Swirl Marks at SEMA

[TheCougarGuy]

While walking around at SEMA last week, I was amazed how many show cars were covered with swirl marks and holograms, especially the ones that were outside. There were some beautiful cars with some poor detailing.

I was talking to Dwayne about it and he joked that Autogeek should have a detailing bay next year.


Alright, this isn't one of them but it was really cool!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i281/dbalentine/DSCF0805.jpg

[Setec Astronomy]

I was talking to Dwayne about it and he joked that Autogeek should have a detailing bay next year.

Excellent idea! It could be like one of those southeast Asian detail centers...forum members who volunteer to work the detail center for 3 days get 1 day to cruise the show...members responsible for air fare and hotel...AG provides the detail supplies and show passes and collects the detailing fees (members get to keep their tips ;) )...Meghan? Eh, that doesn't sound like that much of a deal...how about members responsible for airfare, AG pays the hotel...eh, we'll have to work on the details...

[C. Charles Hahn]

The plain truth is that there are a lot of people out there (paint and body guys included) who just have no clue how to properly detail a vehicle and don't realize how bad their methods can be.

[OCDetails]

I noticed that the cars displayed by people who did all the customization themselves had worse paint than the big outfits that were displaying their custom work. That lead me to believe that the guys displaying there who are good with a wrench just don't know much about paint care and probably did the work themselves, while the big shops knew their specialties and hired professionals to prep the cars. I'm not very good with a wrench, so while my car is the shiniest at a show, it is pretty stock. Most of the really modified cars I see at shows don't have terrific paint unless it is some fancy aftermarket deal.

I dunno... I'm kinda rambling there, but it was a connection that sort of struck in the back of my mind. Kudos for them trying to do their own paint care if that is what they did, but I would probably hire someone to do that kind of thing if I had the money some of these guys have put into their cars. Just sayin...

[RaskyR1]

I talked with some of the Meguiars guys that were prepping cars at the Car Crazy booth and they said they really just wiped the cars down with UQW and UQD. Even the Ford cars were only given a quick once over due to time constraints.

[OCDetails]

Time constraints? Yeah, I'll try that line next time I screw up my wife's birthday. "Sorry honey, there were time constraints." lol 11 months and 3 weeks isn't enough time to prep a car for SEMA? I won't feel so bad the next time I'm under the gun and only have a week to prep a car for a big show after reading that.

[RaskyR1]

Time constraints? Yeah, I'll try that line next time I screw up my wife's birthday. "Sorry honey, there were time constraints." lol 11 months and 3 weeks isn't enough time to prep a car for SEMA? I won't feel so bad the next time I'm under the gun and only have a week to prep a car for a big show after reading that.

I'm pretty sure that the majority of the SEMA cars were down to the wire on getting ready for the show, especially considering that some of them just came out as a 2011 model and the shops only had so much time to install their parts.

In talking with KB and a few other detailers, it was my understanding that the majority of the Ford and Meguiars cars were prepped just before the show and some of them were even done Tuesday night after hours. There simply was not enough time to do full corrections on all the cars.