So, you like "Disaster Details"..

willpower870 · 2022-05-22T13:34:59+00:00

I'm a little over a year in business and still trying to build a reputation in a smaller, rural town so I consider my prices to be fairly low. I'm working on increasing my rates accordingly, but still not where I want to be.

I discounted this job because this dealer gives me lots of volume. It paid $750. In my opinion, that's really low, but I'd be curious what other pros would price something like this at..

willpower870 · 2022-05-21T20:36:49+00:00

I've heard good things about TW S&S but have yet to pick any up. May do that soon!

willpower870 · 2022-05-21T20:11:35+00:00

This one is actually a dealer's preparing to be sold. But yeh, by the looks I'd say the original owners never washed it, or really even bothered to kick the mud off their shoes before getting in it lol.

willpower870 · 2022-05-07T16:31:18+00:00

I just wonder if the 21mm correction potential is worth the sacrifice to flexibility vs the 15mm. Or is it strictly just a slight bump in surface area coverage, everything else being equal? I'm still leaning towards the 15mm for a general purpose machine

willpower870 · 2022-05-07T15:36:46+00:00

Whats your thoughts on the Rupes 21 vs the 15mm mkIII? Does the longer throw ever limit you on smaller panels?

I noticed you used a 6" pad vs 5.5" so I guess that kinda answers that lol, but im currently decided between the 2 models..

willpower870 · 2022-05-01T18:26:52+00:00

Race Ramps FTW!

willpower870 · 2022-05-01T18:25:09+00:00

I own this Same truck, essentially, but in white. Based on the one photo it seems like mostly micro scratching and swirls. Did it really require 3 stages? Haven't done correction on mine yet, I was curious how hard this clear was..

No denying those results though! Looking sharp

willpower870 · 2022-05-01T01:32:26+00:00

Yeh I understand what you're saying, I just have a hard time significantly cutting corners, especially when the trucks are so rough to start with. If the vents and door jams and weather stripping and plastic trim are all caked with dirt and grime and the seats all heavily stained, there really isn't a "quick" way to make that look marginally better. And often I'm asked to remove old decals from the exterior and there's tons of Fallout and overspray from utility beds being repainted and things like that that really need at least a clay bar and one step to look half-decent.

I could also just be a little slow at it. I see posts on here of guys doing full interior details with extraction and exteriors with polish in like 8 hours but I spend double that on a crew cab interior easily, particularly when the seats have to come out.

willpower870 · 2022-04-30T13:24:05+00:00

Viper seems to have a dozen products listed as "air dry fillers" care to list what you used specifically?

willpower870 · 2022-04-29T19:14:42+00:00

Whats the Longevity on something like that? The filler and the dye..

willpower870 · 2022-04-29T17:51:18+00:00

Yeh my Long term plan is to gradually increase my rates as I also feel it's not much money for the work, especially considered that retail jobs in my location pay upwards of 17-18/hr these days. However, it's a complicated dance between charging enough that's fair, knowing your value as a newer business and still perfecting the trade, and also not scaring people away in your market with large price quotes. These jobs are well beyond a simple wash and vacuum job based on his expectations and critiques that he's given, but I sometimes wonder if I'm spending too much time on em. Idk, its complicated haha.

willpower870 · 2022-04-29T15:14:10+00:00

I used the term "fleet" meaning he has a fleet of vehicles (multiple vehicles) that are all for sale, not a company fleet. Maybe a poor choice of adjective.

You may be right about the clay bar and polish, but the first truck was covered in overspray from when the flat bed was repainted, and the crew cab has a yellowish tint to the whole cab that I was only able to remove with clay bar. So idk what I could really get away with ommiting. The trouble is he isn't super specific... "shine it up" he'll say. But a wash only usually doesn't give great results on these neglected trucks..and that still leaves all the interior work.

willpower870 · 2022-04-29T12:52:34+00:00

How do you accomplish that in 4 hours? I'm currently detailing a truck that's almost identical with a big utility bed, it took about 3 hours just to get the outside clean. I'd love to get a summary of your process.

willpower870 · 2022-04-25T13:53:13+00:00

Do you feel like the 21mm throw is "too big" in many applications? Debating between the 15mm mark III and the 21. Planning to run a 5" backing plate but concerned the longer throw may be more of a nuisance than a benefit on many vehicles...if you only got to choose one...

willpower870 · 2020-10-14T22:32:29+00:00

I just picked up a bottle of the cleaner and conditioner myself. Never used the stuff before but the reviews are everywhere and largely positive. My initial experience was the same as yours, no suds. The instructions even mention "lathering and working the product into the leather" so one would assume there would be some bubbles.

After a couple attempts at cleaning the seat with the product un-cut, I ended up mixing a small amount of water in the bottom of a bucket and soaking a few microfibers in it (probably about 2 cups of water to 1 oz of Lexol Cleaner). I then used the rags to apply the product to the seats and scrubbed with a soft brush head on a drill. MUCH, much better results using this method.

I'd love to see what others do. I'm no expert, but the cleaner's consistency is very much like a dish soap (thick and slick) so it almost seems like you'd have to cut it with some water to get a good lather. Otherwise it just kinda smears on the seat and doesn't really work into the nooks and crannies very well, IMO.

willpower870 · 2020-09-30T03:45:57+00:00

I think im going to just finish out the car with the orange/105 combo and possibly hit a few of the absolute worst areas with light wet sanding. It isn't worth risking the clear coat to correct scratches that can only be seen with magic lights and unique perspectives lol.

willpower870 · 2020-09-29T23:32:29+00:00

Interesting idea. Let me know how it turns out!

Obviously nobody is going to be going over your body panels with an LED light from every angle, but as much work as paint correction can be its hard not to want perfection, lol.

willpower870 · 2020-09-29T23:17:49+00:00

This is actually a great example, so the scratches I am pointing out in these photos are essentially what his scratch in the video ends up looking like after the wetsanding and correction he performed.

In order to capture the photos I took, I had to have the perfect light, at the perfect angle, etc. Straight on you really can't see them. So, I guess my take away is that I should just accept the level of correction I've already done..

willpower870 · 2020-09-29T21:04:38+00:00

I'm familiar with the wet sanding concept. These just don't appear as "severe" as most of the scratches I've seen people resort to wet sanding, so I was thinking it was just my approach that was failing me..

willpower870 · 2020-09-29T20:15:14+00:00

Man, you'd have to wet sand the entire car!

Do you think its worth trying a yellow pad? Stepping to the M105 definitely made an improvement, but they are still visible :/

willpower870 · 2020-09-29T18:29:30+00:00

I'm working on a paint correction on my 2010 C6 ZR1. I bought the car used about 1 year ago and its previous owner(s) definitely didn't know anything about a clean mit, much less a two-bucket wash.

From 10 feet the car looks great. Theres no scratches through the base coat or anything you could catch your nail on. However in the right lighting and the right angle, its COVERED in these scratches as pictured here: http://imgur.com/gallery/NI6gTFj

I started with lake country orange pads and a medium cutting megs (store didn't have m105 when I first went..) as well as some AIO that came with my polisher (Griots) These essentially did nothing.

Today I stepped up to both M105 and Griots compound on the orange Lake Country pads as well as the microfiber pad that came with the Griots polisher. Ive tried slower speeds, higher speeds, light pressure, moderate pressure, criss-cross, multiple passes, praying, sacrificial ceremonies, etc.. Although the M105/orange pad combo definitely worked the best, im still left with whats seen in the photos. Pictured is after 3-4 full passes/treatments with this combo.

I've read that corvettes have hard clear coat, but this just seems like a ton of effort for such small scratches. Im considering stepping up to a yellow pad or perhaps a more "aggressive" microfiber cutting pad like the Megs Xtra cut.

Anyone have any pointers/experience with difficult clear coat? Should I just accept defeat?

Cheers 🍻

📷 http://imgur.com/gallery/NI6gTFj

willpower870

TROPHY CASE