I need a pro detailer in the Santa Monica/ LA area

[glacon]

Brand new Nissan Altima, black in color, was given a bad case of buffer swirl all over the car by the dealership. I am looking for someone who could get it out for me.

[RDVT4ME]

Re: I need a pro detailer in the Santa Monica/ LA area

You should contact Joe at Superior Shine

http://www.superiorshine.com/

He is a MOL member and one of the best in the business.

[glacon]

Re: I need a pro detailer in the Santa Monica/ LA area

Spoke to Joe. Sounds great, but thinks it will take $600 to fix. Dealer balked at that and wants to use his own outside detailer West Valley Motoring to do it for a third of that.

[SRT84JM]

Re: I need a pro detailer in the Santa Monica/ LA area

Get the dealer to agree to no swirls - in writing.
Have the Valley group do the work.
Inspect with Brinkmann Dual Xenon light for swirls. No swirls? You're in. Swirls either Joe or back to the valley group until they get it right.

[roushstage2]

Re: I need a pro detailer in the Santa Monica/ LA area

Get the dealer to agree to no swirls - in writing.
Have the Valley group do the work.
Inspect with Brinkmann Dual Xenon light for swirls. No swirls? You're in. Swirls either Joe or back to the valley group until they get it right.

Yeah, but if they can't get it right, how many times do you want them buffing the car with a rotary?

[Markus Kleis]

Re: I need a pro detailer in the Santa Monica/ LA area

Yeah, but if they can't get it right, how many times do you want them buffing the car with a rotary?

Good point...heh.

You only have so much clear coat. I suggest calling both the dealer, and the detailer and let them know that you want a contract IN WIRITING guaranteeing a FULL removal of all swirls and holograms or they will pay for YOUR detailer of choice to fix the damage. Also discuss that if they do not fix it properly, you will also have the paint checked to see if too much clear was removed, potentially compromising the clear coat and requiring the dealership to also pay for a new paint job.

If they realize how serious you are they may decide to pay for the proper detail work in the first place.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: I need a pro detailer in the Santa Monica/ LA area

Good luck. Maybe you could get Joe to do the detail and have the dealer fork over the $200.00 after you paid Joe. This way its done right the first time, your clear coat will not be compromised by someone doing it wrong. You may be out the $400.00 but the headache is gone.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: I need a pro detailer in the Santa Monica/ LA area

Yeah, but if they can't get it right, how many times do you want them buffing the car with a rotary?

Since the dealership made the mistake in the first place the decision for getting it right the second time should be your decision, not theirs. As pointed out above and on page 3 of your original thread, there's a limited amount of factory clear coat on the car and it has to last over the service life of the car.

Are holograms and buffer swirl the norm for a black car?


In our Saturday classes, one of the things we point out in our power point presentation is how thin the factory clear coat is and that it is safe to remove up to .5 mils without compromising the integrity of the clear coat.

The dealership has already removed some measurable amount with their work and now the next guy is going to have to remove some more clear paint in order to remove the swirls the dealership instilled as explained in this article.

What it means to remove a scratch out of anything...


Wouldn't blame Joe or any other Pro detailer for actually turning the job down.

Best of luck to you no matter how this turns out, maybe someday dealerships will quit instilling swirls in brand new cars. Just for the record Meguiar's has provided training and education in this area for dealerships in the SoCal area as long as I can remember but this is a tough nut to crack as many dealerships don't give the paint polishing aspect of their in-house detail work the serious attention it deserves but also the turnover rate of their detailers is high enough that it does make it hard for them to maintain properly trained technicians.

[Hemin8r]

Re: I need a pro detailer in the Santa Monica/ LA area

Sorry to hear about your experience. Why did the dealership buff out the car if it was new? Do you have any pics to show how bad it is?
Hope all works out and have this issue resolved with the dealership.

[glacon]

Re: I need a pro detailer in the Santa Monica/ LA area

I have no doubt that Joe is worth his fee. I have considered having the dealer split the cost 50%, 50%. I am short on cash having just moved out here from NY, and not having started my job yet. Has anyone heard of Exclusive Auto Detailing?

[Paul S]

Re: I need a pro detailer in the Santa Monica/ LA area

Just my 2 cents but you would be better off waiting until funds weren't as tight and have Joe do it correctly then take a chance on another unknown shop and have to live with the results for the remaining life of the paint. Being in a hurry will come back to haunt you for a long time. Paul

[seth1066]

Re: I need a pro detailer in the Santa Monica/ LA area

Unless the OP is a swirl expert, I would suggest no one really knows, yet, how bad/deep the swirls actually are. Therefore, no real solution can be offered. However, Irvine, CA is not that far away and neither is September 6th.

[CAShine]

Re: I need a pro detailer in the Santa Monica/ LA area

This is definately a tough situation. You need to find out first what the dealership will do. You should keep in mind that they will try to short change you. They made they mistake, they need to fix it. Real simple.

[seth1066]

Re: I need a pro detailer in the Santa Monica/ LA area

This is definately a tough situation. You need to find out first what the dealership will do. You should keep in mind that they will try to short change you. They made they mistake, they need to fix it. Real simple.

My thinking is, at this point, he can't accept any fix from the dealer until he knows what the actual damage is, as verified by some qualified independent source.

[Nappers]

Re: I need a pro detailer in the Santa Monica/ LA area

NO doubt that Joe will do you good, you can take it to "their" detailer and have worse problems with it when they take most of the clear coat off trying to "buff" it out or leave worse holograms and when the clear coat fails, have to repaint the car.

I would make them take your detailer as he is professional and has a great reputation, not only here but in Southern California as well! Heck in Korea he is known!