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Twisted's Work

41K views 171 replies 47 participants last post by  lllll210lllll 
#1 ·
So I have been lucky enough to turn me detailing hobby/obsession into a business recently. I am very happy to say that I am doing very well and staying very busy with my new endeavor. It seems that people still want their cars to look good even though the economy sucks.

I thought I wold keep track of some of my work here so you all can see what I do, as well as get pointers from some people on here that have been doing this longer than me. Thanks for looking!

Onto the pics!

Ford Windstar Interior Only
This car was originally scheduled for a full detail (no correction) but due to the threat of rain the owner decided they only wanted the interior done today and would come back another day for the exterior. This van wasn't in terrible shape, but it had been neglected. Also some of the stains were pretty old, so it was difficult to get them all out. Fortunately I went over this with the owner and they just said to do my best.

Products Used
Megs APC (20:1 and 10:1)
Aerospace 303 Spot Remover
Aerospace 303 Protectant
Oxyclean
Bissell LGM
Megs Glass Cleaner

There are a lot of before pics, and only a few afters just because I was getting pressed for time. Overall though I was very happy with the outcome and the customer was ecstatic about the work I did. They took a handful of my cards and said they would hand them out at work!
Befores































Afters











 
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19
#2 ·
Toyota Solara Convertible

This was basically a full detail that added some correction due to some scratches and scuffs that needed to be buffed. At first I was just going to sport correct these spots, but there were so many I decided to just go over the whole car. This car was only a little over a year old, but I would have guessed it was at least five years old in the condition I received it in.

Wash
1z Perls Car wash
DP Extreme foam via foam gun
Dried with leaf blower and Cobra WW towels
Raggtopp Cleaner
Raggtopp Protectant

Wheels & Tires
P21S Wheel Gel
Amazing Rolloff on tires
P21S TAW in wheels wells
Adams Undercarriage spray to dress wheel wells
Wolfgang tire dressing
EZ Detail Brush
Swissvax brush
Black Schmitt on wheelwells

Clay
Meguiars white clay
Meguiars Quick Detail as clay lube

Polish
Menz SIP via orange pad on PC
Menz 85RD via white pad on PC

LSP
Poorboys World EX-P (I wanted to try out some new wax, but SOMEONE decided to sleep until 3:00pm on saturday and didn't drop it off! LOL j/k Dana)
Followed by wipe down with Adams Quick Detail

Interior
Carpet clean with Megs APC and extracted with LGM
All panels and dash wiped down with Megs APC
Dressed with 303 Protectant
Megs Glass cleaner to clean glass (duh lol)

ON TO THE PICS!!! I didn't have time to go back and show every repaired scratch so I tried to get the whole area in just a few pics. Overall I think I got out every mark that didn't go below the clearcoat. The owner was very happy.





















After




















No more scratch!




Interior








:applause2:









After








 
#3 ·
Toyota Solara Coupe

This detail involved a first for me. The owner of the car has been trying to sell it for about 4months now with no luck. It has been sitting on the side of a road at a major intersection for that whole time and really has taken a beating from the elements. Heres where the twist comes in. the owner did not care what the car looked like in person, just wanted me to take good pictures of it. Now that may sound good, but I felt that I still couldn't take the easy way out, and even this car deserved to be taken care of. Fortunately the customer was willing to spend enough money to get it done right. This care didn't have a ton of swirls, and to me for the money it would cost to get it perfect, it wasn't worth it for this customer since they were only interested in the pictures. I am very happy with the end results of this car since the customer got what they wanted, and I was still able to do my job right without cutting corners.

Exterior
P21S TAW
DP Extreme Foam via foam gun
Megs Glass Cleaner
Ubar clay bar
Megs Detail spray for clay lube
Adams Detail spray for final wipe down
Menz PO85RD to polish
Poorboys EX-P for LSP

Interior
Megs APC 20:1 to wipe down dash and door cards
Zymol Leather cleaner and conditioner for seats and center console
303 Aerospace protectant for dash and door cards
Carpet only needed to be vacuumed

Wheels and Tires
P21S Wheel Cleaner Gel along with EZ Brush and Swissvax brush
Amazing Roll Off on tires
P21S TAW for wheel wells, agitated with black Schmitt
Wolfgang Tires gel
Adams Under carriage spray for wheel wells



These are before pictures to show just how bad the body really was. I tried mixing some TAW with my DP foam in the gun as a pre soak but it barely touched this stuff. I ended up pre-soaking the whole car in TAW then doing an additional wash with the DP Foam gun abd two bucket method.
















These pictures are after wash and clay and an additional wash to clean the QD residue away. Notice the drip marks on the rear bumper. I couldn't tell you what this is since I'm still new to this, but nothing I had would take them off without polishing them away.







Wheel before.



Wheel after. I almost wish I hadn't cleaned the wheels because at least you couldn't see all the road rash and nicks under all the dirt. LOL



Headlight Before. The headlights were not going to be included at first to try and save the customer some money. When I was done with everything else I decided to try a rather mild approach to see if I could at least make a dent on them. I used Megs Plastic Polish followed by DP Plex All and think it did an ok job. Tell me what you think.





Headlights after





Interior After. I didn't take any before shots on the interior because it wasn't really bad at all. I still went ahead and wiped everything down with Megs APC and dressed it with 303 protectant. I also cleaned and treated the leather seats and vacuumed the carpet. I also tried something new for the wood trim. I had never even thought of polishing wood until I read a thread on Swissvax wood polish, so I gave it a try with Poorboys SSR1 since I didn't want to mess anything up, I think it turned out very nicely since it ended up removing some swirls that I have no idea how they got there.










Exterior Afters. Sorry for the lack of full sun pics, but the sun had already fallen down behind the tree line by the time I finished.













 
#22 ·
Thanks!
Good stuff! I'm amazed how you detailer guys do all this stuff quickly! I spend all damn day on a relatively simple wash-dry-wax.
Thanks. It used to take me all day to do that too, but once you do it enough you will get faster. Also when money is involved you tend to take less breaks LOL. No more beer breaks during details FTL, but being paid to do them FTW!
 
#24 ·
Here's a question for you. How do you deal with tree sap? When it's on glass it's okay because you can use a razor blade with no problems, but on paint is a different story.
There are quite a few pines at my cottage, and it's a pain in the ass to get all the sap off, especially when you miss some spots and it dries out. My buddy's car is white like mine and we spent almost two hours just trying to get the sap spots off. Then again that was sap from August :eek:hnoes:
 
#25 ·
Rubbing alcohol, or clay bar sometimes (usually I use clay on lots of small spots not a few big spots). usually the alcohol will melt the sap away while not messing with the paint. Be sure to wax that area though since alcohol or clay bar will remove any wax you have on there. Trying spraying the area with the alcohol them wiping it away with a rag damp with the alcohol. Let it dwell on the paint for about 30 seconds so it has time to work.
 
#32 ·
It really depends on what the car needs. A full detail (inside and out with no correction) usualy won't run you more than $250-$300 depending on the size of the car. Paint correction (swirl and scratch removal) is what starts to get pricey. Some people have a set price but alot of detailers, myself included, charge by the hour. So if you are looking to get swirls removed on a mid sized car it could end up costing upwards of $800-$1000 and even more if its a big truck or SUV. If you are talking about a Civic thats not in horrible shape you should be able to get a full detail done for less than $250 inside and out.
 
#33 ·
Cars look great! That solara convert was trashed for how new it was! Did you just spot hit with the SIP and the orange pad or did you do the whole car with it? What do you think of the orange pads?


A tip when doing interiors; Ask the owners to remove ALL personal belongings from the vehicle before they drop it off! Nothing worse than having to bag up all kinds of crap! :readtherules:


Keep up the good work! Before long we will have turned the ocho into a detailing forum! :laughing:


Rasky
 
#34 ·
Thanks Rasky, that means a lot coming from you! On the Convertible I spot hit it with SIP and finished it down with PO85RD. I really like the orange pads, even though I've heard a lot of people complaining about them. I have had great success and really like their cut. I can do a car that's pretty bad with PO85RD and an orange pad and move straight to LSP, most times.

As far as interiors. I always ask customers to do that but they rarely do. On of my services is that I pick up car and deliver them, so most of the time the customer isn't even around when I pick up the car. I wish I didn't have to waste the time to bag everything up, but if I didn't I know someone would come back and say something is missing.

LOL, the och is slowing becoming my favorite detailing board!
 
#38 ·
If you think that you are spending 50 man hours on a car then $1000 is only $20 per hour. A lot of people charge $40-$50 per hour for paint correction so these prices aren't outrageous especially if you are working on a car that cost 6 figures to begin with. Most people with civics or corollas don't tend to spend $1000 on a detail.
 
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