Craziest detailing "advise" you have heard...

Ya good times. I ended up bumping into this guy this summer and he now wholesaling cars at the auctions. He asked me if I could wash a couple of cars with amonia. I told him he is off his rocker. I showed him Spray Nine and Megs safe degreaser and he loves these new products. I still can't believe he is still using amonia to wash dirty cars.



I always hated the smell of Tilex anyway and after I read what was in it...I will pass.
 
I go to auctions all the time and I hear all the great ones from the best hacks and it's not just detailing.



Transmission fluid wipedown on old faded paint

Brake fluid in a smoking engine (it works on some cars) It stops it from smoking

Baby oil on the trim

The good ole sawdust in the bad rearend

Eggs in a bad radiator



Aww man there are so many other ones I can't even think. Go to a dealer auction and you will be horrified. They are all old schoolers there.
 
rydawg said:
Brake fluid in a smoking engine (it works on some cars) It stops it from smoking

Eggs in a bad radiator
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If the brake fluid works it's probably on cars that have stuck rings and it's breaking them loose...MythBusters did the egg-in-the-radiator thing and IIRC it worked...of course IMO it's just a temp fix like Barr's Leaks or the flaxseed/alum. powder fixes.
 
Anyone hear of a can of Coke in the radiator to protect from rust buildup? How about a can of Coke to clean your toilet? Or Spam as a furniture polish?
 
rydawg said:
I also had an old boss from almost 20 years ago (i was like 15) and he use to make me wash cars with ammonia to remove the black streaking and crud from the paint. It did work good but almost killed me from the fumes.



Also he use to use straight bleach and a brillo pad on white walls.



Well he decided to put some more ammonia in my wash bucket. But guess what? It was his bucket with bleach in it. All I here is WOOOOOOOOF and him screaming and running out of the garage like a little girl. We all got sick that day.



What an idiot he was.
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I use ammonia and water to clean carpets and cloth seats. You would be amazed on how well it works, just a quick wipe down and its done. After it dries it pulls the oders out of the fabric, but while you use it , it STINKS.
 
rydawg said:
...I asked him why he was doing it in the hot sun?

His reply was," I am baking the wax into the paint so it lasts longer".

I said," Your right it will last forever, cause it will never come off now". I watched him scream for 2 hours trying to remove it, but did not have much luck....
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:rofl







.
 
My friend insisted that wax is bad for the car, since buffing it out heats up the clearcoat and damages the paint.
 
Simonize saw that at wal mart looked good until I saw it was $1.26 then I remembered you get what you pay for.
 
last night I was talking to my step-dads friend and he said they used to use brake fluid to shine the tires.:nervous2:
 
A detail shop I used to take my used cars to for the $75 detail. i would run 20-30 cars per month throught this shop.



As the cars were pulled in, there was one person smearing 3M Compound Paste with a 2" paint brush all over the paint.



Then another person would take a rotary and wool pad and start compounding, over the dirt.



The compound paste would splatter all over the walls, floor, and ceiling. Not to mention get ground into the cracks and crevices on the cars.



They would then power wash the exterior to remove the compound using a gas powered and kerosene heated 3500 psi machine. They blew emblems, and washer nozzles off the cars regularly.



Malco Cleaner wax was then applied by hand to attempt to disguies the holograms and swirls.



The interiors were done with a hot water extractor. They would first spray kerosene all over the interior, then extract using a degreaser. Dressing was applied with a 2" paint brush from a gallon Malco jug. Looked like clear paint and remained sticky for days.



I cant think of a shop in Westchester or the Bronx that did it any differently at the time.
 
jsatek said:
A detail shop I used to take my used cars to for the $75 detail. i would run 20-30 cars per month throught this shop.



As the cars were pulled in, there was one person smearing 3M Compound Paste with a 2" paint brush all over the paint.



Then another person would take a rotary and wool pad and start compounding, over the dirt.



The compound paste would splatter all over the walls, floor, and ceiling. Not to mention get ground into the cracks and crevices on the cars.



They would then power wash the exterior to remove the compound using a gas powered and kerosene heated 3500 psi machine. They blew emblems, and washer nozzles off the cars regularly.



Malco Cleaner wax was then applied by hand to attempt to disguies the holograms and swirls.



The interiors were done with a hot water extractor. They would first spray kerosene all over the interior, then extract using a degreaser. Dressing was applied with a 2" paint brush from a gallon Malco jug. Looked like clear paint and remained sticky for days.



I cant think of a shop in Westchester or the Bronx that did it any differently at the time.
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My gosh, I hope that place burnt to the ground soon after. :sosad
 
jsatek said:
A detail shop I used to take my used cars to for the $75 detail. i would run 20-30 cars per month throught this shop.



As the cars were pulled in, there was one person smearing 3M Compound Paste with a 2" paint brush all over the paint.



Then another person would take a rotary and wool pad and start compounding, over the dirt.



The compound paste would splatter all over the walls, floor, and ceiling. Not to mention get ground into the cracks and crevices on the cars.



They would then power wash the exterior to remove the compound using a gas powered and kerosene heated 3500 psi machine. They blew emblems, and washer nozzles off the cars regularly.



Malco Cleaner wax was then applied by hand to attempt to disguies the holograms and swirls.



The interiors were done with a hot water extractor. They would first spray kerosene all over the interior, then extract using a degreaser. Dressing was applied with a 2" paint brush from a gallon Malco jug. Looked like clear paint and remained sticky for days.



I cant think of a shop in Westchester or the Bronx that did it any differently at the time.
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wow,lol. I'm sure alot of the detail shops in the westchester bronx area are still crappy. I wouldnt even have a beater car detailed in the bronx, lol. only if i knew the place personally
 
1. I ran into a know-it-all at a local 'Vette show some months ago who wanted to start an argument with me about how machine polishing, no matter how "good" you are, will always damage the paint and leave wheel marks. I just left him and his black, swirl ridden 'Vette be.



2. My father still, to this day, insists that "everone will tell you" to wash a car from the bottom up. I told him that it's now his responsibility to maintain the finish of his black Benz.



3. I'm still told that "too much wax will soften your paint, and it will eventually rub off."



Ignorance is bliss.:rolleyes:
 
A friend of mine tried to tell me that he went to a small Coin-Op place in town because the Foaming Brush had "real horsehair" heads, and as long as he blasted them with the pressure wand first, it flushed out any grit from previous users.



I live in a small town surrounded by rural areas. So its not uncommon to see these places with the remnants of some guy's 4X4 fun splattered all over the bays. And the Foaming Brushes still orange with the mud.



I discovered a professional detailer used gloss black spray paint as a wheel dressing on my car once.



I shudder to think of some of the things I've done to my cars over the years before I learned what they really did. (I'm guilty of Mr. Foamy Brush at least once in my life, too).



I've gotten to the point now where I don't allow anyone to help wash, wax, or detail my cars in any way until I've watched them demonstrate to me (without touching the car) how they will do it.



I won't use a detailer until after I've watched him work on another customer's car (especially after the spray paint episode).
 
Quoting my Service advisor at bmw "Windex is a great plastic UV protector for dashboards"



I then handed him my business card.
 
a guy around my way stated "it does not matter what products you use as long as you put effort into it" and he was talking about detailing cars without detailing specific products like crisco for tire shine; he was going on about other stuff but as soon as I heard him say that I started thinking what I was going to have for dinner.
 
Great thread.. I don't have anything to add except I've been told that baby diapers make the best towels for car drying/wax removal and application.



Sigh ;)
 
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