Do you sometimes feel that your car dosent come out good after a detail?

GlossyTundra

GlossyTundra

Tractor Detailer
I am going through a phase in the last month of not liking the way my truck comes out after a detail. I always find little things wrong that I dont like. Like swirls in my running boards, chips on my paint, pitting of my glass, scratching on my wheels (thanks Leith Toyota :angry ). I get done and feel like I need to wash it again. It probably looks the same as it does when I was happy with it being detailed.



I may be crazy. I dont know, what do you think?
 
I know how you feel. If I just wash and dry the car I can stand back and think "wow the car looks good" but when I give it a full detail I stand back and look and think "Man I thought I was taking good care of this car, boy was I wrong" I think it really comes down to the fact that when I detail I am paying more attention to every detail of the car and can see every new chip or scratch. But when others look at my car they always say "you drive that everyday? wow it looks great"





I think WE are just crazy haha
 
im never happy unless i see no swirls, cobwebs, scratches etc...



plus my car is white, so i wont get the satisfaction when i work on my other car which is dark metallic burgandy.
 
The more I learn the more I know. The more I know the more I see. The more I see the more unhappy I become. I know that I have learned to see all the imperfections that I tried to correct but have not....as of yet. Striving for perfection is not easy task.



Even though my vehicle has never looked so well, I keep finding things that could be better. Is that not normal with an obcession?
 
cwcad said:
The more I learn the more I know. The more I know the more I see. The more I see the more unhappy I become. I know that I have learned to see all the imperfections that I tried to correct but have not....as of yet. Striving for perfection is not easy task.



Even though my vehicle has never looked so well, I keep finding things that could be better. Is that not normal with an obcession?
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That is exactly where I am now. For years I have always washed and waxed my cars on a regular basis and spent a fair amount of time doing it using OTC products. Then I moved to Zaino and felt even better and then I found this place and bought Pinnacle and other expensive products and started doing side by side comparisons which usually yielded little or no difference to me. So I then got a PC buffer and sent to more abrasive swirl removers to hide the spider web like swirls I now see that I never even looked for before in bright light.



And now after spending all this time and money with a closet full of products I am less happy than I was when I waxes with Meguires OTC stuff 4 times a year and knew nothing.



Don
 
It's very hard, near impossible, to keep a daily driver up to some of our standards. The more we learn the higher our standards become. Unfortunately there are too many odds against our vehicles that can create blemishes that will bother us to no end.



Have you ever picked one small area of your car which becomes your favorite part and you wish that the rest of the car was just like that area?



I'm sure someone knows what I'm talking about... :nervous: :bolt
 
I totally agree with what's been said so far. I think it becomes an obsessive type kind thing.



Twitch summed it up right though, we can't win for losing
 
I try to keep things realistic and it must be working, as I'm pretty happy with all our vehicles from the ones with significant marring to the "could be perfect if not for the deer incident" S8.



IMO stuff that's not within your control you oughta just blow off. Chips, dings, scratches in glass...there's stuff you just can't realistically fix perfectly. Some paints can't be fully corrected; you'll run out of paint, it's too hard for your methods- whatever the reason, if it can't be perfect, well, just do the best you can. Some stains won't come out of carpets- oh well, get new carpet or live with it.



Do the stuff you *can* do, to the best of your ability, and say "that's that". Look at how imperfect cars in museums and at high-level shows are. Don't beat yourself up over this stuff; they're just cars.
 
I think it was best stated that the more you know, the more you see.



I see things in my paint that my wife and freinds never see. You become your own worst critic when it comes to stuff like this. The reward is when someone says "man that car is clean" or "your stuff is never dirty, how do you do it?"
 
Accumulator said:
I try to keep things realistic and it must be working, as I'm pretty happy with all our vehicles from the ones with significant marring to the "could be perfect if not for the deer incident" S8.



IMO stuff that's not within your control you oughta just blow off. Chips, dings, scratches in glass...there's stuff you just can't realistically fix perfectly. Some paints can't be fully corrected; you'll run out of paint, it's too hard for your methods- whatever the reason, if it can't be perfect, well, just do the best you can. Some stains won't come out of carpets- oh well, get new carpet or live with it.



Do the stuff you *can* do, to the best of your ability, and say "that's that". Look at how imperfect cars in museums and at high-level shows are. Don't beat yourself up over this stuff; they're just cars.
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Nicely said. With my X (daily driver) I'm not anal about it at all. I'm very happy everytime I'm done detailing it.
 
Welcome to the craziness, My daily driver is covered in rock chips and the glass is pitted. :( It looks good...but not as good as I could hope for. I hate chips - Im planning on getting my front end re-painted...and possible replacing my windshield...the pitting is so bad, its starting to affect my visibility - this is where it turns into a necessity to get replaced



I like to think, my car looks better than 95% of the cars out there on the road, and if I can make my car looks as nice or better than a brand new car...I should be happy with my results. (even though once I see my front end that changes :o )
 
daily drivers will never be 100% (that's why they're daily drivers)-especially if you live in areas of high debris, dirt, snow, salt, etc....







be happy with what you can do, the rest will fall into play
 
yeah, I replaced my windshield at 30000 b/c of the pitting.



Well, at least most of yall feel the same way I do so I am not left in the dark by myself.
 
twitch said:
Have you ever picked one small area of your car which becomes your favorite part and you wish that the rest of the car was just like that area?



I'm sure someone knows what I'm talking about... :nervous: :bolt
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ahah I know EXACTLY what you're talking about....I used to love detailing my left front fender on my integra...It was the only panel on my car that was flawless :) I really like the curves of it to and the way it always reflected light just beautifully :)



I find that for the most part..Im satisfied with my detail. I'll do the best to my abilities, and that's all I can do..I'll get 95% of the swirls out, but unless I get brand new paint, im never getting it all out...It's a 15 year old car....



As everyone has said, as my knowledge grew, so did my standards....I feel like I can NEVER get a car to be PERFECT...IE not 1 swirl, perfect shine, perfect everything...But I always get compliments on how shiney my car is...So that makes it worth it I suppose...



That's what being a perfectionist (autopian) is all about! It's about always trying to do BETTER...



For me, Im really glad I found detailing as a hobby...It keeps me sane....Every saturday I detail for an hour or so(unless im doing a clients car)..I turn up the toons a little bit and do my work...Even though Im working, I find it very therapeutic, and relaxing...Especially when I step back after im totally finished and go say to myself...That looks "alright" :woohoo: :woohoo: (where as a regular joe would probably be going holy crap!)
 
One thing that gets us all riled up, is all the nice pics that are on Autopia! I remember looking at many posts in the click and brag section thinking, "I'm going to order me a PC and a thousand dollars worth goodies and make *MY* car look like that!" I got everything, went to work, and for the most part, it looks reeeaallly good, in some places, near perfect paint. However, not anywhere near as good as some of the photos on here. Cameras lie big time IMO, simply because the human eye is able to see imperfections better than the lens of a camera. Like most have said, you just have to find an acceptable medium.
 
Accumulator said:
I try to keep things realistic and it must be working, as I'm pretty happy with all our vehicles from the ones with significant marring to the "could be perfect if not for the deer incident" S8.



IMO stuff that's not within your control you oughta just blow off. Chips, dings, scratches in glass...there's stuff you just can't realistically fix perfectly. Some paints can't be fully corrected; you'll run out of paint, it's too hard for your methods- whatever the reason, if it can't be perfect, well, just do the best you can. Some stains won't come out of carpets- oh well, get new carpet or live with it.



Do the stuff you *can* do, to the best of your ability, and say "that's that". Look at how imperfect cars in museums and at high-level shows are. Don't beat yourself up over this stuff; they're just cars.
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Ditto.





It used to bother the piss out of me. However, I began to realize and accept minor defects.



Hey, at the end of the day, I guarantee anyone's vehicles on this site are amongst the top tier of clean compared to others in the lot.
 
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