Does anyone else detail in pieces?

C

coupe

New member
3 days ago i had about 2 hours on my hands so i decided to wash, clay, polish (#83,#80) and seal my tail gate.

I didnt have time to do the whole truck, its a big truck.

Then last night i did the same thing to the sides of the bed.

In the next 4-5 days im gonna do the crew cab and front doors.

And so on and so on until the whole truck is done.

Then i will re-wash the whole truck and put on another layer of sealant.



Does anyone else do it in pieces like this? Every vehicle ive done i do in one day (some 15 hour days).



My truck looks pretty funny now hahaha.

The bed looks BRAND NEW and the rest of the truck is swirls, scrathes, oxidation etc.



The truck itself is 12 years old and spent 10 of those on a farm and 2-tracks so you can imagine the akward look of it right now :lol



Pic of the truck:

truck.jpg






Here is a test section i did when i first got my PC kit and polishes.

PolisherTest.jpg
 
I buy lots of full sized broncos and I do that also. In fact I got a new one yesterday and I polished the hood and left front fender only. I will probably take me a week to finish it.
 
My poor truck has rotary holograms ALL over it.

The guy i bought it from had it "professionaly buffed out".

Greeeaaaaat.

I bought it anyway becuase i new i could restore the paint. Year and a half later im just now getting to it, but in pieces.



There looks to be a brake in the weather here, hopefully i can get the cab and doors tonight.

Then all i have left is the front fenders and hood and roof. I might just clay the roof and seal it. No need to polish it, ya cant see it anyway.
 
I have done cars in pieces, as in wash and clay one day, polish and seal on another, but not panel by panel.



That seems a little awkward to me. It would definitely bother me, knowing that the car is not in proportion.



Just my $.02
 
All the time. :D

I can not be anal about a whole vehicle so I aways just do portions at a time.



I :bow to professional detailers that have this ability to do complete vehicles meticulously in one day.
 
tustah said:
It would definitely bother me, knowing that the car is not in proportion.
Click to expand...





Oh it bothers me alot. The truck does look weird.



Try to imgaine the bed lookin brand new and the rest of the truck looks all of 12 years old plus some.



But once im done no one will be the wiser that i did it in peices and not all at once.
 
I think it's better for a car to look like a "quilt" for a few weeks than awful for months. I'd rather work in sections if I can't set aside a whole day/weekend for a marathon buffing session.



If you at least do one side at a time you don't see that pieces are different when looking at the car while standing in one place.





PC.
 
I also found that i can put alot more effort into a panel by doing it this way.

Its nice being able to put 2-3 hours into a single panel.
 
When I only had the minivan for my (one-and-only) dog-hauler I *had* to do it that way, couldn't have it off the road long enough to do the whole thing the way I do it. I'd rather take my time and do one panel right than rush and do the whole thing poorly.
 
I've got a black truck I use as my daily driver that's in similar condition to what your's sounds like - 12 years old, 175k, last couple years as a work truck. I'm doing mine in pieces now for a couple reasons - 1) I'm still cutting my teeth on the PC and am still not real fast and 2) I'm trying several different products and I like being able to compare the finshed look on the different panels.



I'll see how things look and hold up over this winter and then hit the entire thing with the products I really like best next spring. It's looked pretty rough for the last few years - I figure I can wait another six months.
 
I just divide mine up like engine one day, paint the next, and then interior. Never done different body panels on separate days, although it is a good idea if short on time.
 
I also have an F150 Supercrew, 4X4 which I detail parts of at a time when the weather and my time away from my restautant allows. I'm working on it now to prep for winter. So far I've done the engine, wheels, wheel wells, bumbers, trim and interior. THe above has been done over parts of 3 days during the last week. I'm ready to start on the paint now and like some of you will spread it over several days. In the past, I've done this by working on the roof and hood and maybe the front fenders at one time. Then doing the 4 full size doors at another time and finishing up with the rear fenders and tailgate. I know many of you may see this as detailing sacrilege, but I like to make sure I can thoroughly complete at least a portion of it at one time. I usually clean, clay, polish and seal or wax whatever section or sections I feel confident that I can finish in the time I have.





PS. I'm not as young as I use to be either. lol
 
I've done some of my own car that way. Sometimes I just don't have time to get it all at once.



Yeah, it does look weird. ;)
 
Last night i did the driver side door and cab. I had JUST gotten done sealing it and it started raining. Talk about good timing. Today i have to do the other side. If i get lucky i might be able to get both front fenders done tonight also. With my luck who knows if that will happen.



The neihbors keep coming over and watching me. Kinda slows me down becuase of all the questions they ask you cant really carry on a conversation when your using the PC lol



After they seen what i did to my car and now my truck they are asking me to detail for them. Buisness oportunity seems to jump right out at you when you detail your own vehicles.
 
i don't like polishing in pieces just due to extra clean up w/ pads and such. i'd rather wash them all at once after polishing, rather than each time. i suppose if they are not that dirty i could just brush them out and wait until the next day, but i wouldn't want to leave product in them for days/weeks.



other than that, i can see a rotating schedule working...you'd never kill yourself w/ a marathon detail...and eventually the ride would be in great shape.
 
I have a quad cab hd ram, and do the exact same thing. I will fully do a whole panel or two, rather than doing the whole truck with just a few steps. I figure if it takes me a week or so to get back to the truck, I don't want to have clayed/polished the whole thing and then leave it exposed/unprotected while it waits for me to do the rest...I just do a whole panel like others have mentioned above, wash/clay/polish/seal at a time. Works fine, but typically by the time I get to the last set of panels, the first set needs it again...busy schedule :)
 
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