Wanted: claybar + polish + wax
 

Hye guys,

i want a basic claybar + polish + wax service done on a mazda 3. I notice that there is some hard stuff on the paint and it's not smooth. Could you recommend a place? I have $75 set a side for it - is that enough? I want this to last me for 1 yr at which point i will do it again.

75 bux is pretty darn low.... For a wash/clay and polish. Shoot me a PM. We can work stn out.

looking for the same thing, preferred a guy who does his own side work . whats the usual price for this ?

^ group buy??? ;)

check pms

To put this in perspective, we charge $175 for a wash, clay and wax. No polishing.

^ as much as I want to come to you and LOVE the work you have posted - just can't afford it :(

Honestly, you get what you pay for.

For $75, I would not expect much for a clay, polish, and wax. To do a really good job, a lot of time is spent properly preparing your paint for the wax or sealant. I often wonder what guys are really doing when they are charging so little for so much work.

I've detailed several cars for friends in the past. Trust me, the amount of effort it takes for a wash, clay, proper polish, and wax isn't worth any detailer's time at that price. The work you want takes anywhere from 4-8 hours (maybe even more depending on the condition of your paint and the size of your vehicle).

Try doing it yourself and you will know what I mean. At $75, I would be cautioned as to who is working on my car and what they are really doing. Using glazes to cover swirls isn't exactly a polish. Just my 2 cents.

At the end of the day, price is what you pay and quality is what you get. I would also recommend Ken from Autowerkes. Great guy, full of knowledge, and a pleasure to deal with.

supply the food, beer for the day, and i'll teach you guys with my limited skillz for 75 bux...:troll:

could not agree more. it takes an entire day (or even more if you are going with a multi-stage polish) for a proper and thorough job. Hell, the supplies are not cheap either, not to mention the care that needs to go into cleaning your microfiber cloths and polishing pads after you are done the job as well.

I would rather save up a good amount of cash for a decent job OR buy materials myself and teach myself through youbtube, which is what i did.

as mentioned before, if someone is willing to do it for 75 dollars, i would be very skeptical about the quality of work AND products that they will be using.

For $75, do the wash, clay and wax yourself and find someone who'll machine polish your car. Even then...

Truth is if you can scrounge up the money and find the time to learn and do it yourself, the machine, pads and products pretty much pay for itself after one detail.

The claybars themselves are going to run $20 or so, not to mention the lube and other cleaning, polishing, and waxing products. It took me around 6 hours to wash, clay, clean, and wax/seal my car the last time, partially because I was going over it inch by inch and also (trying) layering the wax. Anyone willing to do it for under $100 is either damn generous, or cutting corners that you don't want lol.

My suggestion: take some time to hit up google and youtube, drop by 911fanatic's store and get the stuff you need, and do it yourself and skip the polish, or otherwise save up for a proper job.

Oh, and I don't think anyone else has mentioned this but unless your car almost never leaves the garage, there's no wax or sealant that can last a full year. I'm looking at reapplying every 6 months at the latest, and that's with some of the most durable sealants.

$75? good luck.

when I did detailing on the side it was 80-120 for wash clay wax. If you want it swirl free, you might as well shell out whatever amount that Ken wants, because its honestly worth it.

I spent a good 8 hours restoring my girlfriends faded red car, and it wasnt even 100%.

takes me a whole day usually to wash/clay/wax my car and do the interior :fuckthatshit:


Best bet is to buy the stuff and do it yourself.

I'm interested in a good detailer to remove my swirls on my black car.. the dealer washed when I brought it in even though I specifically asked not too.. and it returned all swirled up.

Any recommendations for the Vancouver area? I can do the wash, wax part, just need someone to help clay + polish, as I don't have any experience with a PC.

its never a bad time to start.

its really not that hard, and with a pc all you need is patience and practice

what's the average learning curve to get decent with a PC for swirl removal on a black car?

if you already know how to wash and clay,

you could polish your car pretty well in like 10 hours for a first time.

grab a pc kit and power finish from ken, he might give you an intro on one of the cars in the shop.

safest bet is to practice on parents or an old beater one of your friends has.

hm.... I've contemplated about going the DIY route but have been so busy these days, that I'm not sure I can spend a whole day + trial /error... :(

Hoping I can find a good trustworthy detailer locally. How many hours does a stage 1 cut /polish usually take for a pro? Will that remove all the dealer wash swirls/maring/scratches or will it need a stage 2? I can see swirls + holograms in the sun... and light scratches (can't feel with my finger nails but can see it against fluorescent light). Prior to the dealer wash... the paint was pretty much swirl free.

if you want it all gone, prepare to pay for it.

If you DD your car, and aren't LOADED, just find a nice filler glaze and forget about the swirls, and get it DETAILED once a year or so.

Yea.. that's the thing I don't DD the car and am not loaded, so I was quite happy with just self washing/filler glaze for the last 3.5 yrs.. but now the dealer wash swirled/marred it up pretty good and I just want to restore it back to the way it was...

shouldve gotten the dealer to pay for ken to detail it,

If it was swirl free before the wash then it should be pretty easy to fix - 1 pass with a light swirl remover will do the trick (Meg's 205 or Poorboy SSR1 for example). Using a PC makes it pretty brain dead easy to do. Read up on the tutorials that Autogeek puts on Youtube and you'll be fine.

The PC is forgiving...the only down side is its SLOW....but for a rookie, SLOW is okay.
Pick up a green pad, and Mezerna Power Finish and prepare for half a day.

I had some tree snaps that got on my car from parking under the evil tree
and these guy got it out real good, and didn't charge me for the whole exterior package
just the wash and a little bit more for the claybar like per hour type charge

unique detailing +1
Unique Detailing