Detailing Job was too good...now what?

J

Julius_911

New member
Hi,



I just finished detailed a black BMW, squeezing the last possible drops of IP and 106FF....the owner was so impressed that he just called me up and referred me 3 clients. Gulp!





Here's my preferred steps

-Wash

-Clay

-Wash

-HD Uno with black wool (setting at ??)

-HD Uno with Orange pad

-HD Polish with white pad

-HD Poxy

-RMG Red Moose Glaze (have 1/2 bottle left over)

-Wax (Gold Glass left over)



I have no idea what cars will be coming in



Here are my blitz of questions:

1A) When using HD UNO with black wool what setting do I set the PC (porter cable)? (for black and orange pad)

1B) When using the HD Polish with white pad, again, what setting?



2) Now, If i need to skip a few steps to save some time someone recommended forget the HD Polish step , and just do UNO with black wool, orange and black pad (I only have white pad)



3) Can I use a white pad instead of black pad for the UNO final step?



4)What pad for the HD Poxy? (or apply by hand)



5)What general wheel cleaner can I use? (spray and rinse?)



Thanks again guys, you've really helped me in me last thread, I didn't know how well this would take off..

Very much appreciated.
 
If you don't know what cars are coming, how can you have preferred steps? The cars will need what they need, be very careful about locking yourself into a routine that has you spending more time on a car than you need to or are going to get paid for. And please use the aggressiveness of the pad and not the color, they are not standardized. Meguiars yellow foam pad is a polishing pad, Lake Country's is their most aggressive cutting pad. American Buffing's blue pads are finishing pads, HD's blue pads are heavy cutting. Hard to offer advice if we don't know how aggressive the pads are.



If you have to compound, start with UNO but not with your most aggressive pad, only use it if you need to. HD Polish will work with both a light cutting or a polishing pad, on harder paints you can probably finish out well with HD Polish and a light cutting pad, softer paints you'll need the polishing pad instead. RMG works great with a finishing pad. I prefer applying waxes by hand, I find I can do it a lot faster than by machine.



Until you know how long you are going to spend on average per detail, don't overbook yourself. Once you do several details you will probably figure out what order to do everything that maximizes results and saves time too.
 
Try this as a comparison:



Instead of using HD Polish, try finishing with HD Speed>and>then>POXY



This could allow you to skip the RMG and Gold Glass step.



With POXY, use a red final finishing foam pad. Apply about 6 small drops around the pad and spead them around. Apply on speed 3 or 4 and apply more product (2-3 small drops) when needed. Apply it very thin film over the paint and glass and allow to dry (crosslink) for about 30 minutes. Remove with MF towel.
 
Why use UNO on a wool pad and then orange foam pad? I use my compound on a black wool pad and it finishes down so well that I go straight to a final polishing step with a foam polishing pad.



If the car needs more compounding, I just use my compound + black wool pad twice and then finish with a foam polishing pad and polish.
 
Julius_911 said:
How do you guys find out what kind of car paint they have?
Click to expand...



By using different pad/product combos on the paint in test sections to gauge the hardness/softness of the paint and what combo works best on it.
 
I guess I'll have to try different scenarios and see how it works out.



I was about to order the HD products here and someone mentioned to used a coupon code of TD5, but it doesn't work....are there any specials? The shipping here to Canada is very high.

Thanks
 
Just keep in mind that every paint is different, even between the same exact car, you'll never run across the same conditions twice. Experience and experimenting will teach you what to expect from certain cars, but you always have to see it and do a test spot to know for sure what's going to work.
 
Never ever polish a car without doing a test panel and formulating a game plan. All paint is different, you can't even assume two of the exact same models of car will respond identically.
 
Julius_911 said:
What general wheel cleaner can I use? (spray and rinse?)
Click to expand...





IMO "spray and rinse" wheel cleaners aren't the way to go. I'd use a *safe* one, which will almost certainly require some mechanical agitation.



Prioritize not trashing the wheels ;)
 
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