inspect

23) Place bag of personal belongings on floor in pass. front.