:scared Since Halloween is right around the corner, I thought it would be fun to share some of our horror stories with each other. Just a brief tale about the worst vehicle you ever had the misfortune to detail, or the most unbelievable thing you saw someone else do to their ride. I once had someone try to remove tree sap from their windshield with steel wool, in about 25 places. I honestly don't know how he could see to drive!!!! No names, and try to be as nice as possible. Thanks guys!!!
Horror Stories!!!!
- Thread starter jimtriz
- Start date
Here's one: My neighbor doing his monthly wash of his new gray F-150 with a sponge mop in the bright sun. It makes my skin crawl every time I see it.
Then there was the time my wife ( actually before we were married ) cleaned the tar off her corolla with brillo pads and discovered all kinds of scratches under the tar and couldn't figure out where they came from. :shocked
Then there was the time my wife ( actually before we were married ) cleaned the tar off her corolla with brillo pads and discovered all kinds of scratches under the tar and couldn't figure out where they came from. :shocked
kompressornsc
New member
A woman I use to date had five year old twin girls. She was out washing the car & the phone rang & she went inside to answer it. The girls decided to 'help' mommy wash the car & picked up two big wire bristle parts cleaning brushes in the garage. While she was inside, they managed to wire brush the hood, front quarter panels, and most of the doors real good! Can you say 'repaint'?
When clay's not strong enough...try wire bristles!
When clay's not strong enough...try wire bristles!
The black Audi S4 that I did, the car that was my greatest success and that appears in DavidB's article on the PC7424?
Well, Carl, the owner, sold the car to a friend of his so that he could buy an A8. His friend took the car to a 25 cent wash bay and scratched the living daylights out of it all over again.
Tom
Well, Carl, the owner, sold the car to a friend of his so that he could buy an A8. His friend took the car to a 25 cent wash bay and scratched the living daylights out of it all over again.
Tom
imported_BretFraz
New member
From earlier this year: http://autopia.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33270&highlight=really+dirty
And from a similar thread over 2 years ago, I wrote:
I had to dig thru the archives to find this post of mine from 2 years ago:
About 10 yrs ago a friend of mine had a nice Toyota ext cab 1/2 ton. Lowered, nice wheels, bumpin system, clean not garish or hacker. Took good care of it.
He goes back home to visit family and leaves it with his then girlfriend. She drives the truck while he's away. Before he gets home she decides to surprise him by washing it. With a Scotch Brite pad. To say that he freaked out when he saw it is a big understatement. The scratches were sooooo bad I couldn't get them out and most of the local detailers wouldn't touch it.
So, you ask, why in the world did she use a Scotch Brite pad to wash his nice truck?
Because, she said it was "really dirty".
And from a similar thread over 2 years ago, I wrote:
I had to dig thru the archives to find this post of mine from 2 years ago:
About 10 yrs ago a friend of mine had a nice Toyota ext cab 1/2 ton. Lowered, nice wheels, bumpin system, clean not garish or hacker. Took good care of it.
He goes back home to visit family and leaves it with his then girlfriend. She drives the truck while he's away. Before he gets home she decides to surprise him by washing it. With a Scotch Brite pad. To say that he freaked out when he saw it is a big understatement. The scratches were sooooo bad I couldn't get them out and most of the local detailers wouldn't touch it.
So, you ask, why in the world did she use a Scotch Brite pad to wash his nice truck?
Because, she said it was "really dirty".
crobinso
The Grand Marquis Man
jimtriz said:
On my 1988 Grand Marquis, I used Blue Coral's Touchless sealer. This was in 1995 or so. It stripped the clearcoat off of my paint. I wish you could see my car today. (I'll take some pics soon.) I did a Google on this stuff yesterday. I can't believe it's still being sold. Touchless is the worst auto paint care product ever sold.:grrr
Charles
Bill D
Hooked For Life
Just a reminder, what we call Mischief Night around here (night of October 30) is just around the corner, be sure to guard your vehicles from eggs, shaving cream, who knows what else depending on the quantity of misfits residing in your area.
Setec Astronomy
Well-known member
Thanks, Bill, that's really good advice!
Lowejackson
New member
Many years ago, some of my neighbours children overheard their farther talking about getting a new car in a different colour. The 2 children, aged about 6, decided they could help. So they opened some tins of paint and repainted the car. Of course after this success they did what any other reasonable six year old would do and decided to help many other cars change colour.
I think something like 6 cars were painted by the children before they ran out of paint
I think something like 6 cars were painted by the children before they ran out of paint
Many, many moons ago..when I married my first wife, our friends decorated my car before we drove away from the reception. They decorated my dark, metallic blue car with shaving cream and banners. By the time we got to the hotel, I was just too beat to deal with it and decided we'd just run it through a carwash in the morning. When I pulled out the otherside of the carwash, I got out to dry it off....and discovered every word they had written with the shaving cream was still clear as day...eaten into the colorcoat..this was a 1973 Ford. Had to repaint the hood and trunk....nice....
Here's one I reaped the benefit of looong before Autopia...or the internet, for that matter. We got a brand new 1974 Impala "Spirit of America" edition with a beautiful white landau roof. Well my mother convinced my dad that the most effective way to clean the roof would be with Comet! Between that and the regular Ivory soap washes, the car wasn't much to look at by the time it became my first car in 1987. To this day, people remember the car as being a "convertible" because of how different the roof looked compared to the white paint of the car.
crobinso
The Grand Marquis Man
Bill D said:
Bill, your warning reminds me of two moments in time, both when I owned my 1976 Caprice Estate Wagon. It was "Cream" in color (a very pale yellow) with wood decals on the sides and back. This is the only car I've given a name to. I called him (my cars have always been males) "Golden Wheels" because of that pale gold color.
On several mornings, I'd come out onto the street to find out that my car had been egged. Since no other car in the block had been egged, I knew it was personal. I never caught the S.O.B. who egged my car. It was probably some jealous person who didn't take a liking to the care I gave my car. They usually egged it right after I'd washed it.
I remember a more pleasant moment when, on the hottest day of the year (it was 101 degrees), I decided to compound the car. I didn't know jack about detailing, but I knew I wanted the paint to look better. So, in the 101-degree heat, in the sun
(oh yes I did), I went to work. I took my time, using just Dupont Polishing Compound and a terry cloth, on one section at a time. Four hours later, I stepped back to look at the prettiest shine I'd ever produced on a car! I never waxed it or anything, yet the shine, the shine! Sweet.Then someone egged it...
Charles
Bill D
Hooked For Life
There's a special place in Hell for those people :angry
crobinso
The Grand Marquis Man
Bill D said:
Well let's hope they have repented.
I just remembered another culprit who frequently waited until I'd just washed that car before he trashed it. A cat would walk up to my wheels, sniff them, and urinate all over them. His urine dried to a cloudy mess all over my shiny hubcaps. If I washed the wheels, he'd urinate all over them again the same night. He was marking his territory. If I'd had a BB gun, I'd have marked his...
Charles
imported_FordTaurus
New member
Nothing too horrific, but two come to mind.....
Blue Audi A4 (I think) + A carboard box that had been sitting in sand/dirt + sloped hood on a signifigant downhill grade = about 12 nice deep scratches from the windshield to the front bumper before finally leaving the car.
I used to work outside at a Home Depot that happened to be right beside a do-it-yourself car wash with open bays so i could see what was going on. It had the usual hoses and brushes. This line of dropped/modded Hondas come in from a local car club. They all proceed to get out and work on one car at a time from the top down (good, right?).....with the tire brush.
My personal horror story - I had just finished detailing my Taurus and was on the highway. SUV comes up in the passing lane with all the windows down. Passenger are hanging out the windows looking at me and I immediately start to back off, wondering what they are going to do. Suddenly, I heard two thunks and I couldn't see out my driver's side windows or the passenger side of the windshield. More pissed than you can believe, I pulled over and found out that thankfully, it was only eggs. Unfortunately, the egg to the windshield made it impossible to get a plate. If you've ever wondered what eggs do to a car at 70+ mph, it isn't pretty. Luckily, I had just applied about the 10000000 layer of blackfire that season, so everything came off nice with some water and paper towels, which was all I had with me at the time. I wanted to wait to remove it with a wash, but I wasn't about to drive down the highway under the summer sun/heat with that stuff on my paint.
-FordTaurus
Blue Audi A4 (I think) + A carboard box that had been sitting in sand/dirt + sloped hood on a signifigant downhill grade = about 12 nice deep scratches from the windshield to the front bumper before finally leaving the car.
I used to work outside at a Home Depot that happened to be right beside a do-it-yourself car wash with open bays so i could see what was going on. It had the usual hoses and brushes. This line of dropped/modded Hondas come in from a local car club. They all proceed to get out and work on one car at a time from the top down (good, right?).....with the tire brush.
My personal horror story - I had just finished detailing my Taurus and was on the highway. SUV comes up in the passing lane with all the windows down. Passenger are hanging out the windows looking at me and I immediately start to back off, wondering what they are going to do. Suddenly, I heard two thunks and I couldn't see out my driver's side windows or the passenger side of the windshield. More pissed than you can believe, I pulled over and found out that thankfully, it was only eggs. Unfortunately, the egg to the windshield made it impossible to get a plate. If you've ever wondered what eggs do to a car at 70+ mph, it isn't pretty. Luckily, I had just applied about the 10000000 layer of blackfire that season, so everything came off nice with some water and paper towels, which was all I had with me at the time. I wanted to wait to remove it with a wash, but I wasn't about to drive down the highway under the summer sun/heat with that stuff on my paint.
-FordTaurus
crobinso
The Grand Marquis Man
FordTaurus said:
AUGH! AUGH! AUGH! AUGH!
What Bill D said...
Fortunately they only threw eggs and didn't shoot bullets.
Charles
I caught my neighbor a couple of years ago with a small single bucket, a dishwash towel, and pine sol washing her minivan. I lent her my buckets, a little soap, and a wash mitt. Last year, my wife and I gave her for christmas a costco wash bucket pack, so she would have some decent soap and wheel cleaner. Last week I detailed her exterior with 3M fine cut and AIO+SG
here's a pic of it properly done, sorry about the evening light:
here's a pic of it properly done, sorry about the evening light:
Peter Crowl
New member
pocon1 said:
There's a special place in Heaven for people like you! :bow
Peter...no horror stories that I can think of have happened to me...in Denver
I think I am my worst horror story. My trucks ALWAYS got the $4 special at the Scratch & Wipe Car Wash and it was cool cause they blew air on it to dry and I was done. Sometimes I would spring for the $6 wax included. Then I decided that I would wash it myself (save $4). Break out the Dawn and dish towels and I was set and sometimes I would break out the rubbing compound to see if it helped. Hey, at least it was clean.