Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

[Bdawg393]

Ok, so i am so freakin excited!!! Yesterday me and my dad went to the bmw dealership to get a quote on a replacement part for his car. Me being so curious and a detail freak i wanted to see if there was any way that i could go in to the detail center there to talk to some of the guys and see if they had any tips/advice for me. We talked to the head detailer guy and he saw how interested i was in this stuff and next thing i know he says "hey how bout you come down here in two saturdays and i'll put you to work and show you some things". I was ecstatic to put it lightly. So basically in two weeks i get to go be an apprentice at a BMW detailing center. I have a feeling i am going to learn a lot and it's going to be a lot of hard work but I don't care. I love everything about detailing, even the dirty work. So wish me luck guys!

[gsxr310]

Re: Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

good luck w/ this. remember detailers in dealerships "tend" to rush their detail jobs. they mainly work w/ rotaries and not da's.. atleast in my area. especially the used car dept. this is where you will find buffer swirls (aka dealer installed swirls), holgrams, etc. due to production detailing. all they care about is getting cars "in and out".

not sure your level of experience w/ rotaries, but even some of the best detailers follow-up rotary polishing w/ a da. so try and get as much training w/ the rotary while you're over there.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

Congrats. Sounds like a great opportunity.

Keep us updated on how it goes. Best of luck to you.

[Bdawg393]

Re: Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

yeah actually this guy saw a scuff on my dad's car and sanded it down, buffed it out with a rotary, the polished up with a DA, and sealed it up with some wax. This guy was really nice and loves what he does. He did it all for free too! But we gave a 20 dollar tip cause of the great work he did. The result was flawless afterward out in the sun. Not one swirl in sight.

[Bdawg393]

Re: Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

Thanks guys, I definitely will.

[Josh9131]

Re: Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

Have fun, and let us know how it goes.

[SHYNEMAN123]

Re: Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

Any opportunity to watch and learn is well worth your time. Do not let the badge cloud what your eyes and ears tell you, I have worked and trained detailers in Chevrolet,Cadillac,Hummer,Jaguar and Nissan Dealerships and The Quality of the detail depends on a few things, 1. How is the Technician being paid, flat rate or Hourly 2.Type of products being used , correcting or filling 3.How are the products applied, hand ,rotary, D/A or sprayed on.

I would take a private well recommended detail shop over a dealer any day.
But the opportunity to watch someone else detail is always good even if what you learn is what not to do.

Please fill us in on

1. how there were paid
2. products used
3. type of application
4. how much time they are allowed per detail

See if they will let you take pictures for you to refer to later, most pro's I know are more than happy to show off there work.

[Bdawg393]

Re: Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

well lets see here.

1. This guy is the head of the detail dept. there so i don't really know. And something tells me that if he was willing to spend 30 mins on my dad's car for free and talk to me for all that time, he probably is getting a flat rate or a per year salary.

2. Meguiar's was all over the place in the shop. Everything from pads to interior chemicals to compounds to polishes. So i think that'll fly around here.

3. Buffing was done by DeWalt rotaries and polishing and waxing was done by the Dewalt DA's that i had previously asked about. They both seem to be efficient machines from what i saw.

4. And i am not sure on the time that is allowed per car. I'll be sure to ask a lot of questions while i'm there though. But if it helps, all of the guys working on the other cars didn't seem to be rushing, kinda takin their time actually which is not what i would have expected haha

[Ganesa]

Re: Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

Great to hear a dealer with full Meguiar's products :]....

Please bring us pictures of your days at work

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

Lucky you! For a young guy who's passionate about this hobby it must be exciting to be invited to hang out with these guys and see how things work in that environment. Hopefully, since this dealership seems to use a lot of Meguiar's products, they possess the skill to use them properly. If the guys are well trained and take pride in their work (and the guy they work for is going to have a lot to do with that attitude) then this may well be one of those dealerships that actually does an outstanding job of prepping vehicles.

We've very interested to hear how all this works out for you!

[Superior Shine]

Re: Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

Because of what your learned on MOL, you will be running the place in 2 weeks!

[the_invisible]

Re: Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

good luck w/ this. remember detailers in dealerships "tend" to rush their detail jobs. they mainly work w/ rotaries and not da's.. atleast in my area. especially the used car dept. this is where you will find buffer swirls (aka dealer installed swirls), holgrams, etc. due to production detailing. all they care about is getting cars "in and out".

not sure your level of experience w/ rotaries, but even some of the best detailers follow-up rotary polishing w/ a da. so try and get as much training w/ the rotary while you're over there.

This pretty much sums up my experience with dealers details.

My 335i arrived with a lot of factory instilled swirls (not installed by dealers). I complained and refused pick-up. The BMW store and I settled for their top end detail ($700), compliment of the manufacturer. The detail looked okay. But after a couple of days, lots of fine holograms and some swirls appeared. I was extremely busy with my businesses a couple years ago so I just left the car as is and never polished/waxed the car until two months ago.

In all fairness, most of the buffer trails or holograms instilled by the in-store detailers are usually very light and not hard to correct. They just need to be folllowed up with a medium or fine polish with a light-cut pad. Dealers just do not have the time to do IPA wipe down and pull the car out in the sun for inspection. I cannot speak for all dealers or stores, but most of them are certainly not hacks. They just lack the time for proper inspection and follow-up polish.

[Bdawg393]

Re: Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

Well i a really looking forward to it because i have never used a DA or rotary before so anything they teach me will be valuable info. But after reading about it on here i at least have somewhat of an idea. And i will be sure to keep you guys updated with how it goes!

[KC's]

Re: Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

snaps some pic & share it with us


all the best...never despise a humble begining

[Bdawg393]

Re: Apprentice at the BMW detail shop

WOW, i just had my first training today and i am so tired. The workday started at 8am and ended at 530pm. In total we did 11 cars between me and the guy i was working with. I learned so much! including how to use a rotary these were all brand new bmw's that were either recieved or being shipped off to some other dealership. The process consisted of:

-spray the wheels down with a degreaser
-clean the wheels with a degreaser soaked wash mitt
-hose the wheels off
-soak the car
-wash the car with a soap washmitt
-clean the windows with steel wool to remove the anti-rust chemical that is sprayed on to the cars when they are shipped from germany.
-spray the car down with a pressure washer
-dry outside and door jams with a chamois
-dress the tires
-apply wax with a dewalt DA (on some we did it by hand and removed by hand)
-take off the wax with a dewalt rotary (the rotary was a little challenge at first but i definately got the hang of it after about 30 mins
final wipe of the outside with a MF towel
-clean the inside of the windows
-vacuum
-clean any random spots on the interior
-apply the plastic floor coverings that you see in new cars on the lot (which are actually pretty tricky to put in)


and we did that about 11 times, it was a very very long day.
But i learned so much valuable information and he invited me back next week to teach me how to cut and tint windows and more sorry i dont have any pictures guys, i was busy the entire time haha