question on time spent

[Bill1234]

So I had a friend come today to work on his car. Simple all white new sedan. He arrived at 11:30 ish. We immediately worked on the wheels and tires which we both did, iron dwelling product and apc and scrubbed sets on each side. That took about 20 minutes.

Went next to foaming the car and let it soak and dwell. Came back to a 2 BM wash after a 30 minute lunch.

Started iron decontamination and claying at around 1245. Did that till about 220. I had him vacuum to cut time down.

paint was full of swirls but we spent some interior time and cleaned out everything as that was bad. Made it till about 320.

We then wiped meguiars paint protect on and he applied a tire gel, I finished up things and we were technically done but missed some spots in the interior and no polishing.


Do you think my time was spent well here or is there something I could do to be more efficient?

[Setec Astronomy]

You two spent an hour cleaning out the interior of a new car "as that was bad"?? How does that work?

And two hours for decon and clay seems a bit long, especially for two people.

Do you ever get to polish a car, Bill? Something always seems to happen and you never get to the polishing.

[GSKR]

40 minutes for the exterior and one person.

[idriveblackcars]

Buy nano skin pads, best investment this year for me.

[Bill1234]

The interior of the car was in fact trashed it was new but like 3 weeks new. It was only me doing clay and decon work and we were often in a hot area which the lubricant dried in.

Sometimes I do not get to polishing. I work my butt off and I run out of time

[precisionmobile85]

How bad was the claying? Ive spent a couple hours claying a white vehicle before myself but thats a car that was overdue on a brake job and the paint was loaded with rail dust. But with a white vehicle sometimes taking a little longer on prepping is half the battle paint work wise

[GSKR]

How bad was the claying? Ive spent a couple hours claying a white vehicle before myself but thats a car that was overdue on a brake job and the paint was loaded with rail dust. But with a white vehicle sometimes taking a little longer on prepping is half the battle paint work wise

I had a Cadillac on Saturday actually a relative of mine.He waited till the very end for a brake job and had heavey iron all over the car felt like 80 grit.iron x twice then clay then speed wax one hour done.love that iron x .

[precisionmobile85]

Nice. I never really looked around for a product that actually breaks it down. Great idea.

[Setec Astronomy]

The interior of the car was in fact trashed it was new but like 3 weeks new. It was only me doing clay and decon work and we were often in a hot area which the lubricant dried in.

Sometimes I do not get to polishing. I work my butt off and I run out of time

Well, sometimes you need to know your friends. If you spent over an hour (together) cleaning the interior of a 3 week old car, then that was probably a waste of time because it will be trashed again in short order. Probably would have been better to spend the time on the exterior, but it sounds unlikely he's going to take care of that, either.

Did you do this because he wanted to, or because you wanted to? Did he pay you?

[Jeremy1976]

I tell customers 4-6 hours depending on how bad the paint is. In Wisconsin I have spent 2 hours hand claying already. Now that I have Iron X and the Nanoskin auto scrub disc for my DA, I have become more efficient.

I charge $150 for cars, $200 for SUV's, $250 for full trucks and full size SUV's. That includes 2 bucket, dried, full clay, glaze, paint sealed, topped with Carnauba. Door jams clayed and sealed, tires dressed and sealed, windows sealed, door panels, dash, steering wheel treated, and a light vacuum. Leather interior cleaned and conditioned and engine bay detailing I charge another $50 a piece for.