Custom Tuners

WAS

WAS

Driven
I've been a member of the forum for over a year and a lurker for about 2 years. I got to thinking, I've never seen a custom tuner car in the Pro Details Before & After section. You would think that folks spending $10K on painted body kits for their Civics, Preludes, Cobalts, and Golfs would be a target market for us detailers. Anyone who's ever been to CCCN (the Carlisle Custom Compact Nationals) would know exactly what I'm talking about.



So, with that said, is it just me, or is this a huge segment of the market that none of us seem to be seeing ? :nixweiss
 
More likely they're in pretty deplorable condition yet the owners think they look fine. Look at how messed up the average six-figure exotic is..or even the average concours competition vehicle at many shows.



Sheesh, that sounds so cynical :o
 
All I can say is that VW guys are cheap and don't want to spend any money on a proper detail. I tried for years and gave up on them a long time ago.
 
Accumulator said:
More likely they're in pretty deplorable condition yet the owners think they look fine. Look at how messed up the average six-figure exotic is..or even the average concours competition vehicle at many shows.



Sheesh, that sounds so cynical :o
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Cynical or not, it's the truth. This group takes great pride in their vehicles, as they bring them to shows and spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on customization. But, I have yet to see a single "pro detail" on a tuner, which puzzles me. Even if a lot of them are "cheap", there must still be SOME out there that are willing to get a proper detail.
 
The issue with tuner cars, as well as any car enthusiast in general (especially classic car guys) is that they love their cars and don't want to be told that "_________ could be better." They see detailers the same as they see mechanics and lube techs... why pay someone to do something that I can do myself (whether they're right or wrong... they are always right in their mind).



That's not saying its an untapped market in the least. I have done my fair share of enthusiast cars, tuners, and classics. But it's not a market that you can promote yourself to. Most guys will scoff at your work then go home and rub their paint down with Nufinish or Liquid Glass and think they are ahead of the game.



In my experiences... except for the guys with big pockets... most tuners are saving their money for the next mod and could care less about their paint work. I have had a number of tuner customers (Subies and BMWs mostly) that have put off their appointments because they spontaneously bought a new toy for their car and no longer had the money for the detail.
 
tdekany said:
All I can say is that VW guys are cheap and don't want to spend any money on a proper detail. I tried for years and gave up on them a long time ago.
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This is also true. :chuckle:



Most VW/Audi guys don't want to swallow the fact that their paint is rock hard and a true paint correction is going to be expensive or very hard to accomplish themselves. However, I've noticed that a very large number of pro detailers have come from the VW community and I find that hilarious. I guess slaving over your own dub for hours gives you the patience to take on pretty much anything else.
 
My take, on the second VW, first was a blue Jetta (great car) currently have a black GTI - I love to take time and make that little hatch shine. The paint is at least 95% and that's good enough for my daily driver. I alternate BFWD and AGHD every 3-4 weeks. As far as tuning goes, I don't have the cash. We just bought my daughter a Mazda 3 and every spare dime is going to be needed to pay for that. I do as much maintenance (oil changes and stuff) that I can on our cars not just to save money, but I know it's done right. I have found a great german car master mechanic to work on my car, very good and while not cheap - he's reasonable and doesn't f you over like the dealer. He has a 300+HP GTI with horrible paint. Maybe I can work some detailing for wrenching deal!
 
todd@bsaw said:
The issue with tuner cars, as well as any car enthusiast in general (especially classic car guys) is that they love their cars and don't want to be told that "_________ could be better." They see detailers the same as they see mechanics and lube techs... why pay someone to do something that I can do myself (whether they're right or wrong... they are always right in their mind).



That's not saying its an untapped market in the least. I have done my fair share of enthusiast cars, tuners, and classics. But it's not a market that you can promote yourself to. Most guys will scoff at your work then go home and rub their paint down with Nufinish or Liquid Glass and think they are ahead of the game.



In my experiences... except for the guys with big pockets... most tuners are saving their money for the next mod and could care less about their paint work. I have had a number of tuner customers (Subies and BMWs mostly) that have put off their appointments because they spontaneously bought a new toy for their car and no longer had the money for the detail.
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That's some very interesting experiences Todd. Puts some perspective into it, for me anyways.
 
I've done a couple cars for people I know who were showing them at a HIN event, but for the most part, "car guys" think they know more about all facets of car care than anyone else.
 
todd@bsaw said:
Stay out of our Pro Forum, Car Guy!
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Heh heh....gee, I'm BUSTED!! :chuckle:



Maybe that's why I agree about "car guys" thinking they know everything!



But hey, didn't you see the thread where David Fermani made me an Honorary Professional :nana: right back at ya!
 
todd@bsaw said:
I've noticed that a very large number of pro detailers have come from the VW community and I find that hilarious. I guess slaving over your own dub for hours gives you the patience to take on pretty much anything else.
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You speak the truth! I've only driven VW's for the last 10 years, and anytime I detail another brand, it's like night and day. What I expect to be a 5 hour job ends up being like 3hours with much less product. Nice obersvation, dude.
 
Still new here, But I think most of the tuner guys think money in terms of what it can buy for there car, like $300 for detailing = carbon fiber front lip... I'm doing a few in the near future, Probably a Wrx and an Mr2. I'll try to post some stuff after. The hard part may be the carbon fiber hood and wing, feels/sounds like sandpaper, I only want to use a pc on the whole car, the widebody kit has been painted and is very peely! any suggestions would be helpful for the process on the whole.
 
Mine's not all that bad. I usually work on it bit by bit to keep the overall looking decent. Still finding little bits of rubber from the track in the wheel wells but there's none on the body!



73235e4d.jpg
 
tdekany said:
All I can say is that VW guys are cheap and don't want to spend any money on a proper detail. I tried for years and gave up on them a long time ago.
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It's not that VW guys are cheap. We know what can happen when an inexperienced detailer gets their hands on the interior of a Dub. Many novices will use harsh chemicals that melt away the nice "soft touch" coating like you see here. I won't let anyone touch my VW's anymore unless they are willing to pay to fix the damage they cause. Luckily, VW isn't using this coating on as many parts in their newer models...I wish they'd stop all together.



softtouchfailvw.jpg
 
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