BMW Dealer Detail

[gtpaul]

I wonder what products dealerships use? 3M most likely? While some products yield better results than others, I'm sure technique and skill are what matter more in this situation. I bet the dealership "sealant" wears off 2 months from now, you should use klasse on yours and show him how much longer it beads!

my dealership uses 3m for some scratches and the rest is bulk AutoMagic.

 

[DETAILKING]

A lot of BMW dealers use automagic products. The cars do look good in the showroom from all the oils in the wax.



How much is this detail costing????



With a new car, he should be excited to learn and do the job himself....even if he starts out by just washing it and using a spray wax, and then goes on from there. I once saw a detailer at a dealership detailing many cars at once, and this dood was washing one with a broom on a long handle!!! I had to cringe when I saw it. Then they use this very oily spray wax to hide all the swirls so the car looks perfect upon delivery............till the first wash!

 

[offcenter]

[quote name='DETAILKING']A lot of BMW dealers use automagic products. The cars do look good in the showroom from all the oils in the wax.



How much is this detail costing????





They are doing it for free as part of the "prep" for a new vehicle delivery, they never washed it (he was better off that way). I told my friend that I never let the dealer wash my car, they just swirl the paint. I guess he thinks "free" is a good deal.



I am anxious to see how the car looks when it's done

 

[GTScott]

That is great! The dealers are king when it comes to swirl installation.



-GT

 

[drewski59]

I did too - look at the area to the left of the license plate - OP city

I noticed that too. Why is it that on most cars the area around the license plate is heavily peeled?? Does it have to do with the distance of the area away from the paint sprayers? Just curious...

 

[paco]

Detailking,



Any chance you can find out what oily spray wax that is that hides all the swirls? I am curious to see if such a product exists?



It might be nice to have such a product in the everyday person's tool box for those off occasion when you don't have time to do a proper detail and need an immediate result.



I can think of a couple of scenario's where people might want such a product.



Wedding day and you want your car to look awesome and it's fulll of swirls (neighbour)



Selling a vehicle and you want to get as much return as possible.



Winter - if it's too cold to properly detail, a quick oily product would be of benefit if you have a few swirls to deal with in the Spring.



Paco

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

Detailking,



Any chance you can find out what oily spray wax that is that hides all the swirls? I am curious to see if such a product exists?



It might be nice to have such a product in the everyday person's tool box for those off occasion when you don't have time to do a proper detail and need an immediate result.



I can think of a couple of scenario's where people might want such a product.

Hmm... I've seen folks use pledge furniture polish for that basic purpose; maybe that would work. I wouldn't want it though, personally.

Wedding day and you want your car to look awesome and it's fulll of swirls (neighbour)

Well, that's your neighbor's problem for not planning ahead. He most likely knew in advance that he was getting married. Plenty of time to set up an appointment for a "proper" full detail.

Selling a vehicle and you want to get as much return as possible.

That's cheating. Personally I find it unethical to "hide" a large ammount of surface damage just to get more money. An honest sale would mean fixing the problems instead of hiding them.



I actually just spent an entire 3 day weekend working on a customer's black Tahoe that he is selling. It sat in my driveway for a couple days after that since the owner was out of town. I had people asking me why I had a brand new truck sitting there for sale; I loved telling them it was actually a 2002!

Winter - if it's too cold to properly detail, a quick oily product would be of benefit if you have a few swirls to deal with in the Spring.

Just QEW and go; no need to mess with much else. I tend not to worry about my finish having a small ammount of marring/swirls in the winter, it's kind of expected that it won't be perfect. At least it still looks better than the rest.



I guess my detailing ethics just won't allow me to hide a problem that I know I can fix -- it would be like shoplifting parishable items from a store and claiming that I was only borrowing them. Why, if you can fix it, would you rather hide it and just end up dealing with the same defects again?



If anything, the farthest I'd go is tossing a glaze like #5 on, followed by some meg's QuikWax or something similar in a pinch. Ideally, I don't like using glazes at all though (except on fresh paint during the 'cure process').

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

Then they use this very oily spray wax to hide all the swirls so the car looks perfect upon delivery............till the first wash!

Before I bought my truck, (it was used) I had it out on a couple test drives. One of the first thing I did while away from the dealership and the salesman, was to take the truck home and wash a few pannels with dawn. I kid you not, the paint literally changed color with all the brown oily muck I stripped off of it. There wasn't much damage underneath, but the color change was truly shocking.



The salesman was kinda upset when I brought it back and he saw what I had done; but I signed the papers that day, too -- so he got over it. :clap:

 

[paco]

Hey Shiny,



For the everyday Joe, such a product might be of some use. For most of the members here, it's a non issue but for the neighbour who doesn't understand or doesn't have the $$$ or time to spend learning and just wants a quick fix for a weekend because company is coming over or what have you, it would nice to know that such a product exists.



I have found the past 12-months, finding time to detail a real struggle with work, the house, wife and friends. I simply do not have hours on the weekend to look after my vehicle the way I used to.



That's not too say that the cars look bad (Acura is in mint shape with NO swirls) but the Cavalier I haven't got around to detailing yet since inheriting from my wife. It's a perfect test vehicle with minor swirls, scratches etc. but I have no time to detail and play around as days gone by.



If such a product as described exist, I'd be curious for winter use if a few swirls starting coming to light but the sub -10's make it unrealistic to pull out the PC or Rotary to address a few blemishes.



As for selling your vehicle, 99% of the people buying resale never even look at the paint or give it's a moments notice. Having it look nice can increase the value a few hundred but a couple of weeks later, most buyers wouldn't even know the difference the "oily" product washed off and swirl city came to light. That's not too say it's right or not, but it's up to everyone's individual judgement to decide what they feel comfortable doing at the time of sale.



If there such a product, I'm sure it would quickly be one of the read and replied to threads Autopia has seen. Probably surpass the NXT hype thread of yester year.



Paco

 

[Mad iX]

To be fair, if you've ever worked as a detailer for a dealer, they don't even let you do a good job, so it doesn't matter if the detailer is any good. I always blame the dealer.

Still, this guy will learn his lesson the hard way. At least they're not charging him $500 which I have seen happen.

 

[DETAILKING]

if this is a free detail then you can bet it's just a wash and spray wax, and then some shiny, goopy tire dressing.



I used to use 3M inperial hand glaze to make a black car look awesome in 20 minutes. It has good fillers and hides swirls well.

 

[4830Deuce]

so are we going to get some pictures of this car or what...im all excited now... :lol What day this week is the detail going down?

 

[imported_Larry A]

On monday 2 cars came in for a detail one was a Sunbeam Alpine the other was a Buick Grand National , both cars had single stage black paint. Both cars had been buffed so many thimes that you can see primer in some spots. In this case the detailer was afraid to removeall the swirls and scratches. The detailer talked with the customers and told them that he wouldnt use a high speed buffer on there cars for fear of buffing through the paint. What he did is on the Alpine he clayed, then used NXT with a PC. On the Buick he clayed then used AIO by hand, and then went over with Mothers Carnuba. In both cases the cars came out great and both customers were happy. Some times it is better to fill swirls instead of removing them.

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

On monday 2 cars came in for a detail one was a Sunbeam Alpine the other was a Buick Grand National , both cars had single stage black paint. Both cars had been buffed so many thimes that you can see primer in some spots. In this case the detailer was afraid to removeall the swirls and scratches. The detailer talked with the customers and told them that he wouldnt use a high speed buffer on there cars for fear of buffing through the paint. What he did is on the Alpine he clayed, then used NXT with a PC. On the Buick he clayed then used AIO by hand, and then went over with Mothers Carnuba. In both cases the cars came out great and both customers were happy. Some times it is better to fill swirls instead of removing them.

And those are the circumstances under which I would use a glaze like #5. I'm not saying that glaze is a worthless product, just that for the largest majority of cases, it isn't necessary as far as I'm concerned.