Come do my machine polishing at the weekend please!
*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***
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Come do my machine polishing at the weekend please!
Soldato
Pics please.
PB ST220 nicely polished is something I need to see
It won't be done very well, I tried it ages ago and got bored. I may put some effort in and do a few panels at a time rather than all at once. Depends what the weather is like.
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I must admit I am getting a little fed up of the 'detailers' in this thread who both seem to just be undercutting each other and are boasting who can do the cheapest car wash... :S
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Have I missed something in this thread somewhere? I don't recall such talk?
Associate
Whilst I agree in principle, there are caveats. Like insurance. It's not a huge sum...take a casual detailer who does it for some extra money on the side. Keep it low, say 1 car a week, a small detail: £200.I think if any jobs can be awarded on here its better than giving it to someone unknown on DW.
Spread the prosperity an all that
That's just shy of 10K a year. Not every job will be £200, some may be a more, others less and we are still working on just 1 car, say over a weekend, per week. Low figures. Halve it if you like, 2 cars a month, so £5k a year.
If you can't be bothered to spend £500 p.a to cover me, my car and yourself and every other customer and a couple of hundred quid to get even a toy PTG, I'm not going to give you a chance and I won't be recommending you to my mates, colleagues etc.
2 very successful, seperate professionals turned down valeting/cutdown jobs early on in their career. Their reasoning was simple. There are hundreds and hundreds of valeting vans going around and doing the quick no-correction, quick filler glaze, shiney dashboard thing. They don't want to compete with that. Low volume, top quality correction and then subsequent client maintenance is where they saw the money at.
What they did do, however, was clay, or have the wheels off anyway... when the early clients would try to keep the estimate price down. They would not skimp on any step and absorbed the costs themselves, letting the results ensure repeat and new business.
[TW]Fox;17126824 said:
Pretty much. DW has grown enormously over the last few years and it's so diluted, a lot of the advice is worthless. You get somebody asking for advice, somebody responds with "use X, I've been using it forever and it's never failed me"...you look a bit deeper and you find the same guy was asking about that product a month ago. That same guy did Mums Corsa 2 months ago and is now dispensing advice like a seasoned wizard of automotive paint and has decided there is a ripe market for his new skills. The old guard still post from time to time but more often than not, it's threads full of new members who have very little experience.
If I want a job done, I want it done properly and to a certain standard. I have to pay a premium for this...for experience, indemnity and professionalism. I'm happy to do so. Saving £100 or £1000, to me, is false economy if the job (visibly or invisibly) has not been done correctly.
I applaud anybody who gets off their arse and wants to make money. I'd always, always give somebody a chance to shine but in return, they have certain basic responsibilities to me.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Fett, you have pretty much summed up exactly my thoughts on this, in probably a more eloquent manner.
I am a complete amateur. I only touch my own families cars and wouldnt touch anyone elses because its just a hobby and I'm not particularly skilled. I can make half decent cars look shiney using hand techniques and by fumbling around getting product tips from others and I'm very pleased with the results I get and my cars always look immaculate. But thats it - I am under no illusions that, really, I'm not very good.
But even I wouldn't dream of waxing a car I'd not previously done before without first claying it. Seriously, whats the point? You might as well not bother, surely? The way I see it, wax is a final layer both to protect your paintwork and protect the finish you've worked to acheive.
What is the point in giving a car a wash and a dry and then slapping wax straight on it? You've got all sorts of stuff on the paint that you'll never remove through washing thats now safely under a layer of wax. It makes no sense.
I'll sometimes wax my car without claying but only because I know my paintwork and it's my car I'm free to mess up till my hearts content.
You say oh blah blah people dont care blah but you know what? So what? There are loads of people in the motor industry who do the bear minimum because 'thats all the customer wants', why be another one of them? There is far too much 'that'll do' in the motor trade.
I am a complete amateur. I only touch my own families cars and wouldnt touch anyone elses because its just a hobby and I'm not particularly skilled. I can make half decent cars look shiney using hand techniques and by fumbling around getting product tips from others and I'm very pleased with the results I get and my cars always look immaculate. But thats it - I am under no illusions that, really, I'm not very good.
But even I wouldn't dream of waxing a car I'd not previously done before without first claying it. Seriously, whats the point? You might as well not bother, surely? The way I see it, wax is a final layer both to protect your paintwork and protect the finish you've worked to acheive.
What is the point in giving a car a wash and a dry and then slapping wax straight on it? You've got all sorts of stuff on the paint that you'll never remove through washing thats now safely under a layer of wax. It makes no sense.
I'll sometimes wax my car without claying but only because I know my paintwork and it's my car I'm free to mess up till my hearts content.
You say oh blah blah people dont care blah but you know what? So what? There are loads of people in the motor industry who do the bear minimum because 'thats all the customer wants', why be another one of them? There is far too much 'that'll do' in the motor trade.
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[TW]Fox;17130449 said:
Not long ago, you were saying how you can't see how he can make a living out of it, and now you are suggesting he should do more work for the same money.
Make your mind up.
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I see 2 different things here, i see Pete who is doing this as a living, sure he should have insurance etc.
Then i see Mike in the IOW, just starting and charging mates rates to a few pals and maybe by some miracle someone on here.
I dont see the harm in him not having insurance until and if he makes it a more regular thing as long as 2 things happen.
1 he does no correction, in which case the worst case scenario is he ****s up a wash and wax and dosent get paid.
2 if he is doing a correction the customer understands its done at his own risk.
Then 6 months down the line if Mike is still bang at it, of course spend a grand or two on what's needed.
Im just saying i see no harm in giving a couple hundred quid to someone you know (if only vaguely) over a stranger if the job is good.
Then i see Mike in the IOW, just starting and charging mates rates to a few pals and maybe by some miracle someone on here.
I dont see the harm in him not having insurance until and if he makes it a more regular thing as long as 2 things happen.
1 he does no correction, in which case the worst case scenario is he ****s up a wash and wax and dosent get paid.
2 if he is doing a correction the customer understands its done at his own risk.
Then 6 months down the line if Mike is still bang at it, of course spend a grand or two on what's needed.
Im just saying i see no harm in giving a couple hundred quid to someone you know (if only vaguely) over a stranger if the job is good.
One day you might actually read *and* comprehend a post. I long for that day because I won't need to go back over things to explain them to you.
I have not said he should do more work for the same money. He should do a proper job, and charge proper money for it.
Doing a half-arsed job for next to nothing is like offering crappy resprays for 50 quid a panel. Great, bargain, and some people might like that but really, is that where you want to be? That isn't the route to the higher end of the market. Nobody got to being a master painter by
'Yea, I've got several years experience now in offering cheap wash and wax, I'm ready to move into a 7 day correction detail on your Ferrari'
Basically, whatever Fett says. He is the sort of high end customer that pays the high end money. Ask him whether he'd use somebody who offers a 45 quid wash and wax if they also offered a 500 quid protection detail?
If you pitch yourself at the bottom end of the market you might find a bit of money there but you'll also find it hard to move away from there because although you gain experience, it isnt experience that gives you credibility at the higher end, where the actual money is.
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Caporegime
[TW]Fox;17130543 said:
just christ post you sound like an arrogant **** saying that.
I know thats not really you, so dont post like it.
It's just frustrating isn't it? I don't mind debating stuff, I enjoy it, and I'm happy to have my views challenged etc but when its obvious he's seeing things I've not written whats the point?
Only Fett suggested he should go the extra mile at his current price, but as Fett hasn't expressed suprise he's making a living on his current earnings he is quite entitled to make that point if he so wishes.
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[TW]Fox;17130543 said:
I didnt get that bit.
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[TW]Fox;17130543 said:
The irony is, you seem to have missed the point entirely in your previous post.
The reason why he doesn't clay sometimes is because his customers simply do not wish to pay for it. Some people can afford to turn down smaller work in the name of reputation, or whatever you want to call it, but perhaps Peter cannot? Especially since he's an employee, and probably has little impact on such decisions.
What a random remark to make.
It is the way some people come across as expert detailers with recommended this and that, O look at me I'm detailing some nice cars. But a lot of the time people are recommending things because others have recommended them, the typcal 'I read this on the internet so I'm repeating this'.
I could go out there and become an expert detailer with ease and would also have a large materials background to back it up with theory. It just seems plenty of people seem like the experts now when they really arn't
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What a random remark to make.
It is the way some people come across as expert detailers with recommended this and that, O look at me I'm detailing some nice cars. But a lot of the time people are recommending things because others have recommended them, the typcal 'I read this on the internet so I'm repeating this'.
I could go out there and become an expert detailer with ease and would also have a large materials background to back it up with theory. It just seems plenty of people seem like the experts now when they really arn't
But thats the nature of the internet isnt it, the best you can hope is the info rehashed was true at first.
Because the customers do not and will not understand what its for. They don't understand this stuff, this is why they pay somebody else to do it. Walk into your office tommorrow and if somebody asks you what you did last night, tell them you clayed your car. If you get anything other than a look of utter bewilderment I will be amazed. Of course they'll say no if they are given the choice. They shouldnt be given the choice if you wish to do a proper job you'd put your name on. A painter and decorator wont ask you if you want your wall sanding before he paints it.
If I got a new carpet and the carpet fitter said you can have underlay but it costs more off-hand I'd be inclined to just say oh ok don't bother. Yet what use, really, is a carpet fitted without underlay? The customer isnt always right especially in subjects where the customers own lack of knowledge or ability is the reason they are paying you in the first place.
Back to me thinking that washing cars as an employee is a pretty odd career choice for somebody supporting a family, then. If he's working from scratch with no ties trying putting his all into building up a nice business then great, in which case, do it properly because the seeds sowed now will reap benefits in the future. But.... washing cars as an employee? We keep steering towards him personally which I guess isn't really fair, so lets try and keep this more general.
Would YOU take a job with a car washing company Mike?
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That decision would be completely circumstantial.
If I had been out of work, with no immediate hope of another job I would want, then sure, I'd do it.
However, where I live, the people I know, the activities I partake in would mean I could probably make a good go of it without joining an existing business - again, circumstantial.
I obviously wouldn't leave my current job to do it, much less to do it under someone else, but that simply demonstrates how circumstantial it is.
If I had been out of work, with no immediate hope of another job I would want, then sure, I'd do it.
However, where I live, the people I know, the activities I partake in would mean I could probably make a good go of it without joining an existing business - again, circumstantial.
I obviously wouldn't leave my current job to do it, much less to do it under someone else, but that simply demonstrates how circumstantial it is.
Indeed, or it becomes blind truth in the eyes of soo many even though the info is totall incorrect. Getting too deep now
Right Im off to do some more paint laquer enhanced renovation detailing.
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