Boy, where to start? I guess I'll start with my views on some of the comments in this thread.
To visit the issue that certain "elite" detailers think they are above other's and they're all part of a good old, back slappin boys club, in my opinion is false. It's like any other group of people that have become friends and keep in touch over a common interest. I have pm'd many of them in the past and was given advice and in most cases I was given their phone number incase I needed anything else. They didn't owe me that! I've also called people who are selling products to ask for advice and they have been rude as ..... So am I to hate and bad mouth them? No! How do I know what is going on in their life's at the time and who am I to judge them. My pm's always started off humbly. By letting them know I admired their work, apologizing for bothering them and telling them that if they were busy I'd understand if they didn't respond. I can't remember ever not getting a response.
Most of these guys have been around for a long time and are tempered by many flame wars that have gone on in the past on various forums. You have to understand their reluctance to put themselves out their at times.
So, to sum up the subject of elitism on this forum, I think if people were to ask with some humility and not just expect that someone should just teach everything they spent decades learning and then give a significant amount of their time giving what amounts to free lessons, you might just find that most if not all of the guys would help! I hate to add this part but I feel I must, by help I don't mean answer calls and msgs about a hundred things. Take some time to develop your skill set and when you get stuck reach out.
Another point I'd like to hit on is asking for a detailed explanation of every step on every job. I could probably go on for hours about this but I'll try to make it short.
It seemed like everyone used to post processes and for what I believe are very good reasons, they don't anymore. I'll give a few examples of why I think this faded away. One is that people started fighting about how to use, when to use and even if a product should be used. What is now a common practice of mixing products to achieve a desired result was fought about like it was the worst thing you could do. Certain members were insinuating outright and in their threads that they were better than joe blow because they used the product like the manufacture recommended. You didn't know what you were talking about if you added water or oil to the surface while cutting and or polishing. And if you've been around long enough, you know that at times either one of these can be beneficial. I won't even get into the Zaino, Zymol, Klasse, etc. wars. The second reason I have for believing this stopped is that people have stolen others processes saying I'm as good as so & so because I do this. The problem with that is the results were far from great and it reflected negatively back on the original poster because that's who the imposter pointed back to. To make matters worse they'd put the exact write ups on their company's web page as their own. I think that would make anyone weary of posting every little detail when their livelihood depended on their reputation.
Finally because I'm tired, not because there isn't much more I feel I could go on about. I want to touch on the issue of posting exotics. The paint condition straight from the factory, as we know, has been proven to be pretty bad to say the least. Not bad like the paint that a soccer mom's car, who lives in a cold climate and drives thru the local car wash twice a week after driving up and down dirt roads all winter, might look like. But let's look at this from a couple other points of view.
First, the soccer mom isn't looking for 110% correction. She isn't looking to have every tight angled edge of her car absolutely perfect. Her car doesn't have multiple vents, groves and crazy body lines. She has stamped steel panels that were made with cost in mind, ie no exotic edges! So is their more actual area of paint correction? Possibly. But I can tell you that putting a wool pad to the hood of an abused Neon and staying way from any edges takes way less skill and nerves then putting a pad to the corner of a 2 million dollar Enzo, with known issues with paint thickness or should I say paint thinness. The Neons owner is expecting a great turn around. The Enzo owner is expecting that, when he goes out to cars and coffee with 30 other exotics, his car stands out from the crowd even to the most minute detail.
So is one better than the other as a post on this or any other forum? I'd say no, but I ask you to put yourself in that moment when you struck thru paint trying to get that last little bit out knowing you were too close for comfort and how you felt. Even on our practice panels or our beater test vehicles the feeling is gut wrenching. Now picture being in that situation everyday for a living. A soccer mom wouldn't notice. A multi-millionaire with a garage built specially for his baby would notice that and a whole lot more. So I wouldn't say they have it easy woking on those types of cars.
I like seeing both personally. Because I live in a cold, unrelenting, grey state, I like to see the average cars that I see daily. But as a car guy thru and thru, I love seeing the exotics also.
Just my 2 cents, best regards,
Mike
