costly car detailing

[Alex7938]

I think a few people are bashing him without fully knowing what he's capable of.

Your all assuming that hes left holograms/buffer trails?

And if you watch it, it is set up from a cost perspective instead of paint/car care perspective.

I know a few of the steps were a little wrong, but he obviously does something right as people( and we're talking rich people who ar'nt stupid when it comes to spending money(lottery winners aside)) keep going back.

And how hard is it to clean a car that'll probably cover 1000 miles a year or just sit in someones collection?

ps the wax in question is called Royale Glaze and now costs £7118.00( around $12,000)

[Lt1Corvette]

Originally posted by sneek
lol at least every detailing fourm is bashing this guy

He is getting bashed on ferrari chat as well.
Detailing knowledge aside. His pitch is great. He is expensive and and his products exotic. That makes people assume he is the best.

[Alex7938]

Even on detailingworld.co.uk we've bashed him, but he's probably got loads more clients because of that 6 minute slot.

[Mikeyc]

This guy really is getting bashed all over the place. I think I've seen this thread on at least 5 different forums now and he's getting flack on in each one.

I can't really say he's doing anything wrong except maybe he should use the two bucket wash method. Personally, I've been bare hand applying wax for years without issue and get great results. Also, he probably shouldn't be washing out in direct sun light, but sometimes you don't have a choice.

Anyway, it seems most of the bashing comes from his outrageous prices and the outrageous costs of the products he uses. Frankly, I say "more power to him!" If he can find people to pay these prices I think that's awesome. Personally, I feel he uses expensive products in part to justify his prices. I'm sure similar results could be achieved with far cheaper products, but then he would have to charge less.

It's really great marketing plain and simple and I don't think people should be down on him for that. He probably makes a great living and obviously gets to work on some great cars.

On a side note I once saw an interview on TV with a detailer who used Evian to wash cars. I'm sure there's no advantage in terms of results with using bottled water, but it allowed him to charge more and get celebrity clients interested in his services.

[Alex7938]

Also if you wash your cars then put it into the garage and not use it for a couple of weeks, would you 2 bucket washit again? as i doubt youd need to, as it would just be light dusting.

Originally posted by Mikeyc
On a side note I once saw an interview on TV with a detailer who used Evian to wash cars. I'm sure there's no advantage in terms of results with using bottled water, but it allowed him to charge more and get celebrity clients interested in his services.

Doesnt mineral water contain things like calcium?? making it a hard water??

[Mikeyc]

Originally posted by Alex7938
Also if you wash your cars then put it into the garage and not use it for a couple of weeks, would you 2 bucket washit again? as i doubt youd need to, as it would just be light dusting.

Doesnt mineral water contain things like calcium?? making it a hard water??

It never hurts to use the two bucket method. IMO there's no such thing as "too careful" when it comes to my car. Also, I'm not 100% sure it was Evian. It might have been regular bottled water most of which are just filtered water.

[sneek]

lol this makes me want to start up my own detailing place

i will used meguiars products but i will but it from the most expensive retailer possible lol and only one pad per pannel

[Erik Mejia]

His website says that his wax will protect the surface for up to a couple of years... I wonder if he knows that carnauba evaporates and disappears sooner than if he were to use a synthetic. I'd place my bets on Mike, Tim, and Joe over this guy everytime. I couldn't get over the fact that he washes and dries before cleaning the wheels, even I know that's a no no, and I'm not a pro.

[SL1CK]

Yeah, I've seen this somewhere, I can't seem to remember where, I think it was here? And how it takes over 61 steps to detail a car, and two weeks to do it. I'm trying to find the article, he washes with purified water and such. Be right back if I find it.

[SL1CK]

Well I wasn't able to edit my last post, but heres one article that I found that has the 61 Steps he uses. This isn't the one I've seen, but has most of the same content.

http://mediablog.mail2web.com/gadgetmaniac/blog/archive/2006/05/4542/

[fuzzydd]

I wouldn't want to reveal every little thing about my process/technique/products if I were him.. it's not an instructional video lol..

I wonder if anyone's actually e-mailed him to ask why he does some of the things he does instead of flaming him behind his back..?

info@miracledetail.co.uk

[JulesE34]

There is a lot of unfair critisim about this individual, on this forum and others.

I have seen this guys work in person and I can gaurantee you that he does not leave swirls or holograms or any other kind of paint defect behind him.

This Guy also has contracts with our 'local' Ferrari and Lambroghini Dealerships. Do you honestly think that they would pay out similar money for the preperation of their show cars and their customers cars if his work wasn't up to scratch?

Perhaps it's because of the large amounts of money that this guy charges, that he has secured a niche in the market, and got a lot of free publicity for it as well that's got everyone jealous ?

Give the guy a break, he works hard and he gets paid well for his work by people that can clearly afford it (So he's not ripping anyone off, is he?) and he clearly loves what he does. Whats wrong with that?

[Details]

Re: costly car detailing

He's good. Yes carnauba evaporates quicker but only when its hot and in the sun. how many mc 12's and enzos stay in the sun for long amount of time. These carnauba waxes are great for garage babies not daily drivers. When I use the zymol line I have noticed that when applying the wax with an applicator pad it runs out quicker. Applying by hand allows me to spread a smaller amount further due to the price of the wax. It not special bare hand applied its just being cheap I guess you would call it, and no it does not leave scrathes when you have a correctly preparated surface and clean hands.

I would also beleive the carnauba to be more for protection, rather then shine. Its the oils that softent then carnauba to make it workable that give it the shine. Thats what i beleive. I mean because carnauba in nature protects leaves on plants from drying out, not makes leaves shiny! Carnauba swells up when it gets wet. Thus creates beading. Greater protection, but for a shorter amount of time. ( thats why its on garage babies)

He washes in the sun because he has spot free water. He leaves out some of his steps so that way people like us cant duplicate it. Yes some of his prices are expensive and same with the wax, but when you have a few million dollar cars, you kind of forget what money is. He also does use the two bucket method, check out his website. As far as cleaning the wheels after cleaning the paint, that is backwards but how do you know he told them to edit the video differently.

He also considers his steps little things like. Step 1 washing, step 2 cleaning the wheels, step 3 cleaning the windows, and sooo on....

I also beleive the reason he breakes it up over a week or so is to let the polishes/waxes cure and dry before reapplying them for the second, third, and fourth time... Also some of those cars take 1-2 days of just straight machine polishing to get perfect due to their clear coats being hard as rock! Also you have to give the car a final rinse off/ washing because of all the powder from polishing, but you have to wait for them to fully dry before doing so or els they will just come right off.

You guys have to study and analyze things before you start bashing peoples business.

[MrCLRider]

Re: costly car detailing

I just really do not know what to say about all of the comments I have just read on Paul... he has made a name for himself in the detailing world, why try and break it apart and take it away from him.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: costly car detailing

This is actually a thread from 2006 that was revived, I'm not sure why myself or someone else didn't bring up our forum rules in this thread early on to remind everyone we don't allow bashing.

Just to note, my comments in this thread were specific to the idea of using your bare hand to apply wax, regardless of whose doing it.


Anyways, one of the hardest things I think there is to do is to get top dollar for detailing cars. At least that's my experience here in America. My experience is that getting $300.00, $400.00, $500.00, $600.00 from the owner of a special interest car to remove all the swirls and create a show car finish is tough to do and usually requires you to either educate the person on what's involved so they understand the cost, or you have to have built up a reputation that enables you to command high prices. Of course you in part build-up your reputation by buffing out a lot of cars and this circles back to educating your customer to get top dollar.

At least that's my experience here in the U.S. working mostly with average or normal people that are into cars. I've personally never rubbed elbows with the super rich where $3000.00 for a jar of wax or thousands of dollars to wash and buff-out a car is no big deal to them and they willing beat a path to your door. I like the idea though.

So hats off to Paul for figuring out how to market himself to command the top dollars he gets paid for his craft. Most of us car guys can buff out a car, but marketing yourself and your business is where the majority of us lack knowledge, creativity, salesmanship and good old fashioned marketing genius.

Oh yeah... here's the link to the forum rules, we don't allow bashing on this forum and our Moderators Andy and Mark won't allow it in the future.

Forum Rules