Bscott94

I did the exterior this past weekend. I used APC on the wheels and then washed and clay mitted and applied BW and TS. Products used: Non Adams car wash soap with All Purpose Cleaner in wash bucket, Clay Mitt and Detail Spray, Buttery Wax, Tire Shine, non Adams aerosol glass cleaner
Before

After wash, clay mitt, and dry. Before wax

During wax


After





 
 
 
 
 
 

Wow, all by hand!  Congrats Brandon.

I did the exterior this past weekend. I used APC on the wheels and then washed and clay mitted and applied BW and TS. Products used: Non Adams car wash soap with All Purpose Cleaner in wash bucket, Clay Mitt and Detail Spray, Buttery Wax, Tire Shine, non Adams aerosol glass cleaner
Before

After wash, clay mitt, and dry. Before wax

During wax


After





 
 
 
 
 
 

I have the large polisher bag and want to protect my SK even more, especially if/when I include another polisher in the bag (see post from @Editguy here).
 
I'd like to suggest a soft cotton/poly/felt-like bag for machine polishers, preferably drawstring or something similar to keep the cord, etc, enclosed. Maybe brand it with the Adam's logo and offer different color options like red (which would be awesome!) and black, or even release limited editions or themed ones like USA/July 4th.. The possibilities are endless! Think of it as a bag within a bag. Of course, it could be used stand-alone, too, as a less expensive option to the polisher bag, for storage on the shelf, etc.
 
What say you, @Kyle@Adams, @Matt@Adams, @Kourtney@Adams, and Adam's team?

I asked the Mrs. what to do. Her reply was ICE.  If you use a steamer you'll end up melting the candy and make matters worse.  Her advice is to freeze it as hard as you can get it, pull it off, then use a comb to pull up any remnants of the sucker, and then clean the rest off with plain old soap and water.  But she says definitely no heat. 
 I don't argue with my wife. ?

You don't need to use Detail Spray after the Buttery Wax or any wax unless you want to.  

Just a good strip wash before you apply it. You want it to be clean and wax free.  Its pretty forgiving.

That is an excellent idea. A matte black or something would tie it in with the trim.
 

My friend had 2, but in the mid 80's.  One was driven from Florida to Seattle, and left in a long-term parking garage while they went to Alaska for 4 weeks.  Not much fun when they returned and it was stolen!  He replaced it with newer one.
 
It does look like clearcoat failure to me, and I would leave it alone and just keep it protected.  Since it is the roof you could put Plasti-dip (or one of the other peelable paints) on the surface to cover it up.  That should last for a couple of years.

So I finally got around to doing the interior of my wife's 2003 VW Passat wagon, it has a  cloth material that feels a little like suede. This particular material loves to grab hair with its tight weave and not let go. This interior hasn't been detailed in the six years we've owned the car and we have three cats and a dog. There was so much hair both human and pet now essentially woven itself into the fabric. Vacuuming had almost no effect on it. So I figure I'd go try my wife's Scotch -brite lint roller. It too had little effect on removing any hair from the seat. Then I decided to rip off a fresh sheet off the roll and rub it back as forth across and in circles over the fabric. Sure enough this method started releasing hair from the fabric where leaving on the roll failed. This particular product has a nylon type backing to it so it withstood rubbing and pulling. I ripped off another sheet and tried it in other areas like the bottom of cup holders and coin holders. Anywhere dirt and dust collected in tight spaces. Just press a fresh  sheet down in there and lift all the crude right out. Also worked great in tight places my vacuum could not reach like between the seat and door. 
 
You veteran detailers probably already know all about this but I was blown away how versatile and effective these "sticky sheets" were at lifting out the crud on a neglected interior.

I hope to have a Corvette like that one day. It is beautiful. I think blue might be my favorite car color. Welcome to the group. 

Those are the bare essentials I would say. 
 
Single softs from Adam's are great towels, but there are certainly cheaper alternatives out there without sacrificing quality. 
 
I use my drying towels twice before I wash them. I thoroughly inspect them before the second use, though. Even though the car is "clean" you will manage to pick dirt up somewhere or another on occasion. 

If you don't want to spend a ton of money on microfiber cleaning solution, pick up some ALL Free Clear. It is a detergent that is dye/fragrance/fabric softener free. That is what you need for microfiber towels. 

I personally use a one bucket method, but that's just me. 2 buckets, grit guards, car shampoo, strip wash, visco clay, buttery wax and 10-15 towels with a drying towel should get you started. 
 
The wheel brush, trim and lugnut brush as well as the big wheel woolie and wheel wash mitt would be perfect for 90% of the wheels out there. 

Check out this video, great idea for garage lighting. I'm doing some remodeling on a house I just bought and will be using some of the ideas from this video. 
 
 

Thank you so much for sharing this. These are garage goals. I am getting a new house (condo) with a 2 car garage in August and it has the one light bulb like mentioned above. I am going to take what the guy in the video did and try to replicate it with cheaper products. I don't think I need that high quality but I want white walls, bright lights, some kind of work space, and a floor coating if I can afford it. 

Y’all are being far too kind. The reality is we are just two guys (and a third part timer) working in a garage. We have made, and continue to make our mistakes. 
 
All of that being said, our pricing is based on time and an hourly rate we strive for. We have equipment that lets us accomplish the tasks in an efficient manner. The biggest difference between us as a “professionals” and the “weekend detailer” is really our equipment. We tend to have the right tool for each job. The results can be obtained by either the professional or the weekend warrior, but the time spent may vary. This time will translate in the prices. 
 
I have posted extensively about how we run the business. I’m very open. We are a very small operation. Barely a blip on the radar in the grand scheme of things. 
 
@pirahnah3 has attended one of our clinics, had work performed by us and we’ve shared a few beers while discussing the business side of things. His advice above is spot on!  Sometimes I think I need to take more of his advice!  In fact, we need to talk about some more work on his gorgeous Charger soon!

I’ll also add this since I forgot to mention it. If you have an SK and you’ve never used it, you’re not ready to even figure out pricing of services quite honestly.
 
To provide a thorough service, you’ll need more than an SK. You’ll potentially need other polishers, pads, compounds and polishes, waxes, sealants, etc. Couple that with the proper paint thickness gauages, towels, brushes, etc and the investment is quite large.
 
And as far as coatings go, get your feet wet with regular products like sealants, glazes and waxes. Coatings aren’t impossible or even difficult, they’re just unforgiving to prep mistakes. Get some experience under your belt or plan a bunch of time for your first coatings. For reference, with all of our equipment and experience, it takes two of us a minimum of eight hours (so 16 man hours) to do a coating. That’s straight grinding with a process in place and all the tools and supplies ready to go. 
 
Food for thought. 

Here's pics of the new ride.  That IndiGo blue popped with the Americana and BG.
 
 

Hi I'm Ray and I have the addiction and a co-dependent wife.  
 
Identification of a co-dependent:
When placing a order they remark how good it will be for their vehicle When a order arrives they act as if you are doing their car the next day When their requests interfere with your planned activities Can you make my car: Have a cleaner windshield Smell better Outshine the neighbors ...And anything else you can think of You know the co-dependency is really bad when they state:   How can you possibly go play golf when it rained yesterday and my car got dirty.  No worries, I'll get started on her car about 7:00 AM and I can go play golf on Monday.

Hey Brandon, Brandon here. Sweet truck! My brother had the same rims on his 01 Duramax. They never looked that good though. 

Welcome Brandon! 

Welcome to the group and the addiction