How long does it take you all to do the full detail??

[MisanoRS4]

Hello fello fanatics!

 

I am curious how long it takes everyone to complete a full detail.  I just tackled my 2007 Audi RS4 today.  I started at 9:30am with the wash and decontamination.  I used the All Purpose Cleaner method in the Adams Foam Gun with Wash Soap.  Then I sprayed the car down with a 50/50 mix of Wheel Cleaner and water in a spray bottle.  I let that soak and then rinsed again.

 

Using my Porter Cable I followed the wash up with Adams orange cutting polish, then Adams white finishing polish, and then sealed the car and wheels.

 

I did not finish until 4:30pm!  Is 7 hours the norm??

 

Ill post pics tomorrow.  I was near dark when I was done.    

 

Still worth it though when you see the final result.

[marquez93]

It's not unusual, especially if you've never detailed it before. And if you say it was worth it, then it was clearly time well spent. If you had rushed it, you wouldn't feel the same way.

[gymrat7953]

Mustang GT takes about that long - the first time.

She's not a daily driver and lives in the garage. I follow the Adams Maintainence procedure and use a master blaster in lieu of great whites; this greatly reduces my detail time going forward.

[kesmit]

Including polishing, 7 hours isn't much.  When I did my 1999 Chevy truck, it was the first time it had ever been done and I probably spent18 hours on it.  That's a lot of neglected sheet metal though.

[BrianT]

My old 2003 Ram Quad Cab Short Bed truck would take an easy 10 hours. That's not including the interior, it does however included the engine. Because the engine vented directly to atmosphere, the engine compartment was something that needed attention every other detail.

[MisanoRS4]

Here are some photos.  They aren't great but I promised 

 

[JHL88]

7 hours is nothing.  Try triple that

[FrozenWS6]

7-12 hours on just on the paint since our weather is so hard on it.

Edited November 13, 2016 by FrozenWS6

[ocdrifter]

Your detailing skills are looking good, I usually take between five to seven hours and sometimes another day, just depending how dirty the car is. What I usually do is always keep up with maintenance, that way when it comes to full detailing i get it done faster.

[BRZN]

Well maintained vehicles I like to start on a Friday afternoon with a thorough wash (strip wash), and claying. The wash will include wheels, tires and wheel wells/inner fenders as well as wiping down all door jams and in under the rear deck lid and hood. 4 hours. Saturday will start off between 7:00-8:00am with cleaning the interior then moving on to paint correction. Saturday is usually 10 to 11 hours. Sunday will be a thorough inspection of the correction work and application of Leather Conditioner on interior parts if required, followed up by sealing and or waxing and cleaning the exterior glass. The vehicle is usually ready by 1:00 Sunday afternoon. Sunday another 4 hours. Total time spent; around 18 to 20 hours on a full detail. This is on a well maintained vehicle to start with.

[PacificNWBuckeye]

When I did my 2006 CVPI it took 2 10 hour days, but this was super rough paint. I had never detailed to that extent and I had to do it outside, so the sun was drying the polish out. 7 hours sounds pretty quick, so your paint must have been in decent shape to start.

[MisanoRS4]

Well maintained vehicles I like to start on a Friday afternoon with a thorough wash (strip wash), and claying. The wash will include wheels, tires and wheel wells/inner fenders as well as wiping down all door jams and in under the rear deck lid and hood. 4 hours. Saturday will start off between 7:00-8:00am with cleaning the interior then moving on to paint correction. Saturday is usually 10 to 11 hours. Sunday will be a thorough inspection of the correction work and application of Leather Conditioner on interior parts if required, followed up by sealing and or waxing and cleaning the exterior glass. The vehicle is usually ready by 1:00 Sunday afternoon. Sunday another 4 hours. Total time spent; around 18 to 20 hours on a full detail. This is on a well maintained vehicle to start with.

 

Wow so I am in the neighborhood then.

 

I appreciate all the responses.  I keep this car maintained well.  She is garaged and not out in the rain.  I don't know if it is the Audi clear coat but I feel the orange pad and orange cutting polish did not get it all and I was laying into the Porter Cable.  Any suggestions? different pads?  Micro fiber pad cut more?

[falcaineer]

Sweet car! Love the Audi in Brilliant Red. 

 

"Laying into" the PC won't necessarily help, as you very well could've caused it not to oscillate properly and just sort of "sit there" not doing much of anything (check out Junkman videos for his explanation). The orange microfiber pad will cut more, yes. You could also slow the passes down...arm speed, not necessarily PC speed...over the swirls/scratches, making sure you go in "all 4 directions," i.e., left, right, back, forth.

Oh, and my first detail (Xterra) was a good 8-12 hours, if not longer (with breaks  ). I used a PC 7424, like you, and much like BRZN, I started on a Fri evening with strip wash and clay. Then I got going bright and early the following morning with PCP, LPS and full interior detail. 

[BRZN]

2009 Audi A4 of a customer of mine. She has me detail her car once a year, for three years now. The Audi paint is tough to get just right, and not have any hazing. When you get it figured out they look sweet.

I'm using machines more powerful than the Porter Cable, but the PC will do it with patience. You have to work a test panel to figure out what it'll take. Also, as falcaineer stated above, don't "lay into" the PC, no more than 5 lbs of downward pressure is required. You'll want the pad to both oscillate and rotate, too much downward pressure and the rotation will stop.

[zapdon]

I usually do 15 to 20 hrs over 3 days for my once/twice a year full detail and that is usually just the exterior of the car.

Consist of strip wash with foam gun and 2 bucket wash, dry, clay, 2 step polish, seal, and wax. then finish rest of car off.

Edited November 15, 2016 by zapdon

[LT1xL82]

You'll want the pad to both oscillate and rotate, too much downward pressure and the rotation will stop.

 

Totally agree.

 

Marking the side of the pad makes it easier to see if the pad is rotating.

[OmniCamaro]

2 days for me???? That's doing my best at removing all the damage on the wife's Traverse. That special red is a PITB!

It still needs paint correction for some surface scratches which I'll do when it cools off some more.

 

This is using the orange microfiber, paint correction polish, with my flex. This is about 4-6 good passes.

 

Not the best pictures, had to grab them from a video.

Edited November 15, 2016 by OmniCamaro

[MisanoRS4]

2 days for me That's doing my best at removing all the damage on the wife's Traverse. That special red is a PITB!

It still needs paint correction for some surface scratches which I'll do when it cools off some more.

 

This is using the orange microfiber, paint correction polish, with my flex. This is about 4-6 good passes.

 

Not the best pictures, had to grab them from a video.

 

 

Looks awesome!

[MisanoRS4]

2009 Audi A4 of a customer of mine. She has me detail her car once a year, for three years now. The Audi paint is tough to get just right, and not have any hazing. When you get it figured out they look sweet.

 

I'm using machines more powerful than the Porter Cable, but the PC will do it with patience. You have to work a test panel to figure out what it'll take. Also, as falcaineer stated above, don't "lay into" the PC, no more than 5 lbs of downward pressure is required. You'll want the pad to both oscillate and rotate, too much downward pressure and the rotation will stop.

 

 

Just to clarify...  When I said "laying into the pad" I meant the following.  I had the speed on 6 (PC 7424) and applied enough pressure so the rotation of the pad disk was rotating slowly.  I was told that method by Phil from Detailers Domain and they were mentioning that when Adam's came out to NJ for their Annual detailing meet.

 

Is there another method I should try?  I was using an Orange Foam pad.

[falcaineer]

I would try the orange microfiber cutting pad. It, by definition, has more cutting properties than the orange foam pad.

[BRZN]

Just to clarify...  When I said "laying into the pad" I meant the following.  I had the speed on 6 (PC 7424) and applied enough pressure so the rotation of the pad disk was rotating slowly.  I was told that method by Phil from Detailers Domain and they were mentioning that when Adam's came out to NJ for their Annual detailing meet.

 

Is there another method I should try?  I was using an Orange Foam pad.

Nope, sounds good!

[LFairbanks]

Long enough that my wife tells me that I'm too slow.  It doesn't matter what I do, I'm slow in her opinion.  And she makes sure I'm aware of it.  However, she does like the end result.   My full size truck takes me about 24 hours.  

 

Nobody understands the work involved, until they do it themselves.  

[chevylovinfordtech]

Took me 2 days to do my wife's yaris the first time (it was that bad) now I just do a boost polish as I call it (revive hand polish with the white pads on my cyclo) to take out developing wash scratches and bring out a dripping shine every 4 months

 

That only takes 2 hours

[sahls01gmc]

2 days for me???? That's doing my best at removing all the damage on the wife's Traverse. That special red is a PITB!

It still needs paint correction for some surface scratches which I'll do when it cools off some more.

 

This is using the orange microfiber, paint correction polish, with my flex. This is about 4-6 good passes.

 

Not the best pictures, had to grab them from a video.

Nice work! I feel your pain. My wife's Traverse is Metallic Blue....and her and my 3 daughters are hard on that car. Sadly, I spend more time cleaning the interior of that thing than the outside!

[PHOKUS]

Wow so I am in the neighborhood then.

 

I appreciate all the responses.  I keep this car maintained well.  She is garaged and not out in the rain.  I don't know if it is the Audi clear coat but I feel the orange pad and orange cutting polish did not get it all and I was laying into the Porter Cable.  Any suggestions? different pads?  Micro fiber pad cut more?

 

The Porter Cable is a workhorse, but a small one. In terms of correcting power, the new lines of Rupes Bigfoot, Flex, and Adam's Swirl Killer are far ahead of the trusty PC 7424. What might take the Rupes LHR15Mk2 2 passes takes 4-6 passes on the PC.

 

Additionally, the Orange Foam pad is more a 'Medium' cut. The Orange MF pad is your 'Fast' cut choice from Adam's line. I have found several vehicles with incredibly hard clear, taking 4-5 passes with my Rupes + Orange MF on PCP. I simply prefer to spend as little time correcting as I can get away with, so I use the product most appropriate to the situation.

 

You learned a very important lesson in paint correction. These are the most important lessons you can learn, and this is example of why lots of experienced detailers recommend starting with the PC. Now, experienced detailers will likely be recommending the Swirl Killer as a starter polisher. That's awesome!

Edited November 20, 2016 by PHOKUS