A plea to all professional detailers!!

[FloridaNative]

As some of you know I just spent 6 days (too long) on a detail. Granted the car was an absolute mess and I had my work cut out for me, but 6 days is a completely impractical number of days to spend cleaning a vehicle so my question to you pros is this....

Can you describe your process and how much time you spend on each step so that people like me can learn ways to cut the time down?

What do you start with? what tools/products do you use and how long does it take you to complete it. What do you move on to next, tools/procuct, length of time? etc. Do you get my meaning?

I know that it would help me tremendously as I only do cars on the side from time to time and I knwo I could learn alot from you all and I'm sure that many of our other members could benefit too.

Thank you so much! :cheers:

[Surfer]

6 days to detail holy sh!t. They better have paid you overtime, I do only our vehicles, no patience for others :D

[Grimm]

Wow, was that like a full day's work every day? I feel your pain though. When I first got into this and saw that people spend 6-10 hours on a detail I never thought it would take that long. So now after 14 hours of detailing mine, which still isn't perfect and requires a couple more hours to finish the interior and engine, I can see it. Of course having to restart the project every night rather than a continuous Saturday doesn't help.

[joe.p]

So what it took you 4 1/2 days more then it should:p detail was beautiful it shows you did a quality job. i have spent as much time on clients vehicles but this is when they leave there car and go on vacation so i do there cars after work...

This will be good informational thread to help speed up the process for all of us:cheers:

[FloridaNative]

Yes he left the car for me to do while he was out of the country, but that is not feasible for most people. I'll be doing his wife's car at some point in the future and her's is in pretty much the same shape as his was. I really want to get it done in 2 days at the most. She works so I won't be able to keep her car all that long.

[Grimm]

I know one step I found reduced some time is to limit the time of "inspecting" the paint. I would polish a section, buff it clean, then inspect it. I did this on a couple of panels, then realized it was stupid because I ended up doing two passes each section anyway, so I was just wasting time inspecting after the first pass. So I just quick buffed, then went right to doing a second pass before I took a closer look.

[FloridaNative]

yeah I did a test panel too with the XMT 3 and 1 and then continued with the XMT 3 on the whole thing.

[Excessive Detail]

The longest I have ever spent on a car was 8 hrs in one day on a customers car. I started at about 8 in the morning and ended around 4 or 5 in the afternoon. I basically started inside with a vacumm in one hand and a detail brush in the other. After cleaning out all the dust and debris on the inside, I dressed all the interior, I had two bottle with me and 4 mf at all times protecting leather and vinyl, basically I move from one door opening to another, also carried around with was glass cleaner and mf. Its a lot quicker to have all your stuff right there with, just bring what you know your gonna need. I found this way is a lot quicker than doing each step individually. Oh yea, while I was vacuuming I cleaned the carpets, let one area soak while I vac another. For the finishing touch I spray a deoderizer and/or scotchgard all over the dcarpets.
Once I get to the outside, I first presoak the entire car, while its soaking I set up wash stuff so its right there and in an orderly fashion so I don't spend time looking for stuff. Two six gallon buckets, wash mitt, scrub pad, foam gun, and brushes. I have a quick disconnet setup that helps out a lot so I can switch from foam gun to a good spray nozzle quickly, it also allows me to free flow water without having to turn off the hose and remove attachments. Starting at the top, I work my way done. Wheels last to prvent contaminating my wash water. Once the car is clean, I use the remaining solution in the foam gun to clay the car. I rewash each clayed section then do a final rinse down. Start to dry using one or two ww. I usually do a rough dry if I'm going to polish it out, meaning not going all out to make it perfect, cause I gonna wind up polishing it any way. Then I start polishing, again I prepostion all my stuff, put some mf in one pocket and hang some qd from another, and in my back pocket I keep my xmt pad cond. I polish the car just like everyone else, top to bottom, small sections, you know. This of course is the longest process, taking 4 to 6 hrs, depending on paint condtion. Once I get like one whole panel done, I give it as final polish and a fianl buff. I always wait till the entire car is polished to apply wax or sealant, and also apply dressing, I usually do the rims and tires while I'm drying to give the dressing enough time to dry, so if the customer leaves right after i'm done it doesn't go everywhere, then I'm done. This process seems to work the best for me, but i"m always finding new ways and tech to make it faster cause as we all know no two cars are the same.

[ScottB]

theres one step that I follow religiously .... add beer after each step. Before long you dont count the hours, just the minutes to next beer. (you can substitute for sangria or other beverage of choice)

[Excessive Detail]

theres one step that I follow religiously .... add beer after each step. Before long you dont count the hours, just the minutes to next beer. (you can substitute for sangria or other beverage of choice)

I pay to see you that, I had friend who tried something like that. He was drinking his as off and cleaning his car when I showed up. At one point he went to clean a wheel on the other side of the car, I turned around for a second and when I turned back around he was passed out next to the wheel with the wash mitt still in his hands, I laughed my ass of then sprayed with the hose, it was so funny.

[Surfer]

theres one step that I follow religiously .... add beer after each step. Before long you dont count the hours, just the minutes to next beer. (you can substitute for sangria or other beverage of choice):D

[Kelso]

haha i love playing with drunks!

anyways claying while washing- i recently tried this out and it works soooo much faster. wash the section, clay it, wash the residue, rinse and move on.
try to finish up with areas. use up the xmt 3 until nothing is left but micromarring and move along , then come back with the #1 around the car until its all done. spray with 50/50 water alcohol and then start sealing. in most cases, this can all be done in the first day but exceptions for size, condition, start time, and ....laziness can be added in! you can probably also get the interior done as well in the first day or maybe the second day if you must. interior should take no more than like... 3 hours for a full overhaul, becuase theres only so much you can do with most things like that. i cant really think of much else right now...any questions for me just ask

[sparkie]

The professional detailer doen't have the love like you do when detailing someone car. Time is money:D

[Kelso]

i dooooooo:p

we just find ways to cut down on time...we get a feeling for what needs to be done or doesnt need to be done.... whether to keep going or say its as good as its gonna get before more damage occurs, and how to work quickly and effectively. i think a rotory would be the best for that but im not gonna touch one!

[Jdm]

1. Pre soak, wash entire vehicle (including wheels and tires and engine if it is needed)
2.Blow of engine and other nooks and crannys with compressed air.

3. Dry entire vehicle, including door jambs, left over water under the hood and the trunk or hatch

4.dress tires and clean off wheels. (Grease type removers work great for wheels to remove tar and other gunk)

5. next move into the inside of the vehicle

6. Vacume EVERYTHING possible. Carpets, seats, center consels, glove box, any compartment etc etc..

7.If you have a compressed air available... Get out a paint brush and your favorite all purpose cleaner and start with the dirvers side area. Spray down all that are not carpet (Plactics, leather, vinyl) areas with cleaner, scrub with brush, wipe as much off as possible and blow the best out with the air (The results will be amazing) note. if you dont have compressed air, a blow and vac will work too..

8.Clean all inside windows.

9. Shampoo carpets with an extraction machine. If you do not have an extration machine then get a bucket of water and mix eiter all purpose cleane r or a capet shampoo. Once again start at drivers side and shampoo anything that is carpet.

10. Move to the outside of the car. Do everything the out side of the car needs now. example- Waxing, Claying, Polishing, Spray wax and so on and so forth.

11. Move to cleaning the outside windows (Remember light grade steel wool and glass cleaner works wonders for removing water spots and other surface impurities)

12. Go over a once over the entire vehicle with a cloths and touch up any missed spots.

13. Do not forget to leave the doors open, so the carpet can dry.

14. Happy detailing!