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!

The Great Test! #1

Hey guys! 1st of all, thank you very much for being avid readers to my Personal Detailing blog.

Now, there are still a number of potential clients who doubt my ability in detailing the paintwork of one's car. Or complaining that my prices are a bit steep. Steep? How can you compare my work, and the product used with your regular car wash guys who only use cheapo polish, and never canvassed the polished car with a really good wax as a protective and sacrifical barrier? And do your regular car wash guy can remove all holograms, reduce at least 40% of swirls ( not hiding them yah! But reduce 'em! ) on your car, while in the same time, not adding more scratches and swirls? Those car wash bays charge RM 80.00 to wash your car ( with the kind of soap solutions that may surprise you. Note : some of them use the same soap solution you use to wash your clothes! Haha! ), dry with Good Morning towels ( while I use Meguiar's MF chamois! ), and vacuum your interior, then proceed to polish your car with most probably, the cheapo RM 20.00 - 35.00 polish compounds with old t - shirts and again, Good Morning towels!

Yes, I can never compare my work with professional detailers locally here, who actually do it for a living. Well, come on. Those guys got big detailing bays, a hell lots of staffs too. Well, I do it for a living too, but it's more like a pastime hobby to me, as I do it alone, and I thoroughly enjoy to see, the fruits of my labour, and to have the owner / customer, to say words like : Wow! You did such a great job! As usual, my car will gleam, shine and yet, have much lesser swirls compared to other cars around my block!

So, in this case, I have decided to use my car as The Great Test, or, as a testament to my abilities to detail the paintwork of a car. My car have not been detailed, or better yet, washed for over 2 months now. My car went into the workshop twice, so you can imagine those filthy oil marks around the car's exterior. And do not forget, bird poo marks may have already embedded itself deeply into the paintwork too.

My digicam is with my girl, so as soon ( should be today or tomorrow ) I'll get it back and proceed to snap a few detailed pictures of the car in it's current extremely filthy state. Then, I will proceed to wash with Meguiar's NXT car wash solution, dry, clay with Meguiar's mild clay, rinse, machine polish with Meguair's Professional range of Cleaner + Polish ( that will thoroughly clean the paintwork, remove all holograms, reduce the appearance of swirls and scratches up to 50 - 60% off, and reintroduce important oils into the paintwork to make it shine better, deeper, and wetter. All in one process! ), and finally, put a couple of coats of NXT Paste Wax. This process may take up to 7 hours, plus breaks in between, this is because I want to ensure that I do a damn good job!

Then, after all is done, I will snap pics of the car, as proof of before and after. I seriously hope that The Great test will be proof that I do great work, at great prices! And yes, hopefully more customers too... :)

New Additions : Blue Honda Jazz VTEC and Red Old Skool Merc wagon

Recent additions, my uncle's red ( I think original colour! ) and my pal's blue Jazz VTEC. Both only done by hand, but check the results!

Customer NO. 2 : Black Honda Civic FD

Today one of my regular customers came for a full detail job. Normal process, as usual. Pictures say a million words, enjoy!

Result after working in Meguiar's Professional range of Cleaner + Polish! My hands was shaking a little bit though. Nice, clean wet finish, with little to no swirls.

The same process, as above. Picture is from the right hand side front fender area. Again, clear reflection, deep, wet and clear!

The reflection fron the rear bonnet, after buffing off the Meguiar's NXT Paste Wax. Again, clean, clear reflection.

The reflection shot from the roof. Beautiful!

The result. Shame it wasn't daytime, or not, I would have been able to take better pictures!

Mobile Detailing Service!

I am now happy to inform all my blog readers, that I now offer mobile detailing, that is, at your home! Sadly, there are some constraints :

- You can either wash your vehicle prior to my arrival, as I can prep the bodywork before the complete detail service is done.
- I can only do exterior detailing.
- I can wash your car for you, but I need a water pipe and a loooooooong hose.
- If you want me to come and detail your car during the daytime, please make sure that there are enough shade to cover the whole car, as it is not a good idea to polish and wax a car right smack under the burning sun, and it might rain too!
- If you want me to come and detail your car during the night, please make sure that there is sufficent lighting to cover the whole car.
- I need at least, a booking of 3 days ahead.
- Prices vary on location and size of car.

Interested, please e-mail! Mucha thanks!

Customer No. 4 : Dark Green Mercedes Benz CLK

It's been a while since I've updated this blog. This is my customer number 4, driving a dark green Mercedes Benz CLK. Same process as my other clients. Pictures tell the whole story. I couldn't post a few more pictures of the full car, as my hands was shaking due to extreme hunger, and that using the flash will not yield the best picture result. Enjoy!

This picture is a bit blurry. Aiyah...

This picture was taken with a flash, due to my unsteady hand.

Picture taken after complete detail was done on the whole front. Check out the clear reflections!

No obvious swirls! And the reflection of the sparkling effect on the paint, and no flash was used for this picture too!

Again, sharp and clear reflection!

Look at the reflection of the rain, on the front bonnet. Beautiful reflection, paint looks wet. :)

Sadly, it rained as soon as the car was ready. So we waited until the rain subsided, and as he drove off, his car looked a lot sharper, a lot wetter, and reflects so much, although, the sun was hiding behind the clouds. Even the black Honda Civic following behind him didn't have such properties on it's paintwork. Sadly, I couldn't get a good pic of the car driving away...

Refresher Update! Customer No. 2 : Black Honda Civic FD

Last Sunday, the 1st CNY, my number two customer came for a wash + maintenance work. As I was drying the car up, I noticed this loooooooong multitudes of scratch on the car's right hand side, passangger door all the way to the RHD upper fender. It looks like someone was leaning on her car, and swiped his / her sorry arse to and fro this particular area. Here are two pictures depicting the damage done to the paintwork :

Pretty bad!!!

More fun work for me then!

And here are the afters :

Look ma, no more scratches! Hehe!