09' Subaru Forester Detail...Holy HAMMERED interior...

[mdbohica]

A new customer called me inquiring about my detail services. They said they would like their vehicle cleaned thoroughly and asked for the estimated cost. I informed them that I would be happy take a look at the car and give them an estimate.



While they were on their way over, I went through the mental detail process. 2009 Silver Forester...not very old...17,000 miles...not driven much...no small children...no prying cheerios out of the carpet...Shouldn't be that bad at all.



Here is how the car was presented to me on day 1. It should be noted that I am in Pennsylvania and my customer is from Maryland.

This, ladies, is why trimmed and buffed fingernails are a good thing...

That ain't buffing out...

Scratches, embedded contaminants and sticky kitty prints...oh my!!

Now to the interior...Drivers seat...not too bad

uh...oh...

Remind me to get a grey interior in my next car...there was about 6mm of dust on the dash. It hid it very well...

I think someone exploded a prototype Soda-makeup bomb...

And now for the back seat...yeah...did I mention the customer has dogs?

And lastly...the engine bay...

And now, after a total of 16 hours, 12 being spent on the interior...Here she is, all done.

Continued in the next post...

 

[mdbohica]

Compounding 4 door handles by HAND=NOT fun...

Remember the sticky kitty prints...

Here is the engine...

And now...the MAIN event...Here is the interior...

This...is why we call it "Detail"ing.



My customer walked up to the car and said, "WOW!, it looks great". Then she opened the rear door and the next statement, well, lets say it does my heart good when my customers use a string of expletives to describe their feelings about how good of a job they think I've done. :rockon1:



Thank you all for reviewing my work and have a great day!



Josh H.

Dillsburg, PA

 

[wascallyrabbit]

nice job on interior. that was quite the save.

 

[apoirier594]

Great job. I just don't know how it got to such a mess in first place. haha

 

[dschribs]

Wow...That's obscene.



How can someone let it get so bad...



Nice job.

 

[lostdaytomorrow]

Holy smokes that was ugly. You did an awesome job on that one

 

[Brad B]

Ick. How can people live that way? Nice save.

 

[Alexshimshimhae]

at first glance i was like "oh...it doesn't even look that bad..what does he mean by holy.." then i scrolled down some more and did a uke:



great job

 

[Jpostal]

I get itchy just looking at the pet hair in the before pictures. Great work.

 

[sup3rn0th1ng]

Great job man. Looks great

 

[Scottwax]

Looks terrific, especially considering the crap carpet and seat material they use. Makes a tough job even tougher.



Shame they will probably have it looking like the before pictures in a few months.

 

[imported_MCA]

Nice save! I like dogs (pets in general), but if they shed like that then they are running beside the car while i hold a leash outside the window

 

[G'kar]

Nice job indeed.....I have a noob question though. Do you use anything inside the car after you clean it like Sctochguard or any other fabric protector when your done, if you know they have pets or kids?

 

[noego]

Great job!



When I see some of the crap you pros have to deal with I usually wonder what (other than the money) makes you guys want to keep detailing other peoples' cars? I also wondered what did the owner look like...like a meth addicted bag lady?



Come to think about it if it wasn't for me my wife's car would look like that Subaru and she is kind of milftastic - at least to my eyes. Again, great results.

 

[mdbohica]

nice job on interior. that was quite the save.

Thank you, I was not really sure I could get it all out with the type of fabric and carpet. It really did turn out well in the end.

Great job. I just don't know how it got to such a mess in first place. haha

Thanks, I am pretty sure it was never cleaned or vacuumed since they bought it.

Wow...That's obscene. How can someone let it get so bad...Nice job.

Thanks, I know, My customer is older and really past the point of cleaning their car themselves. I did let them know that if they bring it to me more often, the expense would be considerably less.

Holy smokes that was ugly. You did an awesome job on that one

Thanks!

Ick. How can people live that way? Nice save.

Yeah, it was bad but as you see, nothing permanent. Thanks for the comments!

at first glance i was like "oh...it doesn't even look that bad..what does he mean by holy.." then i scrolled down some more and did a uke:...great job

Alex, yeah, I did the same thing. I put those pics in the order I looked at the car. I said, "oh, not bad at aaaaahhhhhh...***??" Thanks.

I get itchy just looking at the pet hair in the before pictures. Great work.

Thanks JPostal

Great job man. Looks great

Thank ya darlin!!

Looks terrific, especially considering the crap carpet and seat material they use. Makes a tough job even tougher.



Shame they will probably have it looking like the before pictures in a few months.

Thanks for reply and kudos!!

Yes, The seat material is like an open-poured neoprene material which was fun to pull the hair out of. But the carpet…yeah…wow…I probably spent 3 hours picking hair out by hand…ugh!

Nice save! I like dogs (pets in general), but if they shed like that then they are running beside the car while i hold a leash outside the window

ROFL!! I have actually see that done. Fortunately, we have little dogs that don’t really shed but I COMPLETELY agree…lol

Nice job indeed.....I have a noob question though. Do you use anything inside the car after you clean it like Sctochguard or any other fabric protector when your done, if you know they have pets or kids?

Thank you G'kar. That is not a noob question at all. By default, I use protectant on all leather and plastic/vinyl pieces of the interior as part of any detail. Fabric protectants are more expensive and you use a LOT more of the product to protect the fabric. So, that is always an "Optional Upgrade" I offer to my customers. In this case I offered and highly suggested it and she took me up on it. Personally, I use 303 fabric guard. It lasts longer than scotchguard and is in a pump spray bottle so I am not inhaling fumes from a spray can inside the car.

Great job!

When I see some of the crap you pros have to deal with I usually wonder what (other than the money) makes you guys want to keep detailing other peoples' cars? I also wondered what did the owner look like...like a meth addicted bag lady?



Come to think about it if it wasn't for me my wife's car would look like that Subaru and she is kind of milftastic - at least to my eyes. Again, great results.

That is a very good question. The answer for me is shown in the pictures. Yes, I spent 12 hours cursing all that is holy while cleaning that interior. And at the end I looked back and saw what I accomplished. It is truly one of the most rewarding things I do, I take something that looked like THAT and now it looks better than new. The customers always either smile or cheer. And getting paid for it certainly doesn't hurt.

 

[2005GTPinMD]

Nice job - how do people pig up a car so quickly?

 

[rmwpg]

Looks terrific, especially considering the crap carpet and seat material they use. Makes a tough job even tougher.

I recently purchased an '07 Subaru Outback which must have the same seat fabric mentioned by this poster. It seems innocent enough---smooth-ish, even knap / texture; light beige-y / greyish colour---quite attractive and nothing obviously scary about it. But oh my! One short perusal of the Subaru forums and my suspicions about 'easy dirty / hard clean' were proven correct.



It had a general smattering of light stains and dirty marks when I bought it, on everything from the seats to the headliner. Deciding that it might be a bit more of a job than I wanted to take on, I took it to Ming, a local detailing company (chain franchise?), for a complete interior clean up and exterior polish. After the first go through, when the fabric had completely dried it was obvious that, although there was an improvement, things were still far from clean. After they graciously agreed to do virtually the whole thing again it's looking much better, though not perfect. Apparently this fabric (info from the forums) looks stained even after just getting it wet (such as if the window is left open and the rain wets a part of the seat, leaving an obvious 'line').



I've always felt that prevention is easier than a cure, so unless I'm dressed up, I drape an old, clean sheet over the driver's seat before getting in. Likewise for my small dog who sits in the back seat (buckled in with a safety harness--a great idea for keeping hair and dirt corralled). Another large sheet goes on the seat where she sits and it gets a good shake each time before we take a ride and is laundered regularly.



The customer in this post would do well to face reality by immediately (before it starts getting dirty again) getting a good quality waterproof seat cover that fits over the whole back seat. Then her dogs could come and go as she pleases but the lion's share of the rear of the car would stay pristinely clean under the cover. Ok, well, the customer would be well advised to also cover just about every other seat and surface in the car that can be coverered, judging from the state it was in before being detailed :wink: