[Notechy]

Still in my very early days on this forum, and discovering new ways of seeing things. So previously unfamiliar with the concept of detailing.

I have much appreciated my two successive BMW's, each kept for in excess of 7 years and 100,000 miles, and trust that the recently ordered 335 xd tourer will be appreciated even more. But I appreciate them principally as rewarding workhorses, with good looks as a bonus. My approach to car care has never been more than regular servicing as directed plus trips to the nearest hand-car-wash.

Given this general stance, is there still a case for investing in the services of a detailer when the car is new? If yes, to do what, and how to select?

Thanks in advance.

[....,,,,..,,..]

Yes definitely worth doing.

There are a few from your neck of woods on here who used local detailer.

Failing that check out detailing world.

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/foru...ad.php?t=59863

Check out the average prices as well, some seem to think BMW and add extra 100.

[Tengocity]

If you use a professional detailer, and some of the modern sealants which can do the job of an old fashioned wax, but last for much longer, then I find your car just stays "newer" for that bit longer, and also becomes incredibly easy to keep clean. The sooner you do it then the sooner you protect your new car in the best condition it is ever likely to be in.

Well worth it for a few hundred pounds in my view.

[Quakered]

Well an alternative view for you! I have to confess I find the American euphamisim "detailing" a tad irritating (much like calling the bog a "restroom"). What you are actually doing in paying someone to clean and polish your car. Now the upside to this is you are undeniably sharing your wealth with some East European families and this is surely a good thing. The downside is the job is very easy and for us pensioners, it is reasonable excerise and is something the lady wife will never interrupt you doing as she will see it as your (valuable) contribution to housekeeping so that you need never feel guilty when she is at the sink or driving the Hoover around the house.

The products the East European car cleaners (sorry, Detailers) use can be purchased over the counter with you supplying the very finest elbow grease. A couple of times a year you need a major session to clean the car , apply a polish and then a sealant followed by a good wax. It should not take more than 2 hours, tops. In between this bi annual event you need a half hour to clean the beast (preferably weekly). With perhaps a little extra time every month for a hoover out the inside and get all the plastic sparklingly clean. If you have a black interior, you can probably get away with hoover and cleaning the interior biannually with the big polish session.

If you are very committed to sharing your money with Eastern European families, I understand there are young ladies up in Soho who will help you in this regard and I am sure you will enjoy it far more than using the money to get someone to clean your car!!

[....,,,,..,,..]

Originally Posted by Quakered

Well an alternative view for you! I have to confess I find the American euphamisim "detailing" a tad irritating (much like calling the bog a "restroom"). What you are actually doing in paying someone to clean and polish your car. Now the upside to this is you are undeniably sharing your wealth with some East European families and this is surely a good thing. The downside is the job is very easy and for us pensioners, it is reasonable excerise and is something the lady wife will never interrupt you doing as she will see it as your (valuable) contribution to housekeeping so that you need never feel guilty when she is at the sink or driving the Hoover around the house.

The products the East European car cleaners (sorry, Detailers) use can be purchased over the counter with you supplying the very finest elbow grease. A couple of times a year you need a major session to clean the car , apply a polish and then a sealant followed by a good wax. It should not take more than 2 hours, tops. In between this bi annual event you need a half hour to clean the beast (preferably weekly). With perhaps a little extra time every month for a hoover out the inside and get all the plastic sparklingly clean. If you have a black interior, you can probably get away with hoover and cleaning the interior biannually with the big polish session.

If you are very committed to sharing your money with Eastern European families, I understand there are young ladies up in Soho who will help you in this regard and I am sure you will enjoy it far more than using the money to get someone to clean your car!!

Utter bollox

You will find that detailers, are predominantly British.

You clearly have no idea what so ever.

The world has moved on a fair bit since halfords and a spot of turtle wax.

A lot of very good products out there will protect your car in excess of 18 months if topped up correctly.

Yes you can do this yourself or you can have someone who is trained and capable provide the service.

I would suggest initially someone uses a detailer until they understand how to use the various products.

There are a huge amount of products that do the same, however some awe better than others.

An example of various works.

http://www.beautechnique.co.uk/bmw-gallery.html

[Thackers]

Originally Posted by Brigand

Utter bollox

You will find that detailers, are predominantly British.

You clearly have no idea what so ever.

The world has moved on a fair bit since halfords and a spot of turtle wax.

A lot of very good products out there will protect your car in excess of 18 months if topped up correctly.

Yes you can do this yourself or you can have someone who is trained and capable provide the service.

I would suggest initially someone uses a detailer until they understand how to use the various products.

There are a huge amount of products that do the same, however some awe better than others.

An example of various works.

http://www.beautechnique.co.uk/bmw-gallery.html

^^

+1

Plus watch a few short videos on YouTube once you've decided on your preferred products..
Decent products applied correctly definitely help the weekly wash. Both in terms of time and final finish..!..

[Proftinkerpot]

If you are not so fussy about the cleaning routine for your car, you might be better just getting it detailed before you sell it on, as you could get your money back by making a 7 year old 100k miler look like a well cared for example just before you pass it on.

[JustChris]

Originally Posted by Proftinkerpot

If you are not so fussy about the cleaning routine for your car, you might be better just getting it detailed before you sell it on, as you could get your money back by making a 7 year old 100k miler look like a well cared for example just before you pass it on.

This is a good post, that 3-400 quid could yield a much higher sale.

I've never had a car detailed but see it can look superb. I'm planning on having it done maybe after 18 months to help me beat that 'my cars not so new and shiny' feeling and stop me shopping around!

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by Brigand

Utter bollox

You will find that detailers, are predominantly British.

You clearly have no idea what so ever.

The world has moved on a fair bit since halfords and a spot of turtle wax.

A lot of very good products out there will protect your car in excess of 18 months if topped up correctly.

Yes you can do this yourself or you can have someone who is trained and capable provide the service.

I would suggest initially someone uses a detailer until they understand how to use the various products.

There are a huge amount of products that do the same, however some awe better than others.

An example of various works.

http://www.beautechnique.co.uk/bmw-gallery.html

+2

Was this post written in the 70's?

Not sure if I'm more offended by the chauvinism or the xenophobia, or the complete ignorance of what a detailer actually does.

The local car wash, yes run by some extremely hard working and diligent Albanians charges no more than £6-30 for various levels of washing and polishing as described. Totally fine for most people.

Detailers do a hell of a lot more than that, which can be done by anyone, but done properly takes at least a day and sometime longer. And some of the modern sealants need an overnight cure. But the difference is absolutely immense, and the long term protection significant.

[....,,,,..,,..]

Oh and another thing!

It was only when we started getting Eastern Europeans in, that someone actually decided to start working hard and saw that there was a need for low cost non rip off garage car wash facilities.

The chav welfare state English were too busy watching trisha and Jeremy Kyle, to get off their jogger clad arses.

Rant over

I guess some people move from being a Welfare case to a BMW owning pensioner quite easily.

[JoshB25]

The level and quality of finish an accredited detailer can produce is far better than anyone with a few Halfords products. Also a big difference between a valeter and a detailer.

If it's done properly from day 1 using quality products then maintaining it is much easier. No need for painstaking deep cleans or hours upon hours trying to get it back to how it used to look. Let the products do the work for you.

[Quakered]

Hang about, can we apply some logic to this thread? My proposition was that cleaning and polishing your car is simple task than can be undertaken by anyone quickly and simply with the correct products. Mr Brigand (or should I call him Colonel?) disagrees with me but then he also has started a thread with pictures of his own car that he has cleaned and polished. I think he rather proves my point surely.

Col. Brigand seems to rather push the point that he and logical thought are strangers by his talk of welfare case to pensioner. Is this statement based on even the smallest modicum of information? It don't think so as I don't think I know anyone who lives in the Midlands. Also slightly ironic statement from someone I think who spent most of this working life as a Civil Servant and therefore dependant on the state.

Please be assured however that having spent 47 years in continuous employment, I don't resent my taxes helping you to rent a BMW.

[....,,,,..,,..]

Originally Posted by Quakered

Hang about, can we apply some logic to this thread? My proposition was that cleaning and polishing your car is simple task than can be undertaken by anyone quickly and simply with the correct products. Mr Brigand (or should I call him Colonel?) disagrees with me but then he also has started a thread with pictures of his own car that he has cleaned and polished. I think he rather proves my point surely.

Col. Brigand seems to rather push the point that he and logical thought are strangers by his talk of welfare case to pensioner. Is this statement based on even the smallest modicum of information? It don't think so as I don't think I know anyone who lives in the Midlands. Also slightly ironic statement from someone I think who spent most of this working life as a Civil Servant and therefore dependant on the state.

Please be assured however that having spent 47 years in continuous employment, I don't resent my taxes helping you to rent a BMW.

I suggest you take a slow read of your first post on this thread.

You know the bits that's are blatantly xenophobic and pretty much down right racist.
As for midlands, nice area, one of about 10 I have lived in, including London.

It actually sickens me that us 'civil servants' spend even a second of our time to protect narrow mind people...

Yes I did wash n wax my car, I also plan to pay for it to be detailed later in year. As my local detailer who actually grew his business from nothing to actually have to employ people has a full order book.

Please just keep to the EDL forum please.

Thank you.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by Quakered

Hang about, can we apply some logic to this thread? My proposition was that cleaning and polishing your car is simple task than can be undertaken by anyone quickly and simply with the correct products. Mr Brigand (or should I call him Colonel?) disagrees with me but then he also has started a thread with pictures of his own car that he has cleaned and polished. I think he rather proves my point surely.

Col. Brigand seems to rather push the point that he and logical thought are strangers by his talk of welfare case to pensioner. Is this statement based on even the smallest modicum of information? It don't think so as I don't think I know anyone who lives in the Midlands. Also slightly ironic statement from someone I think who spent most of this working life as a Civil Servant and therefore dependant on the state.

Please be assured however that having spent 47 years in continuous employment, I don't resent my taxes helping you to rent a BMW.

So the main point, putting politics aside, is that you clearly have no idea what "detailing" actually is. That you confuse it with the weekly cleaning and polishing routine shows as much. Anyone who has used a professional car detailer will also do the regular washing and maintenance as well.

Clearly, not everyone is that bothered by it, and no one says you have to do it, but if someone asks for an open-minded opinion on what you get from it, then I I'm sorry to say I see little value of the input from someone who doesn't even understand it!

I really don't want to get in to Politics on a car website, but to suggest that anyone who is employed in the Public service, is "dependant" on the government is akin to being on welfare or something to be seen as 'lesser' than being in the private sector seems a touch offensive to about 40% of the population.

[ipilcher]

This thread has me wishing we had more industrious Eastern Europeans (or anyone else) in Texas, so that I didn't have to wash my car myself.

[mmcc1972]

Originally Posted by Thackers

^^

+1

Plus watch a few short videos on YouTube once you've decided on your preferred products..
Decent products applied correctly definitely help the weekly wash. Both in terms of time and final finish..!..

+2

Try washing your car with 2 buckets,1 with clean water with a neutral pH and the other with clean water and a dirt/grit guard at the bottom. Also use a wash mitt, not a sponge. After washing each panel clean your wash mitt in the crimes bucket. When you've done washing the car have a look in the rinse bucket and then consider how many scratches you would have out on the car if you had used a sponge and a single bucket. This is the basis for detailing but is only the first step.

I got my car detailed when bit was new and rain water beads and runs off the paint very readily. The coatings that the Detailer used are high quality and this makes less dirt station the car and also make cleaning it much easier and much quicker. A good quality Detailer will actually improve a brand new car, the guy I use has done work for customers from various manufacturers who claim to "thoroughly prepare" their cars, but its all down to cost in the dealership so its a quick wash over then out the door.

This may sound harsh but your post is very ignorant of the work that can be done by detailers. It's not just giving a car a quick 15min wash. A good Detailer will be able to protect your paintwork and make things easier for you to take care of your own car for yourself,and that includes interior (leather care,trim care) as well as exterior of the car.

To Other posts. I would suggest its better to use detailing as a preventative measure at the start rather than a condition recovery method at the end of a lease - however each to their own.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by ipilcher

This thread has me wishing we had more industrious Eastern Europeans (or anyone else) in Texas, so that I didn't have to wash my car myself.

They do a pretty good job for not that much money! The only issue for me is that you get more swirl marks on the paint than if you do it yourself with a textbook two-bucket method... again, not something everyone does or cares about, but I do.

[rjsuk]

Quakered.
Please don't spoil an enjoyable forum with offensive politics and views.

When Farage is on telly I change channel, but I hope not to have to avoid threads with interesting discussion to avoid your nonsense.

[Quakered]

Colonel Brigand,

You are still letting your belecose and bullying tone to over ride rational thought. You accuse me of xenohpboia and racism. Now the former is an irrational fear or loathing of foreigners. I give you the definition as I fear you may not actually understand what it means but have merely selected the word from your PC Book of Vile Insults. My only reference to foreigners was suggesting that East Europeans work as "detailers" (OK and hookers…). I don't see how you can interpret this as me regarding East Europeans as the devil's spawn. The real message is that the work of "detailing" is so simple and devoid of skill that it can be safely undertaken by the newly arrived who will work diligently and enthusiastically at this very simple task.

I have used a garage offering "detailing" to clean my car when it is too damned cold to do it myself and based on this statistical sample of 1 can assure you they were East Europeans. We had a fine team of East European builders installing external insulation to our house and was full of admiration for the attitude and work rate. Our dustmen are also East Europeans. When I go to my Club (and indeed those of my friends) the bar staff and waiters are mostly East Europeans. Even when dining at the Mansion House I have to report those diligent staff who ensure your glass is always fully are also mostly from Eastern Europe. So please understand that I am fully of admiration for these hard working immigrants and am grateful for these presence.

I don't want to spend too much time refuting your silly insults but do have to report that in my retirement I am working with a charity that's focus is on helping poor and desperate families in the East End to get back on track. We have been doing this work for over 500 years although I have not been involved with them all this time! Most of the people we now help are Somalia and Bengali families who are not coping with western life. Now is this the sort of work you would expect of a xenophobe?

AS final proof of my love of things foreign I would also report that we have 2 Siamese cats!

I get the message that detailing is more than a wash and polish but also suspect this is this is just a new bunch of tradesmen attempting to exagerate the skills needed to do their work. If the good Colonel should publish pictures of his car after it has been "detailed" I suspect even the most extreme suffer of OCD would be hard pressed to spot the difference with his own efforts in any area other than his bank account. Unless you intend to mount the car in a glass case in our hall immediately after the clean, then surely within one or week weeks of use, it will again be just another dirty car on our streets.

A fool and his money…..

[nas80]

The problem with these new BMW's is the poor standard the paint has been sprayed. they are terrible, in fact if any of my restos came back from the painter with that standard of paint job - they would be getting sent back with a verbal slap.

KDS - a well respected detailer offers the Gold Wet Sand which removes 90% of the orange peel.

"We will completely remove the orange peel on the top panels (eye line panels) and partial wet sand the rest of the vehicle. A very popular choice with our customers.

Time taken : 55-90hrs (min 7 day booking)

Price from : Small: £1300, Medium: £1600, Large: £2000, X-Large/4x4: £2500"


Watch the below video. that is what detailing actually is, its not a "car wash"

[nas80]

Lol @ the quacker logic. I struggle to see how someone can be so opinionated for someone who is clearly not armed with any facts whatsoever.

[deeno]

Fully agree that any kind of paint correction, particularly if it requires a machine polisher is something beyond my capabilities and something I would use a detailer for. However for just applying new car protection I havent bothered and have just done this myself.

I've never even polished a car before but after a checking out a few detailing threads on here it really wasnt hard. Pre wash, two bucket wash with gritguard and softmit pre wax cleanser then just apply a long last quality wax that goes on and buffs off easy.

Car looks even better than when it left the showroom and dirt literally just falls off every time I wash it now. Was fucked afterwards so can understand why people use a detailer!