Confessions Thread

always liked this thread....

she said "can you dance?" and without hesitation this came out... "why, yes I love a good two step" :lol: (double entendre much)

this shouldn`t be so easy. I`m glad to be back!
 
It takes me almost 10 hours to completely polish/exterior , coat, detail interior / engine on one of my cars to my satisfaction. At the end I feel very satisfied and very sore. Thankfully the shine outlasts the soreness. Getting old sux.
 
just broke my promise to myself to not buy anything else for the rest of the year (or as long as possible) -- guess which one came first? haha

got a haul of DMMTs, Mega Plushs and 32 oz of Tornado OTW - oh yea!
 
Confession - I am addicted to spending a ton of money on detailing related products and gear.
I just bought a Scangrip Multi 2 and Scangrip i-match 2 after telling myself for days no more buying any products.
This is after I bought more pads and Gyeon compound and polish to try last week.
I may need to delete the internet entirely or go to therapy.
 
512detail said:
does an orchestra play in the background? :)
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Heh heh heh...actually, I don`t even have the radio on lest it distract me.

During the cleaner/warmer months, I can do the A8 (easiest) in about six hours if I *really* push it. Did it in five once but..(OK, here`s my Confession)...I skipped all the underhood disassembly and only did a cursory, one-step job on the undercarriage.

I figure I probably do a lot of areas (always using a few steps) that others just don`t bother with. The "regular body panels" go quickly enough and/but are a relatively small part of the job time/effort wise; I probably spend more time on, say....the various hinges. Absolutely spend many times as long on the undercarriage and jambs. Stuff that people often assume eats time, like jacking up/taking down the vehicle, actually goes pretty quickly. There are just so many things to clean and the tight spots take a while.
 
EXPDetailing - It`s been a year, so hopefully you`ve found a system that works for you to help keep your cool.

When I was a teen, I had a wicked temper (my folks said it was noticeable after I had a bike crash that rung my bell pretty good). My moment of reflection came when I was over at a friends house working on my car. Had the front of it on jack stands, and something wasn`t going well. I got so mad 130 lb me lifted the nose off the jackstands and shoved it back down (Yes, small car, but still.). It was then I realized I had to make a change.

From that day, any time I`d start to get fired up, I`d stop myself and consider: Tomorrow, what will this even matter? 3 days from now, week from now, etc. Nothing was worth being that mad/bent out of shape about. The more time passed, the more I didn`t have to stop to consciously think about it, and the less it was even an issue anymore. Sure, I still get mad- who doesn`t? But definitely not like I used to...

My confession: I`m a car fixer, not a car detailer. But, I admit to testing different products I`ve purchased on customer car interiors to see their cleaning ability and finish they leave. I mainly only do it on cars that are clearly just appliances to the owner and they probably never even notice the difference.

Findings:
ONR really does melt "people funk" off of switch gear (turn signal stalks/etc), and leaves a factory looking finish.
ONR Wash and Wax is awesome for wood trim.
N-914 and ONR both work great as glass cleaners, even allowing the cheap bar towels our uniform company gives us to leave a streak free finish.

I still fall back to the Griot`s Interior Cleaner for dash/panel/console wipe downs after big dashboard out jobs though out of fear of leaving an "altered" look.
 
Also: Sometimes, no matter what I was doing to the car, I clean just the interior mirror glass.

How people can drive around with them so dingy/Achoo-funk spotted up is beyond me.
 
Oneheadlite- Glad to hear you got a handle on your Anger issues. Useful for fueling certain types of action in some (extremely rare) circumstances, otherwise basically worthless.

I`m still using up my Griot`s Interior Cleaner, but after decades and countless gallons of it, I think I just might switch to something like the 3D APC, which cleans a lot better for me. The Griot`s is just so mild that I usually reach for an Interior QD instead unless I need more cleaning power than the Griot`s provides anyhow. But I agree completely about how it cleans without altering anything and it basically doesn`t require a separate rinse step.

I can`t get ONR/IUDJ to work for me as Glass Cleaners :( But yeah, it sure does a nice job on a whole lotta surfaces, though I use mine primarily in the house rather than for vehicles (I`m using the old v2.0 ONR too, not their W&W which I bet is even better).
 
Oneheadlite said:
Also: Sometimes, no matter what I was doing to the car, I clean just the interior mirror glass..
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Yeah, absolutely! Hey, you already have your Glass Cleaning stuff out anyhow, might as well spend a moment doing that. I give the mirror`s housing a quick wipe too, at least in shared vehicles where somebody`s always grabbing it to adjust the thing.
 
Accumulator said:
Yeah, absolutely! Hey, you already have your Glass Cleaning stuff out anyhow, might as well spend a moment doing that. I give the mirror`s housing a quick wipe too, at least in shared vehicles where somebody`s always grabbing it to adjust the thing.
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I meant if it was an oil change or timing cover gaskets, not necessarily a bout of obsessive I-just-have-to-clean-this-thing... :lol:
Good point about the mirror housing. I have to be careful spending too much time on it though- it`s technically not part of the job, it`s just my sympathy for the machine that`s so neglected.

Like finding an abandoned puppy: you just want to scoop it up, give it some love, and assure it wasn`t it`s fault. :D
 
Oneheadlite said:
I meant if it was an oil change or timing cover gaskets, not necessarily a bout of obsessive I-just-have-to-clean-this-thing... :lol:
Good point about the mirror housing. I have to be careful spending too much time on it though- it`s technically not part of the job, it`s just my sympathy for the machine that`s so neglected...
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Plus, some of those surfaces you`ll have to touch...I bet you get vehicles where you wear gloves to keep [stuff] from getting on your hands, rather than the other way around.

Like finding an abandoned puppy: you just want to scoop it up, give it some love, and assure it wasn`t it`s fault. :D
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Heh heh, yeah...that`s what prompted me to, uhm...accumulate...cars until I finally came to my senses. That `93 Audi of mine a rescue from Cash for Clunkers (so I had to pay !!$4.5K!! for it as that`s what the Program was offering :o )...just couldn`t *stand* the idea of a not-even-broken-in car that I loved being deliberately trashed.
 
Accumulator said:
Plus, some of those surfaces you`ll have to touch...I bet you get vehicles where you wear gloves to keep [stuff] from getting on your hands, rather than the other way around.



Heh heh, yeah...that`s what prompted me to, uhm...accumulate...cars until I finally came to my senses. That `93 Audi of mine a rescue from Cash for Clunkers (so I had to pay !!$4.5K!! for it as that`s what the Program was offering :o )...just couldn`t *stand* the idea of a not-even-broken-in car that I loved being deliberately trashed.
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Absolutely! I wear nitrile gloves all the time - a coworker of mine developed an allergy to used motor oil, so I`ve pretty much worn them since I started wrenching. But there are definitely cars where I put on a fresh pair because I can`t stand the thought of actual contact with the interior.

I`m a "Make no adjustments" person, so unless I absolutely have to I don`t touch seats/mirrors/steering wheel adjustment, so I wouldn`t necessarily be making contact with stuff. If I remove any interior bits for repairs being made, I always clean everything I touch so there`s no risk of being blamed for how dirty they made it.

What`s your `93? I`m envisioning a V8 Quattro? I rocked a `93 90 quattro for a daily for a long time - possibly the longest car I owned according to a calendar. Great car, never let me down. Heck, even when I ran it out of gas it still chitty-chitty-bang-banged it way to the closest gas station...
 
Final confession: I make too many posts regarding the fact that I: A- Wrench on cars, and B- Prefer to be clean about it.

I realize I do it, and that it doesn`t matter to anyone else; but have a hard time stopping myself. :blink:
 
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