Hi there! Newbie here :(

[mmokka]

Hello everyone,

Obviously, I'm a newbie here and have been following the board for a couple weeks until I finally registered today!

I live in Gainesville, Fl attending University of Florida (ahem...Go GATORS!) and finishing my last year of Industrial Engineering and Mathematics.

I've seen all the amazing transformations and gamma of products that Meg's have to offer. There are so many that it is confusing to me still. I understand the basics of what we're doing but not sure what product to use when. Any help?

Also, I would like to start a little Part time business detailing cars on the weekends. What should I buy to get it started. I see that buying in larger quantities per product seems to be the cheaper way to go. Let me know.

Thanks, Best of luck!
Mokka

[Mike Pennington]

Re: Hi there! Newbie here

Welcome to MOL

Mike

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Hi there! Newbie here

Hi Mokka,

Welcome to Meguiar's Online!

There are so many that it is confusing to me still. I understand the basics of what we're doing but not sure what product to use when. Any help?

Help? You bet!

If you haven't spent some time reading and absorbing the information in the 5-Step Paint Care Cycle, then this is where you want to start. Click on the link below and read the information and remember that this is an outline of the products and procedures we all use when we work on our cars, that is,

Wash
Evaluate
Clay if needed (if the car has bonded contaminants)
Use a Paint Cleaner if needed (if the car has swirls, scratches, etchings, oxidation)
Polish for maximum gloss and depth
Wax to protect the paint and preserver all your hard work in the previous step.


Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle
(Posted in the The Information Station)


Next read through the below thread as it is a real-live example of what to use and the order to use it taken from a class here at Meguiar's.


How To Remove Swirls By Hand

After you've read through both of these you should have the knowledge of what products to use and the order to use them.

Also, I would like to start a little Part time business detailing cars on the weekends. What should I buy to get it started. I see that buying in larger quantities per product seems to be the cheaper way to go. Let me know.

Thanks, Best of luck!
Mokka

If you want to start a part time business detailing cars, you can get into this starting with only the basics,

Car Wash - Car Wash Mitt - Drying Towels - Bucket - Spray Nozzle
Detailing Clay - Quik Detailer - Microfiber Polishing Cloths
Cleaner/Wax like ColorX or M66 Quick Detailer
Wax Applicator to apply wax, more microfiber polishing cloth to remove wax
Tire Dress
Interior Dressing for vinyl, plastic and leather
Glass Cleaner
Vacuum


The above are just the basics and about the minimum number or products and tools needed to clean and detail a car inside and out. You could bet by with less if you want to focus on just the outside of the car, wash, clay, wax, windows tires. You could purchase more if you want to have a more complete arsenal of products and tools to tackle a wider spectrum of jobs, such as getting our new Quik Out to remove stains in carpet, you could also just start out not removing stains and just vacuuming the carpet and of course you could start out not even doing interiors.

On the other hand, you could start out offering just to do interiors. Theres' actually a market out there of people that want a stellar interior detail job and would choose that over an exterior paint polishing.

Were' here if you have more questions.

[BlueZero]

Re: Hi there! Newbie here

Welcome to Meguiar's!

[TrufflePig]

Re: Hi there! Newbie here

WELCOME TO MOL!!!

read what Mike Phillips posted above.

for the basics as he posted. most guys go with the following.

M80
M83
NXT or your choice of wax

those are good three to start off for sure. some people use M80 as a base to any wax job. helps with swirls and won't marr your finish either.

have you though about investing in a PC? if so head over to autodetailingsolutions and look into their package deals. they're pretty sweet.

BEST OF LUCK!!!

[Rick McDonough]

Re: Hi there! Newbie here

Mokka, Welcome to Mol!!!

[Lydia]

Re: Hi there! Newbie here

GO GATORS!! National champions! Woo-hoo!

Oh, and welcome to Meguiar's Online.

[mmokka]

Re: Hi there! Newbie here

HAHA!! Go Gatooooorrrsss!@@#$ Sorry OSU and FSU Fans! lol'

Yeah thank you for all the info, it is very helpful, I appreciate it. I guess my question now is... which product line to use? I know the steps and processes and logice behind it but... there are so many polishers, so many waxes, so many cleaners, etc etc...

Where do I start with that?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Hi there! Newbie here

What are you working on?
What condition is it in?

This will help you to know which products to get and it will help us to recommend the right products.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Hi there! Newbie here

List 'O Links

Many of the things we cover in our Saturday Classes are discussed and talked about in the threads found in the sub-forums of the Information Station


Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle
How To Remove Swirls By Hand
How to remove a defect by hand with ScratchX
Using the G-100 to remove swirls with the Professional Line
Circles or Straight Lines?
Which LSP is Best for Light Colors
How to locate Meguiar's Professional & Detailer products in your hometown
How to tell when a Meguiar's wax is ready to remove - The Swipe Test
The Dual Action Counterweight "Controversy"
What are the Differences Between Meguiar's Waxes
What's the Deal with "Layering"?
Measuring Clear Coat Thickness
Rotary vs. PC vs. Regular Orbital Buffer
Glass Polishing...Deep Cleaning
NXT Tech Wax Cure Time
Suggested Products for Taking Care of a New Car
Colored Waxes - Do they really work?
PC + #83 not "Cutting" it! - The Limits of the Dual Action Polisher
What it Means to Remove a Scratch
Why Meguiar's Recommends Polishing Paint
A Lesson From White Paint
Each one, teach one... Ferrari Fiorano 355 F1 Spider

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Hi there! Newbie here

to mol. See there is no hostilities between SEMINOLES and gators. lol