Soon to start my new position as a Wash Bay and Detail Technician.

D

diericksetim

New member
Anyone have any tips or tricks for a newbie in the trade? What have I got myself into, what's the job like, etc.

Thank you all that reply in advance, I very much appreciate it.

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Welcome! The title of "detailer" is a MAJOR grey area. Where did you get this position? The title suggests to me that it may be a dealership. Which more often than not isn't exactly the autopian way to detail a car. Actually many times does more harm than good. It all depends on what type of shop you are working at to get an idea of what you got yourself into. It's a awesome hobby that many of us here call a career. You may or may not have been bit by the bug already but what was once a hobby can quickly turn into an obsession.

Youre in the right place. Tons of helpful and extremely knowledgeable people here who are happy to help.
 
It depends. Where I work they use clay mitts, knock off Rupes polishers, decent wash media, wax, etc. Other dealerships more or less just wash it rather than detail it.
 
Dealership yes, detail brand new cars, used cars and customer cars.

As for the obsession, I cannot get enough of cleaning my car from top to bottom once a week. Hours and hours on end. I wanted to turn this hobby into a career, and this position seemed to have been my first step.

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From my tour of the building, they did everything from hand washing, waxing polishing, clay bar, and ofc the interior. I am probably missing some as I have yet to have actually started working there.

It's a rather large dealership called Strickland's, they move the most cars in Ontario. Assuming their detail department is reputable in their work.

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One guarantee, you will sleep good at night. Dont let them burn you out. Dealers can be thankless. I know, I worked in one for 18 years at night after my day job. They wanted to pay me hourly and that was not going to happen. I was paid PER CAR from the get go. My yield was greater than that of their daytime detailer. I did the pre-owned inventory, something their full timer wanted no part of. No problem, more money! My paint rejuvenation skills have proved invaluable over the years. Find out what niche sets you apart from the others. Learn to "ROTARY" polish like a pro. Turn primer to glass. Just kidding, but you know what I mean. If the obsession is in your blood then the labor is not an issue for you. That means your potential to be a detailer for over 42 years may be in your future. I have no regrets! Good luck at the new job!
 
If they like your work, get paid per car. Not per hour. I will never detail per hour unless I am doing a scratch removal. I get paid the past 40 plus years per car. That of course after you have "perfected" your game. Learning to "rotary" polish BLACK with no wheel marks, will propel you light years ahead of your competition. Many of my competitors use "fillers" something the general public knows very little about. Dealers are the KINGS of Super-Seal. A junk product used to make a quick delivery of a used or new car. Looks great untill the first rain.
 
Thanks for the tips! I will look into what you have said. Hopefully I can turn this obsession into a professional career, as I am having second thoughts on a dealership being the proper place to start.

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There are certainly exceptions but all to often dealerships are the place where you can learn what not to do to a car's finish.
 
diericksetim- Welcome to autopia!

I worked New/Used-Care Prep at a dealership back in the day and it can be challenging to do things the right way when your time and materials are both limited and proscribed by others (who might not know from this stuff).

My one bit of advice- when washing and drying the vehicles, avoid long, sweeping motions and, as best you can, avoid circular/elliptical ones too. While the long, arcing motions seem *so* natural, and can cover a lot of ground quickly, if/when you get some kind of marring it's better to have short little scratches than long ones. And straight-line scratches aren't obvious from all viewing angles the way circular/elliptical ones are.
 
Accumulator said:
diericksetim- Welcome to autopia!

I worked New/Used-Care Prep at a dealership back in the day and it can be challenging to do things the right way when your time and materials are both limited and proscribed by others (who might not know from this stuff).

My one bit of advice- when washing and drying the vehicles, avoid long, sweeping motions and, as best you can, avoid circular/elliptical ones too. While the long, arcing motions seem *so* natural, and can cover a lot of ground quickly, if/when you get some kind of marring it's better to have short little scratches than long ones. And straight-line scratches aren't obvious from all viewing angles the way circular/elliptical ones are.
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I apologise if I am stupid, but can you explain this arcing motion a little more. I really appreciate the tip, and want to understand it to the best of my ability.

Thanks,

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diericksetim said:
I apologise if I am stupid, but can you explain this arcing motion a little more...
Click to expand...

Let's see if I can clarify it any..

Say you're holding a wash mitt and you're gonna wash the hood. The natural thing to do is to move your arm in a curving "sweep" type motion, covering maybe two feet or so.

Imagine a clock face. Mitt in your right hand. Typical arcing motion would be- if you're moving from left to right you might start around 7 o'clock, move up and clockwise towards 12 o'clock, and then come back down to around 4 o'clock. That "from 7 up to 12 and back down to 4" motion is the arc, like a semi-circle.

Better IMO to move straight, like from 9 o'clock right straight across to 3 o'clock.

IF something abrasive like a speck of dirt causes a scratch, a straight line scratch is only most obvious from one viewing angle while a curved/circular one is obvious from more viewing angles (thus always shows no matter where you're standing when you look at the car).

And long scratches are just more obvious than short ones so avoiding motions that cover a lot of ground is better IMO.

Look at some cars at the dealership and see how the scratches look. I bet you can see just how they happened..."wow, look at that long scratch, I can see just how his arm-motion must have been!". I think you'll see the "arc" that the mit/towel was moved in. The worst/most obvious example is "spiderweb" scratches like lots of circles.

Gee, this is harder to explain that I thought it'd be!
 
Accumulator said:
Let's see if I can clarify it any..

Say you're holding a wash mitt and you're gonna wash the hood. The natural thing to do is to move your arm in a curving "sweep" type motion, covering maybe two feet or so.

Imagine a clock face. Mitt in your right hand. Typical arcing motion would be- if you're moving from left to right you might start around 7 o'clock, move up and clockwise towards 12 o'clock, and then come back down to around 4 o'clock. That "from 7 up to 12 and back down to 4" motion is the arc, like a semi-circle.

Better IMO to move straight, like from 9 o'clock right straight across to 3 o'clock.

IF something abrasive like a speck of dirt causes a scratch, a straight line scratch is only most obvious from one viewing angle while a curved/circular one is obvious from more viewing angles (thus always shows no matter where you're standing when you look at the car).

And long scratches are just more obvious than short ones so avoiding motions that cover a lot of ground is better IMO.

Look at some cars at the dealership and see how the scratches look. I bet you can see just how they happened..."wow, look at that long scratch, I can see just how his arm-motion must have been!". I think you'll see the "arc" that the mit/towel was moved in. The worst/most obvious example is "spiderweb" scratches like lots of circles.

Gee, this is harder to explain that I thought it'd be!
Click to expand...
Fantastic explanation. Vivid video of a guy scratching a car in my head, and a customer showing him how to do it properly haha.

So left to right 180 degrees. Makes sense. But that calls for a much larger scratch if this were to happen. It's better to have a bigger one?

From my understanding a smaller one is easier to fix.

Very much appreciate the explanation.
Thanks,
Tim

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Congratulations on your new job. Frankly you should forget the word "Detailer" because it's likely you will never approach that while in their employ. Likely it will be make ready, wash boy, or similar. I do hope I am wrong and that this is an exceptional dealership that will train you.
 
Good luck with the new gig - I hope it works out well for you. Don't be surprised if their methods differ quite a bit from things you learn here. I had a conversation with a 'professional' at a 'detailing center' and he said he had never heard of Optimum No Rinse and they didn't own a pressure washer. Some are still way old school in products and techniques.
 
Thanks all of you for the replies, I hope the gig goes well too. During my tour their practice's did seem okay. They even had someone claybarring. A good sign in my opinion.

Guess only time will tell.


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Good luck and don't get too attached to methods used there. I worked supervising a wash bay in a Body Shop with one other guy and it is what ignited my passion for Detailing and found this Forum, but trust me 100% when i tell you that the methods you'll be expected to use compared to the ones seen here in Autopia are night and day. I tried implementing at least the 2 bucket wash during my time working there and it just was not worth it, when a customer randomly shows up to pick up their car now...it means RIGHT NOW. One time my manager actually had me truly detail a customer's Mercedes SLK that was covered in dust in the interior(from body work) because even he did not trust our actual "Detail Shop" that operated on the other side of the Building(mostly for showroom/mechanic service cars) . I was a volume type of guy during operation hours, and did actual detailing after hours and in the weekends for my coworkers since i had the keys to the wash bay which was pretty ideal for doing legitimate detail work. Another thing i'd advice is try to do that if you can, expand your REAL detailing skills by doing co workers' vehicles (don't over book yourself) on the side to practice on those and get your name out there .

I did work in the "detail shop" during a weekend to get some extra hours and damn! 5 guys all over one car spraying all kinds of crap and wiping using the same rag throughout the vehicles, i thought to myself "screw these guys i am NOT helping here anymore" and that was the last time i ever volunteered to lend a hand there.

You will try to do your best and show Autopian Quality, Autopian Quality will not work in a dealership when you're under their management. it's all about volume volume volume, that is how franchises and large operations work in a profitable way over 98% of the time in my opinion .

Have fun and USE that job as a tool to practice and experiment with your legitimate skills.
 
Migue said:
Good luck and don't get too attached to methods used there. I worked supervising a wash bay in a Body Shop with one other guy and it is what ignited my passion for Detailing and found this Forum, but trust me 100% when i tell you that the methods you'll be expected to use compared to the ones seen here in Autopia are night and day. I tried implementing at least the 2 bucket wash during my time working there and it just was not worth it, when a customer randomly shows up to pick up their car now...it means RIGHT NOW. One time my manager actually had me truly detail a customer's Mercedes SLK that was covered in dust in the interior(from body work) because even he did not trust our actual "Detail Shop" that operated on the other side of the Building(mostly for showroom/mechanic service cars) . I was a volume type of guy during operation hours, and did actual detailing after hours and in the weekends for my coworkers since i had the keys to the wash bay which was pretty ideal for doing legitimate detail work. Another thing i'd advice is try to do that if you can, expand your REAL detailing skills by doing co workers' vehicles (don't over book yourself) on the side to practice on those and get your name out there .

I did work in the "detail shop" during a weekend to get some extra hours and damn! 5 guys all over one car spraying all kinds of crap and wiping using the same rag throughout the vehicles, i thought to myself "screw these guys i am NOT helping here anymore" and that was the last time i ever volunteered to lend a hand there.

You will try to do your best and show Autopian Quality, Autopian Quality will not work in a dealership when you're under their management. it's all about volume volume volume, that is how franchises and large operations work in a profitable way over 98% of the time in my opinion .

Have fun and USE that job as a tool to practice and experiment with your legitimate skills.
Click to expand...
Well hopefully this is a good first step towards my detailing career. Gotta start somewhere.

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