Will I get the buff job?

R

RAG

New member
Today I washed cars for a property management company and they got a new employee, and thus I had a new car to wash - a black Acura (RSX I think)? Sad to say it's only an 02, but it already looks like it's had 10 years of really bad washing. I decided to clay and polish out 1/2 the spoiler as a demo so she can see what I'm capable of (I left her a note explaining the process and the cost to do the rest of the car ($280)). I would have done a full panel but I knew it would then look real funny if she doesn't pay me to buff the rest of the car out. My process was: Clay, Compound with EC/OP via white LC VC, and polish (twice) with 106FF and green P2 (all rotary).





acuraspoiler.jpg






Do you think I'll get the job? The gal is must be in her mid 20s, and I don't know anything else. But I think I'll die if she doesn't have me buff this thing out and I have to keep washing it (washing paid for by company).





I'll be sure to update
 
BTW, I'm pround of myself with my miserable little camera phone...this thing has a real hard time capturing swirls (I've takes some pictures of some pretty bad panels and not had the swirls show up)...but I knew these would show! Hammered.
 
RAG said:
I would have done a full panel but I knew it would then look real funny if she doesn't pay me to buff the rest of the car out.
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Are you saying it doesn't look funny to have only half a spoiler polished??? I know I would be pi$$ed if someone did that to my car and told me it would cost 280 bucks to get the rest of the car to match it.



IMO if you alter someone's car like that and they didn't ask for it, you'd better make it look the way they want for no charge. It doesn't matter how good you think it looks, it's not your car.
 
Well if you dont get the job it curtainly wont be because the quality wasnt there. Looks like you put forth a valient effort and I think that if anything will sell a detail a test panel 50/50 will, but as mentioned above it may have been good to ask permission first. Good Luck and keep us updated.



Greg
 
CroMag said:
Are you saying it doesn't look funny to have only half a spoiler polished??? I know I would be pi$$ed if someone did that to my car and told me it would cost 280 bucks to get the rest of the car to match it.



IMO if you alter someone's car like that and they didn't ask for it, you'd better make it look the way they want for no charge. It doesn't matter how good you think it looks, it's not your car.
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What's she gonna say, you've ruined my car. :nana: Andwhen she dropped her car and keys off to me I gave her the speal, but I could tell she didn't really know what I was talking about or how it'd look so I told her I'd buff a test spot out for her sometime (I didn't think I'd be able to get to it today). It wasn't like I was buffing the spot out so she'd have to get her whole car buffed so it would match, so don't get all excited...just chill for a while, get to know the forum, and ask some questions like the rest of us did when we were NOOBs.



I'll be buffing the remainder of the spoiler out next time no matter what. But really, you have to stand directly over the spoiler to see...and for that matter, the entire car is hammered, so it already looks real bad...so that can't possibly be an issue.
 
CroMag said:
IMO if you alter someone's car like that and they didn't ask for it, you'd better make it look the way they want for no charge. It doesn't matter how good you think it looks, it's not your car.
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Or just swirl it up to blend with the rest of the car.
 
I cannot imagine the owner getting agitated and the spoiler was a perfect choice IMO to do the demonstration.



Great quality finish. I am not sure the owner will be prepared to pay for the full job those as some people could not give a damn, which appears to be the case here.
 
Hemi57 said:
I cannot imagine the owner getting agitated and the spoiler was a perfect choice IMO to do the demonstration.



Great quality finish. I am not sure the owner will be prepared to pay for the full job those as some people could not give a damn, which appears to be the case here.
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See, now that's a constructive point; I'm not sure I explained to her that I have a less expensive option for buffing the paint (2 steps instead of 3)...just won't come out quite as well
 
Ryan, You would have your work cut out for you on this one so your price does not seem out of line at all.





CroMag said:
Are you saying it doesn't look funny to have only half a spoiler polished??? I know I would be pi$$ed if someone did that to my car and told me it would cost 280 bucks to get the rest of the car to match it.



IMO if you alter someone's car like that and they didn't ask for it, you'd better make it look the way they want for no charge. It doesn't matter how good you think it looks, it's not your car.
Click to expand...



:chill:



First of all being you are a member here, your car does not look like that. If it did you would not care or hardly notice untill you were shown the difference. Then if you didn't want the full detail you would not care what the spoiler looked like.
 
As long as you let her know you were going to polish out a small section to show her how it would look and she said to go ahead, I can't imagine her being upset about it at all. I have done the same thing. Doesn't always translate into a polish job but usually it does. I find it to be pretty effective in most cases. If not, doesn't take all that long anyway.
 
yea, definately finsh the rest of the spoiler. if you can convince her what the rest of teh car will look like w/ the quality that spoiler looks. i think she'll liek it.
 
Ryan if that was my car i would definetly let you polish it out and i hope she goes for it, it definetly looks 100x better...



but if she left the vehicle in that condition chances are but not always she'll wont be interested, doesnt see value, or doenst know whats involved(steps) or cant see spending that amount of money....



well i understand CroMag point of view as there are some peeps who are like this that why sometime it spoils to do extra for the rest of the folks....



like 240sx said just throw dirt and use a terrry towel you just used to clean the wheels,wheel wells,and door jambs it will match in no time hehe j/j
 
Scottwax said:
As long as you let her know you were going to polish out a small section to show her how it would look and she said to go ahead, I can't imagine her being upset about it at all.
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That was really my point (athough I probably could have made it in a little more constructive manner). If you told her you could polish out a section to show her what it looked like and she said OK - great, do it. But just to do it without her knowledge and then tell her it would be $280 to make the rest look that way......:hide:



Someone else had a good point, if she let her car go that far in the first place, she probably won't be upset at some of us who are a little more compulsive/protective of our cars.



In any case, the spoiler does look great. Nice work.
 
Scottwax said:
As long as you let her know you were going to polish out a small section to show her how it would look and she said to go ahead, I can't imagine her being upset about it at all. I have done the same thing. Doesn't always translate into a polish job but usually it does. I find it to be pretty effective in most cases. If not, doesn't take all that long anyway.
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Yeah, given the initial/current condition of the vehicle, I'd say my odds of getting her to do the rest of the car are not great. When I've done "demo" spots for people in the past, I'm only batting about .500 (most have good gun-ho and have good intentions, but few follow-through :( It's hard for must of us to imagine someone not wanting their vehicle to look good (swirl-free and shiney), but it just isn't a priority for a lot of people - just look at 98% of vehicles on the road today :( I always wanted to believe the high number of hammered cars (especially high-end) cars was primarily because people didn't know their paint could be restored...but I'm not so sure anymore, cause I've "educated" a lot of people with hammered paint through conversations and whatnot, and rarely do they follow through and book a detail. Sad.
 
CroMag said:
That was really my point (athough I probably could have made it in a little more constructive manner). If you told her you could polish out a section to show her what it looked like and she said OK - great, do it. But just to do it without her knowledge and then tell her it would be $280 to make the rest look that way......:hide:



Someone else had a good point, if she let her car go that far in the first place, she probably won't be upset at some of us who are a little more compulsive/protective of our cars.



In any case, the spoiler does look great. Nice work.
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It's cool, no problem.
 
RAG said:
Yeah, given the initial/current condition of the vehicle, I'd say my odds of getting her to do the rest of the car are not great. When I've done "demo" spots for people in the past, I'm only batting about .500 (most have good gun-ho and have good intentions, but few follow-through :( It's hard for must of us to imagine someone not wanting their vehicle to look good (swirl-free and shiney), but it just isn't a priority for a lot of people - just look at 98% of vehicles on the road today :( I always wanted to believe the high number of hammered cars (especially high-end) cars was primarily because people didn't know their paint could be restored...but I'm not so sure anymore, cause I've "educated" a lot of people with hammered paint through conversations and whatnot, and rarely do they follow through and book a detail. Sad.
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Since I caught the new car fever back in June I've been looking closely at car conditions and it seems most cars are rarely washed, let along detailed. And the insides are even worse than the outside. It's interesting actually as in some cases, these people may likely have imaculate home living spaces, but their cars are a total disaster. I wonder why?

Then I look at my wifes car where in spite of my efforts, it's always looking real used and I wonder why? Jeez.
 
Update: I haven't heard from her yet...I was hoping to get an email from her today telling me she was so impressed she wanted to book the detail right away (in my dreams). Chances of getting the detail go way down after 24 hours :(
 
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