AngryPolska Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Following Dylans thread, it got my thinking a little about the opposite side of things. What's the worst detail you've had? Was it the difficult body lines of the car/truck? Terrible paint/interior condition? Bad weather making the process even worse? Hopefully we'll get some pictures out of this one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Team Adam's Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 I'm trying to find the writeup, but there may not be one... I took on a detail for a hammered Benz that was absolutely hammered. Imagine the worst condition black paint you've ever seen and multiply by 10. Even the swirls had swirls. The interior wasn't any better and after finding some suspicious stains and the remnants of (to put it politely) inappropriate activity in the back seat I refused to do the interior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 THE Mook Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 http://www.adamsforums.com/forums/detailers-write-ups/15720.htm It was like 100* outside, the humidity was even higher, and this car wouldn't start, and smelled horrible. I can't even articulate on this forum how nasty that smell was. I can smell it now, and am getting my lunch turned over, just thinking about it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 AngryPolska Posted July 12, 2012 Author Share Posted July 12, 2012 Even the swirls had swirls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 suke Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 I'd have to say this was my worst since it was in such bad shape that it took me almost a week to complete. Approx 35 hours went into this......after my 40 hour normal work week at my real job. Before After Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Marylander Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 My worst was about 10 years ago before I ever heard of Adam's. I wanted so bad to give my Dad's M-B 560SL a top-notch shine, and I went at it all day doing the Meguire's 3 (or 4 or 5?) step process, all by hand (I didn't have a PC or anything back then, either. I busted my butt, did all the steps, and the car barely looked better than when I started. Cleaner and shinier, but still covered in swirls. He still has the car but it's about 2000 miles away from me right now; someday I'm going to pack my PC and Adam's stuff and head out there and do it right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Golf for Life Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Nice work SUKE. I have to wonder how long it will take for the car will be back in the condition that you received it in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 AngryPolska Posted July 12, 2012 Author Share Posted July 12, 2012 My friends 2008 Black Silverado was probably the worst detail I've done. I spent roughly 30 hours on it over 2 1/2 days. The paint had never been corrected or even protected for that matter. I about died after I pulled it into the garage and under the halogens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 mc2hill Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 This one for me - it kicked my butt! http://www.adamsforums.com/forums/detailers-write-ups/9348.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 dipolley Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 My worst was actually quite satisfying once completed. I did a 2012 Mini Cooper with 65 miles on it recently. The owner expected absolute perfection. Let me say that again, absolute perfection: not one scratch, swirl, defect, chip, unlevelness, or anything other than perfect. We took the job simply to see if we could do it. After day one, she found scratches I didn't even see. We used LED lights, halide lights, flourescent lights, high-intensity spot lights, and good ol' fashioned incendescent lights to find anything we could. The paint was so soft the when I inspected one scratch my finger nail managed to make an even deeper scratch. When polishing, I would get the scratches out and then have to wait 10 minutes for the paint to cool so that I could touch the car with a new single soft towel. On day one the clients graded me an A minus (extremely high praise from them). A mixture of Fine Machine Polish and Revive Polish followed with Brilliant Glaze and Americana saved the day. After two days the client was happy and now sings high praises of my work, sends us more clients, and even invited us over for a BBQ on the 4th of July. I should metion that the client is one of my favorite clients and I enjoy her company tremendously. If we ever get to do Pebble Beach we decided that this client has to come by to inspect our work before we leave. We learned a lot from this very frustrating detail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 suke Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Nice work SUKE. I have to wonder how long it will take for the car will be back in the condition that you received it in? He works with me so I see this car on an almost daily basis. Much like my real job it's all about education to fix improper behavior. He was an avid user of automated car washes and just calling it good. He now washes his vehicle at home, and I believe I convinced him on bi-annual visits to me to keep it from returning to this condition. So it's been a few weeks, and it still looks fantastic. Oddly enough a week or so after I detailed it his battery blew up, and he had it towed to the dealer. They normally wash it when it's there and I about lost it. So he called them and made sure they weren't going to run it through their automated swirl maker and ruin all of my hard work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 jordan572 Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 I'm trying to find the writeup, but there may not be one... I took on a detail for a hammered Benz that was absolutely hammered. Imagine the worst condition black paint you've ever seen and multiply by 10. Even the swirls had swirls. The interior wasn't any better and after finding some suspicious stains and the remnants of (to put it politely) inappropriate activity in the back seat I refused to do the interior. So what did you tell the owner why you didn't clean the inside? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 JJ Stin Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 So what did you tell the owner why you didn't clean the inside? hahaha. Yeah I'm wondering about this too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 LFairbanks Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 The interior wasn't any better and after finding some suspicious stains and the remnants of (to put it politely) inappropriate activity in the back seat I refused to do the interior. Thats the exact reason why I steer clear of used cars.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Brandon Lutz Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 The worst was my great aunt's Oldsmobile Calais. It was a late 80's w-body version and I took it into the shop to install some air shocks for the rear. She was having a electric scooter carrying platform installed and needed the shocks installed on the car. After I finished the car, I thought it would be nice to wash and detail the car for her. Her niece and nephew had been using the car mainly and it was filthy. I found chicken bones and other fragments of food on the floor. The paint was matted with pollen, dirt, and all kinds of crud. The interior smelled horrible and the carpets had all kinds of crap ground into it. 24 hours of total work went into detailing the car. I even buffed the head lights back to perfection. She cried tears if joy and hugged me when I brought the car back to her the next day. She said she hadn't seen it that pristine since it rolled off the show room floor. Crazy thing was I did that back in 2005. The car was an 1988 year model car I believe. It only had 35,000 miles on it as she rarely drove it. After getting the crud off the car the paint buffed out to a perfect finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 SHINEY HINEY Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 just had a job of doing a celica,been a barn for a year..this thing a inch a dust and hay in tha jambs..lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Question
AngryPolska
Following Dylans thread, it got my thinking a little about the opposite side of things.
What's the worst detail you've had? Was it the difficult body lines of the car/truck?
Terrible paint/interior condition?
Bad weather making the process even worse?
Hopefully we'll get some pictures out of this one
Link to comment
Share on other sites
15 answers to this question
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.