Favorite Wax

[cwhit23]

My clients for the next month:

2010 Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera
2011 Corvette ZR-1
2012 Lamborghini Aventador
2011 Challenger SRT8

Nice.

I don't think anyone in my area even owns a Lamborghini. lol

 

[stkjock]

Seer - what do u charge for a detail?

 

[HitandRunDriver]

Seer - what do u charge for a detail?

First born child

I can only imagine how many hours seer could throw into a detail like that....

 

[BlackSunshine]

Seer - what do u charge for a detail?

I know you want to seperate yourself from the $125 wash, buff, wax guys who leave trail marks all over the car.

I'll admit, I'm very overpriced since detailing is not my profession, its how I choose to exchange my free time for money, I work in an engineering field full time.

I also only do show car work, so my minimum is around $750, and average around $1300. I probably turn down 5+ "quick jobs" a weel because I don't want to work on some soccer mom's mini van in my spare time cleaning up 3 month old mcdonalds fries. It doesn't interest me and my full time job pays me a good bit.

I charge $80/hr, $100/hr when buffing. Upcharge for zymols etc. I usually block off 6 hour minimums and if i have to wet sand, its over $1000 total.

 

[Seer]

Seer - what do u charge for a detail?

I'll try to answer this without sounding like an advertisement.

It really depends on what you want done, what the goals are for the car etc. For example this brand new Aventador will be coming to me with 1500'ish miles on it. How dirty can it get in 1500 miles? Meh, not really, it's an Aventador right?

Lamborghini prides themselves on pretty good paint work as well, but guess what? The thing is still orange peeled up badly leaving the factory.

Am I the best out there? Hardly. I just take my time, use good product that I know will give me great results and pay extra special attention to detail.

I can't give you an honest quote because I don't know what your car looks like and I also do not do this for a living so I take longer than normal, like I said before I work Directing, Project Managers, Engineers and Analysts etc, so I have my hands full in my full time job, so I mainly reserve doing cars to evenings and weekends for extra fun money.

But I'll just assume your car is in "taken care of condition" since you are an enthusiast. If you wanted a shine that would make the car stand out in a car show of over 2000 cars, we are probably talking about in the neighborhood of around $1300-1500 before a friendly discount. This type of detail does include more top shelf products such as: Menzerna Polishes, Zymol Waxes. If you want a nano resin applied there is a materials up charge for that as well.

If you want me to wet sand the car to level out some of the orange peel... it gets real pricey real quick and I can have over 25+ hours into a job like that.

Now all that being said.. this is where I'll probably get myself in trouble for saying this. I've done details for "forum friends" before where I had the spare time to do it and I'm not in this to get rich doing it. It's stress relief to me and it's better to get paid to relieve stress then sit on some doctor's couch to the tune of $120/hr. I significantly reduce my fee to about 50% if the individual is coming out of town and I do not reduce my quality one bit. My thought of "my time is valuable" becomes less valuable to me because I am doing a favor for a friend which is rewarding in itself.

 

[stkjock]

Blacksunshine thanks, I obviously missed that.


Seer - thanks - it was really a question out of curiosity. It sounds like you do a hell of a job on the work.

I appreciate the "friendly" discount - however the 850 mile round trip makes it unlikely that it would be practical for me to have you work on the car.

 

[TRC51]

Seer - thanks - it was really a question out of curiosity. It sounds like you do a hell of a job on the work.

I appreciate the "friendly" discount - however the 850 mile round trip makes it unlikely that it would be practical for me to have you work on the car.

+1 It was a great question to ask stkjock because I was curious as well. I am relatively new to having a "nice" car, so I know absolutely nothing about a proper cleaning and waxing. I was wondering as well because I am thinking about having someone do a detail for me. I can do the job, but I just have the feeling someone can do it better. There is a car show coming up for charity that I would like to be a part of. I have no dillusions of being a front runner, but I would like to have the car looking good for it. That said,

SEER:

What would you recommend for a guy who is a COMPLETE amateur and has been using $15 - $20 waxes all his life? I think my car is in reasonable shape with only about 13kmi on it and garage all the time. However, I can't be sure how well it's been taken car of before me. Should I just find a shop and have it done.... if so, how do I know I am dealing with a good shop? (Pardon the ignorance).

 

[Seer]

Blacksunshine thanks, I obviously missed that.


Seer - thanks - it was really a question out of curiosity. It sounds like you do a hell of a job on the work.

I appreciate the "friendly" discount - however the 850 mile round trip makes it unlikely that it would be practical for me to have you work on the car.

Road trip, plus I have many craft/import beers you can drink for free. Pittsburgh is an interesting place to spend a few days in

Unfortunately, me coming to you isn't worth while either, due to all of the equipment I use plus all of the lighting I have setup in my garage.

SEER:

What would you recommend for a guy who is a COMPLETE amateur and has been using $15 - $20 waxes all his life? I think my car is in reasonable shape with only about 13kmi on it and garage all the time. However, I can't be sure how well it's been taken car of before me. Should I just find a shop and have it done.... if so, how do I know I am dealing with a good shop? (Pardon the ignorance).

Learn to detail your own car, and the return on investment gets better and better. The up front investment in materials won't be cheap though but you pickup a skill and who knows maybe some day you'll end up detailing a few cars here and there for a few hundred bucks a pop etc.

I grew up watching my grandfather (who was a ph.d chemist and metallurgist) work on his 1968 Shelby GT500 KR (which he bought new) every weekend and take it to shows. So thats what sparked my appreciation for a clean/amazingly detailed Mustang I had went to school to become a Chemical Engineer so the base compounds and how they react to the surface vs. how they are marketted became a hobby of mine. So naturally it was something I took an interest in and tried to get a better understanding of.

It is in my opinion if you teach someone how to do something they will get more out of it than them handing over a check and having someone else do it for them. Especially something like detailing your Mustang, what better way to be connected to the car.

I think the answer to your question is best set as a conversation and not a reply to your forum post. If you use aim feel free and message me at jay5750 or jwr3737 on google talk.

 

[stkjock]

yea, I'd never even consider asking you to make that drive to me.

I was in Pitt 25 years ago, checking out Carnegie Mellon U - can's say much to remember about it but the good cheese steak I had.

 

[Seer]

yea, I'd never even consider asking you to make that drive to me.

I was in Pitt 25 years ago, checking out Carnegie Mellon U - can's say much to remember about it but the good cheese steak I had.

I went to CMU

 

[TRC51]

It is in my opinion if you teach someone how to do something they will get more out of it than them handing over a check and having someone else do it for them. Especially something like detailing your Mustang, what better way to be connected to the car.

I appreciate that! I will very likely take you up on that when I have more time. Headed to drop of my tires and wheels to have them mounted up soon! Yeah!

 

[Wlkn Tal]

Ok maybe I don't know as much as I thought. I generally use a Mequires gold or similar. Generally I'll give my car a good washing, then clay bar and then a wax, all by hand. Is CG Lava really notiably better than what I'm using. I don't mind paying the money for results, will this alone give me the wet look or does it take additional prodcts over top like the CG blacklight, as the other poster suggested? And are these products user friendly? Thanks in advance for any help

 

[HitandRunDriver]

With the deals they have going on at CG you may as well pick up blacklight and top it with lava. I believe that if you spend $100 you get a free 16 oz bottle of any product of your choice...I went from Meguiars yellow #26 to lava and could tell the paint had a much nicer look to it....

As far as user friendly goes, they both take a little more work than what you're doing. Blacklight can be applied by hand or with an orbital and left to cure for about 15-30 mins before removal. After wiping it off give it at least 30 mins before you add another coat of Blacklight or Lava. So far I've only applied lava by hand and it is definitely more work. Doesn't spread quite as nice as I'd hoped and takes a bit of extra time to remove as well but the same can be said with many boutique waxes apparently. I let lava sit between 6-8 hours to cure.

 

[Wlkn Tal]

SEER...you seem to be the resident guru, not that others are not knowledgeable, but a second opinion doesn;t hurt. Do you agree that (1) I will be able to notice a diffrence using 2 coats of blacklight and one coat of lava? And (2) these are very good products and should use 2 coats of blacklight first then 1 coat of lava. THanks

 

[Seer]

Blacklight nor Lava contain any cleaners, just fillers. It's been debated pretty heavily what each of these products actuall are and the detailing community concluded that:

Blacklight: Sealant/Glaze Hybrid
Lava: Carnauba & Synthetic Wax/Glaze Hybrid

In English, application of Blacklight over another coat of Blacklight will not remove the lower "application". I personally feel two coats of Blacklight is all that you will need then you can move on and apply two coats of Lava. The reasoning behind two coats is due ensure even coverage.

The third piece to this system is Chemival Guys V7, which is classified as a spray sealant. Now typically the sealant will reside underneath the wax. In this "optical" system CG has developed, V7 can go in between Coats of Lava or just on top of it. Blacklight on the other hand requires a bare surface to adhere to, or other applications of itself.

Process 1: Blacklight (x2) --> Lava (x2) --> V7
Process 2: Blacklight (x2) --> Lava --> V7 --> Lava --> V7

Another wax CG formulated to work well with Blacklight is Celeste Detagglio.

 

[Wlkn Tal]

Ok so I can go with either process 1 or 2, so I'm assuming that I have to use a cleaner wax prior to black light to get of any existing wax off correct, any suggestions?

Also my car has 3m stripes, can or should these waxes be applied over top of the stripes so they too are slick and protected? If not any suggestions there?

 

[Seer]

Ok so I can go with either process 1 or 2, so I'm assuming that I have to use a cleaner wax prior to black light to get of any existing wax off correct, any suggestions?

Also my car has 3m stripes, can or should these waxes be applied over top of the stripes so they too are slick and protected? If not any suggestions there?

Don't use a cleaner wax. Buy a car shampoo like Chemical Guys Citrus Wash and follow the instructions on how to mix it with water so it will safely strip off any protection that is currently on your car for the proper dillution ratio.

If this is not an option for you, goto Wal Greens or what not and buy a bottle of Isopropyl Alcohol and mix it with water 50/50 and spray down the entire car with it after you wash it, then rinse off the alcohol. This will safely strip everything off as well. Also never use Dawn or any other dish detergent either.

Another trick is to buy a APC like CG APC or Meguiars APC+, mix it on a lower setting like 10:1 to be paint safe and you can also spray that on the car as a pre wash cleaner prior to washing. This will also strip protection.

I have a GT500 which also has stripes, I have no issues, waxing or polishing over them.

 

[cwhit23]

Does claying not remove wax?

 

[Seer]

Does claying not remove wax?

Yep but its not always needed. Citrus wash is more cost effective and has more than 1 use.

Dillute it a lot and it can be used as a daily wash with no issues and good cleaning.
Dillute it a little and it can be used as a good surface cleanser.

 

[cwhit23]

^ Cool, I thought so, I usually clay before I do a seal job, which is about twice a year. But you have a very good point being it can be used more than once.