weekend warrior questions

[Tom Weed]

Hi everyone,
I am really wanting to get into detailing cars on the weekends here in Indiana when the weather permits. I am going to be printing off cards and mostly just wanting to do vehicles of people I know.

From reading comments from others, It brought up a few questions I was hoping someone could share their thoughts and opinions.

1. Engine detailing, is using a power washer or hose under someones hood a risk? I've not seen it kill a vehicle before other than my old blazer, but I had bad plug wires and when it dried out, it was fine.

2. I've been reading a lot about moble detailing, but I would think unless the customer had a shady area and access to water and electric, that would be difficult, how do you get by here?

3. I picked up a power pad clay applicator from proper autocare and had wondered if anyone has used one of these before? It's basically an orange pad with an opening in the center that you form the clay into a circle and insert it, then just lube the pad and use it with your PC. i was a little concerned about getting swirls or scratches from doing this, so I was curious if anyone else had used one.

Thanks everyone,
Tom

[Mike Phillips]

Re: weekend warrior questions

Originally posted by Tom Weed
Hi everyone,
I am really wanting to get into detailing cars on the weekends here in Indiana when the weather permits. I am going to be printing off cards and mostly just wanting to do vehicles of people I know.

From reading comments from others, It brought up a few questions I was hoping someone could share their thoughts and opinions.

1. Engine detailing, is using a power washer or hose under someones hood a risk? I've not seen it kill a vehicle before other than my old blazer, but I had bad plug wires and when it dried out, it was fine.

Hi Tom,

When you're first starting out, most detailers would probably recommend sticking with interiors and exteriors and skip the engines compartment altogether if you focus is to make money. For the time and risk involved and what you can charge and make a profit from, you will probably be money ahead to skip the engine and use the time to move on to another exterior detail job.

2. I've been reading a lot about mobile detailing, but I would think unless the customer had a shady area and access to water and electric, that would be difficult, how do you get by here?

Working out of the sun as a mobile detailer is an issue. A couple of ideas to consider would be working in the early morning and knocking off when it gets hot. Using your customer's garage, (I usually do this one), using a E-Z Up tent like Joe's using here,

3. I picked up a power pad clay applicator from proper autocare and had wondered if anyone has used one of these before? It's basically an orange pad with an opening in the center that you form the clay into a circle and insert it, then just lube the pad and use it with your PC. i was a little concerned about getting swirls or scratches from doing this, so I was curious if anyone else had used one.

Thanks everyone,
Tom

I've used something exactly like that from another company and the problems are,

• *You loose your sense of feel for when the surface is clean and it's time to move on
  
  *As soon as you run the pad next to a curve or edge, the clay will fall out of the foam pad and onto the ground and become contaminated.

The clay in a foam pad looks like a good idea but in reality, you and your hand are faster, more efficient and there is less risk of destroying a clay bar.

In your post you tried to include an image, I'm not sure that I fixed it with the right image but what you did was to copy and paste the URL Address of the webpage, and what you want to do is Right Click on the image itself and copy and paste the URL Address of the image.
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This is all explained in these series of tutorials,

Step-by-Step Picture-Posting HOW TO

Hope this helps...

Mike

[Tom Weed]

Mike, Thanks for the great and the help with the picture... Sorry about that.

Tom

[Tom Weed]

Hi Mike,

Just a follow up, I tried a few things on my wifes car this weekend (dangerous I know). Anyways I got a new Porter Cable 7428 rotary buffer and wanted to work on some of the scratches and etchings in her paint, using 84, then 83 with a 7006 cutting pad, followed by a 8006 polishing pad. I was able to remove most of the spots and scratches, and it looks much better. I now really have a good appreaciation for someone who is good with one as they are quite a bit more challenging that a PC-100.

Sorry, didn't have the camera to get any pics this time.

I just wanted to follow up to about the clay pad applicator, while I agree on a PC-100 it's a little hard to get a feeling for how the clay is working, the backing on the pad had a plastic insert that the clay presses against and there was no chance of the clay falling out, I had to peel it out when I was done. Not sure what I think about using this method yet, although it did seem to be a little faster.

Thanks again, just thought I would share my results.

Tom