New addiction: Should I be worried?

jayjacque

jayjacque

You WILL like my work!
Hi, ya'll be able to tell by the following statements that I'm not a detailer, but instead I've been in auto reconditioning for years. We're like cousins. We both work on cars to improve their looks for dealers and retail customers. Here's the thing though, a couple months ago as far as taking care of my own car, I was your common everyday slob. I could go weeks without washing a car, turtle wax maybe once a year or two, and you don't even want to know about how dirty I let my interiors get.



Then one day I came across Autopia. At first I liked it because of the threads about leather cleaning, conditioning, or repair problems, fabric or carpet stains, etc; You know, things right up my alley. The majority of the other threads on here were foreign to me.



But by maybe the third week that all changed. I started reading the other threads about polishing, waxing, correcting, etc. cuz they were interesting. I thought it would stop there. But something intrigued me; I started to get a vision, that maybe just maybe I could change my ways. Maybe I could start becoming a clean car freak! Well, maybe that's going too far, but I could at least get out of the rut I was in and make my workmobile more of thing of beauty instead of a garbage dump.



So to make a long story short, I just placed a $150 order with eshine, and got that "can't wait for the goodies to arrive" feeling. But it doesn't stop there; I'm looking for the day to get my own flex or UDM and pads and try other waxes, sealants, new products, etc. And I keep staring at these threads like a drug flowing through my veins, an insatiable thirst! And my wife wants to know what the h<ll is going on.



Is it an addiction? Am I getting hooked? Should I be worried? ;)
 
my wife is a little worried about me now too.



"Hello, my name is <insert name> and I have been an autopiaholic for <insert time period>.



I might be a little different because I always wanted to keep my ride clean, I just did it ALL the wrong way. My wife just got a new ride this month and for the first time in my life of having more than 10 cars, I told the dealer "don't worry about the little detail prep job, just hand it over".
 
Indeed, .. get out now before you get even deeper! It is a life sucking , gut-wrenching addiction of all addictions. Before you know it you'll have to get your fix weekly, then daily, eventually you'll be wiping down your vehicle everytime you park it somewhere.



You will find yourself wallking at and angle, or backwards to every store you enter, staring at what your insatiable addiction has created. It is a health hazard, you could walk out in front of trucks, cars, or into poles and people while sickly lured into that alluring gaze of admiration for your vehicle. Sitting there making the cars next to it green with envy and even the cleanest cars looking dirty because yours is cleaner than your average china dish.



;)



Welcome to the autopia vision,.. your view of how things 'really are' in the 'real world' will never be quite the same.
 
Neofate said:
Indeed, .. get out now before you get even deeper! It is a life sucking , gut-wrenching addiction of all addictions. Before you know it you'll have to get your fix weekly, then daily, eventually you'll be wiping down your vehicle everytime you park it somewhere.



You will find yourself wallking at and angle, or backwards to every store you enter, staring at what your insatiable addiction has created. It is a health hazard, you could walk out in front of trucks, cars, or into poles and people while sickly lured into that alluring gaze of admiration for your vehicle. Sitting there making the cars next to it green with envy and even the cleanest cars looking dirty because yours is cleaner than your average china dish.



;)



Welcome to the autopia vision,.. your view of how things 'really are' in the 'real world' will never be quite the same.
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That is way way funny!
 
Sounds just like how it started for me!!!



Goodluck.



Don't skimp on good quality materials, they will save you money eventually. OTC crap is usually that!
 
Neofate said:
Indeed, .. get out now before you get even deeper! It is a life sucking , gut-wrenching addiction of all addictions. Before you know it you'll have to get your fix weekly, then daily, eventually you'll be wiping down your vehicle everytime you park it somewhere.



You will find yourself wallking at and angle, or backwards to every store you enter, staring at what your insatiable addiction has created. It is a health hazard, you could walk out in front of trucks, cars, or into poles and people while sickly lured into that alluring gaze of admiration for your vehicle. Sitting there making the cars next to it green with envy and even the cleanest cars looking dirty because yours is cleaner than your average china dish.



;)



Welcome to the autopia vision,.. your view of how things 'really are' in the 'real world' will never be quite the same.
Click to expand...



I see what you did there.

+1
 
Now that you're sucked in, you'll have Autopia eyes from now on... meaning that everywhere you go, you'll be looking at every car's paint and shaking your head in disgust at how horrible of a condition that car's paint is in.



Oh yeah, you'll be spending as much as you make on this hobby. Good luck with that, hah.
 
I co-owned a body-shop back in the late 70’s, early 80’s. I was hooked on the appearance of the cars being as perfect as the factory made them, right down to matching the orange peel from the factory. Along with this, I’d always give the car back in perfectly immaculate condition.

Simply put, I moved on to other passions and sold out. But still did my own detailing on whatever ride I had as no one else could ever do as good a job as I could.

8 years ago I bought a car that needed some paint TLC in a big way. Suddenly I was back to my obsessive auto detailing ways. Researching it all, learning new technologies, new chemicals, new procedures all over again. Turned my garage into the perfect showcase for my efforts – including installing surgical-room lighting, porcelain tile floors and hot and cold hose connections. The ‘other-half’ went crazy with all I’ve done. Since she wouldn’t let me continue to turn the garage into a show-case … I now co-own another body and detail shop.

I can’t stop … I’m trying to get permits to expand the building and add 3 to 4 more bays and a show-room for our work and accessories. I have a dream … and it’s very shiny!



So … what was “JAYJAQUEâ€� saying about being addicted, hooked and worried???



I say embrace your obsessions!
 
Step 1 - Admit to your wife that you are an addict and as such your new addiction will require more and more money as time marches on. LOL If your wife has her own car, keep it immaculate before you do your own (this only works some of the time). Appeal to her financial accumen, your second largest purchase (after your home) is your car so you're only protecting your investment, and that turning the nursery into a detailing bay really is a good idea after all. Explain to her that your new "hobby" is much less expensive than traditional therapy (which, by the way, she is sure that you've needed for some time now). Addendum to previous sentence - no, your new "hobby is not less expensive than a shrink but you tell a little white lie here to keep the peace. Rent the movie "The Karate Kid" and explain how you'll end up in much better physical condition and have more endurance after detailing on a regular basis (wax on/wax off). Encourage her to pursue her own hobby (something cheap though so she doesn't spend the money you need to purchase your ever-growing list of detailing supplies that you need, maybe pressed wildflowers). Many women are just sick and tired of cleaning so they just don't "get" the obsession. If all else fails just tell her it's a 'guy' thing. When all is said and done - keep her happy because if you don't, she'll want a divorce and that means she'll get half the money that you're going to spend on detailing supplies in the very near future.
 
When you get to removing the weatherstripping to wax underneath and treat every mm² of the weatherstripping, etc... you know it's bad :D



Let's see what other crazy things do I do to my own cars.. remove the wheels to thoroughly clean them and the wheel wells (when I say thoroughly, some of you can probably tell how deep that word can go ;)), oh and polishing the lug nuts/bolts, that is a must.
 
It IS an addiction--but instead of consuming all your money (go racing if you want that), I find detailing consumes all my time. Weekly car washes, twice yearly waxes, etc. aren't enough anymore! You get faster after awhile but it still takes longer to do the job right, compared to how we used to do things. When you're addicted the results are worth it though.
 
I just started a month ago myself, but it sure seems like a long time ago due to the amount of time I spent. I started off with a $150 order like you, but after 20 hrs by hand achieving mediocre (but still better than anything b4) results, my disease progressed to stage 2, where I dumped another $500 in the Flex, gallon sized supplies, and more.



After I use the Flex for the first time next week, I'll see if my disease has progressed to an incurable, terminal point. :woohoo:



orionredwing



P.S. hehe yeah, I got lucky and got my Flex this week.
 
I am in the same boat....it is an ADDICTION. I just started....bought about $400.00 worth of items. Getting ready to pull the trigger on a UDM or flex. I have never used a polisher in my life.....my wife and family think I am crazy....I will slow down and look at other cars and comment on them. My wife sees me on the computer at all hours and says" how can you possibly learn any more about car cleaning". If she only knew.............................
 
It starts out so innocently - a towel here, a soap there and maybe a little menzerna to boot. Next thing you know, UPS is making daily deliveries and the sig other is wondering what you got into and why it takes 2 hours to wash a car, let alone polish it. :argue



Denzil said:
Now that you're sucked in, you'll have Autopia eyes from now on... meaning that everywhere you go, you'll be looking at every car's paint and shaking your head in disgust at how horrible of a condition that car's paint is in.
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This is the truest of all. I keep thinking... "If they how much better their car can look." I even started looking at the rims to see if inside the rims are clean. :cry:
 
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