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Can you tell a difference? The first picture the car was detailed by Ziebarts and the bottom picture was detailed by myself. Ziebarts was able to get out a lot of the swirl marks but overall im not sure if its worth the money to go back
Professionally Detailed
Here is a picture of when I detailed the car in about 30-45 mins.
First picture has terrible lighting, you can't see anything in detail.
If you really want to see a difference, or how well a detail was, put the car in a dark garage and use a hologen light to see fine details in the paint. Swirls will easily stand out compared to just looking at the car in day light.
Example from google:
Once a paint correction is done, as long as you're going what you need to be doing to keep the swirl marks from coming back, you should be able to detail the car yourself by simply washing it and keeping a good coat of sealant/glaze/wax on it.
Like anything else, some people choose to pay for a service while others prefer to do it themselves; either way is a matter of preference.
Personally I wouldn't use a "professional" myself because I already know exactly what I want, and how I want it, done.
A true complete detailing can't be done in 30-45 minutes, even on a car that's already pretty clean. A quick wash/wash & wax is not a detailing - that's just basic cleaning.
Like anything else, some people choose to pay for a service while others prefer to do it themselves; either way is a matter of preference.
Personally I wouldn't use a "professional" myself because I already know exactly what I want, and how I want it, done.
A true complete detailing can't be done in 30-45 minutes, even on a car that's already pretty clean. A quick wash/wash & wax is not a detailing - that's just basic cleaning.
What he said, you can't even clean the interior (which I would consider part of detailing) to that good a level in 30-45 minutes, if you need to deep scrub things or shampoo carpets or cloth seats., hell I spent a few hours on just my carpet a month or two back, it was beyond disgusting.
What he said, you can't even clean the interior (which I would consider part of detailing) to that good a level in 30-45 minutes, if you need to deep scrub things or shampoo carpets or cloth seats., hell I spent a few hours on just my carpet a month or two back, it was beyond disgusting.
Exactly. It takes me about 1.5-2 hours to do a "quick" clean-up on one of my garage queens after a weekend of car shows/perfect weather cruising. Even with regular touch-ups, garage storage and NO bad weather exposure throughout the on-season, it still takes about 12-14 hours for a complete (meaning top to bottom, inside and out, wheel wells to engine bay, etc.) annual detailing on one of them.
For a daily driver that has sat outside and been driven in foul weather, it could easily take 40 hours or more to bring it back to the best possible version of itself.
All the advice in here is great, I was detailing on the side for a while but people are too cheap and most don't see the value in it. Even my buddy thought it was overpriced until he watched me put 25hours into his paint correction detail.
I dont think I could wash my car in 30-45 minutes.
When I did polish and buff on my car before it retired from daily use to be a garage queen, I spent 2.5 days between stripping off the old wax, clay baring the hole car, doing a few passes with the polish, then putting 2 coats of wax on it. Still hadnt touched the wheels or interior or engine bay. It wasnt continuous work but from the time I started and finished it took that duration with the amount of free time I had, would definitely say it was well into the 30+hrs time range
nothing good can be done quickly when it comes to detailing
Pictures can be very very deceiving so that won't do any good in this case. For all we know the whole car might look like the left in 1 picture, and the right in the other.
Is it worth it? Yes, if you don't have the knowledge, time, hundreds of $$$ in equipment and products. If you don't have those, a legit detailer will make your car look better that you ever will.
That picture above is mine I took while detailing a Bentley for a client.
Interesting. Ive always just washed and dried the car then put on a coat of wax. Never really took me long at all. I know the first time they detailed my car it took 5 hours to get the swirl marks out and 3 hours to detail it this time around.
MikeWS6 if I were you and you seem to care what your paint looks like, I would learn to do it yourself. I have been doing paint correction for years but now that I'm very good at it I love it. I like my car looking perfect all the time and it's cheaper than bringing it to someone. Plus I make money on the side doing all my buddies vehicles and random vehicles here and there. I'm going to pimp out a picture a bit. This picture is my reflection in the hood of my buddies black Lexus. Took me 8 hours and could of spent more on it.
Learn to do it yourself and keep your black t/a looking like this on your own for a fraction of the price
Interesting. Ive always just washed and dried the car then put on a coat of wax. Never really took me long at all. I know the first time they detailed my car it took 5 hours to get the swirl marks out and 3 hours to detail it this time around.
True "detailing" consists of a great deal more than just paint work, and swirl removal alone can take several hours depending on the condition of the finish with which you're starting. A true complete detailing will address every visual aspect of the car; this is something one becomes familiar with when competing in various levels of shows (at the concourse/national level, even an undercarrige needs to be spotless, though that level of extreme detail is seldom necessary for local level events.) The difference between a "clean" daily driver and a show-worthy presentation is quite noticeable to a true professional and to those of us who are highly experienced self-detailers.
I do a quick ~1.5 hour touch up on my garage queens after every event, plus a 12-14 hour annual detail on the entire car (if I was prepping for a national event I would have to put several additional hours into the undercarrige, and probably do even more with the paint, but these days I mostly just hit the local shows/cruise night circuit.) That's for roughly ~500 miles of yearly use, garage storage and never being exposed to any weather. But I would never put that kind of effort into a car that I needed to drive every day. A simple wash/dry/wax is fine for basic cleaning of a daily driver, this is all I do with my DDs as well but it usually takes me several hours since I like to do a better than average job even on these, and if the car is new to me then usually on the first major clean-up I'll spend some time on finish correction as well.
MikeWS6 if I were you and you seem to care what your paint looks like, I would learn to do it yourself. I have been doing paint correction for years but now that I'm very good at it I love it. I like my car looking perfect all the time and it's cheaper than bringing it to someone. Plus I make money on the side doing all my buddies vehicles and random vehicles here and there. I'm going to pimp out a picture a bit. This picture is my reflection in the hood of my buddies black Lexus. Took me 8 hours and could of spent more on it.
Learn to do it yourself and keep your black t/a looking like this on your own for a fraction of the price
I agree whole heartedly with you. I myself did my first paint correction on my car about several years ago. I was going to take it to someone to do it, but then I decided to buy a dual action polisher, the Adams paint correction kit with pads, and a bunch of other Adams products. It turned out better than I could have expected and I was able to remove virtually every flaw in the paint. I have always detailed vehicles on the side, but after I did my own paint correction, I added that to what I can do, and I've made a ton of money doing paint corrections for friends and other customers. Junkman's videos on YouTube are very helpful for the novice in regards to learning proper technique.
No one understands why a true paint correction detail costs what it does until they sit and watch you do one and realize how much time and effort go into it.
No one understands why a true paint correction detail costs what it does until they sit and watch you do one and realize how much time and effort go into it.
Yup, exactly, I told my buddy I would do his 04 black cobra for $150, he didn't like that price. If he only knew the time to do a vehicle right, especially black, and the cost of using good products and the full days work he would realize that is a absolute deal. It takes patience, concentration and hard work to to get a vehicle looking like the picture I posted and some of the work I have seen you guys post on this site.
Maybe people who think a good job is to expressive are used to a dealership polish where some **** head kid picks up a pad that's been kicked around the shop floor, uses compound only then throws a coat of wax over it. I forgot where I heard this but what do you get when you wax **** ? Shiny **** lol
I won't even waste my time doing a paint correction for less than $350 lol and that's if I'm just getting the paint to 65-75% so there will still be some swirls and deeper scratches left over.
I do it in my spare time from my regular job which is valuable to me lol.
Maybe people who think a good job is to expressive are used to a dealership polish where some **** head kid picks up a pad that's been kicked around the shop floor, uses compound only then throws a coat of wax over it. I forgot where I heard this but what do you get when you wax **** ? Shiny **** lol
or just slaps a coat of Glaze or sealent on it to make it look good.
Really there are 3 tiers and I think this is where OP fail to clearly state:
Tier 1
Basic wash and wax
(possible vacuum interior)
Time about an hour is not bad
Tier 2
Professional (or DIY with the right tools) Detail
Thorough wash and wax and interior cleaning
Tier 3
Professional (or DIY with the right tools) Paint Correction and detail.
I think the OP's idea of "detailing" is simply washing the outside of the car and cleaning the wheels.
I'm pretty sure the OP had a shop do a paint correction on his car not too long ago. If I remember correct, he had another thread about doing it himself or having someone else do it (it could have also been in someone else's thread, but I do remember it). If the car already had a paint correction done, there is no need for another paint correction, unless the OP has not been washing/wiping down the car in the correct manner. In my opinion, if I'm going to pay for someone to do a paint correction, I'm going to educate myself on how to detail my car so that I don't make premature swirl marks and marring. There is a very clear "right way" and "wrong way" to wash/detail your car when it comes to preventing swirl marks and marring. 90% of my customers just want their car washed and waxed and have the interior detailed. That's perfectly fine, and I'm happy to do that for them. Then, there are the 10% who want a paint correction done, which is a hell of a lot more detailed and time consuming, not to mention a lot more expensive. If the paint on the OP's car has been corrected, then all he needs to do to keep it looking good is give it a simple detail he can do himself, and make sure he's putting good sealant/glaze/wax on it.
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Professionally detailed vs DIY 
