Are the detail classes worth it?

[Bill D]

I’ve only been to one class/training years ago held by Rod Kraft who was with Meguiar’s at the time. The class was informative and I wish it went on longer or there was more of them. So I would say any class is good to go to if for nothing else, to have fun!

[OCD-tailing]

I took Mike's class in January 2103 and it was awesome. I learned so much by doing it--not listening to someone else and then trying to emulate their techniques. I cannot begin to tell you how much the class was 'worth it'. It's not cheap but most things that are this good are not either.

[Aaryn NZ]

If it were me & my hard earned money - Hands down every time I’d be spending it on a Mike Phillips Class.

How’s this for perspective - in January 2015 I traveled all the way (8000+ Miles one way!) from New Zealand to Stuart Florida to attend a Mike Phillips Boot Camp Class. So already just on travel costs alone I have spent more than the cost of the class, then accomodation, food etc, then the class ... bare in mind, I’m self employed & the shop doors are closed whilst I’m not there so there’s a loss of earnings to consider too ...

Worth it??? Yes!

Would I do it again??? In a heartbeat!


Aaryn NZ.

[Coatingsarecrack]

I cover a lot of tools, here's a quick video of just the tools available for mechanical decontamination.

I'm teaching a class on these tools at Mobile Tech Expo on Thursday, January 30th at 1:00pm. My first class starts at 8:00am and I'm teaching a total of 7 classes that day.


Check out the video though, not perfect but something is better than nothing....

Mike when’s the 2020 roadshow schedule come out and are you coming to the Pacific NW?


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[Markymapo]

I attended one of Mike’s classes (Autogeek) 1.5 years ago. Totally hands on ! Great class to take,learned a ton.

[ClaytonBigs86]

Mike when’s the 2020 roadshow schedule come out and are you coming to the Pacific NW?


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What he said^^ I was going to do the Ohio one this past summer but I moved back from Seattle to MI so with all of that going on and settling into new offices for the start up I work for left little time. Now that I'm settled I have been researching classes weekly and hoping to take one in the coming months.

[Coatingsarecrack]

What he said^^ I was going to do the Ohio one this past summer but I moved back from Seattle to MI so with all of that going on and settling into new offices for the start up I work for left little time. Now that I'm settled I have been researching classes weekly and hoping to take one in the coming months.

You in Seattle too?


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[JWilliams.RadiantDetail]

As everyone else has said, Mike's classes obviously. Todd's good to, never took his classes but I've emailed him about products I bought from Esoteric (don't sell here) and left questions on their YT videos. He's always quick to respond and very helpful. If I was close to Ohio I would 100% take his classes. I know you said in the Michigan area, but you could take a trip to Southern California. Good weather and Jeremy from Shine Supply's class is suppose to be stellar. It's 3 days and I believe a whole day's spent with him focusing on becoming a business. He doesn't recommend the class for people who just want to learn how to detail. It's for us who want to make money from doing it. I know a few have mentioned Todd will try to sell you on products they sell at his shop. Maybe so, but the technique you learn from him would apply to any similar products.

I think Meguiar's does road classes with their NXT (I think that's what it's called) I took their 2 free classes at their HQ, and outside of Mike here, Micheal Stoops is one of the most knowledgeable detailers I've come across. With all I learned in the 2 free classes, I can't imagine how great the NXT classes would be. Something you could at least look into.

[Mike Phillips]

As everyone else has said, Mike's classes obviously.

The thing I like to point out about my classes is the one thing I do that I don't see others do and that's because it's time consuming, I document how hands-on my classes are with pictures.

In the 5th post of this thread, I shared 26 write-ups or threads filled with pictures like this one from the Cyclo session at just one of my classes,





I think I'm the only guy that has photo-documented dedicated Cyclo classes, (plural).












There's more than just the 26 threads I shared, I just picked threads that had dozens and hundreds of pictures. Here's why I think this is important. Without pictures taken at classes, how would you REALLY know what YOU get to do? I just don't see pictures from other classes. And when I do, it's one or two pictures and that's it.

Micheal Stoops is one of the most knowledgeable detailers I've come across.

I agree, he's incredibly smart and talented. I'm also happy to say he got his start attending the TNOGs I started at Meguiar's. They actually started out as WNOGs, or Wednesday Night Open Garage. I changed the nights from Wednesday to Thursday.

I think this is the FIRST documented Wednesday Night Open Garage. This is before I switched them to Thursday night. Back then, Mike was known as Mike-in-Orange as he had not started working for Meguiar's yet.

The time stamp for the first post in this thread is - Mar 7th, 2006, 08:13 AM - the class actually took place on Wednesday March 15th, 2006


Extreme Makeover - 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe Convertible




Mike was a regular at the WNOGs and then TNOGs and demonstrated a real passion to work in the car appearance industry. I recommended him to get his job in Customer Care at Meguiar's to get his foot in the door, which he did. The later when I came to Autogeek in 2009, because he hung in there and helped me with the classes, learning how to not only detail cars but to teach car detailing, my confidence in him was high enough to write a job recommendation for him to take my place at Meguiar's and in their wisdom, they gave Mike position. He has worked very had over the years and as such, moved up the ladder to his current position, Sr. Global Product & Training Specialist.


One thing I remember about Mike was that he had a neighbor that worked in the shoe industry and Mike always wore different cool shoes to the weeknight classes. If you look closely, I think these shoes had FLAMES on them,








On the topic of the NXT Tech classes, I was also one of the first Instructors at the first 2 NXTi Detailing Classes along with a host of other talented people including,

Mark Willie from Mirka
Mike Pennington - Meguiar's
Jason Rose - Back then Jason was Meguiar's now he's at RUPES
Kevin Brown - Buff Daddy
Rod Kraft - Back then Rod was at Meguiar's - now he's at Griot's Garage
Kevin Brown - Back then Jeff was at Meguiar's - now he's at Griot's Garage
Me - Back then I was at Meguiar's - now I'm at Autogeek


Meguiar's NXT Tech Institute - September 18th

NXT TECH CLASS II, these guys are CAR CRAZY


Good times for sure.

[RamAirV1]

Yes, Mike's Roadshow detailing classes are ABSOLUTELY worth it! I have been to two of them. The first one was when he was still with Meguiar's. There is no substitute for hands on experience. The opportunity to try all the different DA and forced rotation polishers first hand is priceless as well.

RamAirV1