Question for the full time detaliers

[bulldog shine]

I recently moved and the new neighbors do not know how anal I am about keeping my vehicles clean yet. One of my new neighbors pulled up in a big diesel pusher RV. Along comes after, a mobile detaling rig, the truck pulling his trailer looks so dirty and beat up. My question is do you full time detailers keep you rig clean and looking good or do you leave it go? I feel if your truck looks like crap you will do crappy work. I was just wondering if any one else feels the same way.

[tuscarora dave]

In detailing season I am way too busy to maintain a nice finish on my rig so it gets to be a mess for sure. My van is also a beater for sure so when I see the Penn State fundraiser roadside car wash and I'm not pressed for time I pull in and let them have at it. Concerning the word of mouth I get from my customers, I seriously doubt they talk about the cleanliness of my van.

[opie_7afe]

i agree, if your a detailer keep your stuff clean, that shows (to me) that you care about quality, you have an eye for detail, you know others see your vehicle and its filthy most will think" you must not do good work if you cant keep your own stuff clean" then again it might be like women who clean houses for a living and have really dirty houses. i just don't understand some people. im betting that mobile guys prices are really low also, sure my mobile rig is just my celica with all my stuff crammed into the back but at least i keep it clean and shiny(minus my front end at the moment as it needs new paint)

[MaxWax]

I definitely think it's important to keep my trailer and car clean. I've had a few customers comment on the cleanliness of my trailer and car helped them to choose me over the other guys driving around in really dirty vans.

[Impressions]

Being I have fixed location (building) my truck is always clean, now my wife's car is another story.....try prying the car out from under her hands is like pulling teeth.

The interesting part about my truck is only half of the truck is "show car" polished and the other half is just washed, no wax, sealant or coatings
The hood is tape lined in half for "thank you, your car can look like this" or your car can look like "this" (swirled mess of 100,000 miles) It does help sell more polish jobs than AIO's or seal jobs.

[detaildave]

Your Personal / Business vehicle REPRESENTS YOU & your WORK 24/7/365!!!! Always keep it Show ready, you never know who's watching & yes people are judging your work by the condition of which your vehicle is in. That's my 2c

[MaxWax]

The interesting part about my truck is only half of the truck is "show car" polished and the other half is just washed, no wax, sealant or coatings
The hood is tape lined in half for "thank you, your car can look like this" or your car can look like "this" (swirled mess of 100,000 miles) It does help sell more polish jobs than AIO's or seal jobs.

I wanted to do this! But my car is silver so it doesn't have the same effect haha

[Impressions]

even silver shows a great improvement if it has swirls........yes it is hard to see the difference but a the right angles you should still see the swirls. Clarity and gloss are greatly enhanced with the correct polish job as are the slickness or smoothness of the paint.
Detail Dave's truck is silver and if you've never seen it, it always shines! Even in the rain it stays clean cause its so fast the dirt can't hang on!

[MaxWax]

even silver shows a great improvement if it has swirls........yes it is hard to see the difference but a the right angles you should still see the swirls. Clarity and gloss are greatly enhanced with the correct polish job as are the slickness or smoothness of the paint.
Detail Dave's truck is silver and if you've never seen it, it always shines! Even in the rain it stays clean cause its so fast the dirt can't hang on!

Yeah my car always shines since I detail it pretty frequently, maybe I'll go to a swirl machine and then only correct one half!

[Billand]

I am a mobile detailer and I always jeep my truck and trailer looking top notch you never know when someone will ask to see your work and what better way to show it then a clean rig.