Were they rushing things?

[li'lripper]

Took my first car (2nd hand, 3yr old, but seems to be good car overall) to the detailers down the road for external clean & polish, so it would look its best. I got there just after they opened in the morning and asked them if they could do it on the one day (when I had phoned them a couple of days earlier to make enquiries they told me to bring the car in after work one day and it would be ready next afternoon - I need the car every night, so I couldn't do that). They said OK, and that it would be ready in 8hr. That suited me very well. But then when I was telling a buddy he said that some of the applications need to be left on for a certain length of time, or need reapplying a certain number of times, so that was why they had originally told me they needed it 24hr. Is this true? Were they rushing things to do it in 8hr? I would appreciate some insight into how much time is required by detailing shops for this kind of service so I'm able to assess things better in the future. Thank you.

[Murr1525]

Re: Were they rushing things?

Well, no Meguiars product needs to sit for 24 hrs, and I really dont know of any other company that says that.

[li'lripper]

Re: Were they rushing things?

Thanks Murr1525. The more I can know the more confidence I'll have to ask the right questions at shops about their services.

There were some stone chips and a couple of deep scratches in the paintwork of the car. Before I took it to the detailers I took it to a painters shop. The guy just dabbed some paint at the defects and I thought it was a pretty disgusting job. The scratches don't jump out and grab ya but they are still visible to slow examination after the detailing. I thought I had seen in an accessories shop a DIY kit with pen and paints for painting in scratches. Is it a good idea for me to try something like this myself? The paint is black with charcoal black in the depth.

[Murr1525]

Re: Were they rushing things?

Hard to say.

I mean, you can certainly apply touch up paints yourself, but if you are saying that after the touch-up and then detailing, that they are very hard to find, it is unlikely that you will do better yourself.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Were they rushing things?

Touch-up paint is hard to apply and make look good for anyone. Anyone can apply touch-up paint, it's the make it look good part that's hard.

If and when you can find someone that can really do a great job of applying touch-up paint, and maybe even do some polishing work on it later to further improve the results, most people won't want to pay for what this will cost. Figure a Professional Detailer wants to make good money just like you and everyone else, lets say a low of $30.00 an hour and a high of $60.00 and hour, figure the guy that's good at it is going to charge you $50.00 to $60.00 an hour to dab on touch up paint carefully after properly preparing the rock chip or scratch to accept the touch-up paint. Then a week or so later after the touch-up paint has dried and hardened, now he can possibly do a little sanding and buffing to level out the finish and take the results to a little higher level.

Who's going to pay for that?

Haven't met many people that want to pay that kind of money to make spots the size of a hole punch look good.

Most people want the Big Picture, they want to pay to have the entire car reconditioned or detailed to look new, not pay for someone to fix up little spots.

That's the reality of it.

As for time it takes to do a good normal industry detail job, it depends on what they're promising and what you're expecting. A full-on show car paint polishing will take a minimum of 8 hours for just the paint, if you just want the paint shiny again and it's okay if all the swirls and other defects are not completely removed then that's what most detail shops do. You have to remember they also have to clean your interior, glass, door jambs, wheels and tires, trunk etc. This all takes time. That's why if you want the entire car detailed, like most people, then figure a few hours on buffing and waxing the paint. You can't get show car results in a few hours but you can certainly get a shiny car back.

Everything depends upon what you want and expect. If you're car is a daily driver, not a show car, then you want the above, a complete detail that includes shiny paint.

That's the industry. A lot of our members on this forum want more... so instead of having someone else do it for them, they purchase the products and tools and do it themselves.

Quality work does take time. When you get your car back, inspect it carefully and if it meets your expectations, feel lucky.

[TrufflePig]

Re: Were they rushing things?

in terms of Megs products and its length of time sitting on the car.

it really makes no difference i say. i mean do the swipe test when you're detailing and then you'll be able to know when its ready.

as a personal experiment i let a wax job of NXT x 2 sit once for 24 hours. did i really notice that much of a difference? not really.

so i just normally leave it on, do the swipe test and take it off.

maybe they were going to Ferris Bueller your car. who knows. but 8-10 hours seems like enough time to detail a car. but i'm sure sometimes you'll need 12 hours or what not.

[li'lripper]

Re: Were they rushing things?

Thanks again Murr1525, and thanks to Mike and TrufflePig. Sure are among the right guys for information here! Great forum. I'm thinking about what you are saying and looking at many of the other good things on the site.