Black vans for under £3k

MikeHiow said:
If you're that bothered, feel free to design me an alternative. Otherwise, I'm quite happy with my temporary holding page that no one will likely ever see.
Click to expand...

It's on page one of Google search for 'Isle of Wight Detailing', so not that far fetched.

c9lMH.jpg


PS is that your domain Mike? You dabbling in property too? :p
 
Last edited:
MikeHiow said:
If you're that bothered, feel free to design me an alternative. Otherwise, I'm quite happy with my temporary holding page that no one will likely ever see.
Click to expand...

You and your web history or your designer should be able to have something special.

As for people never seeing it... ummm, clearly people are already.
 
I took some advice from this thread and put a little more effort into my photos this time. The light sucked, but this was the absolute best I could come up with. I think I need to get a DSLR with a huge aperture lens - I'm guessing this would allow me to keep the ISO low and grain down?

Anyway, copied and pasted from DW to at least add some context to the pictures;

Here is a 206 for a paint only correction, Sorry, no real before shots - I forgot my memory card on the first day :wall:

Car was washed, clayed, re-washed, dried and brought inside for inspection. Wheels were only done quickly as they are being refurbed next week.

A quick idea of what the paint was like before
IMG_1714.jpg


Next up was finding a pad/polish combination - contrary to my expectations, the paint was actually rather had - I had nothing that would take it to a defect free state without spending far too long on the cutting stage. A quick call to Rob at Gtechniq and that P System Pro Kit I've been meaning to try for a long time was on it's way for tomorrow.

Even P1 and the wool pad struggled, but with a few passes the paint was 95% corrected, leaving quite an impressive finish behind for a wool pad.

Wet sanding a nasty scratch from someone running chalk up the side of the car. No pictures of the scratch though, as I couldn't seem to focus on it.
IMG_1717.jpg

All gone. This finish is just one pass with a Gtechniq wool pad and P1.
IMG_1719.jpg

Quick 50/50
IMG_1720_5050good.jpg


The following stages consisted of P1 on Gtechniq's orange cutting pad, finishing up with P2 on their white finishing pad to squeeze every last bit of gloss out of the paint :)

This was all topped off with Z2P.

And the results - the light (or lack there-of) was against me here :(

IMG_1723_lightreflect.jpg

IMG_1729_sidedone.jpg

IMG_1734_othersidedone.jpg

IMG_1736.jpg

IMG_1745bonnetinside.jpg

IMG_1769_quayNS.jpg

IMG_1771_quayfront.jpg

IMG_1777_quayrear.jpg

IMG_1778_quayNSfromrearreflect.jpg


Thanks for reading :)
 
Would need to see it in the flesh to appreciate it, photos hide a thousand things. I once had our FTO looking like that from a distance...
 
Sorry Mike, but again it just looks like the difference between a dirty car and a clean car afterwards, nothing really special.

I think you're going to have to get into all of that arty stuff to make the average man on the street go 'wow' with pictures :)
 
Picture will never tell the whole story and you need to learn to use that to your advantage.

Do you have any mates who are amateur photographers? Car/product photography is something that I expect most would be keen to have a go at, assuming of course that they're not already good at it.

MikeHiow said:
If your car looks like that after a simple clean, can you share your secrets?
Click to expand...

It's all down to the photography, you can make swirl covered cars look brand new with the right angles and techniques.
 
Looks good to me.

Do you not have your own spots and sun gun, notice you saying you were struggling with the lack of light.

Should have got the dent taken out on the n/s 3/4 too!
 
Berger said:
Looks good to me.

Do you not have your own spots and sun gun, notice you saying you were struggling with the lack of light.

Should have got the dent taken out on the n/s 3/4 too!
Click to expand...

I have my DIY Sun gun - the light issue was taking the final shots - it was so overcast :(
 
An RCZ would make a lovely show piece for a website, so you need to learn photography by Monday or find someone you know who can do you a favour :p
 
The latest set of pictures look better to me but being honest I know very little about what makes for good detailing or bad. Might it be an idea to block out the registration of your customers though as a matter of courtesy if nothing else?
 
Seriously though you don't need a van.

Just operate and work out of the unit. Looks far more professional and people can bring the cars to you. :)
 
Blackhawk47 said:
Seriously though you don't need a van.

Just operate and work out of the unit. Looks far more professional and people can bring the cars to you. :)
Click to expand...

I'd love to work without a van, but the chances of getting enough work just for stuff like this, are low - at least initially. I need to do mobile valeting along side, not only for the opportunity to upsell (correction to a valet customer, or mobile washes to a correction customer) but to top up the income as well.
 
So basically the bulk of your work is going to be just washing cars?

Has finding another job really been that hard? You seemed so confident in the other thread.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom