Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

[Larry A]

Re: Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

Why do they remove the wax with a rotary ? Isent it just as easy to remove wax by hand, with less chance of swirling the paint . Every detailer I know removes wax by hand.

[Bdawg393]

Re: Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

i saw it as a little weird at first too, but seeing the results made me a strong believer. He said however u apply the wax is the way you should take it off. This guy has been detailing since the age of 12 and has done rolls, ferrari, lambo, i mean all of the above. He's trained a lot of the dealership detailers in the atlanta area too

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

It's not terribly unusual to see wax applied via rotary, but to remove it that way is strange indeed. What pads did you use to apply the wax, and at what speed? Also, what pad & speed to remove it? Out of curiosity, what wax did they use?

He said however u apply the wax is the way you should take it off.

That seems like a pretty odd statement, but if that's how they do it and both the dealer and the customer is happy with it, then so be it. It's not something that we'd recommend necessarily, and we've seen plenty of guys doing something one way and one way only for 20 years or more - but that doesn't necessarily make it right.

Please understand that we aren't trying to diminish your experience here, we think it's fantastic that you've been given this opportunity. Just take some things with a grain of salt and know that, although this individual has been doing this for many, many years is not a guarantee that he uses best practices for everything.

Out of curiosity, did you guys do any serious paint correction with the rotary, or was it all just wax application on new vehicles? Things change pretty dramatically when you start working with compounds and wool pads on that same tool to correct serious defects.

Hopefully you'll be able to continue working with these guys and get a lot more rotary use under your belt. It really is a great opportunity for you!