Found Dalton's 61 steps...

B

baseballlover1

New member
i laughed pretty hard at this... any quality detailer does this on every detail.



and some steps are completely un-necessary...



THE 61 STAGES



1. Rinse vehicle with 30C purified water

2. Spray citrus degreaser on entire car

3. Repeat rinse

4. Wash top half of vehicle with pure warm water and shampoo

5. Repeat rinse

6. Wash top half of vehicle with pure warm water and shampoo

7. Repeat rinse

8. Spray citrus cleaner inside arches

9. Repeat rinse

10. Decontaminate paint and windows with clay mixed with secret solution

11. Repeat rinse

12. Wash entire car with pure warm water and shampoo mix

13. Repeat rinse

14. Dry vehicle with microfibre towels

15. Apply wheel cleaner and brush

16. Repeat rinse

17. Turn wheels 180 degrees

18. Reapply wheel cleaner and brush

19. Repeat rinse

20. Dry wheels

21. Dry door, engine and boot edges

22. Blow compressed air in cracks and towel dry

23. Measure all paintwork in microns (1/1,000mm)

24. Sand paint to remove orange peel, scratches and swirls

25. Sand paint to remove orange peel, scratches and swirls

26. Sand paint to remove orange peel, scratches and swirls

27. Sand paint to remove orange peel, scratches and swirls

28. Re-measure paintwork

29. Pre-wax cleaner to paintwork

30. Remove pre-wax cleaner with towel

31. ***** ****** wax applied to paintwork

32. Remove wax

33. Buff windows

34. Windows cleaned inside and out

35. Interior vacuumed thoroughly

36. Clean interior trim

37. Clean and shampoo carpets and mats

38. Clean leather

39. Dry leather with cotton towels

40. Condition leather and buff

41. Clean interior with compressed air brush

42. Pre-wax cleaner to door edges

43. Condition and preserve door rubbers

44. ***** ****** wax applied to door edges

45. Tyres dried to a satin finish

46. Exterior trim cleaned and conditioned

47. Clean wheels using clay mixed with secret solution

48. Clean and polish wheels

49. Pre-wax cleaner to wheels

50. ***** ****** wax applied to wheels

51. Final buff with small cloth

52. Windows cleaned inside and out again

53-55. Additional ***** ****** wax layer application, buffed twice

56-58. Repeat above wax application

59-61. Repeat final wax application



Cost: £4,800 (Excluding travel and accommodation expenses outside UK.)
 
Your right, but he has niche market obviously catering to people with lots of disposable income. He has to justify that price with something right?
 
Labster said:
That's listed on his website I believe. Am I correct?
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Yea it was in an article written about him



brwill2005 said:
Your right, but he has niche market obviously catering to people with lots of disposable income. He has to justify that price with something right?
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Yes... and the way he should justify it is be the best in the world... not just say he is the best.



When there is no need to wet sand... why would you?



Heatgain said:
Why are steps 24 - 27 the same? Rip off! This detail may only be worth £4,400!
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lol.... I know people who do a better job for 1/2 the price... todd how much would you charge again ;) haha.
 
Picus said:
24-27 probably includes compounding. If he wetsands the entire vehicle than 4,800 pounds isn't unreasonable.
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Very true, I priced a full OP removal job on a very large car and the total hours spent were 25 hours sanding 30 hours polishing is 55 hours times $75 equals $4125 total.



I charge extra for hype...:lol
 
If he is going to sell a detail for that much, customers are going to want to know whats involved. His details are very extensive, so it's worthy of an extensive treatment. I haven't seen anyone list their steps with that much detail before which shows how much he pays attention to them (the details). All that really matters is if he does quality work, which he does. If he did shoddy work for that much then sure, make a big deal. However, he is taking the level of detailing to a higher level, perfect for exotic car owners who have money and who truly care about their vehicles and want the highest amount of detail as possible. I'll admit I am very jealous about his skills and would love to be in his shoes. However, he doesn't deserve threads like these ... we should be looking up to him, not nit-picking.
 
:confused: It's basically a full exterior and interior detail, with sanding (why is this needed except for RIDS?) and a few other things added in.



For 4800 GBP, or roughly $8200, I would feel like a thief. That is $136/hour, at 60 hours on the detail. I am all for charging what you feel what you are worth, but that is insane. I wouldn't charge that even if people were willing to pay it.
 
baseballlover1 said:
lol.... I know people who do a better job for 1/2 the price... todd how much would you charge again ;) haha.
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How do you qualify this statement. You're commenting on his process, not any posted results.



I'm with Budman3. There's a lot to learn from the quality of work Dalton puts out.
 
I was being sarcastic...mostly. It is just clever marketing on his part. He caters to these people by going way overboard with the service. He could not charge what he charges if he were to just do a wash and wax, correct?
 
Do i think he is the best? No



Do i think he is good? Yes



Do i think he has a GREAT business? YES



Do i think he (or someone around him... passed or present) is a marketing genius? YES YES YES YES



Do i wish i was in his shoes? absolutely!



Do i think the quality of his work is worth the money he charges? No



If he didnt want jerks like myself nit picking and complaining about him then he should make the asumption that he is the best. I would only expect that IFFFFFFF (which i wont) i ever say that i am the best (which i wont be probably) then there would be kids running around saying that i am the best.



Keep in mind I am not saying that i am better then Dalton! I wish he would do some big (and in depth) write ups like todd. I have never seen one if he has done one.



,Daniel
 
give me someone willing to pay a lot of money for a detail and I can produce the same results, but I will not perform that extensive of a detail on a car someone wants to spend only 300 on...



marketing has a HUGE factor here....and he has that part of business NAILED!



also keep in mind that he is not doing this type of detail on every single car! He still has the wash and wax details and the one steps just like you and me.
 
adalsky said:
How do you qualify this statement. You're commenting on his process, not any posted results.



I'm with Budman3. There's a lot to learn from the quality of work Dalton puts out.
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marketing more so then detailing!
 
Bigpoppa3346 said:
:confused: It's basically a full exterior and interior detail, with sanding (why is this needed except for RIDS?) and a few other things added in.



For 4800 GBP, or roughly $8200, I would feel like a thief. That is $136/hour, at 60 hours on the detail. I am all for charging what you feel what you are worth, but that is insane. I wouldn't charge that even if people were willing to pay it.
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I think that's been answered. He may just be sanding for RIDS, but *if* he is sanding the entire car down to remove orange peel than the price isn't completely ridiculous. High? Yes. Stupidly high? No.



Let's look at it like this (sorry if I am playing devils advocate), but on say, a Carrera GT (a $400k car used), you're probably talking about 80-100 hours of work. Now that's anywhere from $80-$100/hr, which is a lot, but on a car of that value I can sort of understand. I wouldn't charge that much, but $80-$100 hour isn't a lot more than what a lot of detailers on here charge, and it's less than body work, which this is kind of akin to.



Of course it is possible he is just sanding RIDS, in fact I think that may just be the case, and the cost is largely based on his skill *plus* his reputation, which is a different story. No less justified (imo), but different.



One more thing; as toyotaguy mentioned it isn't like this is what he is doing every day. I've had details where I charged close to this price, but for me that's a once a year thing. I don't advertise that on my site, he does, that's really the only difference.
 
baseballlover1 said:
marketing more so then detailing!
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Hey baseballlover, why don't you answer the question? Have you actually seen the results of a Paul Dalton detail? Or are you just trying to stir the sh*t?
 
superstring said:
Hey baseballlover, why don't you answer the question? Have you actually seen the results of a Paul Dalton detail? Or are you just trying to stir the sh*t?
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Yes i have seen the results. I look at his site frequently because his marketing is something i take notes on.



There was a detail he did on DB with a koensegg (sp) that did impress me but it was just a good 50/50 shot of carbon fiber. I think we all have done good 50/50 shots.



The reason i posted this was because a wile back when i posted about him (before i knew a bit of his backstory) I wanted to know what the steps were and i never found out. I thought it was interesting so i posted.



I admit that it is probably my fault for turning it into a bash dalton thread but that was not the intent.



I will try to keep my personal views of someone separate next time.



honest question; why was he banned from here? I think i was told a while ago but i dont remember.



Seems like he is banned from just about every forum.



PLUS i have never seen him offer advise to less experienced detailers.
 
I don't even know why I comment on posts like theses but all of you are hating on Paul Dalton for no reason. The only reason why people hate or talk bad about someone is because they aren't them. Who cares what Paul does, who cares how much he charges...



...the point is, He does it, and does it well. What you all should be worrying about is how to find your niche market so you can charge any price you want.



Find something better to talk about...
 
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