FINALLY...Just ordered...

[Brand86]

After *****ing around for months, finally just ordered:

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/son-sfxpol-kit.html

Now just got to buy transofmer, plug, extension, some more pads and some other polishes. Thinking of getting the Menzerna sample set from SP. My old man is getting some panels from the body shop at work for me to practice on, and then going to tackle my mum's 54 plate Golf as it is pretty swirled.

Also, anyone tried this Polycharger stuff?

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/polycharger.html

Sounds interesting.

 

[FiDoDiDo]

About time!

The Menzerna sample set is from Tim at CYC.

Not sure on the Polycharger stuff, normal wax is fine for me without playing with what some techies have spent hours on already trying to perfect it.

 

[Brand86]

About time!

The Menzerna sample set is from Tim at CYC.

Not sure on the Polycharger stuff, normal wax is fine for me without playing with what some techies have spent hours on already trying to perfect it.

Yeh I know, I have been very slack and just haven't had the money to fork out in one go until now. Comes with a complete set of pads but have been recommended to get a set of 4" ones too. Will I also need another backing plate for this size pad do you know? Presuming I do.

Apparently the Polycharger stuff works quite well, and is now stocked by most detailing suppliers so guessing they must like it. Would certainly be interested in trying it anyway.

Also - what happened to Cusco Kid and his "revolutionary" Teflon wax??!

 

[Eddieb]

Aye, about time you got one! Mind you I got mine in the New Year and have only used it 3 times!

For the 4" pads I think its a 3.5" backing plate!

Let us know how you get on with the Menz... I need to do my mums TT and going to need something a bit "harder" than the SSRs I've got!

 

[FiDoDiDo]

Yep you need the a 3.5" backing plate for the 4" pads, you will need the 4" pads for the Clio particularly.

The Polycharger seems quite expensive really as you can just get another tin of wax for the same price. Was wondering about the Cusco Kid wax the other day too.

 

[Eddieb]

I wish I'd doubled up on 4" pads now as I only got one set!

Am I correct in thinking that the polycharger just extends the lifetime of a liquid LSP? And also it only lasts a short period once mixed up?

 

[Auto Finesse]

that is right one you mix a product it will go off so only mix what you need, dont be fooled in to beliving some thing is good cos shops start stocking it, at the end of the day they need to make money and once every one has one thing some thing else comes out and thats the thing to have,

i did not like it that much and i think that zaino z2 is better with the flash accelorator lasts for ages and gives a finish as good as the very top end waxes

 

[Eddieb]

Heard good things abourt zaino products... on my items to try! I think I will like Zaino as I find waxes mute the flake in my Cups paint.

 

[Brand86]

Right looks like MORE to spend. My dad just replaced his old Boxster which was a 51 plate in black and was looking forward to doing that. Got the 172 and Golf to do on my drive though and got a few others lined up to do over the summer as haven't done any private work since Christmas.

Out of interest, for a full exterior job including clay, machine polishing, sealant, wax, windows, tyres, arches, shuts and windows, how much should I be charging - I mainly do friends or friends of friends cars but the demand is there if I want it. Don't want to over or under price myself. My results have always been very high without the PC, so should be even better. Used to charge about £60-80 in the past...but I know when I worked in a dealer we charged like £200 and the results were nowhere near as good.

 

[Eddieb]

Work an hourly rate out which "cover" your costs and what includes your hourly labour charge... at a very broad guess I would charge about 15 quid an hour but then again that is a pure guess! You have to remember that the dealers will have other overheads to pay for such as water/elecy rates, tax etc etc.


I just charge my mates the cost of the products I used esp when using my PC as I am still learning with it!

 

[Rich]

I would make sure you have at least two of each grade of pad in both sizes.

 

[Brand86]

Work an hourly rate out which "cover" your costs and what includes your hourly labour charge... at a very broad guess I would charge about 15 quid an hour but then again that is a pure guess! You have to remember that the dealers will have other overheads to pay for such as water/elecy rates, tax etc etc.


I just charge my mates the cost of the products I used esp when using my PC as I am still learning with it!

That's the thing, at a dealer you are under pressure to do as many cars as you can, and don't have the extra time it takes for the fine details. Also the quality of products they use are poor - AG at best but from my experience very few dealers use these as every penny counts and profits are the key. Doing private work is a lot more satisfying as you can take your time and make sure you are happy with everything and the customer is too. Also sometimes they might not want everything done at once so they can specify where they want to spend their money (and your time).

Where I worked I think we charged like £200, of which 20% of that just went directly to the service department for getting the custom (more likely the customer just asked anyway) - and then there is the VAT and NI added on top, which I *may* not declare on all occassions so you can charge less there too. I'd rather charge more and spend longer and think if you are going to spend 6 hours to do an ok job, spend 8 and do a great one.

 

[Auto Finesse]

mate i do it for a living, but i have 7 years experiance so i will be charging alot more than you and my proper job can take over 36 hours labour so that is 4 hard days graft, i would do what the other guys said and charge a hour or day rate, also auto glym prods are very underated thses days on the forums, and they are good especialy there cleaners,

wirh regards to zaino its defo a beter bet than the poly charger, also Poly C and a wax/sealant will end up the same money as zaino any way

 

[Rich]

To do full defect removal with a PC will take lots of hours even on a small sized car. As soon as you through into the equation something like hard German paint you can easily spend 8 hours just on the paint before tackiling any of the other areas. Brazo and I spent around 12 hours with 2 of us working on that M3 CSL and that was with Mark using a Rotary to speed things up

As to pricing I used to do a clio sized car for around 50 quid but tbh that is not worth the effort now I have seen the light. When I was first learning mine I did mates cars FOC for a few beers etc. I would learn the machine before worring about the pricing.

 

[Brand86]

To do full defect removal with a PC will take lots of hours even on a small sized car. As soon as you through into the equation something like hard German paint you can easily spend 8 hours just on the paint before tackiling any of the other areas. Brazo and I spent around 12 hours with 2 of us working on that M3 CSL and that was with Mark using a Rotary to speed things up

As to pricing I used to do a clio sized car for around 50 quid but tbh that is not worth the effort now I have seen the light. When I was first learning mine I did mates cars FOC for a few beers etc. I would learn the machine before worring about the pricing.

Yeh, well it takes me most the day just for a clay, hand polish seal and wax so a full machine polish will obviously take longer as its more extensive. I'm not doing it for the money but in the summer looking to make some...

I have been into detailing though since I got a valeting job part time when I was 14, so obviously there are much more experienced people out there but I have a fair bit myself, although machine polishing is new to me.

Man we're sad