Craziest detailing "advise" you have heard...

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imported_weekendwarrior

New member
My boss (who knows nothing about detailing, but thinks he knows everything about everything) recently ran outside as a rainstorm was approaching to move his car out of the covered parking area, and into the rain. I asked him why he did that, and he said he had just waxed his car before work, and that the cold rain would "cure" the wax.



This is the same guy that only washes his car with water (no soap - regardless of how dirty it is), and a sponge because he says soap strips the wax. I advised him that a lot of dedicated car soaps won't do this, and the soap serves as a lubricant for the wash. Of course he didn't buy this, as he says that "common sense" says any soap will remove wax.



His idea of cleaning the engine is to blast it at the quarter wash, and doesn't cover up any of the sensitive components under the hood - he simply blasts away under the hood with the wand.



You should have seen the look on his face when I tried to explain detailing clay.



After listening to my boss, and reading the other thread where the lady has been detailing her car behind her husband's back, it made me think - what are some of the craziets things you have heard from people you know about car detailing?
 
LOL!! Your boss probably has a lot of swirl marks.



I think the most common thing i have is neighbours and friends and telling my how i will polish my paint away or damage it. Even though im just layering on another coat of wax on a sunday afternoon. Polish and wax seem to be the same to most people, and too much of it must ruin your paint. Prehapes true of the first, but not of the later!



Geoff
 
Your boss is old school. In the old days when you used Simonize Paste Wax , you would rinse with cold water to harden the wax. In the old days you would just use plain water to wash your car. When you had a Blue Coral or a Porcelinize treatment they recomended that you only use plain water to wash your car. It wasent to long ago that Rolls Royce recomended only plain water to wash their paint work. You have to tell him about the new things in detailing including clay.
 
I usually wash my car several times a week, at the dealership I work for. One of the guys there tells me I'm going to wash the paint off and hes dead serious.



The worst part is that most of these guys who think they know everything aren't willing to listen to any new ideas. My father always talks about Billy Mays whenever I wash my car with ONR.
 
lawrencea said:
Your boss is old school. In the old days when you used Simonize Paste Wax , you would rinse with cold water to harden the wax. In the old days you would just use plain water to wash your car. When you had a Blue Coral or a Porcelinize treatment they recomended that you only use plain water to wash your car. It wasent to long ago that Rolls Royce recomended only plain water to wash their paint work. You have to tell him about the new things in detailing including clay.
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Use of clay to clean is not new... My grandmother used to clean the wall paper with clay.. grandfather use the same stuff on his car... not new just new to market....
 
beabout said:
Use of clay to clean is not new... My grandmother used to clean the wall paper with clay.. grandfather use the same stuff on his car... not new just new to market....
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I didnt know about clay years ago . I though that they used dough to clean wallpaper. In the mid 60s when I started detailing cars, all I had to clean cars was rubbing compound.
 
lawrencea said:
I didnt know about clay years ago . I though that they used dough to clean wallpaper. In the mid 60s when I started detailing cars, all I had to clean cars was rubbing compound.
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Yes, dough was used as well, grandma used to get a can of clay from the Fuller Brush guy that came around about once a month or so...
 
weekendwarrior said:
My boss (who knows nothing about detailing, but thinks he knows everything about everything) recently ran outside as a rainstorm was approaching to move his car out of the covered parking area, and into the rain. I asked him why he did that, and he said he had just waxed his car before work, and that the cold rain would "cure" the wax.
Click to expand...



It sounds like your boss knows a lot more about detailing than you think he knows. Although you may not want to believe it, that cold rain would help to cure the wax. And that my friend, is very good advice.
 
There is nothing wrong with old school if it is being done to an old school car.

I've been told that I'll strip the paint off if I keep polishing the car. However they don't know that I wasn't polishing but was applying sealant
 
The craziest detail "advice" I have been given is to use mayonaisse to get tree sap off of paint.....never tried it but they swear it works!
 
From an old boss:

"Don't bother washing the car, you have to buff it anyway"



Yes thats right, dirty cars at this dealership got buffed without being washed. I couldn't stand to watch anymore so I quit.
 
Guy who owned a shop I applied and quit at the same day told me that he had a 1 step product that removed swirls and protected the paint and said I should be able to do 6+ cars inside and out a day with the system that he had developed. I tried to explain fillers in products and that dying carpets didn't removed the stains but he didn't listen...Needless to say he had a bunch of customers come to me after they figured him out...
 
weekendwarrior said:
His idea of cleaning the engine is to blast it at the quarter wash, and doesn't cover up any of the sensitive components under the hood - he simply blasts away under the hood with the wand.
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I've easily done over 500 cars just blasting away...soak it down in water based degreaser first, letting it stew, then pressure wash away.



I've only had 2 problems that I can recall...One wouldn't start until the next morning, and the other was a wet distributor cap....and well, that's an easy fix.
 
Hmmm, all of this sounds so familiar at the used car dealership I used to work at.... When they washed the cars on the lot, no soap was used, you sprayed down 5-6 cars at a time, and then before the sun dried them off, you grabbed a towel an went to town!!! Needless to say, I don't know why they even bothered to buff the cars before they put them on the lot, a day later they looked worse than they did before they were traded in.....

And the kid I worked with would buff cars without washing too, and to add icing to the cake, finish with a wool pad....... Man I hated working there.... I could go on an on, but I'm afraid it will just turn into a giant rant. :o



Edit - I have to share this too :nervous2: One day me an the other kid who worked there decided to wash our cars since we were washing the lot cars anyway, so I busted out a bucket of soap and went to town on my black Jetta, asked him if he wanted any for his blazer and he tells me that it will only strip the wax off (like there was any wax left on anyway....) and I told him actual car soap wouldn't and he wouldn't believe me. "See" he says, "I haven't had to put a coat of wax on in 6 months!" .... So w/e, not my car, so I get done and begin drying my car off and before I know it, he is helping me dry with one of his dirty towels he just wiped his dirty *** blazer with. Before I could say anything he left a bunch swirls and scratches in my roof..... :( I wanted to kill that *ucker....
 
davis98 said:
I usually wash my car several times a week, at the dealership I work for. One of the guys there tells me I'm going to wash the paint off and hes dead serious.



The worst part is that most of these guys who think they know everything aren't willing to listen to any new ideas. My father always talks about Billy Mays whenever I wash my car with ONR.
Click to expand...





Actually, back in the day, on certain brands, like Cadillacs, that was true. My dad was telling me that him and his buddy used to wash his car multiple times a week, and after a year or so, his friends caddy was faded badly, and in certain areas, it had gone down to primer. So yes, back in the 50s and 60s, it was possible to wash the paint off. Not so much a problem with modern clear coats and multi-stage paint jobs.



My dad refuses to use soap on the cars, just uses flowing water and a wash cloth, but after i did my moms marauder, i told him he wasn't allowed to use that method anymore:nomore: , he has to use soap. He listened because he doesn't want to have to pay me to fix that paint again. :sign
 
"Use Orange Hand Cleaner soap and smear it on baked on rims, helps to break the dirt down"....
 
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