To the Pro Detailers - What's the worst mistake you have made while detailing?

J

jammerz101

New member
"Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it."

For the professional detailers out there that do this full time and even those that detail on the side, have you made any notable mistakes and if so, what were they? Did you implement new policies or procedures to prevent the same mistake from happening in the future?

Let's see who's willing to admit their past detailing transgressions!

I think this would be helpful to those just getting into it to learn from others mistakes.
 
Burned the paint on a repainted hood with....... ready? A Porter Cable 7336! It was on a sharp edge, my fault, and fortunately my car. Obviously the paint was thin but I was too aggressive and screwed up. Lesson learned in spades.
 
Thought I had the car in reverse but really had it in drive and drove into the office of the customer I was doing the detailing for:mad:
 
Put a $600 scratch in a practically new BMW with a metal water hose nossle. Soapy hands...I dont wanna talk about it lol
 
Wouldn't a $600 scratch on any new car upset you? What makes a BMW customer any different than the average Joe who entrusts his new car to you?

I'm missing the point of it being a BMW.
 
Mr. Gloss said:
Wouldn't a $600 scratch on any new car upset you? What makes a BMW customer any different than the average Joe who entrusts his new car to you?

I'm missing the point of it being a BMW.
Click to expand...


Perhaps if he scratched a Kia, he would have mentioned it in the same way. But it wasn't a Kia, it was a BMW and a valid fact of the story since the car that was scratched was a BMW.

Kind of like when you watch the news and you hear about a tragedy that happened and they give you the details...
 
The shop i worked at tried to have me sand and buff cars same day as they were painted. Lets say that didnt last long, the clear we used wouldnt set up quick enough and i buffed through the first 3 cars. Amazingly i dont buff through any cars when i do them the next day, sometimes faster isnt better.
 
jammerz101 said:
Perhaps if he scratched a Kia, he would have mentioned it in the same way. But it wasn't a Kia, it was a BMW and a valid fact of the story since the car that was scratched was a BMW.

Kind of like when you watch the news and you hear about a tragedy that happened and they give you the details...
Click to expand...

Hahahaha..well, no, the news gives you what they want you to hear, not the details.
 
While pressure washing a frame
In which the body had just been pulled the line broke at the gun.
This was 3200psi hot steam pressure
washer. With a broken end and 25ft of hose it honestly was deadly. Had to wait around 15 min for it to run out of gas. I RAN!
I wasn't allowed to turn off the water to keep from damaging the pump. It was quite a show.
Luckily this was outside and I'm pretty quick.
I always inspect even my meek 1800psi lines now.
Edit.
This was all due to a corroded fitting.
 
Wow where do I begin?! I've been detailing/painting cars for about 10 years now, but honestly I have never had any serious accidents...Knock-on-Wood. But I can think of three things that I have done recently, some even multiple times:

1. Locked keys in cars/ drove off w/ keys in my pockets: I've since purchased a "big-easy" to open locked cars and have a designated key rack in my trailer.

2. Allowed interior cleaner/degreaser to set on a speedometer bezzel (ended up clouding it up!)

3. Accidently sprayed cleaner in a cd player w/ my tornador: The result was the cd player stopped working. Thankfully though, I finished the job and blew it out w/ compressed air for about 10 minutes before it finally cut back on..
 
Mr. Gloss said:
Wouldn't a $600 scratch on any new car upset you? What makes a BMW customer any different than the average Joe who entrusts his new car to you?

I'm missing the point of it being a BMW.
Click to expand...

The point was it was a $70,000 BMW. Yes if it had been a Kia, I would have said it was a Kia. It was one of those accidents that happen to the best of us and a perfect example of why a person needs to carry insurance, and not use metal hose nossles. If it had been an old beat up work truck it would still have been a bad deal, but it had to be a high end car that costed 5 times as much to fix. Not to mention it made me sick for the rest of the day because nothing like that had ever happened nor has it happened since.
 
Word to the wise. Never park a clients car underneath the automatic garage door. Either all the way in the garage or all the way out into the driveway.

A neighbor hired a detailer (more of a car washer) a few months back for a weekly wash and wax. He pulled the car in the garage, but now all the way. Went to close the garage door and it went down right on the back bumper. It must have had a sensor because as soon as it hit and felt resistance it went straight back up but there was a nice foot long scuff that I was able to get out for him quite easily.

The detailer was extremely apologetic, honest and forthright so he still uses him and no problems since then.
 
I was taking care of a client's Porsche 997. I set the key on the console while I did some interior work. Well the key fell down between the seats and it took me over 30 mins to find the key. Talk about panic.

I always put the key in a safe place now :)
 
Well, as much as I hate to admit one of the worse things I've ever done in my detailing career... I guess its in the best interest of the business. I actually drove a $250,000.00 Ferrari into the side of my clients garage!!! Ouch.. Thank gosh there was no damage to the car but a bit of damage to the garage wall.. Hey, accidents happen!!! That is why all professional detailers need to have "Garage Keepers Insurance" You just never know when the worse thing that can happen to you in detailing actually happens... BTW, that was early in my career.
 
My very first paint correction I burned through the bumper with a rotary. It wasn't a huge mistake since the bumper was in dyer need of being repainted. I was using my DA and it wasn't cutting it, so I decided to attempt it with this old huge rotary I have that I wasn't use to using. Used it for about 30 seconds before it burned through.

I apologized profusely to the customer and offered to pay to have the bumper repainted. He was very sympathetic and said not to worry about it that he was going to repaint the bumper anyway. I even told him I'd knock some money off the price since I messed up and he still gave me what my original quote was.

Since then I always hit plastic bumpers with the DA only. Or if the paint is extremely hard I'll get out the rotary (I've since upgraded to the Flex PE14), but am very careful about what I do. I have done a bunch of paint corrections since then with no mistakes! Thankfully!. I also have purchased a paint gauge for metal surfaces.
 
Not taping off a moulding properly (car wasnt 100% dry) so I went to start to compound with my dewalt and bam.. Sadly enough burnt through. Luckily it was a lot car and not a customers vehicle. Learned my lesson...

A co worker few years back knocked off 2 passenger side mirrors in one day.. Both customer service vehicles just coming through clean-up for a free wash. Still to this day employed by the same company. I was polishing once sitting on my rolly chair and the same guy brought in a saab 93 (auto) got out of the car while it was still running and in drive! Yes, drive he forgot to put it into park.Nearly ran me over. Luckly the rav 4 it ran into was stick and left in neutral with a weak ebrake. Very minimal damage was done.
 
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