[KirkH]

It was our pleasure to shine up so many beautiful cars! It was also amazing to meet so many great people! Can't wait for next year!

July 11-13, 2018 Bowling Green, KY CamaroFest 8

Here are some pics to start:

[Glen e]

Nice pic, but could you write a paragraph on what your experience was there .....what did product/procedure did you sell the most of? What was the biggest demand item? What did you find that you will never do again? Etc. etc.

[KirkH]

Originally Posted by Glen e

Nice pic, but could you write a paragraph on what your experience was there .....what did product/procedure did you sell the most of? What was the biggest demand item? What did you find that you will never do again? Etc. etc.

For sure. I just got home and was excited to post pics.

I promise you Glen, you'll never hear the end of it

[Glen e]

thx!

[KirkH]

My biggest seller was a package of: 2 bucket wash, deep wheel barrel cleaning and shine, and windshield sealant for $60.

Other big sellers were:

Basic wash was $30

1 step cleaner polish was $185

Paint correction was $350

Engine bay was $50

Quick interior (vacuum, wipedown with interior detailer, leather wipedown, odor neutralizer and glass cleaned) was $75

I will post more as soon as I can. Just got in and I am still unloading the trailer. I will post all the products I used and tons more pictures later. My partner GlossPro should be posting pics soon too. It was an amazing weekend. Corvette Z06s, Camaro ZL-1s, a Hennessey 850 HP ZL-1, washing and polishing $75-150,000 cars!

[KirkH]

For the 1 step cleaning polishes, we used Meguiar's D151 Paint Reconditioning Cream until it got too hot, then we had to switch to Meguiar's D166 Ultra Polishing Wax (3x expensive) to eliminate the dusting. The D151 dusted badly in the heat, even when the panel was cool. D166 is the bomb! Green pads for the bad ones, white pads for the good ones.

For paint corrections we were using what worked on that individual car: Optimum compound, Megs 105 & 205 - just whatever knocked out the scratches and swirls. Then we just finished with the D151 or D166. Orange pads and white pads.

We were knocking out 1 steps in 90 minutes - 3 hours (we blocked 3 hr appointments) depending on interruptions and just the blazing heat. Lots of gatorade breaks.

[KirkH]

Wash and a hand wax with carnauba wax or polymer sealant was $80. we did a bunch of those. the Corvette Z06 in the pictures was hand wax (not machine applied.) I used P21S 100% Carnauba Wax.

https://www.amazon.com/P21S-12701W-1.../dp/B016XVD8D0

[KirkH]

we did a lot of spot buffing of scratches for $30-60. People were thrilled that we disappeared their scratches! That was really rewarding.

I did 2 CQuartz ceramic coatings on headlights!

[KirkH]

Originally Posted by Glen e

Nice pic, but could you write a paragraph on what your experience was there .....what did product/procedure did you sell the most of? What was the biggest demand item? What did you find that you will never do again? Etc. etc.

One mistake I made was not having adequate lighting. The sun didnt go down until 9:30 pm and we kept washing until 11 pm but we had inadequate harbor freight lights. I have a generator so now I need to go buy some big lighting. We couldve washed cars until 2 am I bet. There was still a line.

Another big mistake was people could not find us at Beech bend Park. It was not very organized at the raceway, with cars and vendors parked every which way without leaving clear routes to our stand.

Bigger tents would help. Pop up tents are a problem waiting to happen. May investigate more expensive tenting.

[Joe M 2012 2SS]

Kirk, out of curiosity, how many people did you have helping you to do a 1 step in 90 minutes?

I don't do as much detailing as you, but I get a few on the side. Done by myself it takes...…….

10 minutes,-foam with strip wash to remove any waxes or sealants/rinse.
30-40 minutes- 2 bucket wash/rinse/dry
20-30 minutes- Use speedy prep towel to remove bonded surface contaminates.
15-20 minutes-Iron/tar decontamination with TRIX.
30 minutes-tape badges/decals, and cover windshield and rest of exterior glass with plastic.
5 minutes- IPA wipe down.
4-6 hours-1 step with Carpro Fixer (only on lighter colored cars) for dark colors I use Essence. I use a Rupes 21, Mini, and I-brid. If the car has hard paint I will use my Flex 3401, cuts about an hour of time.
10 minutes-Wipe down with Eraser.
30 minutes-Apply 2 coats of Reload.


It takes me 8 hours! I can't/wont do a 1 step polish for less than $250!

[KirkH]

Originally Posted by Joe M 2012 2SS

Kirk, out of curiosity, how many people did you have helping you to do a 1 step in 90 minutes?

I don't do as much detailing as you, but I get a few on the side. Done by myself it takes...…….

10 minutes,-foam with strip wash to remove any waxes or sealants/rinse.
30-40 minutes- 2 bucket wash/rinse/dry
20-30 minutes- Use speedy prep towel to remove surface contaminates.
15-20 minutes-Iron/tar decontamination with TRIX.
30 minutes-tape badges/decals, and cover windshield and rest of exterior glass with plastic.
5 minutes- IPA wipe down.
4-6 hours-1 step with Carpro Fixer (only on lighter colored cars) for dark colors I use Essence. I use a Rupes 21, Mini, and I-brid. If the car has hard paint I will use my Flex 3401, cuts about an hour of time.
10 minutes-Wipe down with Eraser.
30 minutes-Apply 2 coats of Reload.


It takes me 8 hours! I can't/wont do a 1 step polish for less than $250!

The wash crew washes the car. It comes to me and my partner. He uses a synth clay mitt and I use the Cyclo Pro 5 polisher with synth clay pads and we clay the car together. We tape off areas we need to tape. My partner grabs the 3" polisher and "cuts in" all the tight spots. I break out the Makita PO5000C and a green or white pad depending on condition and start on the big panels. When he finishes cutting in, he grabs his polisher and we cut the car down the middle, each working on half. After we are done, we wipe the dust off with Chemical Guys V07 Polymer Sealant Spray to remove the dust. We brush dust out of the crevices with makeup brushes. Badda bing, badda boom.

[KirkH]

Originally Posted by Joe M 2012 2SS

Kirk, out of curiosity, how many people did you have helping you to do a 1 step in 90 minutes?

I don't do as much detailing as you, but I get a few on the side. Done by myself it takes...…….

10 minutes,-foam with strip wash to remove any waxes or sealants/rinse.
30-40 minutes- 2 bucket wash/rinse/dry
20-30 minutes- Use speedy prep towel to remove bonded surface contaminates.
15-20 minutes-Iron/tar decontamination with TRIX.
30 minutes-tape badges/decals, and cover windshield and rest of exterior glass with plastic.
5 minutes- IPA wipe down.
4-6 hours-1 step with Carpro Fixer (only on lighter colored cars) for dark colors I use Essence. I use a Rupes 21, Mini, and I-brid. If the car has hard paint I will use my Flex 3401, cuts about an hour of time.
10 minutes-Wipe down with Eraser.
30 minutes-Apply 2 coats of Reload.


It takes me 8 hours! I can't/wont do a 1 step polish for less than $250!

You have several steps that while nice, are unnecessary. Iron decon is only necessary on new cars that come in on the railroad line.

Occasionally a little Tarminator was used for tar.

No need to cover with plastic.

No need for IPA wipedown.

We use D151 and D166 mostly but different paint may need a different formula, including "boosting" the 1 step polish with a dot of compound.

No need to wipe down with Eraser when you are using a 1 step polish. The 1 step all in one polish has polish, sealant and wax in the formula.

Also we were working on $75,000+ cars. They didn't have tar, bad scratches, or marring like a mom's daily driver.

[KirkH]

Joe you are doing the classic detailer's error that Mike Phillips always talks about. You are undercharging your customers for what you are doing. You are doing paint correction. A 1 step cleaning polish is not paint correction. It is not meant to remove 90% of defects like a paint correction job. A 1 step cleaning polish gives a nice gloss and leaves a coat of sealant. It is not meant to remove all the marring. But sometimes it does.

[KirkH]

Also, we were polishing Camaros. Not big cars. There were large areas of vinyl stripes that were not polished and convertibles.