Anyone had their car 'Detailed'?

Phil W

Phil W

Phil W

Soldato
Joined
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Hi all,

Just looking for anyones experiences with having their car detailed?

My car is covered in swirls and it annoys the hell out of me (particularly at night and in the sun during the day). I am half tempted to have a go myself but after buying the kit (which probably won't be used very much after) it looks like a better option to get someone in to do it.

Just wondering what your 'after' thoughts were? How have you got on with maintaining a good finish afterwards?

Cheers :)
 
I'm sorely tempted to buy the kit too and give this a go. From all the reading I've done the best thing to do is get yourself a scrap panel ideally from the same manufacturer and have a go on that to see where the limits are for that particular manufacturers paint.
 
I had mine done by a professional a couple of months ago and in all honesty its like he swapped my car for a new one.

My car is a 10 year old Jaguar Xk8 and required several days worth of work to get the paintwork sorted. (if you look at his twitter site mines the black one).

http://www.ddbvaleting.co.uk/ david did mine and an excellant job he did too.
 
Had the Elise, Boxster and Mini detailed. I know it's a contentious issue on here but I'm a big fan of detailing, cars just look so much better when they're swirl free and gleaming. The Mini was done 2 years ago and it still looks great.

Having said that, I do prefer to pay somebody else to spend 8 hours removing every minute swirl from my car rather than doing it myself (even though I've got a Porter Cable)
 
eidolon said:
Had the Elise, Boxster and Mini detailed. I know it's a contentious issue on here but I'm a big fan of detailing, cars just look so much better when they're swirl free and gleaming. The Mini was done 2 years ago and it still looks great.

Having said that, I do prefer to pay somebody else to spend 8 hours removing every minute swirl from my car rather than doing it myself (even though I've got a Porter Cable)
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Who did you use?
 
I detail mine about once a month, takes a few hours and only lasts a few days lol British weather.

I know a few guys on a 206 forum who do it professionally, costs about £300-400 a time though
 
I don't do "detailing", but I have machine polished several cars with good results. It's very time consuming and messy, but not particularly difficult or risky unless you are a ham fisted gorilla and lean on the polisher to speed up the cutting action, let the cutting compound go dry or get the polishing head contaminated (e.g. resting it on the ground).
 
Jay794 said:
I detail mine about once a month, takes a few hours and only lasts a few days lol British weather.
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Then you're not detailing! You're simply washing...

There is a great difference between a bucket and wash mitt and a bit polish compared to actually detailing your car. A detail would not take "a few hours", it takes me 2-3 hours just to snow foam, wash, dry, alloys, windows and any metal work...
 
Here we will have everyone getting the ***** out and waving them around fapping off to what actually constitutes of detailing.

Detailing IMO equates to washing your car in a bit more detail than your local handcar wash.

Whether this includes taking alloys off, doing arches, waxing, sealing, polishing, glazing, claying etc etc. It all comes under detailing.

Guess what else comes under detailing? Paint corrections.

Detailing does not mean paint correction.

Paint correction means paint correction.

Washing your car is a bucket and sponge that you see some 60 year old doing with their Rover 75 or what I do where I wang some snow foam on, then blast it off and it comes up a decent treat.

So when somebody says I detailed my car for 3-4 hours then yes they detailed their car.

No ordinary person cleans their car for 3-4 hours, 3-4 hours means you go into detail.

Now everyone put your ***** away.
 
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rossk26 said:
Then you're not detailing! You're simply washing...

There is a great difference between a bucket and wash mitt and a bit polish compared to actually detailing your car. A detail would not take "a few hours", it takes me 2-3 hours just to snow foam, wash, dry, alloys, windows and any metal work...
Click to expand...

So you're telling me, polishing the exhaust and going over the interior with a paintbrush to remove dust as well as cleaning the engine bay isn't detailing?

Yeah ok

pepsilol said:
Here we will have everyone getting the ***** out and waving them around fapping off to what actually constitutes of detailing.

Detailing IMO equates to washing your car in a bit more detail than your local handcar wash.

Whether this includes taking alloys off, doing arches, waxing, sealing, polishing, glazing, claying etc etc. It all comes under detailing.

Guess what else comes under detailing? Paint corrections.

Detailing does not mean paint correction.

Paint correction means paint correction.

Washing your car is a bucket and sponge that you see some 60 year old doing with their Rover 75 or what I do where I wang some snow foam on, then blast it off and it comes up a decent treat.

So when somebody says I detailed my car for 3-4 hours then yes they detailed their car.

No ordinary person cleans their car for 3-4 hours, 3-4 hours means you go into detail.

Not everyone put your ***** away.
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This
 
pepsilol said:
Here we will have everyone getting the ***** out and waving them around fapping off to what actually constitutes of detailing.

Detailing IMO equates to washing your car in a bit more detail than your local handcar wash.

Whether this includes taking alloys off, doing arches, waxing, sealing, polishing, glazing, claying etc etc. It all comes under detailing.

Guess what else comes under detailing? Paint corrections.

Detailing does not mean paint correction.

Paint correction means paint correction.

Washing your car is a bucket and sponge that you see some 60 year old doing with their Rover 75 or what I do where I wang some snow foam on, then blast it off and it comes up a decent treat.

So when somebody says I detailed my car for 3-4 hours then yes they detailed their car.

No ordinary person cleans their car for 3-4 hours, 3-4 hours means you go into detail.

Not everyone put your ***** away.
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I agree with this statement. But I am also offended because I own a rover 75 and am only 25 ;)
 
I detail my car every 3 months or so with regular washes in between.

A FULL day has to be put aside for a proper detail. I do not use a rotary though, all done by hand (I have gorilla fists).

If you do not like cleaning cars then you're better paying someone to do it. I however, love it. I would do it more often but the mrs needs some attention too! :p

wash
clay
polish
glaze
seal
wax
 
I love black cars, they usually require "paint correction" to remove "swirls/hologramming", I had my old Z4 and my current 335i "paint corrected", haven't got the time/inclination to do it myself.

I can recommend http://www.cambridgevaletcentre.com/ (Speak to Simon/Manager)

HEADRAT
 
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I was at Fiesta in the Park last year, one of the guys off the Ford Fiesta ST OC spent £300 getting his WHITE ST detailed, only to hit a mud puddle at the entrance lol

£300 well spent!
 
Jay794 said:
So you're telling me, polishing the exhaust and going over the interior with a paintbrush to remove dust as well as cleaning the engine bay isn't detailing?

Yeah ok
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Nope, not in my eyes. And are you some form of super human or do you own a car the size of a matchbox?

It takes me at least 2-3 hours just to snow foam, rinse, alloys, wash, dry, windows, exhaust. Then another 30-45 mins for the interior. I haven't even started on polishing, waxing etc yet!!!
 
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pepsilol said:
Here we will have everyone getting the ***** out and waving them around fapping off to what actually constitutes of detailing.

Detailing IMO equates to washing your car in a bit more detail than your local handcar wash.

Whether this includes taking alloys off, doing arches, waxing, sealing, polishing, glazing, claying etc etc. It all comes under detailing.

Guess what else comes under detailing? Paint corrections.

Detailing does not mean paint correction.

Paint correction means paint correction.

Washing your car is a bucket and sponge that you see some 60 year old doing with their Rover 75 or what I do where I wang some snow foam on, then blast it off and it comes up a decent treat.

So when somebody says I detailed my car for 3-4 hours then yes they detailed their car.

No ordinary person cleans their car for 3-4 hours, 3-4 hours means you go into detail.

Now everyone put your ***** away.
Click to expand...

This made no sense to me whatsoever!
 
Could do with mine being done as it does have some swirls and other marks on the black paintwork. Would this be paint correction or just an external valet/detail?
 
rossk26 said:
Nope, not in my eyes. And are you some form of super human or do you own a car the size of a matchbox?

It takes me at least 2-3 hours just to snow foam, rinse, alloys, wash, dry, windows, exhaust. Then another 30-45 mins for the interior. I haven't even started on polishing, waxing etc yet!!!
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Lol 2-3 hours? just to wash a car? you can do a whole car in under an hour and have it clean just with soap and water
 
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