I'm trying to explain to my wife why I have to once a year do a full detail on my car exterior (I didn't have time to do any interior today). I also just got my car back from paintless dent repair from getting caught in a hail storm on the highway. I wanted to bring the car back to 100% so I could truly evaluate the guy's level of work. It was hard to do beforehand since the car was semi-dirty from being driven back in the rain from his shop. Anyways the wife thinks I'm absolutely bonkers spending all day working on the car and doesn't see the point:

1. Heavy wash of the exterior including mothers wheel wash and brushed out brake dust, meguiar's wash'n'wax washed, invisible glassed windows, rain-x application (little bottle stuff then buffed out), convertible top cleaner with a horse-hair brush, bug-be-gone stuff (made by rainx) on the front bumper to dissolve their ooey gooey proteins before being washed off.

2. Claybar'd the entire car.

3. I skipped my typical quick-wax (megs) and drove the car down to my garage and pulled out the DA polisher, 7006, 8006, 9006 pads and used megs ultra compound first with the 7006 pad all over the car and even went over the headlights to get rid of a light haze, buffed it all out, switched to the 8006 polishing pad and went with megs polish product, buffed that all out.

4. Waxed the car with mothers solid wax with an applicator pad by hand. Then buffed it out by hand.

All of this took about 6.5 straight hours at 100% focus. I almost had heat stroke I was so hot and exhausted afterwards lol.

The car looks absolutely STUNNING. The guy did excellent work getting all of the dents out to 100%. I could tell he took a lot of pride in what he did and it payed off. The past year's worth of micro scratches are gone and the paint shines like brand new (like it did before the hail storm). Ready for summer top down!!

I'm just curious how much this level of detail would typically cost in the southeast? Everywhere I look online just uses general statements in lump sum blocks but they dont exactly say what they do to "polish" or "wax" a car...?\

 

why does she care,..you are not paying someone to do it

 

I have a detailing business and would charge about $150.00.00 for a exterior detail of that level. It would take about 3 hours. Wash, Nano scrub (less time than clay barring) compound, polish, apply a sealant, and other things you did.

 

She knows that I like working on car stuff. Sometimes she thinks I'm just trying to get away from her when I'm not lol. I swear she even bitched me out when I replaced her accord starter on a Sunday and she had work that Monday morning. I had to diagnose the issue, go out and buy the starter, and install it (took me like 4 hours total) and she yelled at me for taking so long lol. I yelled back at her "I SAVED YOU $500 WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?? LET YOU GO TO THE DEALERSHIP for 8 HOURS ON A SATURDAY AND PAY THEM $500 FOR SOMETHING I DID FOR $75 IN LESS TIME???" She shut up real quick haha.

Damn. That's a great deal imo. I wish you were closer because then I'd just take it to you guys I wasted my whole day on this lol. I do like doing it, but it was freaking HOTTT today so I would have probably just taken it to someone if I could have.

 

S2KRAY, do you know of a reputable detailing company or even just a one-man-show in my area (NC) for your prices? I would like to get my wife's car detailed so that I dont' have to do it lol. And for $150 I'd take that all day long.

 

That is a Hell of a deal. But i cant imagine doing a 2 step in 3 hours though?

 

IMO - 3 Hours is rushing it for the level of detail the OP mentioned, no matter how good you are. The stealership I worked at right after highschool, we spent on avg around 2.5 hours per car and with the knowledge I have of detailing now, I can ssure you that was a half assed job. I spend about 4 hours on mine for a medium quality detail. If I am going all out I first do the engine, the car is hand washed twice with a quick squegee in between, pulled into the garage, put on jackstands, wheels removed for seperate cleaning, car throughly dried by hand, then let it sit while I clean the wheels so it can continue to dry, clay bar, polish, machine wax, hand wax, remove the seats, clean the interior and glass, put seats back in, put wheels back on. That's a full day job and NO shop will do it my way.

 

BTW OP - I just ordered this:

http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/...ks&from=Search

Just item# 10631

From the reading I have been doing, using this on the lowest speed will not only speed up the claybar process, but done properly with the RO buffer, will be much more effective. I'll be doing my wife's car as soon as it comes in. I'll let you know how it goes. I've spent 2 hours claybaring a car before (it was in really rough shape). Avg is about an hour just for that process, I'm hoping this allows me to do it in a 1/2 hour with better results!

 

That looks pretty nifty. My car I can clay in about 30 minutes already but it's virtually contaminant free.
My wife's car on the other hand needs to be detailed and this would be very useful I would think. Her car is trashed lol.

 

I agree, my S2000 doesn't take nearly as long to detail as my wife's car or my daily driver. But we have a 1 car garage so the other 2 sit outside and Wisconsin weather is not easy on a car. I can't wait to get this pad in and try it out.