What was it that got you into serious detailing?

G

gmblack3

New member
For me it was a local hack who swirled up my wifes car.



I don't consider myself a pro as I don't do this for a living, just some extra cash.



About a year ago our local car forum had a detailer show up. He uses zaino products. I had been applying zaino to my cars for about 4 years. I had never polished a car up to this point. Just clay and zaino.



The BMW 740il that I had bought used for the wife had a finish that I was never happy with. So I called this detailer and had him come down to detail the car. I asked instead of doing the interior (it was pretty nice already) if he could "buff out" the paint. He agreed.



So he came down. Washed and clayed the car. Ran the rotary over it, I have no idea what he used. Then applied 1 coat of zaino on the thick (IMO) side. That was it. I thought it was looking pretty good. A few week later, after some washes, I was seeing swirls or something in the paint out in the sun. So finally after a few calls and emails, it seemed like I was getting blown off. So I set him up with one of my friends cars to do at my house (no buffing), then asked him if he could "re-polish" the BMW. He agreed.



He came down and ran the buffer over the BMW again. I again have no idea what he used. I then asked if he was going to apply another coat of zaino, he said no it does not need it. (remember at the time I am pretty clueless)



After a month or so, I have the car sitting outside in the sun after a wash and this is what I find:



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:mad:



So fast forward to Nov. After doing alot of reading here and finding others in the local area with an interest in detailing. I finally took matters into my own hands



So it has been 10 months or so since I polished the crap out of that car. I must of had 14 hours into the paint with the PC. Since then it has been polished one time, look here



A big thanks to people like GTScott, 1 Clean WS6 (Mike), Mav63 and Lee. These are all local guys and real detailers that I was able to meet at one time or another.



Also thanks to my good friend Woosch for letting me practice on his vette a few times. :eek: :chuckle: We will make a waxer out of you yet. :waxing:



Plus its nice when you can get others interested in detailing, Stickman (Jim) is very dedicated and does a great job!!! :2thumbs:



Most of all thanks to this forum and its members. :woot2: I have learned so much and still want to learn more.
 
well thats what got me into doing cue repairs, Had a guy put a new tip on my cue and screwed up the whole shaft.

As for detailing I am just getting into using the PC but for me cleaning my car every week started with me getting my new chrysler 300 back in april. I really like doing it! Thats why I want to get better with the PC so I can start doing some side jobs once I get comfortable with it on my older cars first. Also I will go to the junkyard and buy the cheapest parts I can find and make them look new once I can do that I will start to venture to other peoples cars. I really love doing it. It makes me sick to see someone in a new car or any car for that matter that is freakin dirty.
 
I got into detailing before I could even drive. My dad gave me a truck, but I wasn't old enough to drive it, so I started cleaning it. For years I would just wax our vehicles, and didn't know anything about polishing. I really didn't know about or understand polishing until I started looking online. Autopia has taught me a lot. :2thumbs:
 
I got family and friends in the car business. My first job was working on a line, i was one of the the wash,clay,prep guys before it went to the dry line. Though i already had detailing experience due to being around the auto industry my whole life. After one of the detailers left i got my shot to prove that i was more than just a washboy.
 
I purchased two new cars late last year and wanted to keep them looking good, so I went about washing them with a subpar wash mitt, using one bucket and drying with a leather chamois that would become hard as a rock when it dried.



I think I began looking more into detailing while on a car forum. In the detailing section, a question was posted asking whether anyone still used a leather chamois to dry their car (as stated above, I did). A poster there recommended an MF WW. Huh? never heard of one.



After that I began searching the web for auto detailing supplies and came across Autopia. I began reading everything I could find about detailing. The more I read, the more I realized that just about everything I was currently doing to take care of my cars was essentially completely wrong and actually making them worse-off. I soon after ordered a PC and various supplies, and the obsession began.



I now cringe at the thought of how I used to take care of my cars. I just didn't know any better. Thank you Autopia!
 
You did... :LOLOL



I had never been a car care guy. After I got the Vette I wanted to keep it looking nice and I could not justify having it cared for by a third party.



While I am still a n00b, I can keep up my vehicles well and do a good job for family and friends.
 
We were going to sell the wife's car so I drove up the street to the "car wash/detailing" place and asked how much, they said $120 and that was without buffing...I said it's time for me to learn how to buff/polish....now I am hooked!!!

btw..after polishing out my wife's Mazda, she didn't want to sell it!
 
My family have always did the wash and wax thing, and I loved the look of a nice clean shiney car. However my uncle said machine buffing was bad! I heard all the horror stories about this and I really thought if I tried this I'd go right thru the paint. After finding this sight I realized all the stories I heard were from dealer preps not a true detailer.

So after all these years, with the help of everyone on here, I've learned, I've conquered, and yes, I machine polish now! Thanks to all who helped, this is by far the best forum I've ever been on!
 
I always used to just wash and wax, just because it was satisfying for me to know that my car was protected, and I didn't really care about any shine. Then I found Autopia. I was a lurker for a long time, and I think it was one of those Scottwax reflection pictures that "Had me at hello". Fast forward to March this year. I was using some "Autopian Grade" products, but not to my current extent. When my mother bought her 06 Black BMW X3, I was horrified at the dealer prep. We told them not to detail it, but being the retards that they were decided to wash it for us. No holograms or anything, just the worst swirls I have ever seen. I decided to buy a PC, and it took off from there. I learned what polishes finish down the best, what ones dust a lot, and which ones are most agressive, and I made my decision to buy them from there. I detail cars for friends and family, and my neighbors think I'm nuts washing each one of our cars(3 of them) every week. They just don't understand.
 
When I first started driving I wanted to keep my car looking its best (93 Firebird) It had really nice paint, really not that many swirls either. I bet I waxed that thing 3 times a week haha One day I was searching on the internet for waxes and I stumbled across Zaino, and then a couple months later I stumbled across Autopia and learned all about prep. I sold my Firebird before I had a PC or anything so Im kinda bummed I never got to see it at its best, however from there I have moved on from last November recieving my first PC, buying almost $200 worth of products each month off and on just to try out new things...to remodeling our garage ($700) and now using a cyclo, having 2,000 business cards, and clients who appreciate my hard work.



For me, it's not about making this into a living, or even to make a bunch of money. I love buying products, having shipments come in and opening those boxes, seeing the labels...organizing my product shelves, having to buy new tubs to put my towels in, researching products, going through the e-stores, talking to people about detailing...I just love detailing in general...taking a vehicle that has been abused and bringing it back to life the best I can. Just this week I had a horrible detail to do and I told the customer I wasnt happy with the outcome 100% and I told him he owed me $30 less than what I quoted him for, he told me "Josh, you cant sell yourself short like that - I know you put in the work for this money so you deserve it" He ended up giving me $20 more than what I quoted him for -- So thanks to all the fellow autopians for sharing their tips, products, pictures, and just for the friends Ive made here; I will be a member for life! :) Sorry for the hijack!
 
For me, it was my parent's Mazda MPV that got me hooked. I was looking online for a MPV club, and found one. It had some basic detailing threads about waxes, washing, etc... And slowly I became obsessed. Then the people on the MPV club mentioned autopia once, and I came here to take a look. All I can say is... WOW!!
 
What started me into detailing was the purchase of a vehicle that I did not need but wanted very badly. I decided that if I was to buy my black truck it would be incumbent of me to take care of it. I made a promise to my self that I would learn how to make the vehicle shine. It has been very rewarding to see the shiniest truck on the block each and every day. It also has been enriching monetarily since people are willing to pay me to have their vehicle look its best. The money supports my detailing habit.
 
I bought a new car and it looked orange due to the entire car covered in rotary hologram. Up to this point I was just a wash and wax junky and then researched and found this site and the rest was history. My car is now red as it suppose to be !
 
I've *always* taken care of my stuff. When I was a kid, I was taught that auto detailing was just like every other form of taking care of your stuff- do it right or pay somebody else to do it (and don't own stuff if you can't do either).



My mother's family used "pro" products to detail since forever, so I always approached this stuff from a rather serious angle.
 
I really started to get interested in detailing when my parents gave me my focus for my 18th birthday (they gave it to me about 6 months early lol). I wanted to keep my car nice, which at the time meant washing using Dawn with a sponge and using plain ol' turtle wax paste once a week. :eek:



One day I was surfing focusfanatics.com and they have a small (compared to autopia anyways) section for car detailing, well autopia was mentioned in there somewhere so I paid a visit. After my first visit to the click & brag section I was instantly sold.



Within 2 months of finding autopia I bought roughly 500$ worth of car detailing stuff and haven't regretted a single penny of it :getdown​
 
Marijuana :getdown



(Combined with ADD and OCD ;))



Seriously, I loved doing my own car, and after a J and a night of detailing, I realized that I'd like to start doing other people's cars... And it went from there :)
 
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