Seeing the thread below, lets hear some of your worst detailing stories.

What you've done or what you've seen people do.

I see them all the time with dirty *** rags washing or drying the car, or using carwash brushes on paint, or drying with raggidty threads etc.



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Michael
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2002 Sunset Orange Metallic WS6 Coupe
GMMG Exhaust, MTI Clear Lid, BMR STB
2002 GMC Sierra 1500 Sportside, 4.8 with 5spd
Street Scenes Grille,
HID Stage II Xenon Kit, Kenwood Speakers w/
12" Sub and Amp

 

Good topic! I was actually going to start something similar along the lines of what were your worst datiling memories of past? But, this will do!

Most of the people around here are pretty normal, but cheap. I see a lot of the same stuff like dirty rags with no nap for washing, brushes on a pole, kids or teenagers washing nice cars not knowing what or how to do a proper wash , turtle waxers and turtle washers, etc... I don't think I've seen anything utterly stupid that I can remember.

Anyhow, how about my detailing experiences of past! How about using Rain Dance on your high school beater, which was a 302ci V8 Oldsmobile that I loved at the time? And using any ole dirty t-shirt you could find in the drawer for buffing or those packs of rags you find at AutoZone or Walmart! The car looked good though and even got compliments. But, I'm positive now that it could've looked much better! I remember this old yellow colored wash mitt that I used for a long time on that car. I have no clue and didn't care at the time what it was made of, probably some kind of poly crap. Not to mention the assortment of other off the wall waxes that I wouldn't dare touch now. Ahh, those were the good ole days of youth and innocence. Actually it was much simplier then, as my (lower) standards of perfection were much easier to maintain. Some come a long way while most never make it off square one....

Mike


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*My 1992 Camaro RS 25th Anniv.*
Dark Red Metallic (ext.) / Flame Red (int.)
Flowmaster Crossflow, K&N, 20% 3M Panther Black Tint
JL Audio 3 10", PPI PC2100, other Kenwood & Pioneer goodies...
Show Car Shine by ZainoBros! - Thanks Sal!

[This message has been edited by MikeLS (edited August 23, 2002).]

 

Ah yes, how about those who use armor all general purpose on their paint

 

Ohhh, forgot about AA. Guess I was guilty of that too long ago. Nothing like the ghetto AA shine and greasy feel on the tires and interior!

Thank God I discovered Meguiar's not too long afterwards. Their range of products is a great place to start for learning all the basic ropes in car care. Used that stuff for years until I knew everything inside and out. Heck I was as fanatical about Meg's then as I am about Zaino now, swore by that stuff. Then tried other decent carnaubas like Blitz, Mother's, Eagle1, and a host of others...until I found the polymers. Wow, those were the dark ages but great learning experiences nonetheless... I now use the Armor All as....hair gel...



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*My 1992 Camaro RS 25th Anniv.*
Dark Red Metallic (ext.) / Flame Red (int.)
Flowmaster Crossflow, K&N, 20% 3M Panther Black Tint
JL Audio 3 10", PPI PC2100, other Kenwood & Pioneer goodies...
Show Car Shine by ZainoBros! - Thanks Sal!

 

I can't think of any real horror stories, but when I think back on some of the towels and cloths and rags I used to use, there are some bad ideas in there.

I think I tried buffing wax off once with and old pair of jeans...

Memories...

Hey Michael, did you recently pass through Fort Erie in your T/A, say within the last couple weeks? I saw a car that looked very similar to yours.

Jeff




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1996 Black Z28 M6; Stock.
1994 S10 4X4.

My Zed

 

Nope, wasn't me Jeff my car hasn't left the Toronto area...........or the garage much for that matter lol

 

a couple months ago i was using meguiars scratch remover and i used it all over my car. for some reason when i used it on the drivers side door it fuhked up the paint, it was like i buffed it off with sandpaper. i inspected my charisma towel with a magnifying glass and didnt see anything wrong with it. it seems like all the clearcoat is just stripped off. all this happened after i got my degree detailing from this forum, and i had just bought zaino and was going to use it for the first time.
i havent detailed since and havent washed the car that much either. though labor day i think im going to start over with a few layers of zaino.

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01 M6 STRIPPED BLACK Z28 (ONLY OPTION WAS THE REAR DEFOGGER)

KN FIPK installed 02-06-02

 

Well....

One day a few years back I was greasing up the suspension on my garden tractor. One zerk is hard to get to and the grease gun tip kept popping off the fitting. I was getting frustrated and trying too hard when "pop", right in the eye! About 1" long "worm" of grease was laying across the bridge of my nose down onto my right eyelid.

Pissed off, I grabbed the first thing at hand to wipe it away; one of my medium size detailing towels. Not the best choice, but my next choice was worse. I folded the towel over the grease and put it back!

The next day. Yep, you can see where this is going. Grabbed detail spray, grabbed towel, started on car. Everything was fine until I folded the towel open to get a clean (HA!) side an d started wiping the lower portion of the driver door. I was on auto-pilot and didn't notice the grease on the towel. At first I thought there must have been something on the door, then I remembered-DOH!

Other than that, just the regular learning curve stuff we've all been through.


Jeff

 

To me, the biggest horror is the people I've offered to do their cars and they've declined.

Good example is my landlady, I offered to do her's as a favour since she lets me use her garage while she's away for the summer. My plan was a wash, SMR (paint's pretty oxidized, has never been waxed), fix scratches/scuffs with ScratchX, dawn wash and 3 coats of Z5/ZFX.

She said don't bother, she'll run it through the car wash instead .

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2000 Camaro Z28, Bright Red, MN6

Zaino Pics

"I love the smell of Z6 in the morning"

 

How about the guys with caked on mud that use a self serve carwash and don't prerince and go straight for the foambrush.

 

How about the guy who puts on wax, doesn't buff it off and then drives it around hoping to get a good baked on wax job. I cringe everytime I think about how much sand and dirt must be sticking on the wax.
I saw this last week on the way home from work.

 

Hehehe, well, I had to do just that a few months ago. I had applied some ZFX to the car one Friday evening, and began to feel sick as the night went on, but I thought nothing of it. I left the last coat to dry overnight and thought I'd remove it Saturday morning. Well, as luck would have it, I was very sick for the next week, with fever and everything so I never got to buff that last coat off. Actually, I tried my best to get a little of it off that Saturday, but never completely finished. (You know you're a car nut when your car matters more than your health and wellness .) So, it was left to dry and bake in the sun along with getting rained on a time or two, for 2 solid weeks! Thank goodness Zaino pretty much dries clear and not white lol! After I finally felt like cleaning the car again, without worry of getting sick again from sweating or whatever, that ZFX was a bear to remove. I actually removed it while washing the car with the wash mitt and Z7, and in some places it still wouldn't come off completely. So, I rewashed until it did! End result....the car looked fantastic after that coat was washed and removed!! I guess having a couple weeks to bond to the paint literally brought out a nice shine, because it looked great! I'll never do it again though unless I am put in a similar situation. And, I wouldn't advise anyone to leave ZFX on for 2 weeks LMAO!

Mike


------------------
*My 1992 Camaro RS 25th Anniv.*
Dark Red Metallic (ext.) / Flame Red (int.)
Flowmaster Crossflow, K&N, 20% 3M Panther Black Tint
JL Audio 3 10", PPI PC2100, other Kenwood & Pioneer goodies...
Show Car Shine by ZainoBros! - Thanks Sal!



[This message has been edited by MikeLS (edited August 28, 2002).]

 

You guy's leave my brush on a stick alone, I'm too old and fat to bend over and wash my rocker panels, besides I have six cars to care for, well, five, I run the ball and chain's thru the car wash. I remember rubbing thru my clear (laquer) on my 67 SS. I had a 72 SS with the paint so dead that I would shine it with atf.

 

The day I first did Zaino, my neighbor mowed before I could get my coat of Z5 off.

I "popped" as much dirt as I could off with my towel. Then I gritted my teeth and buffed it off. No scratches at all!
Zaino is good. I didn't know what washing the car with the polish on there would do.

I saw my Dad ( who used to keep his cars very clean) wash the tires on his car with the mitt, then start washing the side of the car. I think I said something like "AAAHHHH, don't do that!!!!"

 

I innocently used "Fantastik" general-purpose household cleaner on my Fiero's interior once. The stuff stained the transparent plastic panel that covers the gauges. Nothing I could do would clean it off!

I eventually had to go to a junk yard to find a replacement panel.

Afterwards, I put the original panel under a microscope and discovered that Fantastik did not simply stain the plastic, it actually ate into it! It wasn't stained, it had become pitted.

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Red 2002 Trans Am WS6
Red 1994 Probe GT
Red 1986 Fiero 2M4
Member, Michigan Fiero Club (www.michiganfieroclub.org)