600 Quid Detail !!

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sweetpea said:
Ditto^

My post was more a general reply to this notion of paying an overblown valeter an overblown price because it will make the car worth more, which is claptrap.

If, like me, you clean your car 1-2 times a month, a £600 valet would not make my car worth more than it already was. Even on a £50,000 you wouldn't recoup that because it would be expected to be that clean.

And if you took time to read my posts on 'detailing', you would see that I wish all the best to those that do it for a living.
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My dear Sweet Pea,

your post may in your eyes have been a "general reply", however your "general reply" attempted to put words in my mouth and appeared very much to be directed at me: (my bolds to highlight the specific direction of your "general reply")

"How you can compare cleaning and waxing etc prices with the actual maintenance of the engine and the other necessary costs of a car is a joke.

By your reckoning, the servicing & maintaining of a car is the same as keeping it clean??
Let me think about that one for a second.....
rolleyes.gif
"

Please read people's posts carefully and if you are unable to understand them, please do not then try to cover your ignorance by then offering a lame excuse of "it was a general response". The right thing of course would be to apologise for your mistake. Manners maketh man:)
 
Calm down children it's only a topic!lol

But just to mix it up, I just made a video of maffs California. Be gentle as my editing skills are awful and is my first made movie!lol this shows you how I do it and what I use. But I will tell you this. I did charge a lot less then £600.

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
 
There's a whole heap to detailing than just turning a machine polisher on..

I turn my kettle on, many years of doing it - in fact I'd class myself as a pro and the old 'flick the kettle on' trick - however even after all these years I don't make the perfect cuppa every time
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Tea making can be a tricky science though :)

I'd just like to add I have been a 'pro' in the car cleaning 'industry' so I'm happy to speak out about the truth of it all.
 
Detailed said:
Calm down children it's only a topic!lol

But just to mix it up, I just made a video of maffs California. Be gentle as my editing skills are awful and is my first made movie!lol this shows you how I do it and what I use. But I will tell you this. I did charge a lot less then £600.

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
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Dead link?
 
thetruth said:
Tea making can be a tricky science though :)

I'd just like to add I have been a 'pro' in the car cleaning 'industry' so I'm happy to speak out about the truth of it all.
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'Have been, or still or'

your thoughts on this thread then ? :) - And would you take you car to the £7 Eastern Europeans ?
 
I also think detailer prices seem overly on the high side.

They clean things - cleaning isnt rocket science and normally pays minimum wage because it isnt very hard to do. Most of the time taken when detailing is getting into all the little nooks and crannies with soap and water or vacuuming where most people cant be ****d because it cant be seen.

The only tricky bit is the paint correction but even then, you simply choose the right tool for the job (in this case a polish and pad) and you polish, letting the tools do the job for you. Even if you dont know which polish to use you can just look it up on the label or on the web. Very little skill involved if truth be told.

If I went out shopping and spent £300+ on detailing equipment and then sat for half a day reading the detailing forums and assuming I had the patience to do such a brain numbing task for hours on end then I suspect that I'd come close to the standard of finish of any detailer.

I would expect at least 6 man days work if I am paying £600 for this sort of task.
 
been signed up a while and my bad I havent posted but just seen this on DW from a link and I have got to say that some of the replies are just staggering....

Detailing is a skilled profession, thats right profession, not job....on average an hourly rate would come in around £30, which includes time, effort, materials all insurances ie care, custody and control, public liability...the list goes on....

its a Merc, do you go to a Merc dealer for a service and complain at £120 hr labour charges and then have parts to pay for, think not....

You cant just pick a rotary polisher up and learn how to use it in a few hrs....

What about the thickness of the paint, do you really know how thick or thin it is...would you risk strike through ending up in a few hundred quid of paint repairs...

it all adds up to something that you could try and fail at, then maybe £600 wouldnt have been a bad idea....

But this is my professional opinion and is obviously bias towards a detailer....but hey dont take my word for it....have a go at it, see how you get on....
 
russb said:
its a Merc, do you go to a Merc dealer for a service and complain at £120 hr labour charges and then have parts to pay for, think not....
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Well actually a lot of us do complain or go to an independent that charges half as much and does a better job just without the marble lined reception area.

russb said:
You cant just pick a rotary polisher up and learn how to use it in a few hrs....
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No, you are right, less than an hour I recon .. probably a few minutes in reality... thinking back to personal experiences, about 5 minutes.

russb said:
What about the thickness of the paint, do you really know how thick or thin it is...
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If I bought the somewhat overpriced paint thickness reader I would - no skill there, just a one off investment. In reality a close inspection of the area being worked on will in 99% of cases be good enough info to go from. Ask yourself is the scratch you are trying to polish out deeper then the clearcoat or top coat? Not exactly hard to know whether it'll polish out or not is it?

[Question]
In a 15+ hour professional detail, how much time is actually spent on paint correction rather than the washing and claying bit that frankly anyone can do from the halfords line up?

I'd say in percentage terms, probably very little ...30%, maybe less even?
 
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Sp!ke said:
assuming I had the patience to do such a brain numbing task for hours on end then I suspect that I'd come close to the standard of finish of any detailer.
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To others it's something they enjoy doing - and getting satisfaction from - most if not all pro detailers will treat the car with the respect that it's there own - I hate painting, to me that also is a brain numbing task - thats why I pay someone to do it for me.

People are in business to do the things that people cannot do themselves, require or as above find brain numbing - also the time aspect - a person could do it themselves but depending on what job they have are they willing to utilise personal time to get this kind of job done.
 
tpwuk said:
^Paint thickness.....

456 Paint Thickness Gauge With FNF Probe

Can't see much skill in how to use one of those....
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Probably not much skill in using one - but I guess the question posted may be asking "do you have one" and if not "is it worthwhile buying one (at around £100+)" for the times you will use it. Most people might be able to have a "go" at machine polishing but without all the equipment there lies a danger that you may damage your paint.
 
anthonyh90 said:
you do realise that quote was said in jest. the guy the said it works for one of the biggest manufacturers of detailing products, chemical guys
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Yes I do realise it was "tongue in cheek". It was just funny.
 
tpwuk said:
^Paint thickness.....

456 Paint Thickness Gauge With FNF Probe

Can't see much skill in how to use one of those....
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go then mate....how do you use one.... how exactly does it work....can it measure paintwork on all surfaces and just as a real teaser, how much clear would you expect to be removing....how would you proceed with machine polishing in the following situations....what would you assume if you were met with excessive readings....also what would you consider to be a safe read to work with....

it appears that everyone knows how to do everyone elses job....maybe i will have a go at fitting a new boiler:crazy:
 
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