Seriously, let's have this out. (Detailing/Valeting)

HURR DETAILING?! MORE LIKE JUST CLEANING, SUCH N00BS, GETTING RIPPED OFF, I SPENT 11 MINUTES WITH A HOSE AND MY CARS CLEAN

swirlmarks.gif


See, spotless, no dirt on it or nothing! Idiots, getting suckererd in by an american fad, whats next, you'll be telling me I need to inflate my tires, AS IF THIN AIR DOES ANYTHING?!
 
Amazing how attitudes change over 5 years.

In 2007 I thought detailing was the preserve of pipe smoking cardigan wearers, the kind of people that know engine designations and and trim levels of various different models from the past 20 years from their favorite car maker.

Now I know without doubt that this is the case.

Amazing what time does.


Folding the edges of the cloth over indeed, what next? washing the car in deionised water.........wait what?
 
atpbx said:
Folding the edges of the cloth over indeed, what next? washing the car in deionised water.........wait what?
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So you think it's a good idea to spend hours upon hours polishing a car to a decent standard, only to ruin it all when you buff the polish off?

Incidentally, I had to use RO water to rinse the VX220 and a blower to dry it after polishing, too.
 
The thing is you can usually only notice swirls if the car is in direct sunlight and you're looking for them so really a "detail" isn't required. Plus I wash my car then its filthy and covered in crud within one drive, what's the point?
That said if anyone wants to practice on my car they're welcome to :D
 
Thing is if you actually use your car everyday, then detail is a waste of time, the amount of grit, dirt, twigs and general crud that gets thrown up and rocks chipping the paintwork is heartbreaking, I've given up trying to 'detail' and have just decided to keep it 'clean' instead.
 
MikeHiow said:
So you think it's a good idea to spend hours upon hours polishing a car to a decent standard, only to ruin it all when you buff the polish off?

Incidentally, I had to use RO water to rinse the VX220 and a blower to dry it after polishing, too.
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Next you will be telling me you buffed the headlights smooth to remove any imperfections....

Oh you did.
 
atpbx said:
Next you will be telling me you buffed the headlights smooth to remove any imperfections....

Oh you did.
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Again, another difference between detailing and washing/polishing/valeting really.

As part of the overall package, it makes a huge difference.

SKYNHEDD said:
Sorry can I just double check something...

Are detailers washing their cars in special water now??

WTF?

RO Water??
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Reverse Osmosis Water - it's just pretty clean water that is that little bit more forgiving in terms of water marks. The minerals that are present in tap water will actually etch themselves into the clear coat if allowed to dry in the sun - rinsing with RO water goes a long way to reducing this effect, which is useful when you're trying to avoid touching the paint too much during the drying process.

It's nothing special, and most commonly used for aquariums. I'm fortunate enough that my Neighbour works with fish/aquariums for a living and filters his own RO water. It costs almost nothing, so I have access to an almost unlimited supply.

You'll often find that most mobile valeters will use RO water in their water tanks, simply because of how much easier it makes life for valeter and it's low cost for the kit to filter it yourself.
 
MikeHiow said:
Reverse Osmosis Water - it's just pretty clean water that is that little bit more forgiving in terms of water marks. The minerals that are present in tap water will actually etch themselves into the clear coat if allowed to dry in the sun - rinsing with RO water goes a long way to reducing this effect, which is useful when you're trying to avoid touching the paint too much during the drying process.
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That's going a bit too far though. Do you not drive it when it rains?
 
Rain water is surprisingly clean, though. In fact, a lot of people have water butts for rinsing their cars, although you need to really have a filter or an overflow into a second tank to allow all the crap to settle in the first.

it is the hardness of the water (magnesium, calcium etc.) that does the damage.
 
MikeHiow said:
It's nothing special, and most commonly used for aquariums. I'm fortunate enough that my Neighbour works with fish/aquariums for a living and filters his own RO water. It costs almost nothing, so I have access to an almost unlimited supply.
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Hahaha

I love you :D. You have a never-ending network of people queuing up to offer you their products or services in exchange for your friendship :D.
 
Pops head in....

stockhausen said:
Lasting until when :confused:
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Upto 12 months imo.

Now leaves thread as clueless people saying "It's only cleaning a car wah wah etc" is making my head explode.

Actually i'll just say that detailing is cleaning the details and going over the car with a fine brush and machine polishing. The car will be perfect when you've finished. This can take 2-3 days. A valet or clean is only cleaning visible areas and takes a couple of hours.

Not hard to understand.
 
peterattheboro said:
Actually i'll just say that detailing is cleaning the details and going over the car with a fine brush and machine polishing. The car will be perfect when you've finished. This can take 2-3 days. A valet or clean is only cleaning visible areas and takes a couple of hours.

Not hard to understand.
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but you can understand why a lot of us don't care about the invisible areas?
 
MikeHiow said:
It's an extreme, but a perfect example of why the selection of MFs and folding the edges is important, was the black VX220 I did last year.

You couldn't sneeze on it without marring the paintwork - it took trying about 5 different MFs and folding the edges before finding one that didn't marr the paint, and even then it required you to be very careful and the use of water to remove the polish residue without marring it.

Even my ST had similar issues where you could easily marr the paint if you were not careful with the edges of MFs etc.

You laugh at such measures, and there-in lies the difference between washing/polishing a car and detailing.
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No. All this proves is that if you had to use 5 different cloths, you aren't very good at this "detailing" malarkey:p
 
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