(-: 1st Client of year :-)

57chevy

57chevy

57Chevy
Did my first MOBILE DETAIL Client of the year today and did I ever have to work for my money today. But worth it to hear the words come out of her mouth..."You're Awesome, It looks new again, I don't think I want to it drive now"

Music to my ears. It was a 2002 Lincoln Navigator, light bronze color and the paint was in good shape. However, the interior looked like her and her 2 toddlers had been living on the inside. What a mess. It took 20 minutes just to get all the crap out the inside so I could go to work. Gym Bags, Cheerio's everywhere, skittles mashed into the carpet, Sippy cups, pop spills and drips down every console and seat. A real nightmare if you get the picture.

Well 6 hours later I was done. I spent more time on the interior than I did on the exterior. Well, needless to say the efforts paid off in gratitude and in cash. I got $200 for the job not a bad days work plus travel time and I was happy with the results in the end.

I have pics if anyone is interested.

Weather is getting nicer here in MICH. and I have 4 more clients lined up to have their cars done. This might be a good year yet.
 
aint detailing great ! now get out there and find another filthy heap to perform an automotive miracle on . pretty inspirational huh?
 
It's no doubt that we can be miracle workers in this trade. It's all for the love of the Cars and Trucks. Treat everyone vehicle as if you were going to be driving it down the road and you'll never disappoint yourself or your clients. Hey that a good quote. Think I'll use on my signature.

To start I used my shop-vac from top to bottom with various attachments to get all the carpet and dash dust free. I used Resolve Spray-on Foam Carpet cleaner and a Black and Decker portable carpet srubber (plugs in to AUX) and worked the cleaner in really well. I took my Bissell little green machine just in case, but the Resolve worked so well I opted not to break it out. The last thing I did was to go back over all the carpet and floor mats with the shop-vac and remove all the loosened dirt. Cleaned all the interior glass with Stoner's Invisible glass. I sprayed it on a terry cloth towel and cleaned each window following up with a MF. Then moved onto cleaning all the Vinyl and Leather with Megs. Leather Cleaner (step1) and then Megs. Leather Conditioner (step 2) buffing it out with a clean terry cloth. Worked great and left the leather soft and smooth again with a nice fragrance.

Moved onto washing and waxing. Started with the Wheels (Chrome) + Tires and hit them with Megs. Gold Class all Purpose Wheel Cleaner and the tires with Bleeche-White. With the 2 bucket system I used Megs. Gold Class Car Shampoo and did the Top down wash. Even at 6'3 I needed my step ladder to get the roof. What a beast of a SUV. Used a Synthetic Chamios to wipe it down.
Went directly to my PC with Megs. #6 Cleaner/Wax and a White Edge Pad. and a MF to buff. Did the Door Jambs with a terry cloth applicator and MF. Sealed the Job with Megs. # 20 Polymer Sealant.
I also used Black Magic Tire Wet. Finished the job by spraying Megs. Gold Class Odor remover.
 
If the pics don't show you may have to scroll to the right to view. I'm not sure how I can reduce these to smaller files sizes.
 
The exterior looks great!
If you were able to make the interior look that good, you definitely earned your money.
When you looked at that, you were probably ready to pack up and say, "So long folks".
Any after pics of the interior?

Charles
 
hey 57 just curious about your mobile business. Do you have to carry any type of insurance and is there anything that you needed to do to get it all started?
 
CharlesW,

Well the interior looked really good with some light staining in areas but that's to be expected I guess, considering how long anything might of had a chance to sit soak into the fabric. But believe me the interior looked almost new again. Lot's of time, patience and Elbow grease. Also, this was a friend of the family and I thought about packing at first, then looked at this as a challange and an opportunity to get more business. Momoa didn't raise no quitters. H3ll if I could get this put back together then I'm ready to detail. I suspect not every vehicle that comes in will be a detailer's dream. Unfortunately, I neglected to get interior photos when I was done. After 6 hours I was ready to high-tail it back home.

Ryan,

I haven't gone as far as registering through the state or anything yet. Most of the work I'm doing is for people I know and referral based. I want to get a feel for doing this before I get all the paper work completed. There are probably some good threads on this site covering this topic and some good books available in your public library for starting a small business. I checked a few out. If you'd like to send me a Private Message and I can elaborate more. I also, took an Entrepenuer's class.
 
57 Chevy;

You said you waxed with #6, then "sealed the job" with #20 sealant. I was under the impression that a sealant was supposed to go under the wax.
Since you said this was a friend of the family, have you seen it, if it has any bonding issues? I got to thinking it may not, since Meguiar's tends to be a "system" company, so maybe #6 was made to work under #20.
I was just curious. I know with Poorboy's stuff, you seem to be able to put anything in any order and it still comes out well!

Final thought: Good job on the Lincoln!:beer
 
Big Leegr,

I haven't seen it since I completed the work, but I used a similar combination on my own vehicle and still had great results. I had used #9, #6, #26 and topped with #20. Logically in my own mind I would have tought a sealant (by name) would be the last step and not the wax. Hell, what do I know the directions on the bottles don't give that kind of information whether to apply one over the other.

Anyways this is a good question and so far no one has given me a solid confirmation about the bonding issue. Or order of product use. Therefore I haven't argued with my results. I wish someone would tell me if I using the wrong order. Ans you may very well be correct maybe Megs tend to be system oriented and I might have gotten lucky.....this time.

I think this bonding issue would make a good thread.

Thanks!
 
Like a parrot, I can only repeat things I have heard.
The general consesus seems to be that a sealant will bond much better to clean paint with no oils, waxes or silicones on it.
Based on that, my procedure for sealant has been SMR, cleaner, sealant. If I was going to use a carnauba wax, it would be the last product I applied.
If you don't have a sealant in the mix, I think you have less of a chance of incompatibility between products.
For use of a wax, I do the SMR, cleaner or cleaner/wax. There again, a carnauba wax would be the last think I apply.
It does seem that lots of products react completely differently even though they may be called the same thing.
The #20 does have some cleaning ability and that may be enough to allow it to be used over the #26.
FWIW, the #26 would have been the last product I applied in your process.
:dunno
Charles
 
Thanks Charles I think this clears up things up for me. I will be sure to apply the sealant before the wax. Great information.

Thanks for everyones input.
 
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