Danase Detailing Supply Blog

Do you ever notice that the bottoms of doors seem to rust before anything else?  I’ve noticed a few late model vehicles lately with rust on the bottom of their doors so thought I would share some info. on how to help prevent this.  For starters, make sure when you clean your vehicle you clean the door jams, edges of doors, and be sure you dry them well.  Dirt plays a factor in rust because it allows moisture and contaminants to sit on the paint eating away at it.  The other thing to do is locate the small holes at the bottom of your doors.  Open the doors and lay on the ground then look at the door bottoms.  You should see a few holes.  The manufacturers put these holes in the doors so any water that gets into the door, which a lot does from around where the window meets the door molding, can drain out the bottom.  Often times these holes get clogged with dirt, leaves, grease, and anything else you can think of.  If your holes looked clogged, unclog them.  Doing this a couple times a year will help keep your doors rust free!

Sincerely,

Bob Daniels

I get asked all of the time…”What kind of polisher should I get?”.  There really isn’t one solid answer to this question.  I’ll try and explain some of the main polisher styles and their pros and cons to help some of you out.

1.  There are those “polishers” you can buy from just about any parts store or hardware.  You know the ones.  They usually have a 11″ or so terry bonnet and a one speed on and off button and you hold it with two hands, one hand on each side of the machine.  These style of machines are really only good for applying and removing waxes and sealants and half the time are not even good for that.  Do not expect to use this style of machine with a polish and get good results.

2. Next we have the random orbital / dual action polishers like the Ultimate Detailing Machine.  This is a good machine for anyone from beginners to professionals.  Since the machine is random orbiting you don’t have to worry about causing any major damage like burning through the paint.  There are tons of pads for these machines so you will never have a hard time finding pads to use.  Also, they do a good job at breaking down light to medium polishes so you can get a perfect paint finish fairly easy with this style polisher.  The down sides are that they will not correct as fast or correct bad defects like a rotary polisher (listed next) will.  They also tend to be more noise and vibrate more than other machines.

3. High Speed Rotary Polisher.  This is an awesome tool in the right hands and a very bad tool in the wrong hands.  Since the machine spins in circles and not randomly and faster than a random orbital there is a lot more chance for the operator to burn the paint or cause bad swirl marks.  The best thing to do is get some panels from your local body shop and practice on those until you master the rotary, then move to a real car.  However, for people that have mastered the rotary they can get out some major paint defects that other polishers can’t.  Medium defects are also removed a lot faster than by random orbital, with the experienced rotary operator.

4. This polisher I put into a class of it’s own.  It’s called the Cyclo Dual Head Polisher.  The Cyclo is one of my favorite detailing tools!  I put the Cyclo between the rotary and random orbitals when it comes to correction.  It will not correct as much as a rotary but it can correct the same if not better and faster than a random orbital.  The Cyclo has two 4″ random orbital heads that spin at a set speed.  There is only one switch and one speed.  At first glance people think the Cyclo “looks heavy” but trust me when I say that it isn’t.  The Cyclo is so quiet, well balanced, and smooth operating that you really have to use it an compare it to the others to see first hand. 

I hope this article was able to help some of you that where having a hard time choosing a polisher.

Sincerely/ Bob Daniels

A lot of the detailers I talk to only offer basic detailing and nothing more.  Most have various levels of details from a quick wash and wax to a 3 step polish.  However, I see a lot of detailers missing other detailing services that could be easy money.  Below I have outlined some ideas for those looking to offer more to their customers.

Wheel cleaning: Offer a wheel cleaning package where you take the wheels off of the customer’s cars, clean them, polish them and coat them with a heavy duty wax like Collinite Insulator Wax.  The Insulator Wax is a very heavy duty long lasting wax.  Educate customers and let them know that your service will not only clean their wheels but will make them easier to clean when they wash the vehicle. 

 Under carriage cleaning: Offer an undercarriage cleaning.  To do this you should have a facility with a lift to make life easier on yourself.  You might be surprised at how many show car guys come in for this just before a major show.  I recommend using P21S Total Auto Wash for the cleaning of under carriages.

Motorcycle Detailing:  Personally I do not like doing cruiser style bikes with a ton of chrome but, if you price it right and become efficient at it, there is money to be made.

Plastic Restoration: A lot of vehicles have faded or dull headlights, tail lights, motorcycle wind screens, and various other plastic parts.  Why not offer to bring back the clarity to them?  Most plastic parts can be brought back to life with a buffer and some regular polish!  Or course do a small test area first to make sure you get the results you are looking for. 

 These are just some of my ideas.  I hope I was able to help some of you realize there is more to detailing services than just a polish and wax.

 Sincerely,

Bob Daniels / Danase Detailing Supply

This topic gets brought up ALL of the time.  What is better as far as a business goes?  An Express type detail or paint restoration? 

First, let me explain the different between the two. 

An Express Detail is a quick detail.  Instead of getting rid of paint swirls, minor scratches or other defects you simply apply a one step cleaner wax or glaze to the paint.  Maybe a glaze with a wax or sealant topper.  For the interior you might just vacuum the carpet and seats and apply dressing to the dash.  An Express Detail might only take you 2 hours and you charged $100 so you made $50 per hour.

A Paint Restoration Detail is a more thorough detail.  You would use a polish or multiple polishes on the paint to remove paint defects using a mechanical polisher and then top it off with a wax or sealant.  On the interior you might vacuum, use a carpet shampooer, clean the vents, use a cleaner and a protectant, and so on.  A Paint Restoration Detail might take you 4-8 hours but you charged a lot more.

 So, what one is better and why?  Here is my opinion, the better one is whatever you can sell.  If you do business in a high scale area full of Mercedes and Porsches you could probably sell the paint restoration details and produce awesome results.  If you do business in a not so high scale area filled with Lamina’s and Escorts chances are you will loose your butt trying to sell costly high end details.  If you happen to do business in an area where you get the best of both worlds you can either pick one type of detail and only do that or offer both details.  The important thing to do is EDUCATE your customers or potential customers.  Let them know why your $100 is better…because it is fast and cheap.  Let them know why your $300+ detail is better…because it corrects paint defects and offers a lot more services than the express style details. 

 I hope that some people where able to find some of this info. helpful.

Bob Daniels

Danase.com

I contacted “Ask Patty“, a site devoted to women and car care, and they asked if I could send them an article to publish. Well they not only used it they also posted it on their blog on their local news site! Click Here to read the article on NBC4.com

Buffing with Confidence - DVD now in stock! This DVD was created by Kevin Farrell. A lot of you probably have heard of Kevin or read one of his articles online or in magazines or watched one of his videos online. As always he did an excellent job on this production. I watched this video twice already and learned a lot of new tricks of the trade. This is a must have for ANY detailer!