mobile detailers: How to deal with the sun?

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imported_speedingpenguin

New member
I was in bed, falling asleep, thinking about the mobile detailing "business" me and my friend are trying to start, when I thought of something....how do you do mobile detailing without having the sun out and shining on the car? I know that washing, waxing (or applying any sort of polish or wax or anything), etc. is supposed to be done out of the sun, but if your going to your customers houses or whatever to detail their cars, you dont always have somewhere you can go to get out of the sun. How do you deal with this? You cant just detail on cloudy days (and even then, doesnt mean the sun isnt out and heating up the car...), you cant carry some sort of tent with you and put it up at each car, so what do you do?

Thanks
 
They do make pop-up tents for detailing. Find shade, garage, etc. if at all possible.



All Poorboy's products are made to be used in the shade and they are top quality.
 
Quite a variety of Clearkote products work in the sun as well.....

You get a little creative when confronted with undesirable positions....I did a Suburby a few weeks ago under a RV Awning, i had about 1ft to work under for the roof area......The suburby wont fit under my 12x12 EZ up.......Also being as the sun isnt at a true 90 deg where i live, yet, i can always do the northern 1/2 of the vertical panels in the shade....then turn the car around, let it cool, and continue.....
 

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Detail at night? Unless the rays of the moon have an adverse affect on car care products that I (we) are not aware of....:p



Pop up tent or CK products are probably your best options.
 
Costco..Caravan canopies for 192 each. They come with four side walls. You can also get a canopy that is 10x15 from EZ UP. Most guys in my city do NOT carry canopies, but I am about to and be the only one containing water.



You might start out with a canopy that is 10x10 to get started, but I should note that you can't get the entire car in the shade this way..they are longer. Also, I would recommend going to Iprint and ordering a banner that you can create right on the site. I attach mine to the banner with bungie cords. You can read it from 100 ft. away and looks very professional.



R Regan
 
You must think of the wind when using a pop up. The legs are made of metal and will scratch very easily even with the slightest touch on the car. That is really the biggest downfall on using a tent. It is sometimes a pain and a time consumer when it takes five minutes to put up and five to take down. That doesnt sound like much but if you do 5 cars a day that is 50 minutes.



Those are some of the problems I encountered with an easy up. If shade is not accessible then I just pull out the CK or PB products.



Just my $.02.
 
I would get some Pooorboy's products, some vanilla moose, and try to schedule any serious paint work in the morning or afternoon hours. When I run into "full sun" situations in Memphis, I breakout the SSR's (depending upon the paint) and EX.
 
You can get much cheaper models without side panels and weight bags. Also, take into consideration your own health. With a history of skin cancer in my family, I'm not standing in the sun all day.



You can get them up to about 700 for the 10x15 and have them custom silkscreened from EZ UP. I just figured 2 10x10's for under 400 was easier.



Plus, consider your marketing plan. I only wash or detail in office lots with a min. of 5 cars so the set up time doesn't affect me like some other detailers who do 1 car here and another across town.



R Regan
 
I'm a mobile recon guy here is south Florida (lots o' sun!)



Went with the QuickShade 10' X10'. Retail price was $139, on sale at Sports Authority for $79.00. Up and down in less than 60 seconds. Best 80 bucks I ever spent.



Team vegas, good point about the wind. On windy days I either tie mine down or use the donut weights that slide down to th bottom of the legs. Very secure.



When they go back on sale, I plan on purchasing another, set them up side by side, the I have 10' X 20' for well under $200.



Let's see if I can find a pic...



You can see it in the background, barely..
 

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speedingpenguin said:
200 bucks for a pop up tent? I dunno....lol
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You've got to do whatever it takes to run your business.



If you aren't going to buy something to help you out, then you can't complain.
 
When washing a vehicle in the sun I start with the side of the car that isn't getting hit directly by the sun since it won't dry that quickly. I then do the roof , hood and trunk. When I'm done with those I start the side that's getting hit by the sun. While I'm doing all of this I keep spraying down the panels that have been washed already so that they stay wet. Using the mist setting seems to work well for this purpose. When your're done with the entire car, all of the panels should still be wet, thus no water stains.





If I have to buff/polish in the direct sun and can't move the vehicle at all I first spray the panel down with water, using a spray bottle. Then I dry it quickly and then apply the polish. This is done only when the panel is extremely hot to the touch. The water will cool down the paint. It's a bit more time consuming than I'd like, but it works.
 
Well this isnt going to be a full time job for either of us, just something to do on the side to get a little extra $

and its not a 'complete' detail, just a fairly basic wash/clean/wax interior/exterior
 
I'm running my mobile detailing business out of my small toyota camry. This means that I have no room for a large water tank, pressure washer, etc... I COULD squeeze a pop-up tent in there, which I might do eventually.



For now I am using QEW, Poorboy's, and Clearcoat (just vanilla moose) products. When washing, I actually like a little bit of sun as it makes it a bit easier for me to dry. Just not tons of sun. For now, these products allow me to do a great job just about anywhere. I still am requiring the use of electricity from the customer though.



The pop-up tent is more of a luxury for me. If I were to get it, I would use it for smaller cars since working in the shade is nice, but if I couldn't use it, there would be no problems.



I have had the problem of the sun reflecting directly off of the glass on to me, which was not only blinding me but also increasing the heat. I just took my damp waffle weave from washing and laid it over the glass. If you needed to, you could also put a damp WW over the next section of paint that you are going to work on, which would cool it down a bit by the time you get to it.
 
stainbuster said:
I'm a mobile recon guy here is south Florida (lots o' sun!)



Went with the QuickShade 10' X10'. Retail price was $139, on sale at Sports Authority for $79.00. Up and down in less than 60 seconds. Best 80 bucks I ever spent.



Team vegas, good point about the wind. On windy days I either tie mine down or use the donut weights that slide down to th bottom of the legs. Very secure.



When they go back on sale, I plan on purchasing another, set them up side by side, the I have 10' X 20' for well under $200.



Let's see if I can find a pic...



You can see it in the background, barely..
Click to expand...



Stainbuster -



The QuickShade 10x10 is what I use also. I use two of them, and you'll love it when you get another one. I caught mine on sale at Sports Authority last year for the same price.

:bounce
 
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