Entered a car show today. (pictures inside)

[Nevin]

Originally Posted by SSSVX

Good work. So shiny. Smiling so happy lol.

You need to do a tutorial on how to wax/polish your car for us!

Wouldn't you know, I already did that about a year ago! lol
Here's a link to it. If you have any questions, just ask! I love seeing cars taken care of, so I'll help when I am able.

[SSSVX]

lol, to be exact, it's about nine month plus ago not a year yet.

that's the old one, you need to do a new one with video clips
so we don't have to read. lol

it seems that i saw that thread before. i will take a good look.
thank you.

it also seems that your car is more shiny lol.
if you keep on waxing, like 3 times a day, then once a week,
would that make the car more shiny lol?? or would you just be
wasting your times?
or it's just depended on what brand/what kind of wax do you
use?

[Nevin]

Originally Posted by SSSVX

lol, to be exact, it's about nine month plus ago not a year yet.

that's the old one, you need to do a new one with video clips
so we don't have to read. lol

it seems that i saw that thread before. i will take a good look.
thank you.

it also seems that your car is more shiny lol.
if you keep on waxing, like 3 times a day, then once a week,
would that make the car more shiny lol?? or would you just be
wasting your times?
or it's just depended on what brand/what kind of wax do you
use?

Hmm, that's not a bad idea, a video tutorial. I'll have to think about that one.

Mine seems to get shinier because I keep polishing it. Waxing and polishing sound simliar but are in fact different. Wax protects and shines, while polishing simply shines. Think of polishing as using really really really really fine sandpaper on your car and just smoothing out all the rough spots so everything looks really even and well... shiny! Finishing it up with a coat of wax is never a bad idea though, and then it will bead up QUITE nicely in the rain

The last time I did anything to this (which was at the end of April) I think I did 3 steps. Only 3 because it was already in pretty good shape, but I wanted to kinda clean it up for the summer again. First I did a light polish with Britemax Blackmax (it's #4 of a 6 step system) then I did a fine polish (#5) then I did a coat of Meguiars Gold Class Liquid wax, and finished it all off with Britemax Final Shine instant detail spray. That last step sounds stupid, but it really makes it sing, and that instant detailer is the best I've used... and I like to think that I've tried at least a fair share of things.

Also there is such a thing as waxing too often, believe it or not. It won't hurt anything, but it won't help any more, that's for sure. We try not to do more than 3 steps of something in one appointment. If you're doing an aggresive buffing/polishing, its a good idea to let the car back outside for a good 24 hours and let the paint cure a bit, then apply the next step. You CAN just do it all at once and it will still look great, but giving it proper cure time will make it look even classier.

Also, the things we use for our business are Britemax, (of which we are a dealer) Meguiar's, Mothers, Eagle One, Lexol, Invisible Glass, oh.. the list really goes on.

Like I said though, if you ever need any tips, just get ahold of me and I'd gladly help you out!

[redlightningsvx]

I had an 08 impreza come in the other day because the guy waxed it 17 times in 4 months. It was so much that when he went to wash it nothing would come off so I had to sand the crap out of it and buff it for about 2 hours to get all the scratch out cause it was black.

[Nevin]

Originally Posted by redlightningsvx

I had an 08 impreza come in the other day because the guy waxed it 17 times in 4 months. It was so much that when he went to wash it nothing would come off so I had to sand the crap out of it and buff it for about 2 hours to get all the scratch out cause it was black.

Yeah, that would suck. lol People just don't realize though! Well, it sounds like we're here to educate!

[SSSVX]

17 times in 4 months? There must be some thick wax and that car
might be heavier, lol.

Thanks for the sharing though. Right now, I'm lazy and don't have
much time. When I washed my daily drive, I used bugs remover to
clean my front bumper and all lower sections on 4 doors. After that,
cleaning the windows, quick wash exterior and flushing the car's
underneath and inside the all four fenders(I really enjoy this cuz'
all the stuff, sands coming out). Then I tried to simply wipe off the
dust on the engine compartment. Done. Last, I used eagle one(I think)
wax-as-u-dry thing to wipe it off. Still, it will take me like 45mins.
Those wax won't last really long. As I wash it two weeks later, I can
tell the wax is gone.

It will probably take me whole day to really wash, clean and wax my
cars and I will probably think it's not good enough. I once spent 4-5
hours to wash, clean and wax my SVX. I think it's just okay and I
didn't do anything to the interior. Perhaps I'm slow.

How long it will take you to detail the whole car? How much do you
charge people?

[Nevin]

Originally Posted by SSSVX

17 times in 4 months? There must be some thick wax and that car
might be heavier, lol.

Thanks for the sharing though. Right now, I'm lazy and don't have
much time. When I washed my daily drive, I used bugs remover to
clean my front bumper and all lower sections on 4 doors. After that,
cleaning the windows, quick wash exterior and flushing the car's
underneath and inside the all four fenders(I really enjoy this cuz'
all the stuff, sands coming out). Then I tried to simply wipe off the
dust on the engine compartment. Done. Last, I used eagle one(I think)
wax-as-u-dry thing to wipe it off. Still, it will take me like 45mins.
Those wax won't last really long. As I wash it two weeks later, I can
tell the wax is gone.

It will probably take me whole day to really wash, clean and wax my
cars and I will probably think it's not good enough. I once spent 4-5
hours to wash, clean and wax my SVX. I think it's just okay and I
didn't do anything to the interior. Perhaps I'm slow.

How long it will take you to detail the whole car? How much do you
charge people?

The wax as you dry stuff is okay, but it really doesn't add much wax. There's just kinda like an instant-detailer chemical in it to make it appear shiny. Anything that's 2-in-1 something something never works as good as doing both steps the real way. If I do a car by myself inside and out, it takes me about 5 hours. But I've done it plenty of times by now, and I like to think that I have a decent system down. I do still take my time though, and make sure it's done right, because espescially if it's a new customer, the first impression is VERY important. For a detail like I do on my car, I would charge around $160 for the whole thing. Larger trucks and SUV's typically run around $200 and the really dirty ones get up around $275. But for a car, it would be unusual for it to cost more than $150. It would have to be very dirty anyway.