I have to apologize to the rest of the site for using too much harsh language when I was responding to a member. but some of you detailers who are trying to insight argumentation over this business are just ridiculous. the detail debate is huge, no one detailer is the Guru of detailing and talking down on others like myself for how I detail is just childish. being a veteran of detailing I learned years ago that 1 coat of polish does no more than 15 coats and you're wasting your time trying to convince me otherwise. I also learned that most, if not all, waxes/polishes have close to the same ingredients and offer no more protection than their competitors. It all comes down to a matter of taste, like with detailing tires. some people like their tires to look dripping "wet" while others prefer to use a sponge to keep the splatter to a minimum and off the wheels but still look "wet". and even futher with "wipedown". a lot of so called detailers don't clean the door jams, engine bay or wheel wells, but I do. nothing worse than a clean car, clean wheels and dirty door jams...ah puke. I'm done.
How would you keep your freshly painted calipers clean without damaging the ever present lube which is right near and on the nice calipers? This car is a daily and winter driver!!
I hope I can help you understand here why you get into these arguments.
The problem is your perspective of detailing is based wholly on what you can see with your own 2 eyes. Yes, I’m pretty confident that when you’ve cleaned a car it is indeed clean for the moment. But, you’re only seeing what is clean or what shines. What you’re not grasping is what goes on at a molecular level on a painted panel, for example, the removal of necessary oils, wax and sealant by Ajax or removal of wax/sealant by clay lead to long term damage by UV and various contaminants. Because these things happen long term it’s hard to grasp cause and effect. Please don’t take offense to this, but an analogy is: Europeans of 600 years ago thought the earth was flat because as far as they could see, it appeared to their eyes to be flat. It took scientists using gradually accepted building blocks of knowledge to eventually see what we could not literally see.
You need to have a little faith in some things people are telling you. They are based ultimately on long-term experimentation. You accept that clean oil will protect your engine even though you can’t actually see it working. Why not accept that QD is only a very short-term protection vs. sealant or wax?
People on this forum, initially at least, rebut your posts not because of a desire to argue with someone. They do it because they are concerned that novices will read and act on your advice, which frequently would lead to premature aging of their vehicles. If someone were to post that their premium wax is the best, I’m not likely to publicly disagree. However, if they tell someone to clean their clear-coated wheels with steel wool, I’m going to strongly disagree if others don’t do so first. This is what people are trying to do. When they logged on to the forum, they were not setting out to pick on you or anyone else.
I don't have to tell people how good I am, MY customers do that for ME!!!!!!!!! Detailing wheelwells, Door jams and tires is Child's play, Do you remove the BUGS from the Radiator? Wipe the INSIDE of the of the Exhaust tip??? Clean and Polish inside the Fuel Door??? Now, Be Honest, Do you???
...... Do you remove the BUGS from the Radiator? Wipe the INSIDE of the of the Exhaust tip??? Clean and Polish inside the Fuel Door??? Now, Be Honest, Do you???
Yes, of course! Polishing bolt heads on seat rails on a 160K mile car, using Q tips, toothpicks, cleaning and shining the spare tire and wheel are just some of the fun things to do when you over-detail a car!
But, its my personal car that I enjoy entering in car shows. When you have a car judged at a concours show, they take 'anal' to the Nth degree! I've spent over 40 hours detailng an already clean car for a show coming up.
Benz rider, I enjoyed reading your post, you actually seemed humble and likable! So, apology accepted and no hard feelings. Its always interesting to read your posts. You DO stir up the pot! Just shows that you can't be too optionated when posting on a public forum.
hello, i had to join for this- and thankfully you made this thread b/c the other one was closed. just one question for the op, and i ask this honestly without any sarcasm or ridicule, do you really clay without washing the car first?
I hope I can help you understand here why you get into these arguments.
The problem is your perspective of detailing is based wholly on what you can see with your own 2 eyes. Yes, I’m pretty confident that when you’ve cleaned a car it is indeed clean for the moment. But, you’re only seeing what is clean or what shines. What you’re not grasping is what goes on at a molecular level on a painted panel, for example, the removal of necessary oils, wax and sealant by Ajax or removal of wax/sealant by clay lead to long term damage by UV and various contaminants. Because these things happen long term it’s hard to grasp cause and effect. Please don’t take offense to this, but an analogy is: Europeans of 600 years ago thought the earth was flat because as far as they could see, it appeared to their eyes to be flat. It took scientists using gradually accepted building blocks of knowledge to eventually see what we could not literally see.
You need to have a little faith in some things people are telling you. They are based ultimately on long-term experimentation. You accept that clean oil will protect your engine even though you can’t actually see it working. Why not accept that QD is only a very short-term protection vs. sealant or wax?
People on this forum, initially at least, rebut your posts not because of a desire to argue with someone. They do it because they are concerned that novices will read and act on your advice, which frequently would lead to premature aging of their vehicles. If someone were to post that their premium wax is the best, I’m not likely to publicly disagree. However, if they tell someone to clean their clear-coated wheels with steel wool, I’m going to strongly disagree if others don’t do so first. This is what people are trying to do. When they logged on to the forum, they were not setting out to pick on you or anyone else.
ok, first off, I DO listen to others and what their experiences are. but I notice that when, like you said, making statements on a public forum I need to start spelling out things sometimes. most of the peoples cars I do, I've already done 'complete details' on so when i wrote 'full detail' in the other thread, the other guy flames the thread not knowing what I've alredy done so i should've said 'detail' just to keep his butt from rashing up in the thread. sheesh.
I've been trying to convey the message of "less is more" since I got here and letting the paint "breathe". these are tips I learned form elder detailers who were awesome at it. but I get attacked when I post my experiences and knowledge because some want to steer people to what 'they' want them to understand about detailing. it's cool. I listen, but I'm not going to run out and slap 12 coats of wax and 5 coats of polish and somehow think I'm adding more protection than the next guy. it's just not true. I've learned that it's ok to let your car go without polishes/sealants for a little bit. you're not damamging anything. if you regularly wash/detail you're not giving the sun enough time to oxidize your paint. but some detailers want you to believe that you MUST POLISH/WAX/SEAL EACH AND EVERY TIME YOU DO YOUR CAR. which is a bogus advertiement of one's opinion to me. it's entertaining though.
Washing/detailing your car should be fun. not a chore.
One thing we can agree on is that none of these products used or not will sotp rock chips from happening.
Last edited by benz rider : 04-29-2008 at 09:15 AM.
hello, i had to join for this- and thankfully you made this thread b/c the other one was closed. just one question for the op, and i ask this honestly without any sarcasm or ridicule, do you really clay without washing the car first?
yes. and it's absolutely nothing wrong with that either. the clay bar comes with the liquid solution to keep the surface moist while you extract the 'sticky' contaminents. the bar is going to collect dirt whether you wash prior or after. no problem. fold it over and keep going. you're not damaging anything or applying anything to the paint. if you wash before you're just adding an extra step because you want to. and that's ok. we're all 'anal' when it comes to detailing.
I've worked on show cars before and approach things totally different. but most of the cars I work on now are daily drivers not garage queens so I only get 'anal' on mine and maybe 2 others. the rest don't even want that because they are going to call me back in 2 weeks covered in mud or pollen anyway.
How would you keep your freshly painted calipers clean without damaging the ever present lube which is right near and on the nice calipers? This car is a daily and winter driver!!
if you have a good caliper paint on there(some use engine paint), then you can use a wire brush to scratch off the tuff stuff and maybe some white spirit to loosen it up. but it's always good to repaint them every year or so to keep them looking fresh.
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