The dumbest detailing thing you ever did

[groebuck]

Well today I did mine. You know how Mother's showtime comes in that nice red bottle? You know how Mother new vinyl/leather cleaner comes in that nice red bottle?

Yeah....

Luckily I realized it when my trunk lid smelt like leather and was not slick at all ..I kept wondering why it was so grabby...lol...

 

[mrclean81]

Im sure over the years Ive pulled some good ones. A few that really stick out in my mind is getting beat to death by a car antenna when I hit it with a rotary. I take those off now lol. Same rotary a few months later..I was working on the lower parts of a truck, and like a moron I turned it upside down to hit those areas to avoid squatting down. When I did, the cord got wrapped up in the backing plate and nearly broke both of my arms (trigger was locked). Same rotary, same scenerio...trigger was locked and I somehow wrapped my shirt tail up in the backing plate and it almost ripped the shirt off my back. Ive learned my lessons since then and take a lot more precautionary measures to avoid that kind of stuff.

 

[tropicsteve]

the one thing we usually only do once: lifting off a polisher with the pad still spinning. :wall

 

[wendell jarvis]

Backed up a car and ran over a new bottle of Liquid Soveran that was behind the rear tire....splat !!!

 

[Addicted2Bling]

Im sure over the years Ive pulled some good ones. A few that really stick out in my mind is getting beat to death by a car antenna when I hit it with a rotary. I take those off now lol. Same rotary a few months later..I was working on the lower parts of a truck, and like a moron I turned it upside down to hit those areas to avoid squatting down. When I did, the cord got wrapped up in the backing plate and nearly broke both of my arms (trigger was locked). Same rotary, same scenerio...trigger was locked and I somehow wrapped my shirt tail up in the backing plate and it almost ripped the shirt off my back. Ive learned my lessons since then and take a lot more precautionary measures to avoid that kind of stuff.

The other day I just about knocked myself out with a rotary. Those things are no joke!

 

[Ronkh]

Got the addiction to detailing

 

[glen e]

let collonite dry and bake in the sun...easier to repaint that to get it off....

 

[mnehls86]

Im sure over the years Ive pulled some good ones. A few that really stick out in my mind is getting beat to death by a car antenna when I hit it with a rotary. I take those off now lol.

I would have given anything to see that lol.

I nearly knocked myself out yesterday. My garage door swings up and I had it pulled down a little to shade the entire car. I was careful when taping off the back of the car and when I finished taping I stood up quick forgetting that the door was there :bonk:

 

[07gtcs]

Well today I did mine. You know how Mother's showtime comes in that nice red bottle? You know how Mother new vinyl/leather cleaner comes in that nice red bottle?

Yeah....

Luckily I realized it when my trunk lid smelt like leather and was not slick at all ..I kept wondering why it was so grabby...lol...

Use same said red bottle of VLR as Clay Lube.....until I smelled it and new something was wrong.

 

[Merlin]

Well I thought it was the dumbest...

A friend that finishes rifle stocks wanted me to polish a stock after he varnished and sanded...as a favor.
I hadn't done wood but I said sure I'll give it a try.

I took out the trusty PC and a 2 3/4" Megs backing plate along with a Griots 3 inch orange pad and M101.

I followed with M205 and a LC black for gloss. Now here's the sad part...To my surprise it looked awesome.

Why do I think this was way up there on the dumb scale?
'Cause it came out so nice he reached in his trunk and came out with three more rifle stocks (as a favor).

 

[ZimRandy]

After trying every bathroom cleaning chemical known to man with little success, I had a great idea.:thinking

:idea

I tried the ol' PC and some polishes to clean the fiberglass shower surrround in our bathroom and followed with a coat of IW 845.

It turned out so nice that I have to do it a couple of times a year now at the request of my wife. :wall

Another one of those times that I should have kept my mouth shut........

 

[Ronkh]

In the "old days"

When we used to put on "a heavy coat of wax" for winter........ (then have to chisel it off)

 

[Swanicyouth]

Before I knew better I bought that Turtle Wax Scratch repair kit that comes with the crayon. You color in the scratch.

 

[Swanicyouth]

This is worse. I had a $20 buffer a long long time ago. I didn't like the bolted on pad and * thought * about peeling it off and gluing a Lake Country pad on it with crazy glue right when I found AG. Luckily, I never went that route and just bought a PC.

 

[Orinda Auto Detail]

I've done so many dumb things. I think the dumbest was inhaling old school hydrofluoric wheel acid. That sent me to the ER with what the dr said was the equivalent of "a severe sunburn on the inside of my lungs". I think I would of rather been killed then take a breath for the next couple days. Gawd that sucked lol. Other than that I've burnt stuff, broke stuff, damaged cars, got ran over by an employee, body slammed into a fence by a customer driving an LX460 because she missed placed her brake and gas, probably eliminated my chance to have children via holding a rotary upside down and having the cord catch the bp and launch a dewalt straight into my nuts, shattered a front window because I didn't put the pressure washed tip on tight enough, smoked allum wheels, caught a customers car on fire because of a cord laying on wet carpets, knocked work lights over onto a turbo Porsche... I think I've made just about every dumb mistake you can. All part of business I think considering we see something like 1000 cars a month.... Sh** happens

 

[mnehls86]

I've done so many dumb things. I think the dumbest was inhaling old school hydrofluoric wheel acid. That sent me to the ER with what the dr said was the equivalent of "a severe sunburn on the inside of my lungs". I think I would of rather been killed then take a breath for the next couple days. Gawd that sucked lol. Other than that I've burnt stuff, broke stuff, damaged cars, got ran over by an employee, body slammed into a fence by a customer driving an LX460 because she missed placed her brake and gas, probably eliminated my chance to have children via holding a rotary upside down and having the cord catch the bp and launch a dewalt straight into my nuts, shattered a front window because I didn't put the pressure washed tip on tight enough, smoked allum wheels, caught a customers car on fire because of a cord laying on wet carpets, knocked work lights over onto a turbo Porsche... I think I've made just about every dumb mistake you can. All part of business I think considering we see something like 1000 cars a month.... Sh** happens

:jawdrop: I'd be scared to touch anything after all that. This has to all be old stuff right? because you do a damn good job on all the work I have seen so far.

 

[mrclean81]

I've done so many dumb things. I think the dumbest was inhaling old school hydrofluoric wheel acid. That sent me to the ER with what the dr said was the equivalent of "a severe sunburn on the inside of my lungs". I think I would of rather been killed then take a breath for the next couple days. Gawd that sucked lol. Other than that I've burnt stuff, broke stuff, damaged cars, got ran over by an employee, body slammed into a fence by a customer driving an LX460 because she missed placed her brake and gas, probably eliminated my chance to have children via holding a rotary upside down and having the cord catch the bp and launch a dewalt straight into my nuts, shattered a front window because I didn't put the pressure washed tip on tight enough, smoked allum wheels, caught a customers car on fire because of a cord laying on wet carpets, knocked work lights over onto a turbo Porsche... I think I've made just about every dumb mistake you can. All part of business I think considering we see something like 1000 cars a month.... Sh** happens

This is the stuff we draw experience from. If you never make those mistakes, you never get the chance to learn from them.

 

[Orinda Auto Detail]

:jawdrop: I'd be scared to touch anything after all that. This has to all be old stuff right? because you do a damn good job on all the work I have seen so far.

Well it didn't all happen on the same day or I'd for sure not still working on cars. It's over the last 4-5 years. Law of averages, work on as many cars as we do and bound to happen.

This is the stuff we draw experience from. If you never make those mistakes, you never get the chance to learn from them.

Absolutely and that whats make me able to do what I can these days. I just know lol.

 

[Ronkh]

This is actually a great thread.... Learn from others mistakes.

Some people learn from hearing
Some people learn from seeing

Me, I just gotta pee on the electric fence to learn for myself

 

[juliom2]

Man!!!! That's not been dumb. That is survival!!!!! Wao!!!