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Old 01-10-2009, 05:35 AM   #1
gaveup
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Default Something that baffles me about "professional detailers"

This has been eating at me for quite some time and I just can't make sense out of it.

I read and hear about guys quoting 10-20hrs needed for "paint correction" for cars that just have normal swirls and whatnot. What I don't understand is HOW it is taking these people so long to do it.

I've been detailing for quite some time (usually for friends and whatnot) and I have yet to have gotten a client whose car takes nearly that long. I've gotten some heavily oxidated and heavily swirled cars too...

So where does this hourly quote come from? I recently did a friends Acura TSX that was pretty bad. I'll break my process down and see if I am missing something here....

- Full wash (door jambs, wheel wells, wheels...etc) - 30 - 40 min taking my sweet time.
- claybar - 15-20 min
- quick wash again and a dry - 10 min
- prep (tape off windows, badges, etc) - 10 min

Now, depending on the quality of the paint these next can vary quite a bit so let's use a midly bad situation (light oxidation, medium to heavy swirls).

- Go over car hitting the rough spots with a yellow pad and SIP - 30 min
- Do whole car with orange pad and medium/light polish depending on what works (getting every swirl and leaving SLIGHT swirls for the next step) - 40 min
- Do whole car with a white pad and light finishing polish (including headlights and tail lights) -30 - 40 min
- Apply wax with gray or blue pad and remove - 20 min
- finish with windows, black wow on trim, remove tape - 15 min

Now of course there is inspections between most of the processes with a halogen lamp, but those really don't take long.

So, add all that up looking at about 3hr 30m to do the full exterior of a rather swirled car. Keep in mind I generally use a flex when doing my polishing, so it will break down the polish quicker than a PC, but still...Where does all that extra time come from? I mean, I am logging ACTUAL work, no smoke breaks or food/beer breaks. This particular car came out pretty nice. No swirls, no more oxidation, looked brand new.

So where does the extra 7-17 hours come from?
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Old 01-10-2009, 07:21 AM   #2
STi22B
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Wow. I've got a couple of questions for you. You do seem to understand detailing, so please, do not take this the wrong way.

How long do you spend polishing each panel?

Do you have pictures of your work?

I use a rotary polisher which breaks down polish pretty damn fast, but here's how my schedule is like. I know I work slowly, but you just blow my times out of the water.

Wash - exterior, wheels, wheel wells, wheel barrels, engine bay - 1 hour + 15-30 mins
Clay - every panel including glass - 15 mins - 1 hour
Prep - tape off crevices, trim, badges - 25 mins
Compounding polish - 2 hrs 30 mins - 3 hours (excluding an hour long break I usually take)
Medium level cut polish - usually SIP - another 2 hrs 30 mins - 3 hours
Low cut polish - 106FF or PO203S - 2 hrs 30 mins - 3
Finishing polish - 106FF or PO85RD - 3-4 hours
Sealant - apply to every panel, glass, and wheels - 25-35 minutes
Dress tires, rubber, engine bay - 30-40 minutes
Sealant curing while dressing all parts - 1 hour at least
Buff sealant - 20 mins
Apply and buff wax - 1 hour

In the polishing steps, those include inspection and wipedown of the area with an isopropyl/water mixture. This whole process would take me from 9AM-10 PM on the first day with hour long breaks every three hours. Then 9 AM - 9 PM the following day. The last two step I did took from 9 AM - 11 PM on the first day and 11 AM - 5 PM the following day. The claying process was on the longer end of the spectrum that time.

I honestly do not see how you can break down the polish well enough to be able to finish an entire car in 40 minutes. Finishing polish takes longer because you have to burnish the paint when you're on your last 10 passes. I know even the fastest detailers cannot completely detail a car in the time you've given. In four hours, they're lucky to have gotten through a quarter of the car on their first step of polishing.
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Old 01-10-2009, 07:54 AM   #3
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I can take several hours (double digits) with my customer's cars easily.
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Old 01-10-2009, 08:38 AM   #4
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Only picture of my work I would have available is this:



perhaps I estimated a bit wrong, I usually make 2 passes per panel, but I assure you the polish is broken down. I have taken a REALLY long time on some cars, but that was because I was just being lazy. Who knows?
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Old 01-10-2009, 01:51 PM   #5
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I can spend and entire day on a customers car....most people I detail for haven't even washed their cars in about 6 months....my prep is what takes me the longest ie removing bugs, tar etc
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Old 01-10-2009, 03:09 PM   #6
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Don't take this the wrong way, but if a polishing step only takes you 30 minutes you probably aren't doing the best job. To polish in small sections and make sure the product is fully broken down takes time. Not to mention inspecting your work under halogens and then making more passes when necessary, that's even more time. Each polishing step usually takes me 2-3 hours. If it's a car with a lot of unusual body lines (like most exotics) it takes longer because I have to use 4" pads in a lot of places. If you're shooting for perfection and the customer is willing to pay for it, it can easily take 10+ hours to do a detail.
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Old 01-10-2009, 03:39 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gaveup View Post
perhaps I estimated a bit wrong, I usually make 2 passes per panel, but I assure you the polish is broken down. I have taken a REALLY long time on some cars, but that was because I was just being lazy. Who knows?
Okay, that's where the issue is. As the post above me states, 30 minutes for a whole car really isn't enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onfKkTWrYT4

Here's a video of detailedimage's felx demo. If you took that much time for every section, you'd easily be spending 2-3 hours on each polishing step too.
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Old 01-10-2009, 04:27 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ErikaJ82 View Post
I can spend and entire day on a customers car....most people I detail for haven't even washed their cars in about 6 months....my prep is what takes me the longest ie removing bugs, tar etc
I hate this proccess! I usually detail cars that are "turn ins" for people that are buying new cars and I usually get all the dark color cars and between the bugs, tar stuck on the sides and the wheels that are black from never being washed it just takes forever!
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Old 01-10-2009, 08:48 PM   #9
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Like I said, perhaps my timing is off with the polishing steps...but for arguments sake, let's say I take 2.5 hours on each polishing step (which I have, but like I said, it's all depending on the shape of the car.). And as mentioned before, I use halogens to inspect and make sure each panel I do is perfect.

That would put me at 8-9hrs to detail a car to perfection (if it needed it). Most detailers I have come in contact with over estimate what is actually NEEDED to clear swirls and make the paint have a crystal clear reflection. A lot of people I know will do a 2-3 step polishing on a panel that only needs a white pad with a light polish.

Luckily the majority of people i detail for are car people. Meaning their cars get washed often and just need a little paint correction.

The point of this post was to show that a lot of "pro" detailers out there quote customers insanely long times to finish a car to squeeze as much out of them as possible or they just don't know the limititations of the products and tools they use.
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Old 01-10-2009, 08:54 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by STi22B View Post
Okay, that's where the issue is. As the post above me states, 30 minutes for a whole car really isn't enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onfKkTWrYT4

Here's a video of detailedimage's felx demo. If you took that much time for every section, you'd easily be spending 2-3 hours on each polishing step too.

See that's the thing, the MAJORITY of cars I have ever come in contact with, do not need every panel on the car done with an intesive polish and all imperfections outside of the major ones can be handled with a white pad and light polish. Thinking back on it, for most cars I do, I spend a lot more time with a white pad than yellow or orange.
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Old 01-10-2009, 10:05 PM   #11
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Right on gaveup. Again thanks. Usually, someone who is willing to spend that money on having their car detailed has a higher end car that they take semi-decent care of. It's rare that I see the 1986 Toyota Tercel owner willing to pay for 10 hours of work on their car. They want a wash and a wax and yeehaw, life is good. The Ferrari owner will pay for 15 hours, but it's rare you are going to see a thrashed car when you get his. By the way, the proof is in the pudding. The Subaru looks hot that you did, and I don't care if you spent ten minutes on it. It looks great, and that is what matters. Not how long you spent on it. Going around the ass to get to the elbow is a waste of time. Thumbs up to ya...........
And 17 hours is way ridiculous by the way.
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Old 01-10-2009, 10:30 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gaveup View Post
Like I said, perhaps my timing is off with the polishing steps...but for arguments sake, let's say I take 2.5 hours on each polishing step (which I have, but like I said, it's all depending on the shape of the car.). And as mentioned before, I use halogens to inspect and make sure each panel I do is perfect.

That would put me at 8-9hrs to detail a car to perfection (if it needed it). Most detailers I have come in contact with over estimate what is actually NEEDED to clear swirls and make the paint have a crystal clear reflection. A lot of people I know will do a 2-3 step polishing on a panel that only needs a white pad with a light polish.

Luckily the majority of people i detail for are car people. Meaning their cars get washed often and just need a little paint correction.

The point of this post was to show that a lot of "pro" detailers out there quote customers insanely long times to finish a car to squeeze as much out of them as possible or they just don't know the limititations of the products and tools they use.
8-9 hours would be about right for a one step detail for most people. The problem is that they work slower than you do. I know many others who take a long time to prep like I do. It's not pro detailers who quote to keep the car. They need the car that long.

Here's an example:

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/foru...ad.php?t=79859

If I recall correctly, that took a week of the detailer's work, and if you think he doesn't know the limitations of his products, you've got to see the products he uses.

Quote:
Originally Posted by gaveup View Post
See that's the thing, the MAJORITY of cars I have ever come in contact with, do not need every panel on the car done with an intesive polish and all imperfections outside of the major ones can be handled with a white pad and light polish. Thinking back on it, for most cars I do, I spend a lot more time with a white pad than yellow or orange.
Pro detailers' opinion of perfection may be different from yours then. I'm not saying yours is bad at all. That blue scooby looks great imo. However, the regular person with a dark car still needs SIP on nearly every panel. I may be a bit OCD when I see any imperfection and try to polish it out, but that's just how the pros are thinking.

In addition to polishing out everything, to restore the gloss of perfect paint, it's damn hard to get that with a Flex. Even on a rotary and the finest finishing polish, that's pretty hard with a white pad too. Here's how most pro detailers' polishing process goes

IF the car is TERRIBLE - wet sand some parts then Meg's 105, 95 or Meznerna Power Gloss with yellow or orange

IF the car is just bad and it's a dark car, Menzerna SIP with Orange, Green, or White

After that, Menzerna PO106FF/A with White or black

When I first started out, I'd finish with this and call it a day. It already looked pretty nice. However, after I tried a fine finish polish, I can easily see why detailers go all the way now.

PO85RD or 3M ultrafina withe black or blue pad to finish off gives you an incredible gloss.

So, if you start with SIP, you still have 2 more steps to go, and the finishing step is always the worst because burnishing with a rotary uses the zenith point technique which basically means spread at low speed, polish at high speed, get real cut at a higher speed, lower it to polish out all micro marring, then finally burnish the paint at a medium speed. That's at least 7 hours of work already.

I am not trying to call you out on anything. I'm just trying to show you why it does take as long as it does for pro detailers to do their job.
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Old 01-10-2009, 10:42 PM   #13
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I work in a body shop, and every car has a preset amount of time that it takes to paint, replace, repair ect. For example it may pay 10 hours to remove, paint the new hood and put it on but it took say 5 hours to actually do it. Maybe these pro detailers are doing something like that. Again every car is different due to how to owner takes care of it.
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Old 01-10-2009, 11:22 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by STi22B View Post
8-9 hours would be about right for a one step detail for most people. The problem is that they work slower than you do. I know many others who take a long time to prep like I do. It's not pro detailers who quote to keep the car. They need the car that long.

Here's an example:

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/foru...ad.php?t=79859

If I recall correctly, that took a week of the detailer's work, and if you think he doesn't know the limitations of his products, you've got to see the products he uses.



Pro detailers' opinion of perfection may be different from yours then. I'm not saying yours is bad at all. That blue scooby looks great imo. However, the regular person with a dark car still needs SIP on nearly every panel. I may be a bit OCD when I see any imperfection and try to polish it out, but that's just how the pros are thinking.

In addition to polishing out everything, to restore the gloss of perfect paint, it's damn hard to get that with a Flex. Even on a rotary and the finest finishing polish, that's pretty hard with a white pad too. Here's how most pro detailers' polishing process goes

IF the car is TERRIBLE - wet sand some parts then Meg's 105, 95 or Meznerna Power Gloss with yellow or orange

IF the car is just bad and it's a dark car, Menzerna SIP with Orange, Green, or White

After that, Menzerna PO106FF/A with White or black

When I first started out, I'd finish with this and call it a day. It already looked pretty nice. However, after I tried a fine finish polish, I can easily see why detailers go all the way now.

PO85RD or 3M ultrafina withe black or blue pad to finish off gives you an incredible gloss.

So, if you start with SIP, you still have 2 more steps to go, and the finishing step is always the worst because burnishing with a rotary uses the zenith point technique which basically means spread at low speed, polish at high speed, get real cut at a higher speed, lower it to polish out all micro marring, then finally burnish the paint at a medium speed. That's at least 7 hours of work already.

I am not trying to call you out on anything. I'm just trying to show you why it does take as long as it does for pro detailers to do their job.
And I will be honest, I have not tried that "fine" polish with a gray or blue pad. I never saw the need to, but hell..I will have to go give it a shot.

On not, trust me I am not taking any offense to this or looking at it as a call out. I know every detailer has their own processes and expectations they set for themselves. Oddly enough, I am probably the most anal out of all my friends that do this.

I know every car is different and requires different steps to achieve their ideal model of perfection. I just notice that most of the time I find myself reaching that level quicker than others, but when I work on something, that's all I do. I'll rarely take a break from detailing (unless it's my car, the blue one) just because there aren't enough hours in my day.
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Old 01-10-2009, 11:24 PM   #15
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yeah im about 2-3 hrs per polishing steps myself. and only doing 2 passes per panel i cant see how your polish can break down correctly in that short amount of time, even with a rotary, i use menzerna polish which i find breaks down fairly quickly, and im usually 4 or 5 passes per panel to break it down properly.

now for the detailers quoting 10-20 hrs, i can see if the paint is horrible an the interior is horrible taking 10-15hrs. cause i know some cars ive spent 9-10hrs just on paint correction, with wetsanding and doing heavy corrections. clay process almost always takes me 30 min on even a compact or midsize car. larger trucks an such about an hour taking my time.
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Old 01-10-2009, 11:53 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hines View Post
yeah im about 2-3 hrs per polishing steps myself. and only doing 2 passes per panel i cant see how your polish can break down correctly in that short amount of time, even with a rotary, i use menzerna polish which i find breaks down fairly quickly, and im usually 4 or 5 passes per panel to break it down properly.

now for the detailers quoting 10-20 hrs, i can see if the paint is horrible an the interior is horrible taking 10-15hrs. cause i know some cars ive spent 9-10hrs just on paint correction, with wetsanding and doing heavy corrections. clay process almost always takes me 30 min on even a compact or midsize car. larger trucks an such about an hour taking my time.
Perhaps we have a different definition of passes? I view a pass as applying the polish, polishing until it is broken down, removing what's left. Then repeating. If a certain panel needs more attention I will do it as many times as needed. This was all just an estimate. I've never sat there with a stop watch.
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Old 01-11-2009, 04:13 PM   #17
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Takes me about 8-12 hours to do a full paint correction on my car, even if it only has minor swirls or marring.
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Old 01-12-2009, 10:21 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gaveup View Post
This has been eating at me for quite some time and I just can't make sense out of it.

I read and hear about guys quoting 10-20hrs needed for "paint correction" for cars that just have normal swirls and whatnot. What I don't understand is HOW it is taking these people so long to do it.

I've been detailing for quite some time (usually for friends and whatnot) and I have yet to have gotten a client whose car takes nearly that long. I've gotten some heavily oxidated and heavily swirled cars too...

So where does this hourly quote come from? I recently did a friends Acura TSX that was pretty bad. I'll break my process down and see if I am missing something here....

- Full wash (door jambs, wheel wells, wheels...etc) - 30 - 40 min taking my sweet time.
- claybar - 15-20 min
- quick wash again and a dry - 10 min
- prep (tape off windows, badges, etc) - 10 min

Now, depending on the quality of the paint these next can vary quite a bit so let's use a midly bad situation (light oxidation, medium to heavy swirls).

- Go over car hitting the rough spots with a yellow pad and SIP - 30 min
- Do whole car with orange pad and medium/light polish depending on what works (getting every swirl and leaving SLIGHT swirls for the next step) - 40 min
- Do whole car with a white pad and light finishing polish (including headlights and tail lights) -30 - 40 min
- Apply wax with gray or blue pad and remove - 20 min
- finish with windows, black wow on trim, remove tape - 15 min

Now of course there is inspections between most of the processes with a halogen lamp, but those really don't take long.

So, add all that up looking at about 3hr 30m to do the full exterior of a rather swirled car. Keep in mind I generally use a flex when doing my polishing, so it will break down the polish quicker than a PC, but still...Where does all that extra time come from? I mean, I am logging ACTUAL work, no smoke breaks or food/beer breaks. This particular car came out pretty nice. No swirls, no more oxidation, looked brand new.

So where does the extra 7-17 hours come from?

I would imagine that some "pros" over estimate, and perhaps even over charge. But realize these are quotes and estimates and may not be actual times. Also realize Merc and GM paint is different than Subaru or Honda paint, so the process will vary. I did an evo that was in some of the worst shape I've seen and it took me a full day, but I've also done a WRX in about a half day

But what I'm curious about is how you get the job done in about an hour and a half? I could never do each step in 30 mins on a whole car. Logistically alone that would be hard, but to actually remove defects in that time is not reality. I do this kind of work every day (using a rotary) and I could never correctly correct a finish in that short of time. If you are able to correct the worst of finishes and polish to a mirror shine in 1.5 hours you really should market yourself. Because the best of the best can't do that.
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Old 01-12-2009, 12:22 PM   #19
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There's also a lot of time in prep work and getting the car in the state where you can actually start polishing and there's also other finishing touches. Wheels can even take a long time too!
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Old 01-12-2009, 01:05 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EdHilario View Post
There's also a lot of time in prep work and getting the car in the state where you can actually start polishing and there's also other finishing touches. Wheels can even take a long time too!
Especially if you remove the wheels to clean them. Not saying I spend that much time detailing my car.
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Old 01-15-2009, 02:04 PM   #21
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Yeah I've done that before. Took off the wheels on a Carrera 4S that I did. Customer was happy
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Old 01-15-2009, 05:46 PM   #22
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it took me about 16 hours to do an 04 maserati that was in good shape.

clay usually takes me a longer than an hour to do, and using a PC isnt very quick either

if it takes you 15-20 minutes to clay a normally beaten car, then you are doing something wrong. usually it takes me that long to just clay a front bumper
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Old 01-15-2009, 05:51 PM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gaveup View Post
Only picture of my work I would have available is this:



perhaps I estimated a bit wrong, I usually make 2 passes per panel, but I assure you the polish is broken down. I have taken a REALLY long time on some cars, but that was because I was just being lazy. Who knows?
Right... your times are extremely optimistic and unreal. P.S. there's some kind of defect on your head (hologramming/webbing?)
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Old 01-17-2009, 12:36 PM   #24
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i think i see some webbing on that hood too.
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Old 01-18-2009, 03:49 AM   #25
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TexSurfer View Post
I would imagine that some "pros" over estimate, and perhaps even over charge. But realize these are quotes and estimates and may not be actual times. Also realize Merc and GM paint is different than Subaru or Honda paint, so the process will vary.
I just wanted to quote that for the sake of my explanation. I am in no means a pro myself, but I have been reading up a lot on autopia and am considering detailing as a side job in the warmer months. While experience plays a HUGE role, there are several reasons why pro detailers quote such long hours. For one, many of them quote hourly, which means that they tell the customer that the car will be done in xxx amount of time and give them an estimated price.

For their income's sake as well as for the sake of professionalism, the car should at LEAST be done by the maximum amount of time quoted to the customer. If the time it takes to detail the car ends up being longer than what they estimated, the bottom line is that it hurts the detailer's pocket since it seems most of them don't charge for the extra time it takes, therefore decreasing their hourly wage. In order to avoid this, they usually quote a higher estimate to give them that cushion and it inevitably looks better to the customer, because if they get done earlier it saves them money but if not, the estimate was already established.

Another reason could be what STI22b described as his finishing process, aka burnishing/jeweling the paint. Most people wouldn't notice the difference in the paint between this stage and the light cutting stage. The truth is, however, is that the light cutting polishes still leave the paint uneven at the microscopic level. In order to take these microscopic "scratches" out left behind from the previous stage, a finishing polish and a finessing pad are used at a very low rpm (900-1200) and worked in very slowly to ensure the most level surface on the car before the final wax stage. This process can take up to 5 hours itself, and while most people wouldn't notice or care for such a process, those who are really into perfection and have the money to pay for it would do so.

Finally, TexSurfer also brought up an important point in that many pro-detailers deal with many different makes and models which in turn, have different thicknesses/hardness of their clearcoat (or single stage paint). This factor alone can make the difference in needing a one-step and a 3-step polish, which is the difference of up to 5 hours alone. Most honda's have very soft paint, which in most cases would only need a one-step to remove most of the defects. On the other hand, BMW's and Mercedes are known to have hard clearcoats, which require a much more aggressive combo to remove the same amount of defects. When it comes to exotic cars, who's clearcoat is even harder....theres your reason for the 12+ hour detail and chances are they'll have the money to pay for it.


Here's a couple of the details I'm talking about:
http://www.autopia.org/forum/pro-det...-rickrack.html - 60 Hours (Yes, 60 Hours) on restoring a 40th Anniversary ZR-1 Corvette
http://www.autopia.org/forum/pro-det...pics-long.html - 50 Hours, Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder (Not even a restoration!)

Last edited by itskrees; 01-18-2009 at 04:12 AM.
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