Confessions of Car Detailers

Edmunds.com

Confessions of Car Detailers

Do you need a car detailer to keep your vehicle looking like it just came off the showroom floor? Not always, detailing professionals say.

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pommah

You should never, ever wax a modern car with clear-coat paint over the color. All you're doing is adding a little bit of wax, which quickly washes off, but you're also scratching and removing a little bit of the clear coat, which is a much better protector and has a much better shine. Clear-coat paint was developed so that you never have to wax! My uncle was a chemist for PPG and one of the guys who developed the stuff. Since he told me I've never waxed a car, and owned several for over 10 years without ever waxing, and they still looked great when they went off to the junkyard.

banhugh

WTH? The title of the link on the What's Hot front page as of 5/1/14 is: "Learn the Right Way To Have Your Car Detailed:
Tips From Professionals on What To Look for and How Much To Spend"

The link lead to a different article titled: "Confessions of Car Detailers"

Bait and switch!

joefrompa

Not a bad article. The advice on washing the car once a week and waxing once a month is....excessive, to say the least. That advice has everything to do with maximum shine at all times, and little to do with actual protection.

One thing I want to address: If your car is covered in dirt, it's not harmful to your car to NOT wash it for a week or even several weeks. That dirt doesn't slowly eat away the clearcoat or paint once it's been there for a day or two.

Similarly with salt in the winter: Salt will actively hurt the paint for a very short period of time then go inert. Washing it off frequently then re-coating the car in salt is actually more harmful.

banhugh

If you park you car in a garage building during the day at work and your garage at home during the night, there is no reason to wash the car once a week and wax it once a month. Also, what was all this nonsense from director of training at car-care products maker Meguiar's regarding "...whatever you're buying is formulated for your particular year, make and model of car..." Does Meguiar's sell wax buy the year make and model of any car?!?! Who says that?

kokomojoe

I don't use a pressure washer on my cars EVER. It can damage the paint and decals such as pin strips or other trim objects.
It is not hard to do this your self, using a car wash, rags, shop vac and interior cleaner.
You can clean your car in less than an hour and know what was done in the process. Cleaning you own car you may find that in the future you will pay attention to how you use you car and the interior.

marcos9

The article forgot to mention to make sure you have covered parking as much as possible. A garage or carport at home and work does wonders to keep the sun's damaging rays from ruining the paint prematurely.

The article almost sounds like an infomercial...

koziollz

Regarding the child seat that could be a safety and/or liability issue. I would never move, unhook, re-attach, uninstall, re-install, or mess with someone else's child seat. You don't want to be responsible for incorrectly causing malfunction or worst failure during an accident. I would suggest always making the client remove any child seats or safety devices prior to dropping of the vehicle and then re-installing it themselves after.

koziollz

Regarding the child seat that could be a safety and/or liability issue. I would never move, unhook, re-attach, uninstall, re-install, or mess with someone else's child seat. You don't want to be responsible for incorrectly causing malfunction or worst failure during an accident. I would suggest always making the client remove any child seats or safety devices prior to dropping of the vehicle and then re-installing it themselves after.