2BlackChevys
02-20-2013, 05:48 PM
My name is Scott and I am new to the site but I have been detailing cars since I was old enough to walk! My mom has a photo of me as a toddler rubbing on the side of my dad’s 57 Chevy. My dad was super OCD about keeping his cars clean so as the oldest son I was enlisted to help all the time. To give you some idea what I grew up with, we would drive 180 miles to my grandma’s house but before we got there we would stop at the local car wash to get the bugs off the car! Following long summer days in the Texas sun the boat would get completely wiped down right there on the boat ramp so it was perfect before we left! We had a 70 Chevelle back in the day and my dad actually polished the 30 year old gas tank and lower control arms until they shined like chrome. He actually did this on the car! I grew up mostly using M26. When my dad first found it, it was only available at a local Lotus dealership so everyone thought it was the coolest stuff ever. My dad would do one half of someone’s hood with it and they would be so amazed at the difference it made! I grew up hearing "Don't touch the car" and "Don't walk in the black stuff" (oil in parking lots) etc every day.
I didn't grow up with all this cool stuff like clay bars, we literally applied the wax by hand, so if we felt an imperfection like the clay would remove we just used a fingernail and tried to remove it. There were no microfiber towels so we just used old t-shirts or the oldest worn out towels we could find because they were soft. There wasn't a powerball so we used never-dull or brasso and good old elbow grease! We used Mom's SOS pads on whitewalls/lettering and felt her wrath when we took the last one! I heard stories that he used to use sugar water on tires but Armor All was around by the time I was doing them.
I grew up in and around the car business and have done everything from sweep the floor to own the whole operation. I’ve detailed cars at small car lots, for friends, and for fun. I also worked painting on custom boats where the finishing process was wet sand with a DA then buff twice. I literally ran a buffer all day every day for weeks sometimes depending on the project. We typically didn’t do anything shorter than a 50’ Fountain Lightning. I have also owned and worked in body shops where we ran buffers to eliminate the orange peel etc.
A few years ago I got a Viper and it had some light scratches and the paint was swirled out. I went to the local Autozone and got some Megs SwirlX, ScratchX, and a clay bar kit because I had always heard about it but never tried it. I tried the scatchX and decided it looked good so I just did the whole car. I followed it with swirlX and M26 and it looked amazing. After "detailing" the car for about 50 hours (paint, wheels inside and out, engine bay etc) I went to a local Viper meet up and everyone was amazed that my older Viper looked so incredible! At one of the events I first learned/heard about "paint correction" so when I was working out of town I had my wife call the local "Detailing Guru" to come get the Viper and work it. I get a call saying "the car is perfect, you could eat off this engine bay, so what exactly am I supposed to do with this thing?" LOL! Ends up he just gave it a wash and conditioned the leather seats. (I had not got to them yet!). I also learned about quick detail spray and microfiber towels etc. around this time.
I used the scratchX, swirlX, M26 trio on a ton of cars since then and always got great results.
A couple years ago I bought the wife a black TrailBlazer SS which I had her send to the "detailer" when she got it home and the work he did on it was amazing. The only thing I had done was wash it so it was a swirled out mess and the 50/50 shots and after shots were incredible.
I had read online about the PC 7424XP and how it was just the coolest thing since sliced bread, but even though I had used "buffers" at work in the car business I always liked doing it by hand better.
The SS had to live outside since the Viper lived in the garage. We are both away from home for work a lot and we have an automatic sprinkler system. We also live in Central Texas where there is a TON of limestone in the water. (I bet you can see where this is going). My wife would take it to the local car wash when she got home and it would look better but did nothing to remove the spots. She drove the truck out to visit me around Christmas time and the front windows were so caked with spots she couldn't hardly see out of them! I got out some scratchX and rubbed them down enough to see through at least.
Once I got home from my assignment I knew something had to be done with the SS. Our friend the detailer had seen the truck and wasn't even returning her calls it was so bad! LOL. I knew that rubbing out by hand was not an option so I did some research on the PC and watched a few videos and figured I was ready to go! Oh the lessons I learned, but that’s another story that will be its own thread.
In my research I came across this place and my friend the detailer also recommended it so that’s how I got here… I have spent countless hours reading threads, watching videos and learning a ton. I am looking forward to getting to know you guys!
I didn't grow up with all this cool stuff like clay bars, we literally applied the wax by hand, so if we felt an imperfection like the clay would remove we just used a fingernail and tried to remove it. There were no microfiber towels so we just used old t-shirts or the oldest worn out towels we could find because they were soft. There wasn't a powerball so we used never-dull or brasso and good old elbow grease! We used Mom's SOS pads on whitewalls/lettering and felt her wrath when we took the last one! I heard stories that he used to use sugar water on tires but Armor All was around by the time I was doing them.
I grew up in and around the car business and have done everything from sweep the floor to own the whole operation. I’ve detailed cars at small car lots, for friends, and for fun. I also worked painting on custom boats where the finishing process was wet sand with a DA then buff twice. I literally ran a buffer all day every day for weeks sometimes depending on the project. We typically didn’t do anything shorter than a 50’ Fountain Lightning. I have also owned and worked in body shops where we ran buffers to eliminate the orange peel etc.
A few years ago I got a Viper and it had some light scratches and the paint was swirled out. I went to the local Autozone and got some Megs SwirlX, ScratchX, and a clay bar kit because I had always heard about it but never tried it. I tried the scatchX and decided it looked good so I just did the whole car. I followed it with swirlX and M26 and it looked amazing. After "detailing" the car for about 50 hours (paint, wheels inside and out, engine bay etc) I went to a local Viper meet up and everyone was amazed that my older Viper looked so incredible! At one of the events I first learned/heard about "paint correction" so when I was working out of town I had my wife call the local "Detailing Guru" to come get the Viper and work it. I get a call saying "the car is perfect, you could eat off this engine bay, so what exactly am I supposed to do with this thing?" LOL! Ends up he just gave it a wash and conditioned the leather seats. (I had not got to them yet!). I also learned about quick detail spray and microfiber towels etc. around this time.
I used the scratchX, swirlX, M26 trio on a ton of cars since then and always got great results.
A couple years ago I bought the wife a black TrailBlazer SS which I had her send to the "detailer" when she got it home and the work he did on it was amazing. The only thing I had done was wash it so it was a swirled out mess and the 50/50 shots and after shots were incredible.
I had read online about the PC 7424XP and how it was just the coolest thing since sliced bread, but even though I had used "buffers" at work in the car business I always liked doing it by hand better.
The SS had to live outside since the Viper lived in the garage. We are both away from home for work a lot and we have an automatic sprinkler system. We also live in Central Texas where there is a TON of limestone in the water. (I bet you can see where this is going). My wife would take it to the local car wash when she got home and it would look better but did nothing to remove the spots. She drove the truck out to visit me around Christmas time and the front windows were so caked with spots she couldn't hardly see out of them! I got out some scratchX and rubbed them down enough to see through at least.
Once I got home from my assignment I knew something had to be done with the SS. Our friend the detailer had seen the truck and wasn't even returning her calls it was so bad! LOL. I knew that rubbing out by hand was not an option so I did some research on the PC and watched a few videos and figured I was ready to go! Oh the lessons I learned, but that’s another story that will be its own thread.
In my research I came across this place and my friend the detailer also recommended it so that’s how I got here… I have spent countless hours reading threads, watching videos and learning a ton. I am looking forward to getting to know you guys!