Eswear

On 11/28/2020 at 6:21 PM, UofAZCats said:

Does the presence of hard water spots cause any issue with the coating bonding to the glass?  My suburban has some that resist everything I through at them.  Polish seems to do the best.  I want to put the spray coating on the glass but don't want to waste time and money.

Have you tried some 0000 steel wool and glass cleaner as lube? That worked for me with some bad water spots. 

I was about to post something about this and decided to search instead, glad I did lol. Yeah I'm getting the site not secure messages also. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one.

Thanks for your input guys!!! It made the most sense to me to use it the foam cannon since we let that dwell on the paint for a decent amount of time.

Welcome to the forum buddy!! This place is great for info and the people are awesome!

Did you buff it off after wiping it with the gray towel? The suede towel is to level it and you should buff it it with the plush polishing towel that was in the kit. I think that’s what happened. 

When we bought my wife's Honda Pilot (used) the finance guy insisted on us having it and I told him absolutely not. He asked why I didn't want it and I told him I detail cars as a side business. He didn't bring it up after that lol. Like Adam said on this post, detailing a car is like therapy for me so I wouldn't want to rob that from myself.

Do you guys use the foam cannon to do part of the strip wash? I usually use a strip soap (from another brand since I got a lot for father's day lol) in the foam cannon and in the bucket. I'm wondering if just using it in the cannon would be enough since I can let it dwell on the paint for a good chunk of time.

They told me it wouldn’t effect performance, the replacement bottle they sent has the same thing. If it works the same I’m not going to worry about it. Chalk it up to the nature of the product. 

How do you guys clean your tires? I’m dabbling in trying this out as a more efficient way to wash but I’m worried about the tire cleaning suffering because of it. 

I'm sure you could but I don't know how long it would take to clear it from the lines though.

1 hour ago, Dan@Adams said:

Ah, I wouldn't say you're falling behind at all - detailing is a lot of physical labor. I used to be in the 6 hour range but keeping things organized and ready, and working around the car in an efficient manner can easily save 15-30 minutes of time - having things close by so you aren't back-tracking as much or walking to grab a towel, or to get the Sidekick and extension cord out of a cabinet and plugging it in, etc - the less I have to move around back and forth, the more time I save.

In my 4 hour time frame, I'm not doing any shampooing of carpet or seats either, just a vacuum of the floor and then cleaning and conditioning leather seats.  
 

- 30 minutes Wheels/Tires/Fender Wells cleaned

- 15 minutes Engine Bay cleaned, dried, and dressed
- 60 minutes Wash and Dry body
- 30 minutes Spray Wax, H2O Guard, Slick & Slide, or CS3 on Paint; VRT on Trim and Tires
- 15 minutes Glass, Mirrors (Side, Rear View, and Vanity), and Door Jambs cleaned
- 30 minutes Vacuum Floor and Trunk
- 15 minutes Interior Detailer on Dash, Door Panels, and Center Console, Air Vents and Window Switches cleaned
- 30 minutes Leather & Interior Cleaner and then Leather Conditioner on Seats and Arm Rests

That leaves me with 15 minutes of wiggle room for any task that might take a little longer, i.e. if there are a lot of bugs or tar that need to be removed when washing.

I can cut another hour out of that 4 hour estimate down to 3 hours if I'm REALLY hustling, but that came from 4 years of doing Express Details at Barrett-Jackson where time is very critical, and learning some very efficient techniques from our other show team members!

I can definitely have my stuff more organized and set out to grab easier. Thanks for your input Dan. Totally random question, what would you recommend for a ton of water spots on the glass? I was able to get it off the paint with a diluted acidic wheel cleaner but it didn’t work as well on the glass. 

40 minutes ago, Dan@Adams said:

If we're talking an Express Detail where you would do wheels, tires, fender wells, wash the exterior, clean the interior, and a quick application of something like Spray Wax or CS3, I can get that down to about 4 hours start to finish if there are no distractions during that process. However, I will have everything that I will need prepped on a detail cart or next to the cart - two buckets prepped and ready, hose, extension cord, all of my brushes, chemicals, applicators, vacuum, drying towels, etc before the vehicle arrives.

Yeah an express detail is more of what I was talking about, it seems like I’m pushing 5 hours easy and that’s without shampooing the carpets or seats. Granted I do this as my side hustle/hobbie I wanted to know if I was really falling behind or what the general expectations were on how long it would take. 

I'm curious to see how long it's taking you guys to fully detail a car. It's taking me like 6 hours from start to finish. I'm just wondering where I can become more efficient. Thanks!

I have a white 1988 Rx7 10AE that I'm doing detail with paint correction that I will try the PS and G&G combo on, I will post the results once I'm done.

Thanks everyone for your input and advice. That’s why I like this forum board. 

On 5/7/2020 at 6:55 PM, RayS said:

I learned my way around wet sanding helping my brother paint cars, it is rather easy once you get the hang of it, but it still makes me uncomfortable.  I tend to stick with clay, lube and plastic razor blades.   One other thing that helps is to whine during the process and have some wine afterwards.

I’ll have to practice on some personal cars before I’ll do it on customer’s cars. She was very happy with how it turned out so that’s all that matters. 

10 hours ago, BRZN said:

2 hours claying the hood? 15 minutes with 2500 grit wet sanding and it would be gone.

I would have if I felt more comfortable doing it. I haven’t done any wet sanding so I didn’t want to risk it. 

The hood was the worst part, I spent like 2 hours claying it. 

1 hour ago, Bryanl said:

Try a few times with Clay Bar with detail Spray as Lube

This stuff is tough as hell to remove lol. Still plugging away at it though

The front and hood have a ton of rock chips so those big spots are them. 

I searched and found some posts with some ideas but the ones I tried didn’t work. Im doing a car for a friend and they painted some patio furniture and got overspray on a good portion of it. The paint is not is great shape so it’s not coming off all the way unless I wet sand it but I don’t think they’ll want to pay me for that lol. I’ve tried claying it with no luck, I also tried some acetone in a small non noticeable spot and it still didn’t come off. The pic I uploaded was a part I did with the orange pad and spray able compound. It looks good but you can still see some overspray. Any suggestions? I’m going to call the friend and let them know that realistically this won’t come all the way off. 

What do you guys use for larger bottles? Just curious to see what you guys are using. 

On 3/9/2020 at 9:16 PM, falcaineer said:

 

What speed are you using? Often the slower the speed the less pressure it takes to make it stall.

After doing some more reading I came to this answer also, I was in the 3-4 speed area when I was getting stalling. I will try 5-6 next time around.

Anyone have issues with their SK 15 stalling fairly easy? I know i barely put any pressure on it and the pad stalls, I made sure to have it level and it still seems to stall. Any troubleshooting tips? 

13 hours ago, GXPaycheck said:

I would say Guard & Gloss. Goes on the same, removes the same, I think it lasts longer. 

G&G is more like meguairs hybrid ceramic wax, I haven’t used anything in the Adams collection that makes the paint feel the same way. I use it as a topper for waxes and ceramic coatings. The only draw back is that it requires an 8 hour cure.