What motivates you to do a full correction?

A

AntonV

New member
Its finally an amazing day outside, and I think I will finally take a stab at polishing the car. I have had the Flex sitting around since Xmas (gift from gf). I basically spent all winter researching techniques, products, etc. I have also purchased every item possible from ipa's, polishes, pads, even the edge 2k kit for my flex.



Now is finally the time, and honestly, im kind of dreading it. Washing, claying, washing, polish, jeweling, sealing and waxing. jeeeeez. Dont get me wrong, I love my car, and I love my weekly washes, which are never rushed. But doing a whole correction is such an intensive process, Ive already put it off the entire spring.



I guess a lot of it has to do with my personal lifestyle and amount of free time. Im a Chef and own a busy restaurant. Im a slave to my store 6 days a week, (80+ hours a week). When Im not working, today on my only day off, I really dont have the energy to do much. I also think a lot of it has to do with my garage environment. I cant do half of the work in the garage, and just pack it up and finish in a few days. I need to do it all, today. My garage is super dusty, and prolonging the process just makes things even harder for me.



So back to my main question. What motivates you to go through the whole process? Obviously, the finished result should be all the motivation we need. What do you do to break the mind numbing hours of work invested? Beer? Music? Please enlighten me.



(p.s. Pro detailers, obviously you have another factor, money.)
 
I would just take it one step at a time. If you're not happy with the shape of your garage, take the day to give it a thorough organization. Put everything in it's own place, I prefer plastic storage bins you can stack. Next clean up your floors with sweeping and blow all the dust out. Now you can enjoy your work space all week long and think, "Wow I can't wait for this weekend to really do some work on my car in here". Then when the time finally comes, give your car a good wash and detailing, get all the jambs and interior. Now just start your corrections one panel at a time starting with the hood and front fenders. You'll see a big visual impact at those areas which will push you to do more the next weekend and won't be such a hassle since you'll only have to clean off week old grime to start your corrections. To break up the hours I find a radio really helps, but after hours of listening to the same commercials and annoying DJ's that cycle the same 5 songs, I make my own playlist and listen to the Ipod with a FM transmitter. The correction work should turn into a hobby that you can't wait to tackle more next weekend, instead of stressing out that you need to have it all done in one day. Soak it in, enjoy doing it one panel at a time and keep coming back to Autopia during the week to research the issues you run into while developing your skill and love for the hobby.
 
I do it because I love every second of it. It is a major distraction from the day to day bs I deal with. When I'm detailing my automobile I think of nothing but that and it just makes me happy. I think of people looking at it and saying wow, that looks brand new. I think of all the vehicles I'd love to own and drive. I would love nothing more than to detail for the rest of my life. Getting paid for it is icing on the cake.



I'm a total petrol head. I guess it's in my blood.



I couldn't imagine dreading detailing.
 
XL Advantage said:
I do it because I love every second of it..
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I think a lot of people here feel that way.



But for me, it's just a matter of taking care of my stuff, and detailing is part of taking care of the vehicles. While I appreciate the end-result, the doing is just another chore on a long list that I need to get done so I can get on with my life.



AntonV said:
.. What motivates you to go through the whole process? Obviously, the finished result should be all the motivation we need. What do you do to break the mind numbing hours of work invested? Beer? Music? Please enlighten me...
Click to expand...



Answering the last part first, I don't do anything to distract me from the job. No music (even though I had the shop wired with a nice system), nothing that might impair my abilities or concentration...I just do it until it's done. And yeah, that can take a long time over many days. Maintaining focus/concentration/etc. during hours of "mind numbing" activity is kinda an exercise in self-discipline for me.



The motivation is that it needs to be done. I guess it's how one defines that "need"...



Functional: Clean vehicles do last longer (but I bet that doesn't really matter in most cases these days..) and it's easier to spot leaks/etc. if the engine compartment/undercarriage is clean.



Cosmetic: Well-detailed vehciles look nicer and a vehicle's cosmetic condition says something about the owner (to those who notice such things). Note that what a nicely-detailed vehicle says about its owner might not always be 100% positive ;)



When to do it? In my case it's hardly ever. Once a vehicle gets so much (hopefully light!) marring that it's not a case of Random Isolated scratches any more, then I do it. Whenever I buy a used vehicle I do a full correction. And sometimes after major body/paint work.



Other than that, I just don't have to do it for our drivers to look good enough for me and my wife. It's been years since I did the Audis or the minivan. I did the Yukon last year, but I sure don't plan to do it again any time soon! The drivers can get mighty imperfect before it bothers me enough to do a full correction.



Heh heh, spend enough time here at Autopia and you can start to think that only a perpetually perfect finish is good enough.



Yeah, I might go nuts with the SunGun/burnishing/etc. when I'm doing the correction, but once I've done it to the absolute best of my abilities, well then I just drive 'em and try to wash as carefully as I can. When (I had typed "if") some marring happens, I usually just live with it. Life's not a car show.
 
XL Advantage said:
I do it because I love every second of it. It is a major distraction from the day to day bs I deal with. When I'm detailing my automobile I think of nothing but that and it just makes me happy. I think of people looking at it and saying wow, that looks brand new. I think of all the vehicles I'd love to own and drive. I would love nothing more than to detail for the rest of my life. Getting paid for it is icing on the cake.



I'm a total petrol head. I guess it's in my blood.



I couldn't imagine dreading detailing.
Click to expand...



+1



I haven't done a full correction yet as I'm still waiting on UPS to bring it to me, but I am looking forward to it big time. I can zone out and focus on something productive and beneficial to somethigng I take great pride in. No work, no bosses and MOST DEFINATELY NO politics.



My SS is my own little zen garden.
icon10.gif
 
Accumulator said:
I think a lot of people here feel that way.



But for me, it's just a matter of taking care of my stuff, and detailing is part of taking care of the vehicles. While I appreciate the end-result, the doing is just another chore on a long list that I need to get done so I can get on with my life.







Answering the last part first, I don't do anything to distract me from the job. No music (even though I had the shop wired with a nice system), nothing that might impair my abilities or concentration...I just do it until it's done. And yeah, that can take a long time over many days. Maintaining focus/concentration/etc. during hours of "mind numbing" activity is kinda an exercise in self-discipline for me.



The motivation is that it needs to be done. I guess it's how one defines that "need"...



Functional: Clean vehicles do last longer (but I bet that doesn't really matter in most cases these days..) and it's easier to spot leaks/etc. if the engine compartment/undercarriage is clean.



Cosmetic: Well-detailed vehciles look nicer and a vehicle's cosmetic condition says something about the owner (to those who notice such things). Note that what a nicely-detailed vehicle says about its owner might not always be 100% positive ;)



When to do it? In my case it's hardly ever. Once a vehicle gets so much (hopefully light!) marring that it's not a case of Random Isolated scratches any more, then I do it. Whenever I buy a used vehicle I do a full correction. And sometimes after major body/paint work.



Other than that, I just don't have to do it for our drivers to look good enough for me and my wife. It's been years since I did the Audis or the minivan. I did the Yukon last year, but I sure don't plan to do it again any time soon! The drivers can get mighty imperfect before it bothers me enough to do a full correction.



Heh heh, spend enough time here at Autopia and you can start to think that only a perpetually perfect finish is good enough.



Yeah, I might go nuts with the SunGun/burnishing/etc. when I'm doing the correction, but once I've done it to the absolute best of my abilities, well then I just drive 'em and try to wash as carefully as I can. When (I had typed "if") some marring happens, I usually just live with it. Life's not a car show.
Click to expand...



I want to second what Accumulator said in that once you do a full correction on your car, you shouldn't need to do heavy correction for quite a while ASSUMING you have a good non swirling wash routine down. If I were multi step compounding/polishing my car yearly, I would concentrate on correcting my washing technique.



Now that the swirls are out of my car, I will only do a very light polishing/burnishing once a year which is not near as time consuming as a typical multi step paint correction. If I do come across swirl or two, I will only correct those spots, no need to compound the entire car. After I fix those spots, I will then go over the entire car with a light polish/burnish as usual. That can easily be done in an evening/night (Wash->Clay->Correct a few spots->Light polish/burnish-> All in One or paint cleaning -> LSP will only take a long evening/night, not days).
 
In my case I'm sort of like Accum in that I simply like to take care of what I own whether its my cars, home, property, etc. However, I do find some aspects of detailing sort of enjoyable/relaxing. ....full details are usually not one of them but I can still appreciate the end result (like yard work). I usually listen to my jazz or other music I find relaxing while I'm working in the garage. ...I don't find it distracting at all (just the opposite).



I guess I'm lucky in that I have a job that keeps my weekends free and I usually have a couple of extra days off during the month (or I simply take them off as needed since I have quite a bit of vacation on the books). Even so, I try to do what I can in between corrections to prevent marring (although I know I could do a lot more). Each person simply has to find their own balance depending on priorities, expectations, etc.
 
I do it to please customers. But there is nothing like selling a car for two or three times the price you paid.
 
Barry Theal- [Insert compliment on Barry's son here..]



Heh heh, and you're not talking about doing "full correction" on *your* cars, are you ;)



willtothewong said:
for me its simply a matter of extending the life of the car...
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Lemme :argue that for a minute (good naturedly, OK ;) ). I don't think that "full corrections" in any way extend the life of a car, quite the opposite.



Most of the original-paint cars I see have lots of marring; they've have few, if any serious corrections (which would've thinned that paint). Example: my '84 RX-7 has the factory paint *because* the original owner never corrected it. That (single-stage metallic) paint is soooo fragile that it usually failed after a few years and if you thin it by more than a few microns you'll kill it. I have one very rare survivor there, and it's the never-thinned paint that makes it special. Similarly, my '85 Jag can't ever be seriously corrected again, the paint (another ss metallic) is just too thin and fragile, and once it's been repainted/restored it wouldn't be a "survivor" any more.
 
Accumulator said:
Barry Theal- [Insert compliment on Barry's son here..]



Heh heh, and you're not talking about doing "full correction" on *your* cars, are you ;)







Lemme :argue that for a minute (good naturedly, OK ;) ). I don't think that "full corrections" in any way extend the life of a car, quite the opposite.



Most of the original-paint cars I see have lots of marring; they've have few, if any serious corrections (which would've thinned that paint). Example: my '84 RX-7 has the factory paint *because* the original owner never corrected it. That (single-stage metallic) paint is soooo fragile that it usually failed after a few years and if you thin it by more than a few microns you'll kill it. I have one very rare survivor there, and it's the never-thinned paint that makes it special. Similarly, my '85 Jag can't ever be seriously corrected again, the paint (another ss metallic) is just too thin and fragile, and once it's been repainted/restored it wouldn't be a "survivor" any more.
Click to expand...



good stuff. i guess i meant to say something more along the lines of simply detailing the car will help extend its life. whether it be the paint, the leather seats etc etc
 
The thought of running into the 0.0001% of the population that can see micromarring, and they'll see my vehicle is in non-autopean shape :cry:



However, after learning how to wash properly, I find myself only needing to wax 2-3x a year with 845, and once every year or two do a light polish with either 106/white, or power finish/white
 
willtothewong said:
good stuff. i guess i meant to say something more along the lines of simply detailing the car will help extend its life..
Click to expand...



Glad I didn't come across as being contentious or anything.



Yeah, maybe it's just because I kinda focus on the washing/cleaning/etc. end of detailing, but I see that kind of thing as being what's most important for making the vehicle last. Dirt harbors moisture, moisture leads to rust, and so on.



Marred up paint with a good coat of, well...cleaner-wax can still be perfectly OK. I've posted before about how my elderly and infirm aunt (pretty serious car nut in her day) kept her last big-block MOPAR in decent shape with just washes and RainDance after doing it right became too much for her.



More on-topic, the whole "how to bear the chore of doing this stuff for hours?!?" topic does interest me. I do a *lot* of less-than-fun chores that take hours and hours of concentration, and at the risk of sounding corny, I think it can build character, or at least help build self-discipline and thus lead to (genuine) self-esteem.
 
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