An article that I posted on an automotive forum, recapping a detailing class that I attended yesterday.
**Note. I'm not trying to sell you guys on anything. Really. I thought I'd share this experience, because it was just so neat. Also, someone posted a question about armor-all in the "Interior" section of this forum, and I thought this would be an opportunity to share this experience with you all.**
My Hubby is a nut about his car. He drives a 1991 Nissan 300 ZX Twin Turbo. He is a Z aficionado and LOVES his car. Since moving out here to Cali, he has managed to track down a Z car club that is a really great group of people. Let me specify that these are enthusiasts that LOVE to drive their cars…they don't garage them and only bring them out for shows and whatnot. We get out often and meet to hang out and drive our cars.
In fact, we're driving along the coast next weekend and will be spending a weekend driving to Death Valley as a group in October.
So one of our "sister" clubs from Northern Cali put together a car detailing class at Meguiar's in Irvine, CA. All Z club members were invited to attend, and we signed up.
Actually, it went more like this…
Hubby: "Remember hearing about that Meguiar's class everyone was talking about? The Z Club has one put together for September 8. I'm going. You can come if you want."
Me: "A car waxing class?? I guess I could go along for the drive and hang out with the other wives."
Well, I was pleasantly surprised.
Just so you guys know, I am not one for washing/waxing/detailing my car. When we completed the survey at the end of the class, and was asked what car care products I most commonly use, I put down "Windex." Actually, when it comes to cleaning my car, I visit the local "Red Carpet Car Wash" (former Fresno employer of K-Fed himself) and let them do all the work for me.
So we drove 260 miles, braved the LA traffic, and spent the night in Irvine, Ca. Then arose at 6am the following morning to be out of the hotel and at Meguiar's by 8am.
They have a pretty impressive set-up. We worked in a roomy two car garage bay that was fully stocked with all kinds of detailing equipment. They have a classroom just off the garage where we sat for a four-hour seminar on the history of the company (they actually started out as a furniture care company. Huh.) and learned about the evolution of their product lines. Then we moved out to the garage and saw the magic happen.
What is really neat is that they have one of everything there…stuff that is available in the stores and stuff that you have to find a specialized store to buy. But it's all right there for you to pick up and read the label.
It wasn't really a sales pitch, either. The guy that taught us the class is pretty much a professional detailer in his alternate, non-corporate life. (He's detailing the Bat Mobile later this week!) He flat out told us at the beginning of the class that he was going to tell us about a lot of stuff, and it was going to be overwhelming, but it all came down to how you want to detail the outside of your car and make it shine. If you want to do it by hand, then you only really need three products. By machine, then two.
So we learned about clay bars, quick detailing spray, scratch/swirl removers, polishes and waxes. Microfiber cloths, terrycloth towels and foam pads. Detailing machines and the different foam pads that go on them, and which one will burn through your paint and which one is fool-proof.
Now remember…I wasn't too enthused about going in the first place. But the class was very interesting and the instructor was very engaging and entertaining. I actually learned a lot, and enjoyed seeing the detailing happen.
And everyone that wanted to try something got the opportunity.
My Husband's car was the lucky candidate for the hands-on portion of the class. The instructor showed us how to look for small scratches in the clear coat that were there as a result of life in general (his car is a daily driver, after all), and how to spot those annoying "swirl" marks that appear as a result of improper detailing.
He then showed us how to remove those imperfections and make the clear coat "clear" again. Removing the haze from the clear coat is what makes the paint brighten up and "pop" again.
Everyone pitched in with some "quick detail" spray to remove the grit and grime of the drive down there. (Hubby had visited K-Fed's former employer the day before, but then we had the drive ahead of us and of all the stupid luck, there wasn't a car wash between the hotel and Meguiar's to be found!) Then everyone clay barred the car to remove all the "environmental pathogens" from the top of the clear coat. We could already see and feel the difference on the paint.
The instructor taped off the hood in sections, so that we could see definitive lines when comparing the paint in "before and after" shots. He used a Xeon light to show us the swirls and minor scratches.
He hand-detailed a section himself, and after the first pass with the first step (scratch-x) we could already see that the clear coat was clearer, there was a reduction in swirls, and the paint just looked better. He did three passes with the scratch remover, then moved on to the polish, then on to a wax. While we waited for the wax to dry, he moved over to another section and started working with the machine.
This was where anyone that wanted an opportunity to try got to pitch in. He showed us how to apply a polisher from their professional line, and then how to apply the wax. Anyone that wanted to use the machine could apply a coat of the polisher. He put the wax on himself.
After the wax was completely dry, he wiped it off. Before Hubby pulled the car out of the garage and into the sun, we could already see the difference.
Pulling the car outside, and seeing the sun glint off of the finish on the hood really drove the point home. Hubby's car is "pearl black", and you could really see the difference in the sections that had been polished and waxed, and the sections that had not. Swirl marks were non-existent. The clear coat had been "de-hazed" and the black paint really shone through. It looked deeper and richer, and the metallic flakes really shone.
Then we pulled the car back in the garage, and the instructor finished up the entire front of the car.
It is beautiful. Looks like a new car. Well, a new car with rock chips in the paint. Rock chips that really stand out because now there are no other scratches or swirls to camouflage them. J
Hubby has declared that we are using only Meguiar's products from now on.
(As a side note, last summer the two of us pulled my car into our garage and hit it with a few of the Meguiar's products that we had picked up from a store. We put in the entire day working mostly by hand, and the dull paint polished up beautifully! We'll be doing this again, as we'll be putting my car up for sale when we order my Patriot in a couple of months.)
So for someone that wasn't really interested in attending and learning all about waxes, compounds, polishes, chemicals and whatnot…I really enjoyed myself. The information, knowledge and technique that was passed on to us is really enough for you to start your very own detailing business. In fact, there was a young man there that was working on just that.
If anyone ever has the opportunity to attend one of these classes, I say go for it. I realize that this crowd may not have the special interest of keeping their Jeeps shiny and scratch-free, but some of you might. And some of you might have other cars that you like to baby.
Anyways…here is a Shutterfly link to our photos from the day:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AaMWjduzcs1HhU
Here is the address to Meguiar's website:
http://www.meguiars.com
And here is the address to the Meguiar's Online Forum:
http://meguiarsonline.com/Default.aspx
That's our class, the ZONC club, under the Car Detailing Classes link. And that's me, waay in the back, in the gray sweatshirt hoodie. (It was cold in there!)
Those of you that are using the Mopar products for cleaning your Jeeps…take another look at the label. Does it say Meguiar's anywhere on there? One of the things we learned is that Meguiar's has partnered with some companies that want specialized cleaners for their products. Chrysler is one of them, and that is where the Mopar cleaners come in. Meguiars makes cleaners for them, and puts their name on the label as well. There is a furniture company and a door company that have the same deal with them. Pretty neat.
Also…a couple of tips I thought I'd pass on. When detailing the outside of your car, use painter's tape to tape off the rubber/trim areas of your car that you don't want to get wax residue on. Really helps.
And I learned something about the care of leather/vinyl seats and applying product. Don't apply the product directly to the seats. You'll gunk up your seams that way. Instead, apply the product to your cloth, then wipe onto the seat.
And micro fiber and terrycloth are better to use over plain cotton, such as tees. Why? The fabric of micro fiber and terrycloth is textured better…thus giving anything that is microscopic and sitting on top of your paint somewhere to go. Tees and other "smooth" fabric will simply push these contaminants across your paint, leaving scratches in the clear coat.
