POLL: How long is your average prep time?

Time you spend on prep

  • 0-30 minutes

    Votes: 3 5.6%

  • 30-45 minutes

    Votes: 1 1.9%

  • 45-60 minutes

    Votes: 6 11.1%

  • 60-75 minutes

    Votes: 9 16.7%

  • 70-90 minutes

    Votes: 35 64.8%
  • Total voters
    54
David Fermani

David Fermani

Forza Auto Salon
I was wondering how long everyone typically spends prepping a car for a complete detail? This would include washing door jambs, engine, body, wheels & tires?
 
I went with the longest, but two things have me scratching my head:

1) the implication that one only does those areas for a "full detail" as opposed to doing a regular maintenance wash.

2) most any one of those areas atakes me a lot of time whenever I do even just a regular wash.

If doing a full/corrective detail I do everything pretty much the same way except I'm doing the wash with ABC instead of my regular shampoo and I do more disassembly.

I must be missing something here, and I suspect I'm an outlier, but how can somebody do this stuff in 90 minutes? I work *FAST*, but doing all this stuff simply takes time. What...maybe a dozen surfaces on a trunk/hood/door hinge (some requiring swabs); dozens of slots in a grille; backsides of wheel spokes; removing license plates if correcting/LSPing...and then there's the undercarriage and engine compartment! There's just a lot to do!
 
Tools chop time, How efficient are you. I work fast but insanely efficient. I have ALOT of off the beaten path tools. I wrote down my whole entire process and what I use, then wrote down what could be optimized an replaced. This is assuming your skill level is already at a top tier an now tools are the only thing holding you back. I shaved off in total around 3 hours for a standard one pass.

Drill brush for Tires + Lug brush
High speed Drill with Ace Turbo stick
Sonax wheel cleaner plus

Foam canon
2 buckets with dollys (Dollies save a good chunk of time an headache)
Pressure washer W/ quick connects

Robo Reel - (Saves alot of time setting up an breaking down)
X-hose pro modified (Saves a ton of time setting up an breaking down)
Working from your shop only (Biggest time saver) - Everything is where I know it is.

Masterblaster 8hp + 1100 GSM towels mean less MF's an WAY faster drying.

Iron + Tar X means road grime comes off effortlessly
Any type of Polyclay towel or mitt - HUGE SAVINGS on time.
Proper brushes like long boars hair for jambs etc.

Add all these up an you way ahead!
 
I also chose the 70-90 minutes however getting polish ready would take me much longer. I know I could cut down quite a bit of time with more proper tools like TheDriver said but for me to go through all that plus decon and tape I'm looking at probably 3 hours.
 
The Driver- Good point about tools and efficiency! I go so far as to have redundant systems (hoses, foamguns, buckets, air lines, floorjacks/stands, two of *everything*) on each side of the wash bay. And yeah, blowing most of the water off can save a lot of time (and touching).

mnehls86- Yeah, taping can take forever on certain vehicles.
 
I'd say I'm between 2-3 hours before a polisher touches the paint. This includes washing, jambs, wheels(including barrels), tires, wheel wells, detailing of all the nooks and crannies, decon (IronX/Tar), prep towel.
 
About an hour and a half

If I use Iron-x then I would have to spray, spread, rinse, re-wash and that takes more time.
 
I chose the longest, but i'll be the first to admit I'm slow. I would LOOOOVE to see a video of someone doing quality work in 30-45 minutes:wacko:
 
Cleaning trim, wheels, body seams, etc takes so much time and then when you wash it and inspect with a good light you see more things to do.
 
Bunky said:
Cleaning trim, wheels, body seams, etc takes so much time and then when you wash it and inspect with a good light you see more things to do.
Click to expand...

When I see really fast prep times I wonder if these areas are overlooked. I know when I did volume work we never paid attention to these type of areas, but it's little details like this that really make a difference IMO. ;)

 
Depends on vehicle size and condition... obviously.

I complete a lot of 3/4 ton truck, intense corrections.

Typically it takes me...
15min for a focused pressure pre-rinse
30 min for wheel/tire/well cleaning.
60-90 min for a thorough wash... all body seams, textured plastic scrubbed with various chemicals/brushes, jambs cleaned, and rubber seals treated with specific rubber prep
15 minutes for Car Pro spotless scrub of exterior windows
30 minutes for tar/iron removal solutions to work and rinse off
1 hour to decon with clay or clay substitute
30 min to dry (exterior and jambs too)

So, 4+ hours to thoroughly clean the exterior of a 3/4 ton, 4 door, long box with a 4" suspension lift, 4" body lift sitting on 35"s ... and they never have mud guards so the filth and bonded contaminants down the side of the truck are ridiculous.

A family sedan... maybe 2.5- 3 hrs. total
 
House of Wax said:
I chose the longest, but i'll be the first to admit I'm slow. I would LOOOOVE to see a video of someone doing quality work in 30-45 minutes:wacko:
Click to expand...

I'll see if I can get something going to videotape my prep guy. :)

We spend anywhere from 30-45 minutes to prep our cars actually. Some of the biggest time savers are wheel acid, clay towel & not needing to dry after washing (good water). Wheel barrels aren't even visible on a lot of vehicles, so spraying some acid with a little agitation will quickly/easily clean even the nastiest of wheels. We also wash with MF towels which allows you to access cracks and edges very well. I just personally can't see spending *hours* prepping something unless its a huge truck filled with mud. But that is just my personal opinion. I know some people go to extreme lengths to prep a car, which is fine, but to me is a little unnecessary too. If a car is being buffed, any less than steller wash job that could potentially cause marring is a mute point. I'm all about doing things properly, but realistically too which to me means achieving the correct end result in the quickest, less effortless amount of time.
 
David Fermani said:
I'll see if I can get something going to videotape my prep guy. :)

We spend anywhere from 30-45 minutes to prep our cars actually. Some of the biggest time savers are wheel acid, clay towel & not needing to dry after washing (good water). Wheel barrels aren't even visible on a lot of vehicles, so spraying some acid with a little agitation will quickly/easily clean even the nastiest of wheels. We also wash with MF towels which allows you to access cracks and edges very well. I just personally can't see spending *hours* prepping something unless its a huge truck filled with mud. But that is just my personal opinion. I know some people go to extreme lengths to prep a car, which is fine, but to me is a little unnecessary too. If a car is being buffed, any less than steller wash job that could potentially cause marring is a mute point. I'm all about doing things properly, but realistically too which to me means achieving the correct end result in the quickest, less effortless amount of time.
Click to expand...
I want to know what these guys eat and drink for breakfast !?:lol:
 
Well, how many guys are doing it at the same time?
3 guys half hour each = 90 minutes..
Dan F
 
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