Share your detailing history.

[Znig22]

We all have a story how we made it to this point, some do it for hobbies, some are professionals. Regardless, we all have a story. The goal to this is to share how you made it to this point, i.e. washing the family car on Saturday with pop as a child, or cleaning up that high school car saturday mornings for a hot date that evening (my start lol). My passion grew from there and continued in college achieving my business marketing degree. I then fell upon hard times with the fall of the economy and landed in our local Mazda dealership as a service technician. I started helping out the detail guy (don) for a little cash under the table. That's when I began to see this trade in a professional way. I poured all my savings 2800 bucks into a utility trailer so I could be mobile, I did this on the weekends after a long week at Mazda. I was 23 and was not a professional, but eager to learn. I went business to business, restaurant to restaurant, washing cars and doing crappy details. I kept learning, always doing my best for what I had, always making sure the customer was satisfied. I think that is what kept my cliental growing. I eventually quit Mazda to do this full time, bought a old van 98 Chevy 2500. It ran forever! 2 years not a problem! I kept investing in my business, ended up buying my current set up which is a dream from when I first started. And my here I am, 26 years old, I consider myself a professional, not the best, but I do my best.

So what's your story? Please share.

[VP Mark]

Got married to my sweetheart and took a job at a commercial car washing gig to get her through nursing school, which led to a full time job detailing at a dealership.

Once she was finished with school I got a full time job working retail overnights so I could finish my bachelors degree. After many years of hard work at a meager job I quit my job and set forth pursuing my dream of owning my own business.

A love of detailing and a lot of stubbornness has got me to the place I'm at now. This business is not easy to make it in, which is why very few people do it full time. You have to love detailing, have a very supportive family, and be willing to change and adapt to an ever changing business world.

It has been a lot of fun but also a lot of hard work, but I would not trade it for a desk job for anything.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using AG Online

[Romans5.8]

Not a pro, nor do I ever want to be (I love doing it, but I don't think I'd ever want to do it for a living!). But I am a 'car guy' who likes his car clean.

Started with my first 'project' car. I had a 1985 Mercury Cougar as my first car, my daily driver. Loved that car. Really fell in love with the Cougar for what it was; really the first American "Luxury Sports Car" (although it fits neither category in todays market- we are talking about a time when a Lambo had crank windows to save weight!). Although it was old and abused when I got it, I absolutely loved it.

Sometimes later my Uncle told me he had an old 1989 Cougar SuperCoupe (Supercharged 3.8L V6) sitting in his shed. He was gonna fix it up but never did and said I could have it if I wanted it. I fixed a few things, got it running, enjoyed the power. But it was filthy, inside and out. I remember spending 13 hours, without stopping, cleaning this car. Scrubbing carpets with a toothbrush and hand-polishing/compounding the paint. I knew very little about detailing then but stepping away, sore and worn out, looking at that gorgeous car. Still had a few deep scratches, some bent chrome trim, and it still ran like crap- but man; what a difference a little elbow grease gives! That's also when I realized I was a car guy, because nothing put a bigger smile on my face than working on one of my cars.

Didn't keep the '89 long. Was a high school student with no money, couldn't afford to fix what needed fixing. Offered it back to my Uncle but he told me just to sell it and use the money to keep my '85 running, so I did. Later though, the poor high school student thing was keeping up with me AS was my girlfriend (now wife) who lived 40 miles away- and my car got 18mpg (5.0L V8 with a 4 barrel carb swap!). So the Cougar went bye-bye for a 1993 Saturn SL2. 40mpg and stupid reliable. I got rid of it with over 500,000 miles on it and, no exaggeration, never did a thing to it but regular maintenance (180k on it when I bought it for $500 from a guy!). It had massive clearcoat failure in spots and several panels were replaced with panels of the wrong color (Guy had wrecked it a few times, whole reason he was selling it this time was to pay his lawyer for yet another DWI, his 6th in a couple of years. He gave me a sob story about selling his only transportation. I gave him $500 and didn't feel the least bit bad about him not driving for a while!). So, I kind of lost a bit of the 'car guy' feeling. My car wasn't 'cool' anymore.

Sold that one for a 2000 Saturn LS1, a mid-sized Saturn (as opposed to the 'compacts' like that SL1). Liked it. My wife (then girlfriend) had a 2010 Chevrolet Cobalt. HATED it. Was just an awful car. Felt like a matchbox toy on the inside (even the steering wheel was hard plastic), and handled like a brick without wheels. She totaled it the week before we got married. Sitting at a stop waiting to turn, and a texting driver hit her. Everyone was fine, looked like a fender bender (dent in her bumper, broken headlight and dented front bumper on the other car). Turns out this oh-so-well-made Cobalt (and I'm generally a Chevy fan- but man did I hate this car) had broken an axle and bent the frame. So it was totaled. See ya!

Well, we started car shopping. My stepdad had this 2002 Taurus that he had bought from HIS dad to use as a daily driver (At the time he had a Miata and a Mazdaspeed 6, and a very long commute. He wanted something a little less stiff with tires that lasted a little longer). Well, he was about to trade it in on a 2013 CX-5 and I offered to buy it from him. He did me one better and just gave it to me! Said he'd rather see us spend the money on our honeymoon (A motorcycle trip, hehe!). So cool, we had her car taken care of!

ALSO before we got married, I got my first motorcycle. A 2006 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic LT. I finally had something 'cool' again and was back to waxing frequently, and loving on some machine! I did a lot of things wrong but we'll get to that.

So we got this Taurus. My stepdad cleaned it up, looked great. Was immaculately maintained. Both my stepdad and his dad (who bought it new) were very strict about maintenance. It got the oil changed every 3k and the tranny flushed every 50k, etc. Runs absolutely great. I really, really love that car. But over the years it did have a few stains in it here and there, and since my new wife was driving it I figured I'd clean it up and get those stains out! I did. Then I did the engine bay, then I did the exterior (waxed it, lots of little circles of course! Hehe). Spent several hours on this car. Guess then I kinda realized that it doesn't have to be 'cool' to be clean. I had just as much fun cleaning up an old Taurus as I did my Cougars (even if I didn't have as much fun driving it! :P)

Later, my wife got HER first bike; a 2011 Honda Shadow Aero 750. So now I had two bikes to maintain! Woohoo! (Kinda makes me think of King of the Hill and the episode where Hank Hill gets a motorcycle and stares lovingly at it and says 'All the maintenance a man could ever dream of'. Yep, that's me).

Well, then I started to get a little more serious into detailing. Figured out I was doing a lot of things wrong; also figured out that the products I was using were outdated before I was born and it was time to try some new stuff! Really had a lot of fun making those bikes, and our cars, look great.

Fast forward to now. My car was approaching 300,000 miles. Had a few things wrong with it (basically the whole front suspension had rusted out. Rack and pinion was shot- no power steering, all 4 bearings were bad, struts were failing- this was all in a period of a couple of weeks; after years of owning it with zero problems). Now- I usually hate the old "It'll cost more than it's worth to fix it" which is bogus. If you want a new car- cool. But, so what if it costs more than the car is worth- it still doesn't cost as much as a new car! THAT SAID, I knew I was playing with house money with those miles. We were planning on a new car in a few months anyway and had been shopping, we decided not to fix the car if we were gonna buy a new one soon anyway. Sold it to my sister in law, her husband is a mechanic and they want to fix it up for their son. Special ordered a brand new 2014 Ford Focus SE Sport! Since it was new, I started researching (as opposed to 'expirimenting' like I had been before). Also, since it was black, I knew it was going to be more sensitive.

Found autogeek, did tons of research, bought a DA polisher, pads, towels, you name it. Found out I was doing a TON of stuff wrong. Also realized I had a ton of swirls in both bikes and my wifes cars YIKES! (So some fixin' is in the future). Took delivery of the car last week! So that's where I am!

Great thread.

[hernandez.art13]

My family are in auto industry. Mechanics, painters, body, estimators, managers, owners and now me detailer.

My cousin says he's not a detailer, that he is a buffer. (I looked up the urban dictionary of what a buffer is. I told him and he embraced it even more lol)

Well I found out that my dad took me to work at the shop he managed to be the detailers assistant so when I did grow up to be an adult that I hate that style of work. Turns out that I ended up falling in love with it :)

I was getting paid $100 a week working 40 hours per week plus Saturdays so about 45 hours per week about $2 an hour lol, But when you are 12ish (don't remember how old I was, I am pretty sure it was before I was 13) well when your 12ish and making that much money. That much money at the time was a lot of money lol. I saved to buy a computer.

Well years passed and I worked at a bank as a check fraud accountant. I was making a lot, lot more than $100 per week lol.

I quit my job after 4 years because I hated sitting behind a cubicle 40 hours per week and went to my uncles body shop to work as a Detailer. They were looking for a buffer. So I volunteered to buff out cars. They always had us wet sanding down repainted panels etc... But now I was the one that got to buff them out. I was really excited and I fell in love with the trade even more.

FYI at body shops there are Buffers and then there Detailer's. The Buffer hands over the car to the Detailer to wash it to get it ready for deliver to the customer.

(Weird wording, I know)

Well now at the body shop I am the Buffer and I couldn't be happier.

And since I know the True Detailing side of it. I also do Detailing as my own business. Where I'll spend hours or even days correcting paint.

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^ done before lunch for the most part

23662

^ little by little I have been restoring it for about a year now.

I am also a college student btw

[dcjredline]

Im going to condense mine.
Back in 1999 I wanted my 1995 Civic (black) to look better than what I had been doing. Found the Meguiars 3 step system and went to town. Back then I had NO idea except that I needed to rub those three things on my car in order. I bought a foam pad for my drill and some clay. Turned out AWESOME despite using the same pad for all three products and never cleaning it. Since then I have just been going further and further learning about the "hobby"

Here are the results on that car. When my friend saw it after that he couldn't believe it and asked me WTH I did to my car.

Bad quality camera and it was scanned from an actual photo cause the camera wasn't digital so that's why the poor quality.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1547/CivicMeguiarsReflect.jpg (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69187)

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1547/CivicTaillights.jpg (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69188)

[Sizzle Chest]

I was born...played with some wax when I was a child...put some on my chest and it began to sizzle! Slathered it over a car and it looked great! I was hooked!

Just kidding.

I was always into cars, bikes, etc. I always thought I was a 'detailer'. I started doing some research online a few, well maybe more, years back. I contacted a few people, found some local and started to really learn what a 'real' detail involves.

I am not a pro, well in my mind I am, LOL, but I do enjoy working on my vehicles, friends vehicles and any small side jobs that I get. It relaxes me and I feel great about seeing the results I have 'made happen'.

I have met some very good people through this hobby and I have some that I can now call very, very great friends!

[Coach Steve]

Some really great stories shared so far. Nice thread!

I'll add mine in sort of a nutshell fashion.
When I was 19 I went to work for the only detail shop in the little town I lived in at the time, Paradise, CA (near Chico). My parents had retired there from the Bay Area and not being at the point that I could move out on my own financially, I moved with them. Nothing to do there and no jobs for the most part. Looking for a job one day, I stopped in at this place called Speed's Car Care owned by a guy named Robert Speed. The best way I could describe him to you is... ya know the detailing smiley... :buffing: THAT was Robert. He was only 25 but he had a thriving business and as luck would have it, he needed someone part time. He and I hit it off really fast and became good friends almost immediately. He took me under his wing and taught me everything he knew about car care but more importantly, he taught me the mindset and work ethic necessary to detail a car vs. just doing a really good wash and vacuum. I worked for him for about a year before I couldn't take living in that sleepy little town any more and moved away. What he taught me and what I took with me have never let me down. I never went to work detailing in that type of setting again but over the years I've always maintained a small clientele that absolutely loves and appreciates my work, no matter where I've lived. The industry has changed so incredibly much since working for Mr. Speed. Back then everything was terry cloth, chamois, and big tins of thick, stinky carnauba. If you were any good, you knew how to swing a rotary back and forth without burning anything or throwing your arm out - those suckers were freakin' heavy back then! :laughing: That was 30 years ago and I still maintain a very small clientele - about 15 to 20 vehicles I generally see twice per year. That's exactly how I want it. Not so many that it becomes tedious or a bother. Just enough that I can satisfy my love for the craft and make some extra $$ along the way. I do all my work out of my heated/air conditioned garage. I won't take it mobile - I can't imagine doing what I do in the field. I'm just spoiled I guess. Detailing is my release. When I'm in my cave, restoring life and brilliance to something, listening to Jean-Luc Ponty or Rush or one of my many other favorite bands through old school Cerwin Vega speakers, each the size of small refrigerator.... Man, I'm happy and content.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it! :D

Steve