Part time car detailing (cleaning)

[vince]

Ive been cleaning up all sorts recently......im going to start doing it part time on weekends i think for pocket money....if you know anyone who wants anything doing give me a shout..

Works van Citroen Nemo engine bay, took about an hour





My engine bay, its a shiny finish but a matt finish is just as easy..




Bonnet done tonight.....16 year old Xantia paint




Keeps me out of trouble and off the streets
I can do machine polishing if needed

Its not a commercial pitch...Im just bored of working on my own car

Vince

[addo]

So you're going toe-to-toe with that fellow who slathered his brand new blue Vectra in Zymöl Royal Glaze, a few years ago?

Seriously, I hope it does make you a decent quid.

[Citroenmad]

Excellent work Vince

Shame your a little bit away from me, or I wouldn't ind you here to do a few of ours

Our eldest C5 really needs a machine polish (also a smart repairer!), it has some scratches on the bonnet (from Barbara the goat trying to get on the car ...) which im sure will polish out with a machine polisher.

[vince]

So you're going toe-to-toe with that fellow who slathered his brand new blue Vectra in Zymöl Royal Glaze, a few years ago?

Seriously, I hope it does make you a decent quid.

Zymol royal glaze on a vectra Thats going a bit far i think.

The dearest stuff id buy if i had the money is swissvax, but because it is an expectation somewhat if working on high end motors. i wouldnt use it on the Xantia because frankly you can get great results using other products which cost a fraction of the amount.

One wax regarded as one of the most protective waxes in the world is Collinite 476...it is used alot on boats as it is hardy stuff...and its only about £15 too...protects up to 6 months against snow, salt and the lot

Chris, your up newcastle way arent you? You also have the traction dont you?

[Citroenmad]

Yep I am Vince, well about 30 miles South of Newcastle.

Yes, we do have the traction too. Not sure how that would take to a machine polishing mind, what with its old style paint. Though its looking quite good at the moment.

What would your routine detail include?

[vince]

Well, due to lack of equipment and TBH the knowledge of how to clean up seats and carpets safely and effectively (yet to learn/try) my routine detail involves the exterior only at this stage.

1, Wash (two bucket method, amazing the level of grit in the rinse bucket that normally gets re applied in the wash stage)
2, Paint clayed (removed bonded contaminants that a machine could pick up and swirl the finish with when compounded)
3, Speed detailed to clean off the clay residue
4, Paint perfected, either by hand or rotary (dependant on the condition)
5, Paint glazed by hand or machine...doesnt really matter which
6, Surface waxed...by hand
7, Glass and trims polished

Wheels and tyres are done at wash stage.

Thats a full exterior detail which can take a whack of time if the car is in a poor condition. Some stages such as glazing can be skipped though dependant on what the person wants.

The golden rule of detailing is to mask a test spot up, start off with the least aggressive method of correction and work slowly upwards until you find the right combo of pad and polish. Then you know your not going to be going in too hard and it saves you doing the whole car two or three times which eats time up.

The traction would be more of a challenge due to the contours of the panelwork.What you been using on it?

If you havent tried claying yet, give it a go. It will blow your socks off how different the panels "feel" once clayed.They dont look any different but feel amazing...sorry im digressing

[addo]

If the TA is painted in nitrocellulose I would urge against machine buffing. While the paint is very hard, there is a risk of it finely cracking (all over) a short while after polishing.

[Citroenmad]

Sounds good Vince.

I have looked into a bit of car detailing - I used to have a solid black car as my daily driver, don't want one again!

I have also tried claying using the Meguiars clay bar and spray, it does work very well and improves the paint feel enormously, which can only help with the paint finish and the overall results. Especially good for removing tree sap and road tar.

It has been a year or so since I used it, I only really give the cars a very quick polish with Autoglym Super Resin polish, which is pretty good in my opinion. Much easier to buff off than the Meguiars paint cleaner and polish I also have but now don't use.

The only wax I have used is some form of Autoglym liquid wax, it didn't really seem to do an awful lot and I should really look into a better wax to use.

It does take me an age to clean the car properly with clay, paint cleaners, waxes etc and then im never too happy with the results. On my black Seat I could easily spend 10-12 hours detailing the exterior paintwork ... if I did a good job it looked worth it, though it was an effort to keep on top of.

Recently I have became lazy with polishing, the XM is a stunning colour once done, though I have never properly detailed it so it could be so much better. Then there is our white C15, which is looking a bit flat now as its been under its fitted cover for about 5-6 years wich very infrequent useage and so washes.

Have you worked out a costing for your exterior detail? How long would it take you to do your detail roughly for a normal/large car?

I would quite like to get the 52 C5 spruced up, on my list for this is to get the front bumper corners repaired, wheels refurbished or 16" replacements and a detail on the paintwork to bring out the light scratches and my sisters inability to notice how dirty the car becomes if you don't wash it for a good 6-8 months! With that, it will be a very tidy car.


Yes, that is the paint which the traction has and so I have thought machine polishing would not suit it. The paintwork is in very good condition and its recently polished too, so its looking pretty good anyway.

[vince]

Chris, on the TA i would also be wary about machining it with a rotary....if you did id keep it on the slowest speed to avoid heat build up, youd probably find a DA machine polish would be fine though as there is no heat build up and its really only an electronic hand polish.

Why are you never happy with the results you get on the traction? The paint will react different to later carpaint which has a clearcoat top layer, these shine up better than earlier paint which the colour coat provides the shine. I too have found that to be the case on earlier cars but then to a degree, with the traction being a classic i think a nice hand achieved shine with no big scratches and a deep finish would still look really good.

With the Autoglym stuff, all you really need is super resin polish followed by the extra gloss protection. It finishes very well and protects well too....although its a bit wierd to use i found...you have to leave it on for around half an hour or so and come back out to finish it off. Autoglym stuff on the whole is very good though and i use quite a bit of it myself.

With the Meguiars being stuff hard to remove, ive found that to be the case aswell if i use too much product...or the panelwork is either too cold or too hot when applied....the easy way to soften it up and remove any excess is to use speed detailer spritzed onto it when wiping it off...it comes off a treat then and finishes very well. Ive recently bought the autoglym stuff which smells like bubblegum, probably why the label is pink

What ive found with the more cars ive done for friends is that once its detailed and the paint cleansed thoroughly it doesnt really need doing again for perhaps up to a year...a machine polish is only really usefull for removing swirls and light scratches, or if your a bit lazy to hand apply compound and wax once haze and scratches are gone, if you use good wash practices then they will return anyway but it will take months and you can keep them at bay with say super resin polich hand applied once every 4 to 6 months or so.

There are plenty times when i havent washed my car for a couple of weeks, but then it comes right back up when washed

[HDI]

Car cleaning is the only aspect of car maintenance that I will allow others to do on my own car, I just can't abide car cleaning !!

[vince]

Lol, im the opposite i cant stand doing mechanics but love cleaning them up

[tim leech]

Lol, im the opposite i cant stand doing mechanics but love cleaning them up

Same as me. Mind you vince I gotta say your work is impressive, come to the national and you would make a mint!

[vince]

Thanks Tim, but shedule chashes have put paid to that.

In any event, you could only do 1 car or so during the day.

[vince]

Sounds good Vince.
Have you worked out a costing for your exterior detail? How long would it take you to do your detail roughly for a normal/large car?

The usual costs charged my many "pros" for a full detail achieving a full paint correction to ridiculous standards costs between £300 and £550 and takes 3 days or so

As stated, im just doing it as i love doing it and as a hobby for pocket money so have been doing car exteriors for £40 If i had to travel then id expect the person to cover fuel costs also. TD though

For that cost, after the obligatory cleaning stages, i have done a single stage machine "clean up" which restores a shine level people have said is amazing compared to what the car was like before....


I finished my flyer today so aim to drive to a more afluent area of where i live (more disposable income) and post some to get the ball rolling

See what happens.

[citroenesque]

Best of luck! It is so satisfying to have a well presented car - especially when it is old (19 years old in the case of my BX)...