Detailing Jobs by Art Hernandez

[hernandez.art13]

and question for you guys.

Does 151 dust a lot? I did both cars that day and there wasn't very much dust when doing the STi. Was it because the Porsche was jet black, so it showed everything?

I spent a good amount of time battling dust. Now I know why dust is so disliked around here and I couldn't agree more lol.

The Porsche had the the interior/exterior detailed. I used D151 with a LC polishing pad on my Rupusz 21

Could a product like Optimum GPS helped me out here? Maybe D151 for say silver, light colored cars and Optimum GPS for dark colored vehicles?

[The Guz]

Nice work.

FYI NXT = M21

[hernandez.art13]

Nice work shared my friend!

Dusting in my case is much climate dependent, meaning if the product is drying faster, few passes of the 'scrubbing' action of the pad will release the dried particles in form of dust.

To contour this issue I may add a mist or two of water / QD to the pad priming routine, soft the foam with my hand and even run the polisher over a towel to 'evenly distribute' my wetting agent in the pad.

On those days, I may also need more brushing / cleaning on the fly efforts.

Trying to fine adjust quantity of product, polisher speed, number of passes, also may help a bit.

Charging more for a particular color or vehicle has it's foundation. In fact, if you need 2 steps or more in order to finish down a paint to perfection, this needs to be charged extra. If the paint, although black, is on the hard side, it may finish well with 1-step, so no extra here.

Got my point?

Hope that helps,

Anther comment? I like the 'add-on' suggestion, keep them coming.


Kind Regards.

PS: Keep on sharing!, we want (me, at least) to see more.

Thank You my friend,

well after doing some research. I don't think the color of the vehicle had anything to do with dusting. I think it might have been the type of paint the vehicle had. Which was ceramic (I think) I've used D151 in the past and never ran into this issue.I thought because it was black, but it seems to have been because of the paint. I used D151 on the STi 30mins - 1 hour before I worked on the Porsche and dusting didn't even come to mind, because there was zero dust.

As far a charging extra for the paint color. I think I've determined that I should be charging the same, but if for whatever reason it needs more steps. Then I charge for the additional steps, and not because of the color the paint? How does that sound?

[Tato]

You're right about your insights regarding paint type. I can't say precisely which paint will react which way, but this difference is clear for me since every paint responds in a better manner depending on pad type used.

Practical example: Compare the foam used on LC HT cyan and tangerine pads to the LC Flat orange and white pads. The flat pads will offer more softness in contact with paint, while the HT (and even the Hybrid pads) may offer more 'scrubbing' action.

If you're working on harder paints, generally, HT and Hybrids will probably be the best answer for 1-step. When dealing with medium / soft paints, the Flat pads / CCS softness may respond way more gentle, well suited for the job.

For sure this is not a general rule or guidance, I only meant that before thinking about switching product, I may think about playing with pad consistency.

Another practical example is the LC Yellow Hybrid (light polishing pad). It has one of the hardest foam I ever used. You may do polishing / finishing work on hard paint with it, but if used on a soft paint it can mar badly.

The way pad adequate to paint type may be an issue with your dusting.

Just some 0.01$, that's it.

Charging additional steps is a must, you're working on it, you must be paid for it.

In fact, if customer won't agree with both steps when needed I may refuse the work. No way I'll 'put my name' on a 'poorly made correction step', or a finished incorrect paint... I don't perform half jobs.

I may otherwise offer an AIO work to those costumers, instead of performing incomplete polishing works. This is my package for 'money-savers'.

In fact, you must show (politely) to customer he knows nothing and you're in control. Please, in any way I'm saying for you to be arrogant... (No way!, it's fun educating customers!) in reality few people really know what detailing is all about.

They blindly believe you'll do some magic in 3-4 hours and their cars will look like a red Ferrari on a car's magazine cover.


Then, you will educate your customer and he'll understand why you will perform all steps proposed.

In the end, if I say it'll need 10 steps and 60 hours, the only answer I'm expecting is an agreement. My best recommendation is for you to be always honest, and do whatever you said you'll do with all your passion, if not more.

When arriving to pick up the car they will understand why you're more expensive than the guy at the corner performing polishing for 50 bucks.

You get what you paid for.

Good luck my friend.

[Kengo123]

Fabulous work art! And I agree that Meg's synthetic xpress spray wax is the bomb on top of AIOs!

[hernandez.art13]

Fabulous work art! And I agree that Meg's synthetic xpress spray wax is the bomb on top of AIOs!

Yeah, even when topping a sealant wax. It really adds some gloss.

I am thinking it helps uniform the wax and fills the microscopic areas. To an even smooth mirror look. (that or I am just over thinking it lol)

but my eyes see what they see.

[Pureshine]

Great work Art!

[Mike Phillips]

Awesome work my friend....


Just to note, I edited your post and after each picture I hit the [ENTER] twice and what this does is it puts some white space in-between each picture which is easier on the human eyes when viewing multiple pictures and it also FORCES each next picture to line up vertically, one after another.

Just a friendly formatting tip for working with pictures on discussion forums....

[hernandez.art13]

Thank you Mike

I think this is what you meant and this was today's work and now off to bed. I did the driver's side and Tommy from Oneway Detailing did the passenger's side. Funny thing was I got there and Tommy was on the phone with Joe Fernandez. (true story)

Also we didn't do the sanding btw and Tommy called me last minute to see if I could go help him out. I drove a good 45mins, it was already dark so had to be around 830 pm when I got there. I went to go help out a friend and got back at 5am.







My side






Oneway Detailing's side

[sproketser]

That s some hard job mate !