How long does it take you to fully detail?

[xantonin]

I'm talking about achieving a 99% correction on all painted surfaces, and fully detailing a car.

What tools do you use?
How long does it take?
How many segments/sessions, if any, does it take?




Background Story:
I recently just finished removing all the swirls in my paint. I had A LOT of deep rotary swirls from previous paint work to remove.

I use the G110 DA.

It took me 2 days to finish my roof, hood, front bumper and passenger side. Probably 12 hours each day, for a total of 24 hours. This was with UC, and M205.

A few months later, I finished the rear and driver's side. That took about 12+ hours straight. Using M105 and M205.




I feel that I am taking too long, but I don't know where my mistake is. Perhaps it's because I'm using a DA instead of a rotary? I would love to detail for dollars but I don't feel I could do a god enough job in 8 hours for one car.

[DogParkGuy]

Re: How long does it take you to fully detail?

I think you answered your question; your car had deep swirls. It takes longer to remove them. You are also seeking a 99% correction; that will take longer. I consider myself to have above- beginner skills. It takes me about 6 to eight hours to do the exterior of a Camry-sized car. That includes a wash, clay and wash again. Then buff the surface using a DAPC with #80 or #83. Then apply a wax. I probably correct 90% of the problems on the surface. I spend another 2-3 hours cleaning the interior. Tires add another 90 minutes. So that's the total time I expect to spend on an average-size car. For SUV or Van, it might be 50% longer. I hate to detail SUVs.

[RaskyR1]

Re: How long does it take you to fully detail?

That does seem a little long but so many variables go into it that there is no set time that it takes. I'd say it typically takes 2-3 hours to go around an averaged sized car with the PCXP/G110 using M105 or M205 as my choice of polish.

It could be that your swirls were just too deep and the polish you were using was not aggressive enough for the first step.

To remove rotary buffer swirls using the DA my first step will usually be M105 and a pad choice like the W7207 or an orange LC pad.

can you list the following steps you used (pad, product, speed setting,...)


Rasky

[yalerd]

Re: How long does it take you to fully detail?

At first it took longer because sometimes you loose too much trying to figure out the combination and products that are going to work.

Now I'm not faster, it takes as long as before, (12hrs aprox a full detail) I think that now I just get better results and improve

Really depends on the condition of the car and what you want to achieve. Maybe you can work faster but the important thing is that you get the results you are looking for

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: How long does it take you to fully detail?

As with most things in life, the more experienced you are the faster you can get the job done. But having said that, Depending on the condition of the vehicle 12 hours does not seem out of line.

[Autobrite]

Re: How long does it take you to fully detail?

A typical detail will take me around 6 to 8 hours depending on the level of correction needed.

[the_invisible]

Re: How long does it take you to fully detail?

That wasn't too long.

My retired race car, a 335i coupe, took me over 40hrs just to correct. It had a lot of deep swirls caused by improper washing; it was stored in my warehouse in Seattle. The paint was extremely hard and compounding alone took over 40hrs, the duration of a typical working week for most people. That didn't include washing, claying, interior steaming, leather cleaning, wheels, etc. There were ALOT of RIDS that I had to feathersand.

After compounding was done, M205 which took around 6hrs. four layers of LSP was applied 24hrs apart.


Total hours spent... 68hrs. The result is 100% paint correction.

Materials used:
Makita 9227
Porter Cable 7424XP
Meguiar's W64 v2 backing plate
Meguiar's WD67DA
Meguiar's Unigrit sandpaper 2000, 2500, 3000 grit
2x Meguiar's WWHC7 solo wool pad
3x 3.5" Lake Country Purple Foamed Wool Pads
4x 4" Lake Country Orange Pads
8x 5.5" Lake Country White Pads
5x 5.5" Lake Country Black Pads
5x 5.5" Lake Country Red Pads
M105
M205
Meguiar's aggressive Clay
NXT 2.0
Chemical Guys E-Zyme Paste Wax
Zymol leather cleaner and conditioner
M40

[Mudman]

Re: How long does it take you to fully detail?

I actually spend the same amount of time with UC and orange pad- then 205 with white pad. My schedule is usually pretty tight because I'm busy with mountain biking and photography. So I'll do sections at a time over the course of a month.

But once everything is done- I maintain it the best I can.

BTW this is all referring to my daily driver only. I've only done 2 or 3 other cars, besides my own.

[xantonin]

Re: How long does it take you to fully detail?

can you list the following steps you used (pad, product, speed setting,...)

Well I forget exactly what I did the first session, I know I ended up doing a lot of passes with the UC. I experimented with SwirlX for the process too, and probably did like 4 passes for each section.

This weekend when I finished my car on the driver's side, I used the yellow pad with M105 on speed setting 5. I did only one section at a time, but I overlapped the sections (so in reality I technically passed each area twice, for my reference here I'm considering 1 pass as going left-right, then up-down before wiping off the product). Is that considered one pass?

I passed over afterwards with M205 on a yellow pad, speed setting 5 too. But I just noticed I have some slight haze still, I may have to repeat the process.

I'm having difficulties measuring pressure VS speed. For example if I apply enough pressure the G110 slows down and then I feel it's not moving fast enough. So what I'll do is apply enough pressure to where it's just moving moderately fast but visible slower (I mark my pads to keep track), then after one pass I'll lessen my pressure to where the pad is practically rotating the same speed without any pressure but I'm pushing it to the surface. Not sure that makes sense...




So I feel a bit better now. Perhaps half my problem is the fact this is my own personal car and thus I expected nothing less than perfection. I'm just trying to figure out how I can do this on the side for other people in less time without expecting perfection and achieving decent time.