Tell us about your mistakes.

[Firstson]

Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

I have yet to do anything drastic detailing but on my first car, Olds Alero, god bless it, I changed the rotors and pads myself. When I put them back on I missed a small metal washer somewhere along the way. A couple days later after I had washed I was doing a dust wipe down and when I went to do my wheels the clear coat came right off, I thought my quik wheel detailer was goin hay wire, turns out I had leaked quite a bit of brake fluid all over my front wheel .

Peace

[Eddie6th]

Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

I have yet to do anything drastic detailing but on my first car, Olds Alero, god bless it, I changed the rotors and pads myself. When I put them back on I missed a small metal washer somewhere along the way. A couple days later after I had washed I was doing a dust wipe down and when I went to do my wheels the clear coat came right off, I thought my quik wheel detailer was goin hay wire, turns out I had leaked quite a bit of brake fluid all over my front wheel .

Peace

Nasty stuff,brake fluid. i did something similair,changing the front calipers and pads. Someone disturbed me while i was working,and when i went back i forgot to tighten up the caliper bolts.After,when i went for a test drive,i was wondering why the car wasn't braking properly and pulling a little to one side.....'Pesky Neighbours!'

A couple of times in the past.I've left a rag in the engine bay...No serious damage..frayed a little of the air con belt.And another time left a spanner....Never found it,but I remember hearing something bouncing on the road,the first bend i took.

These are stupid little things....But can do a lot of damage!

[Solipsist]

Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

hehe, I like this thread.

This wasn't my mistake, but my dads. Last weekend I went all out on mum's car, looked great, so dad decided to park it in the carport before my brother came home and took the spot. A couple hours later, my bro came home, knocked on my door and said "uhhh, you might wanna move mum's car" "why?"......."cause the back wheel is sitting on your meguiars bag"

My dad had run of the bag, full of my meguiars stuff, luckily nothing was really damaged, $50 bottle of NXT 2.0 was squashed, but nothing has leaked out of it, yet....and the very muddy wheel was happily sitting on my superior shine microfibre.

Lol, I don't think i've moved that fast in my life, haha, I was saying a few....choice words, my brother called out "just remember, it was an accident!" hehehe

[PuDeN]

Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

I love this thread too. I remember one time when i forgot to close the windows on the driver side. then I start to spray off water for wash. suddenly i was shock why did the water spash back. . . it when inside perfectly. . . oopss.

[Desertdawg]

Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Where I grew up they put in a new interstate, but didn't give us an exit to get to our road, so for 6 months we all just turned off the road, cut across the dirt, jumped a curb and went on our merry way down the road!
Then they decided to put up a new curb.
The cop that pulled up said I was the 12th car that day to be sitting there with 4 flat tires from running over the rebar they had installed sticking straight up for the concrete pour.

I cried because I had just bought those tires for my truck 4 days earlier!

[Murr1525]

Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Other than the usual leaving the wipers up and opening the hood, or thinking that cleaner/wax means the cleaner to use before waxing.....

The worst in general was when I was at the gym, and it was nice and sunny, and I went inside, and then the worst storm started. Buckets of rain, blowing, etc.

And there I stood, looking out the window, saying to myself "Man, hope nobody's windows were open since it was nice earlier..."

I was sitting on a towel in the car for several days....

[InfiniteDetail]

Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

BTW Jeff.. I have your new 105 here and your not... guess I'll have to take it back home......

OH THE HUMANITY!!!! You sir, are cruel!!

[Newport Viper]

Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

I was buffing out a big black Tahoe... really messed up. Overcast day. Did a test spot in garage looked fine.

5 hours later the sun came out. Pulled it out of garage...

IT LOOKED THE SAME!!!!! OMG

So spent another 5 hours to get it right.

Lesson: Check you work in the sun!

[smurf]

Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Well this is fun reading. Hearing about others mistakes make mine seem so small in comparrison. yyyuuuummmmm how about spray painting a boat but forgot to close the garage door and the overspray drifting out and over my car. And I mean the whole car, bonet, windscreen, roof etc etc.

Thank god for clay bar.....

[Krozi]

Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Seems like other members have made this mistake so I feel a little better :P

I also used Turtle Wax rubbing compound and messed up my hood BAD.
After some research I got it all back to normal though

[Underdawg736]

Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Wow the MOL pros here are human after all!
Some off the things you guys did makes my mistakes seem trivial.

I'm still a newb so I'm sure I got have plenty more coming at me!

[ClearlyCoated]

Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Just experienced one this morning. I recently bought a pair of trolley jacks and an impact wrench so i could rotate my tires without paying the $30 fee the dealer wants for what used to be a courtesy service when you had an oil change or other maintenance performed.

Jacked up one side of the car and swapped wheels front to back (directional tires). I also thought this would be a good time to wash the inside of the wheel. Forgetting where I was, I dropped the 1st wheel face down on the asphalt to scrub the inside and only realized what a dumb move that was when I picked the wheel back up and saw the scratches on the raised portion of the spokes. I thought the tire would hit the surface first and suspend the face of the wheel above the asphalt. The scratches aren't horrible or very noticeable (UNLESS YOU DETAIL FOR FUN OR PROFIT ) but I can live with it.

Lesson learned. At least the damage was confined to one stock wheel (I would have been way more furious with myself had this been a custom after-market wheel) and to my own car, not a paying customer.

[Eddie6th]

Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Just experienced one this morning. I recently bought a pair of trolley jacks and an impact wrench so i could rotate my tires without paying the $30 fee the dealer wants for what used to be a courtesy service when you had an oil change or other maintenance performed.

Jacked up one side of the car and swapped wheels front to back (directional tires). I also thought this would be a good time to wash the inside of the wheel. Forgetting where I was, I dropped the 1st wheel face down on the asphalt to scrub the inside and only realized what a dumb move that was when I picked the wheel back up and saw the scratches on the raised portion of the spokes. I thought the tire would hit the surface first and suspend the face of the wheel above the asphalt. The scratches aren't horrible or very noticeable (UNLESS YOU DETAIL FOR FUN OR PROFIT ) but I can live with it.

Lesson learned. At least the damage was confined to one stock wheel (I would have been way more furious with myself had this been a custom after-market wheel) and to my own car, not a paying customer.

Hi CC,I always put down an old rubber bath/shower mat.If you use a towel,there is still a possibility that the wheel can take a hit,if the ground is uneven.What's good with the mat is,it's full of little holes,so the soapy water goes away when rinsing,unlike a towel.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

That is a good tip. Thanks Eddie.

[Eddie6th]

Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

That is a good tip. Thanks Eddie.

Your welcome!