A few cars I've detailed

[NOFX]

Seriously thats good info, you will be the first I look up if I need a good detail job

Thanks. If mavrick ends up doing my tranny I'll try my best to clean up his car too. I hear it's paint has some issues... but I'll try if he lets me.

 

[Going-West]

Mine does too. The 300 mile I-5 trip I do about 4 times a month during the school year has not been kind of my front bumper

 

[NOFX]

The worse thing about paint damage on the bumper and scratches and such is that they commonly get wax caught in them. Then they show up WORSE than before. Rub them in the right direction and you can usually get a lot out though.

 

[racing_kid]

Great jobs!!
reminds me of my detailing.

i used to love detailing.
i got laid off too.
The guy though he was paying me too much.
he was one of those that didnt understand why its called detailing.
You pay for what you get.

What kind of products do you use?
orbiters are a great tool once you learn how to use them..

 

[NOFX]

I mostly use Meguiar's and Mothers. A little bit of other stuff too.

I used an orbital ONCE... It was a cheap one from that job and it was HORRIBLE. It wanted to bounce on the cars more than anything. It was cheap and probably broken anyway though.

If I were to get something though, I have a spare trunk here I could practice on.

 

[chow]

dam those cars look shiney as hell. great job are you hand waxing those cars btw?

 

[DaGFTDOne]

OK Amy, I got one for ya

We went to Lowes the other night and bought carpet... the morons loaded it onto the car and pulled the weather stipping out of the top of the windshield leaving the black glue/caulk stuff all over the roof... Im getting ready to sell this car and now it looks like a silver dalmatian... what do you reccomend?

 

[LowNotSlow]

that's it. I'm detailing my car today. I'll post before and after pictures.

 

[CivicKid95]

OK Amy, I got one for ya

We went to Lowes the other night and bought carpet... the morons loaded it onto the car and pulled the weather stipping out of the top of the windshield leaving the black glue/caulk stuff all over the roof... Im getting ready to sell this car and now it looks like a silver dalmatian... what do you reccomend?

did you talk to a Lowe's manager? That's some pure BS right there. And Amy, thanks for all the info and help you gave me whil i made my car as pretty as possible. This girl's the CC detailing guru, for sure.

 

[NOFX]

dam those cars look shiney as hell. great job are you hand waxing those cars btw?

Yep. I do all of this by hand.

OK Amy, I got one for ya

We went to Lowes the other night and bought carpet... the morons loaded it onto the car and pulled the weather stipping out of the top of the windshield leaving the black glue/caulk stuff all over the roof... Im getting ready to sell this car and now it looks like a silver dalmatian... what do you reccomend?

They pulled the weather stripping up? WTF? To remove the adhesive I'd suggest an adhesive remover like Goo Gone. If you still have difficulty, aim a hairdryer on the adhesive for a efw minutes. Heating it will make it easier to remove.

 

[Rand0m]

i forget the name of the one lady who washes my cars ----- OH YEAH!!! now i remember....

mother earth! rain ftw!!

cars look good, especially the black 6th gen....reminds me of when i had the allblacksi....i was always washin that thing

 

[NOFX]

That reminds me of what some people tell me in that matter-of-fact way. "Washing your car in the rain is the best time. Because the water is so clean."


Rain water is gross, people. In the NorthEast at least there is a high amount of acid rain. You don't want to use that to clean your car... You want a nice wax job to protect the paint from that stuff though.

 

[NOFX]

Well, here's my latest detail. I finished this up yesterday after spending three days total on it. Approximately five hours a day each day.

The reason it took so long isn't just because it's a freaking boat, but because it hadn't ever been detailed in more than 20 years and it's a single stage enamel, so it's not at all like cleaning our paint. This is Jason's grandparents' 1986 Caprice Classic which they bought back in '87 with 6000 miles on it.

This too is of course by hand.


Left is before it was polished (after wash). Right is after polish.


You can also tell which panel I've detailed here and which I hadn't yet.


Scratches in the paint before I cleaned it up.


And after I cleaned the panel.


The trunk in the garage.


The trunk outside after the wash. I should have snapped a photo of the water beading.


And outside after a final wash to get rid of any dust.


I wish I had before photos. Jason kept telling me how much better it looked, but I worked on it so long that I can't remember what the full car looked like before I detailed it.





And yes, I got paid for this one. It cost more than a normal detail would because of the amount of time I had to spend on it for the age and the type of paint. I lowered the price since it was family. I'll seriously have to think hard if I want to do another car like this again though. This might be one of those "friends only" type of deals for the most part.

 

[NOFX]

Newest details. (The grey F350 is the next to do, once he has time for me to detail it.)

CLICK IMAGES FOR LARGER PICS.

Becca's FG1.

And her Mom's F150.

 

[--<EM1>--]

do you use anything to get rid of swirl marks?

 

[DaGFTDOne]

The FG1 is BEAUTIFUL......

 

[NOFX]

do you use anything to get rid of swirl marks?

Well, since I do all of this by hand there is only a certain amount I can do, but when needed I do use a fine polish followed by a swirl remover. For fingernail scratches in door handles I've found that Scratch-X works well.

The FG1 is BEAUTIFUL......

I'll make sure to tell Becca. And to think, I still want to clay bar her car.

 

[Slept-n]

wow dude? how much do you charge to do this?

 

[NOFX]

My prices go anywhere from $50 and up. The maroon truck netted me about $200 but I did the Civic as more of a favor since I had began it before (I did the fenders, hood, and bumper before) and hadn't expected to be paid. It had strictly been a favor and I'd been waiting to finish up. Her father refused to let me do it for free though.

I'm trying to decide the price for the grey F350. It's pretty big, but the owner is giving me a lot of business and prefers his vehicles to be detailed every few months too. The truck has a lot of chrome accents and suspension which I'll have to clean up (since it's lifted). There's also a boat and a Passport to clean up there too.

Oh, and the Civic was exterior only. He wants his daughter to clean the inside herself. I'm willing to teach her though, and she seems eager to learn but she was busy the last couple of days while I was there (planning wedding for a freind).

The truck took me nine hours, no breaks besides sipping on a bottled water a couple of times. I don't take breaks often when I detail. I get into the feel of the car and dont' even notice the time usually. The Civic took me approximately three hours, though I was there longer waiting for tools in order to remove the plates (I forgot them at home so I had to wait for the owner to come back from the naeighbor's).

 

[ImportFan1]

looking good Amy. any more cars lately?