Updates From My Side + Info On Duration of Detailing Etc

I'm not going to be free from this weekend onwards, until the F1 weekend. The next free date is on the 30th March.

I've got plenty of mails asking about prices, duration et cetera. I'll post some of it here for easier reference...

For a full, complete detail consisting of engine bay, interior and exterior, I need about a full 24 hours.

Which means that, I need to have the car from Saturday evening [ usually customers drop their cars between 2.00 - 8.00 p.m depending on their time and mine ], to give it a full wash for the exterior, wheel wells, wheels, tyres and engine bay, then I give the interior the full works.

Sunday is reserved for full exterior job, and should be ready for pickup the earliest from around 4.00 p.m onwards.

On the topic of prices, it's all down to what size of car and what type of service required. I will also need to know what type of car [ different manufacturers have different level of paint hardness ] and the age of the paintwork. Actual price quote will be given on the day I receive the vehicle in hand.

I also offer a take - away home package for my clients so that they can wash their cars at home. This way, customers will learn to appreciate the job done to the car and will look after it a lot more.

The take - away home package comprises of everything the customers requires to wash and dry their car at home. This means, the price for the take - away home package is a bit on the stiff side, but in the long run, it's actually very cost - effective in the long run.

Well, that is all for now. Later!

26th Jan 2008 Maintenance Job

As the title suggests.

Warning : extreme lack of pictures as someone messed up my lauyah 5MP camera settings.

Process was :

- Vacuum interior
- Wash wheels, tyres and wheel wells with diluted degreaser
- Wash whole car
- Dry
- Apply 1st layer of tyre shine
- Concentrate on random scratches by hand
- Tape whole car
- Machine polish whole car with a mild MG polish liquid
- Wax with the venerable MG M16
- Cleaned and dressed all exterior rubber trim
- Apply 2nd layer of tyre shine.

Products used, as always, only Meguiar's from both consumer and professional range.

Updates!

Hi guys. Just some updates from my side.

I may have to revise the duration of time required to do a car, depending on what type of work is required. A complete engine bay, interior and exterior work now will take between a minimum of 6 hours ( for cars sized like Kancil, Kelisa, MyVi etc ) up to 12 hours ( for cars sized like Accord etc ) and more for larger cars.

Next up is a green BMW 318i ( not 100% confirmed ) and a black VW Passat!

Toyota Altis Arctic Silver

Latest detail, a Toyota Corolla Altis, colour was Arctic Silver. I never met the owner before, the morning he sent his car to me was the 1st time I met him. He was actually a referral, from another customer, who happens to be his office mate too. Owner asks for a full complete detail : engine bay, interior and exterior.

After looking at his car, I thought the engine bay wouldn't be too bad. But what a shock I had when I popped the bonnet open. It was very muddy [ owner drove "balik kampung" at Terengganu a couple of days ago ] indeed.

Steps taken :
- cover any exposed wiring and fuses with aluminium foil
- rinse engine bay with lots and lots of flowing water to shed as mud [ took me about 20 mins of rinsing alone! ]
- liberal amounts of Meguiar's All Purpose Cleaner to muddy /dirty / greasy areas of the engine bay and under the bonnet, left for about 15 seconds and then scrubbed lightly
- rinsed the whole engine bay again, and checking for missed spots, or other spots that needs 2nd scrubbing
- after the whole engine bay was done, I dried 'em up and applied Meguiar's All Season Dressing lightly which was buffed thoroughly to ensure that all the plastic parts look plastic and not shiny
- rinsed all wheel wells, tyres and rims. Wheel wells get sprayed with lots of Meguiar's All Purpose Cleaner, left for about 15 seconds, scrubbed and rinsed. I had to do each wheel well three times as it was quite muddy too. I also had to scrub the wheels with Meguiar's All Purpose Cleaner, with my hands as my wheel brush cannot reach to the end of the wheels. I may have to find a soluton for this problem, as my fingers, palm and back of palm burns a bit. Wheels get scrubbed with Meguiar's Soft Wheel Brush, tyres too
- rinsed the whole car, and washed with Meguiar's NXT wash soap solution
- dried the whole car, and clayed the whole car, plus all lights, spotlights and all windows [ plus the side mirror too ] with Meguair's clay and Quik Detailer spray as lubricant
- washed the whole car again, and dried thoroughly
- taped any areas that needed taping
- polished with Meguiar's Pro range of polish with the help of Bosch GEX 270 AE and lots of Meguiar's foam pads. Each panel gets about three runs of machine polishing
- applied two layers of my favourite wax, Meguiar's M16 Mirror Glaze Carnauba Wax on the whole car. Wheels too!
- all plastic / vinyl parts get cleaned with Meguiar's M39 Plastic and Vinyl Cleaner, and buffed dry
- all plastic / vinyl parts get dressed with Meguiar's All Season Dressing
- interior is fully vacuumed, all vinyl and plastic interior parts get cleaned with Meguiar's M39 Plastic and Vinyl Cleaner, and dressed with very thin and fully buffed Meguiar's All Season Dressing to avoid it from looking shiny
- all leather trim / seats is cleaned and conditioned with Turtle Wax Platinum Leather Cleaner and Conditioner [ still under testing ]
- glass, interior and exterior is cleaned with Meguiar's Ultimate Quik Detailer [ still under testing ]
- and the final touch, tyres are dressed with Meguiar's Gold Class Endurance High Gloss

Forgive me for I didn't take plenty of shots, as I was too tired and pushing for time... :(

Honda Civic EK3

My latest detail, an original JDM [ Japanese Domestic Market ] EK3.

Owner is a good friend of mine who runs a Honda - focused spare parts, 2nd hand parts, workshop and ECU tuning shop. We've been trying to find the right time to do his car, as he uses his car as a test bed [ therefore he's always stripping out parts + fitting new parts every now and then ].

He had the car washed prior to my arrival. My steps are as follows :

- claying with Meguiar's clay and Meguiar's Quik Detailer, and buff off QD with Meguiar's Supreme Shine microfibre cloth

- reducing / removing certain scratches by hand with Meguiar's Scratch X and Meguiar's soft foam pads, removed residue with Meguiar's Ultimate Wipe microfibre cloth

- polish with Meguiar's range of Professional polish, Meguiar's polishing foam pads and Bosch GEX 270 AE dual orbiting polishing machine

- polish residue buffed off with Meguiar's Supreme Shine microfibre cloth

- applied Meguiar's M16 Mirror Glaze Carnauba Wax, and buffed with Meguiar's Supreme Shine microfibre cloth.

I didn't detail his wheels and tyres, as a couple of weeks ago, I have thoroughly washed, cleaned, removed brake pad residue and tar from all four wheels, plus scrubbed and shined the tyres, and sealed all four wheels inside out with Meguiar's M16 Mirror Glaze Carnauba Wax, and the rims + tyres were kept in storage until yesterday.

I didn't had the time to take as many pictures as I've wanted, as I was pushed for time.

Sorry as the pics look a bit dark. I started work around almost 10.00 p.m and finished buffing the M16 around 4.30 a.m in the wee hours of the morning. A couple of non - flashed pictures look a little bit out, as my hands was shaking from tiredness. I really want to re - visit my friend again soon, to take some pictures of the car during the day. Should be able to capture better reflection shots! We'll see.

Updates!

Stupid keyboard. I typed a long post and accidentally deleted everything.

Sorry for it's been a while since I've updated this blog. I've been busy detailing nice cars over at the customer's houses, but sadly, I cannot post the pic etc because the owners specifically asked me not to. Well, since they paid me quite a good premium for doing their cars at their homes, with lots of drinks and yummy food, I can't complain, can I?

I was asked by one of my newer batch of customers on waxes / sealants. It's basically :
- Depending on the polishing work done prior to wax / sealant application. This is because only a nicely polished paintwork will look it's best.
- Durability of wax / sealant used depends on so much. Driven daily, driven sedately, driven hard, parked outside, garaged, washed often, and so forth.

The problem that we Malaysian's are facing is that, since Malaysia is a high humidity country, with extremely hot sun in the afternoon, and then a thunderstorm later at night, making the durabilty of waxes / sealants used to become short, between 4 weeks, to a maximum of 2 months plus. :(

Which brings us to : It's always a good idea, especially during the 1st detailing, to let the detailer inspect the exterior. Then let him know all those details about the car [ as stated above ], so that, he'll know what products to use, what tools to use, and can recommend you on when to wash the car, when to send the car for re - waxing / sealant, and when to send the car back for a full job.

Mercedes Benz CLK

Last Sunday, I detailed my friend's Mercedes Benz CLK, the colour of the is somewhat green and black in colour. I was in a hurry as owner wanted to pick the car up a.s.a.p, so there are no prior pictures. Steps taken was :


- Wash with MG NXT wash solution
- Dry with MG waffle - weave MF and MG MF suede cloth
- Clay with MG mild clay and MG Quik Detailer as lubricant
- Wash again
- Dry again
- Taped the car
- Polished with MG Professional Cleaner / Polish, via Bosch GEX-270AE, with MG polishing pads. Two polishing runs per panel.
- Wax with MG NXT Paste wax, one layer
- Wax with MG Gold Class wax, one layer
- Final wax layer with MG NXT Spray wax.


Here are the afters, enjoy!