FrozenWS6

Get with an upholstery shop, or vinyl repair shop (like doctor vinyl type).

I think it’s a good idea. But from my experience for my region it won’t make a difference. Because I will never beable to get what I should be getting for a wash. That’s why products like Wash and wax are so good for what the customer wants and is paying for. If I charge $100-150 to wash and LPS a crew cab long bed truck ( which at that price is a hard sell), that’s an easy 4-5 hour job that is $25-37.50/hr which means I’m paying myself about $5.00 after I pay lights, insurance, rent, heat. I’m worth more then 5-10/hr. In all reality I’m probably even losing money or not paying myself at all with that job. So I’m glad it is very rare I have done one. Since many people have no clue what all is involved in that process and even explain it to them doesn’t help much. They just know in their mind they want a show car with out paying very much. I spend a lot of time explaining, educating, and showing pictures and how long it took to get results to sell it. But most won’t commit to it. They will usually fall back to just a wash and wax wash. The market here is competing against the $20 lazer wash. So for me this would only give me more knowledge ( which is cool with me) but has zero gain in sales or income. Unfortunately. Alaska is it’s own beast. What works in the states will not work well here. I’ve watched it many times in my 15 years managing a corporate owned auto glass shop. That’s why I went out on my own.

Shane. I posted on the other thread but I’ll put it here also. For me being in Alaska the certificates won’t make a difference for me. Other then being able to learn something new personally. My customers won’t pay any extra because of it. Many I would suspect haven’t even heard of it so it won’t matter to them. Just something hanging on the wall to talk about. So it would be a very high expense for no gain here. But I’m always up for learning. Just wouldn’t be able to make it happen for a while yet. Have an expensive and needed here store front limits the extra expenses for now. My work and pictures of what I’ve done for others speaks for it’s self and I’ve already earned my customers trust and respect. I also have a few cars that I’ve done stored here all winter so it’s easy for me to show them the real deal not just a picture.

Being in Alaska, I am not. i think I’ve vaguely heard about it. But to me it would be an extra expense. Since my customers won’t pay any extra and since the majority haven’t heard about it. It wouldn’t make a difference for me business wise. But I’m always willing to learn new things.

^^ thanks. The other reason I added detailing was because after 15 years doing auto glass. The majority or the customers here, getting new windshields usually run straight out to get their car washed after. Gives them a new refreshed feeling on their vehicle. So if I can do it while I have it then it’s also a convenience sale for them too. I’ve just saved them time being one less thing they will need to do. People love to have one stop shopping.

As a dealer I can drop ship anywhere. There just may be some freighting. It does a great job of making them black and not slippery. That’s how I’ve been finishing them off.

If your talking about the Mat Cleaner, there have been a few getting out in mystery buckets. I have it in gallons. I think it’s still getting some real world testing. I’ve been in communication with them numerous times specifically on the weather techs. Which have been very difficult to get cleaned to my expectations due to the texture of the weather techs. With my environment and conditions we have here they get dried dirt, slush baked on from the floor heater blowing on them for 8 months of winter without being cleaned.

I agree with almost everything Shane posted as I have just completed my first year and a half also. The amount of work to go around is limited to the region and environment one lives in. For me I battle the elements and seasons more then anything. Clients and customers don’t want to pay (say $50) for a wash and wax that may only last two blocksand you can’t tell it was ever clean. When they can pay $20 for a laser wash. Since it gets dirty so fast they won’t do a wash very often. Then most don’t see, know, or care about the value of getting it done right. If I do 3 basic wash, wax details a month I’m doing good. For my region one could not survive on details alone. There have been many detail shops that quickly closed here. That’s why I did it as an upsale offer on my windshield repairs or replacement.

Also it helps to use the sidekick or blaster for drying to minimize adding marks from the drying towels being slid across the surface.

I used it in a customer’s car that had a bag of Moose meat juice leak onto the floor. She came by to show me, I just sprayed the car with the ON until she could come back for me to actually do a good cleaning. She said it got rid of the smells for about 3 days. Which was pretty surprising that it did so well since Moose meat is very strong.

To add to what Shane was saying. Trying to work for yourself means you won’t always have a guaranteed paycheck. So take note and add the expenses of your existing bills to what you need to bring in every day to pay everything. I know exactly what I need for my minimum daily sales to cover everything for the business and then pay myself to cover my existing bills. Be sure to look at the big picture. Business insurance can get very expensive. That way you’re covered if a car were to get damaged.

Being in the auto glass industry for over 15 years. Tempered glass is pretty hard to break or damage before the installation. If it gets any kind of knick or bumped on the edge it almost always breaks upon impact. Now if the heating element on the glass has an issue or flaw on it it may allow the glass to get too hot and break it. Or if the vehicle is supplying too much electricity to the elements it can overheat it and break the glass. If this was just an issue with the glass itself i don’t think it would have effected so many ford trucks, I think it would have been more random. That’s why I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s either the heating element or the vehicle providing too much electricity to the element causing it to overheat the glass. Also if you look where that break originated from in his picture. There is one of the tabs that the wire plugs into right there.

I think that’s over kill. I tried Boost as a stand-alone but went back to HGG because it took more time me and was a big pain to remove from glass. I felt like that made it not as user friendly as it should or could be. So I only use Boost on a coated car. If you want to spend that much time, I would just do either Americana or LPS topped with HGG. Then you get some maintenance protection from the W&W and or the occasional HGG.

Sounds more like what I would call sand blasted. Tiny little micro pitting which will cause a glare in the sun. That would need to be replaced. It would cost a lot more to try to clean up the glass that’s there then replacing it.

The repair resins are only for the small rock chips (quarter size and smaller chips). If you have pitting across the whole windshield you’ll need to replace it.

It’s pretty easy actually. It’s just plug and play. If there is a rain sensor I always do a new gel pad or it may not work after installation. The only thing that needs the dealer for is if you have the automatic brake system with the cameras. Like the Subaru eyesight system. The stickers I can heat them up and carefully get them off to reuse. Rock chips and cracks are normal up here in Alaska. Auto glass is what pays my bills. We usually have to do one new windshield a year.

I believe there was a service bulletin about this. I’ve replaced 6 of them in one year and Ford warrantied them back then when the trucks were newer.

It’s not based off of APC. I would say closer to TRC just not as strong. It works great on floor mats, leaving them looking new. Without the slipperiness of VRT. I haven’t experimented with it on any plastic trim since TRC works well there.

I like to use Waterless Wash on the door jambs. Since I rarely get to clean the inside and outside of a vehicle at once it makes it easier since I’m not always using a bucket of soap and water.

Yes. You’ll be fine putting Americana over the paint sealant. Then maintained with H2O G&G.

Works best over a coated car. I have and from my experience I like H2O G&G better and is easier to apply. Boost alone didn’t seem to bead as much and was difficult to apply because you don’t want it on any glass I also had a good amount of streaking in the paint reflection which even when I reapplied it wouldn’t go away. It doesn’t come off the glass very easily if it does get on there.

Very true with a 4 step ladder getting tippy. That’s what I have to use being these suvs are so tall. If it’s a pickup I stand in the bed and get as much as I can reach. I hold my buffer the same as I do on a hood. I often stabilize myself with my stomach leaned against the glass and door with the cord over my shoulder. I usually start on the hood so I can see how much work it’s going to need to get it buffed out where I want it. Then I move to the roof before the sides incase the cord or pants put a rub mark on it I won’t be having to rebuff anything.

I buff and polish the roof on every job I do. It’s no different then doing a hood or any other panel you just may have to use a ladder, that’s why no one does any videos.

I have too many choices of pics for this.

I can understand that. I don’t get to log on much either.