High quality production detailing by Mike Phillips

[MarkD51]

4 hours by yourself? Then you are a machine, no doubt about it.

If this is true, then my best advice to you Mike, is slow down, or have help.

I want to see you here for many many many years to come.

[HateSwirls]

Mike my friend,everything you touch turns into gold

Question for you.
What are your thoughts on Optimum Finish Polish?
I ask because I just received a bottle of it.
Have you ever use it to jewel ?

[FrankS]

Machine applied Optimum Polish using a combination of 5" and 6.5" Hybrid White Polishing Pads on speed setting range of 4-5. Also made a quickie pass over the side glass and then polished the glass clear during wipe-off.

Wiped polish residue off paint.

Mike, it appears that you machine applied the polish to the vehicle and then you wiped it off when you were done polishing. This sure seems to be a more efficient way to work instead of wiping off sections as you go. Can you do this with any polish or does it depend on the type?

[Joe@Superior Shine]

Thanks for a glimpse into the real world Mike. It's not always about perfect finishes. As a business owner it's about delivering a high quality service that will solve the customers problems.

Recently we detailed the exterior of a 5th wheel in the morning and then did a maintenance detail on an Italia 458 that afternoon.

If we had the "everything a show car" mindset it would have been impossible to do both in one day.

[ducksfan]

I remember reading in one of your earlier articles that Optimum GPS has a fairly light polish. Just wondering why, if time was of the essence, you didn't use this as a one step instead.

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Wow Mike! 4 hours! I along with others don't think I could get that done in that amount of time. That's my time frame for an averaged sized sedan!

Outstanding work non the less! Thanks for doing these articles!

[AeroCleanse]

I found that using Meg's D151 with a either a yellow or orange LC pad on a long throw DA works great.

[mrclean]

High quality production detailing by Mike Phillips


The solution
Part of detailing cars is under promising but over delivering. This starts by you not promising to create a swirl and scratch free finish. Period.

Great advice mike. ill always remember that. the suv looks amazing! specially in the time frame that you did it. i admire your work ethic and your communication skills

[Mike Phillips]

Thanks for this thread Mike. It's so fitting as I'll be changing my services to cater towards the production side of things.

As the saying goes, that's where the meat and potatoes are in this business.

In my article for my VIF, I think I state it's important to have a package for every budget.

The number one reason I took this job is because I wanted to earn the owner's trust. He knows my work and earlier in the week he has a chance to see Earl the Plumber's 1970 El Camino, this one....

Black Label Coating Detailer & Booster - Synergistic Chemical Compatibility





So I think at some level he was testing me with is daily driver. Before he left he said he wants me to polish out his all original 1957 Chevy Bel Air Convertible. That's the type of work I'd rather do.

I too like to work non stop until the job is completed.

Except for water breaks, that's always been my style. You can see that in the time lapse video where I wetsand a car from start to finish and the only breaks are when I get a glass of water. You can tell since everything is captured in the video and I actually walk up to the camera to show the glass of water in part because the message to the viewer is to keep yourself hydrated when doing hard work like wetsanding, cutting and buffing out a car... non-stop....

The video is 8 minutes long but the project from start to finish took me 12 hours.


How to wet sand a car - Time Lapse Video

How to wet sand a car

Let's hope I could turn cars around with quality in a quick manner as you did with this Tahoe.

Like mentioned in this thread earlier, getting organized helps speed things up. I also cover this in my how-to book, actually go into detail about how to set up your work area and part of this is so you can work clean but the other part is so you can work fast.

Great article Mike and nice job, thanks for sharing!

Thanks Frank...

Amazing article Mike. I do a lot production which to me that's where the money is at least within my customers.

Understanding the customer is key to make a profit and that's where a lot of people have a hard time but now this article should help them. Printing it out right now to my never stop growing Mike Phillips notes. I will see you at Detail Fest.

Good deal, looking forward to seeing you at Detail Fest... don't forget about the Meet & Greet at the Marriot Lounge just a few block away that takes place Saturday night. That's actually a lot of fun because during Detail Fest we here at the Geek are all working. At the Meet & Greet we're off the clock so then employees can join in the fun.

4 hours by yourself? Then you are a machine, no doubt about it.

If this is true, then my best advice to you Mike, is slow down, or have help.

I want to see you here for many many many years to come.

Thanks for the kind words... I never take my health for granted, been down before, don't need a reminder as to what that's like. Was in the gym at 5:00am this morning as a part of regular exercise.

[Mike Phillips]

Mike my friend,everything you touch turns into gold

It's really just a matter of following the basics and anytime you're working on car paint, never skimp on compounds and polishes. One thing I typed a lot last year on the forum used the word skimp when helping people new to the forum and new to machine polishing, goes like this,


Don't skimp on polishes


The most important aspect of ANY paint polishing process is the abrasive technology.


I know some guys say

Technique is number #1

But I say they're wrong because you can have the best technique in the world but if the stuff in the bottles isn't any good to start with then it doesn't matter how good your technique is the paint still going to come out looking trashed.

Question for you.

What are your thoughts on Optimum Finish Polish?

I ask because I just received a bottle of it.

Have you ever use it to jewel ?

My good man... I recommend you re-read this article,


Bumblebee - Testing out the NEW DeWALT DWP849X


The car in this rotary buffer review is a 1949 Chevrolet Panel Delivery and I using only a rotary buffer for all the paint polishing steps and the finish polish I jeweled the paint with was Optimum Finish Polish.






And here are the full outside sun shots...

Just to note to lurkers and people that have not read this write-up, there's tons of information and tons of pictures in the actual write-up.


After




















Here's how the article starts out....

Bumblebee - Testing out the NEW DeWALT DWP849X


For some reason when I look at the new DWP849X I think of Bumblebee









It's my review of the DeWALT 849X when it first came out and I used the 1949 Chevy Sedan Delivery as my project vehicle so I could use the rotary buffer not on a SMALL SPOT but over an entire car, (and a big car), so when I wrote the review it would be based on real world time spent behind this new rotary buffer.