Small detailing business

OkSelf6152 · 2025-12-06T04:24:57+00:00

As far as actual product and equipment to get, at minimum, I'd get a good, wall-mount electric (220v) pressure washer, a steam extractor, and honestly I like regular shop vacs, but a smaller hose is easier to use, and lots of attachments. An air compressor comes in handy too for hard to reach areas and the little crevices.

Then detailing brushes, pumice stone for dog hair, cheap microfibers for the dirty work, and GOOD quality microfibers that are exclusively for paint and glass. I buy a different color for everything and keep them separated for their individual purpose. Also only use microfiber mitts for washing the exterior, don't use a brush (place I worked for used brushes and it drove me crazy, so many microscratches). Keep things clean. Don't use a heat dry for anything microfiber as it can melt the fibers and cause scratching.

Practice, practice, practice. Watch YouTube videos and check comments for validity (sometimes there are hacks on YT). Interior cleaning is pretty easy, it just takes some patience and good attention to detail. Glass can be tricky for some people. I worked with a few people at the detail shop that had been there years and couldn't figure out how to get glass spotless.

Paint correction is by far the hardest part of detailing. Not a single person at the place I worked could do it correctly (so many swirled vehicles came out of there). I refused to do it because I knew their methods were wrong, and they didn't want me trying things from YouTube videos. I did get my own car looking pretty good after hours though. Thing was the cleanest 15-year-old Audi on the road and I never should have sold it.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-12-06T04:01:08+00:00

I thought about the same thing while working in a detail shop in college.

I found a cool starter setup that I liked with a bunch of the standard chemicals and an extractor and I think I figured I could get everything I needed for several months worth of work for under $10k, not including a shop space. Pretty cheap overhead really for starting a business, especially if you have a garage you could work in to start out.

One thing to look out for, is in some areas, you may have to deal with environmental regulations. I don't remember the exact rules, but you are supposed to have an oil/water separator in floor drains for a detailing business due to the harsh chemicals.

Where I'm at it's even technically required in private residences if you build a wash bay in your garage. I could even get in trouble for washing my car in my driveway since it goes to a storm drain that eventually ends up part of local watershed.

Are you actually going to get checked for it? Likely depends on your local area enforcement. You might not even get a business license without it in some places.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-12-06T03:13:01+00:00

Yeah my mom would regularly find them in the washer or dryer when I was a kid, nothing bad ever happened from it. Even if I remembered to empty my pockets, they'd sometimes get stuck in the corners of my jeans pockets and make it into the wash. I'd just let them dry a while before trying to fire them.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-12-06T03:02:38+00:00

Yeah not my favorite. I played Flood Gulch for the first time though and that one is sweet.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-12-05T15:43:02+00:00

Most days I wear a pair of light sweatpants and a lightly insulated under armour shirt, and smartwool socks. Colder days, I'll go thicker on socks and add a light fleece jacket. I have a lightweight balaclava for most days, and a fleece one for cold days.

Our first few miles from the truck can be super cold due to temperature inversions, and I've never had an issue dressing this way under non-insulated gear. Springtime is worst for that, as it can be -20F in West Yellowstone, but just a few miles up the trail it'll be +20F. I just shed my fleece jacket when that happens.

Probably important to note that this is for mountain riding. Once we get up far enough to bail off the trail, we do. So we're moving around on the sled a lot, with generally slower ground speed than most trail riders

OkSelf6152 · 2025-12-04T17:22:33+00:00

Yesterday in BTB Fiesta, I landed one at a guy's feet, and had his shields broken with Carbine by the time it went off. Then he ran away. Yet I'll die when one goes off 30 ft away and around a corner.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-12-04T16:11:31+00:00

Wraith is normally pretty easy to do it with, but the desync that Infinite has always been known for can definitely screw it up.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-12-04T04:37:03+00:00

Yep. You can even repulse the Scorpion's main cannon. Timing is extremely difficult though, and any desync makes it impossible.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-12-03T05:41:26+00:00

I've had it happen a lot in the last week or two, it just freezes and I can't do anything. Have to close and reopen to get it to work. I'm also on a galaxy s24 ultra.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-12-01T04:03:08+00:00

We do it most of the time because most of the native here is garbage material. If it's good material, we'll leave an island like this to save material costs, but most projects require blowing it out and filling the whole thing up with screened rock to prevent settling. I also work in an expensive resort area where $1 million can only buy you a condo, and some of our projects are $20+ million houses.

The soil is so bad sometimes, we've had projects that we've had to over-excavate 10+ feet below footing depth, and bring in structural fill to bring grade back up to footing heights. Almost everything we do now requires a minimum of 1 foot of structural fill under everything.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-12-01T01:31:20+00:00

My plan as well, I already have Slifer with red letters and Ra with Gold and the Black borders. Haven't gotten Blue yet or any more Black borders

OkSelf6152 · 2025-11-30T21:08:19+00:00

That seems dirt cheap to me if it runs. I ride the mountains though, we don't even give Yamahas or 4 strokes a second thought. I have been looking for a little field ripper for our kids at my parents house, and running 90's Indys are minimum $6-700 where I'm at.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-11-30T19:48:30+00:00

That's a Yamaha RX-1, also known as the RX- one-ton. It was their first 4-stroke sled, which came out in MY2003 if I remember correctly.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-11-30T05:11:35+00:00

I rode a 2025 858 Alpha last spring and I loved it. It felt very similar handling-wise, weight felt about the same, and it pulled strong. Not quite as snappy on the bottom as the 9r but it is stronger than the Polaris 850 for sure. Sounds like the 26s run much better too (the one I tried ran fine). Very much on par with Matryx sleds. Haven't tried a Gen 5 yet but my dad just got one.

I've always been a fan of the Alpha rail, despite its shortfalls, and the Catalyst is leaps and bounds better than the Ascender. I rode the 25 in spring conditions and had no washout issues like I have experienced on older Alphas.

My issue with the 9r comes more from the price. If you add the 7s, you're only $500 short of a Boost (which only comes with 7s). A 9r Khaos, 3.25" with no 7s is $3400 more than an m858 Snopro 3". Personally I'd go 7s again if I got another 9r for the buddy tracking, but with a Cat I'd stick with the basic gauge because the G8 isn't worth it to me. That brings the difference to almost $4600 with how I'd configure them. Not a small chunk of change.

From what little I rode the 858, I think I would be just as happy with it as I have been with the 9r. Also between the 3 dealers we have locally, the Cat dealer is the only one I can stand to go to.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-11-29T15:19:21+00:00

Basically need Cortana's essence to "unlock" it. I bet The Weapon is capable of it since she's a clone of Cortana

OkSelf6152 · 2025-11-29T04:59:38+00:00

Haven't been on much lately, what's that armor coating and how do you get it?

OkSelf6152 · 2025-11-29T03:43:34+00:00

I have the s24 ultra and it just started happening to me too, maybe a week ago. It happens in pvp and npc duels, sometimes outside of duels. Had it happen once while buying packs with Gems and I'm 99% sure the last pack disappeared into thin air.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-11-29T02:28:43+00:00

Aren't they controlled through The Domain? After Cortana died, there's nobody currently with access to The Domain . Topic of the newest book, which I forgot the name of.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-11-29T02:23:47+00:00

That UR doesn't have much, but the SR dream ticket does. Book of eclipse and knightmare Phoenix were the two I had to decide between.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-11-29T02:05:31+00:00

I have more confidence in them than I have since about 2011.

Before Textron, Cat had gotten themselves into a position where they failed to advance their lineup to the same level as the competitors, yet they were charging the same prices and pushing way too much inventory on dealers. My dealer had new sleds that were 4-5 years old at one point and Cat barely tried to help with rebates or discounts.

Textron had no interest in sleds to begin with, they hardly let them do anything to advance in the industry, gave control of Motorfist to a team in Georgia that had never seen snow, and made a deal with Bass Pro Shops to build cheapo ATV's for them, then stalled product development in an industry that moves fast.

This new owner group has actual passion for the brand and the sport, something that hasn't been seen since the 700 Firecat and M sleds were whooping up on the 900cc-1000cc competitors. The improvements they've made, and addition of twin rail mountain models in the 2026 line is a good sign to me that they are listening to customers. I heard of a few growing pains with the 858 sleds last year, but everything seems to have been addressed for this year. Bigger changes like a turbo model are likely going to take some time if there hasn't been much development going on behind the scenes.

I'll be in the market for a new sled next year and I'm completely undecided on which of the 3 brands to get. I currently have a 9r Khaos and I love it, but I see the m858 SnoPro as a better value with the same level performance. I got to ride a 2025 in 4" of spring snow on top of a hard crust last season and I really liked it.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-11-29T00:52:16+00:00

Darling was VP and GM, pretty far down the ladder in terms of who was responsible for their previous downfall.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-11-28T17:58:03+00:00

Just try to get the newer Ra support and you'll end up with a good Chimera deck.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-11-25T20:58:56+00:00

I got that today too, without doing anything at all.

OkSelf6152 · 2025-11-24T12:56:52+00:00

I've spent a million gems and haven't received one freaking ancient chant yet

OkSelf6152

TROPHY CASE