What's up A-Zine.... I need to know where to take my car for a GOOD detailing. No wait, I'm not going to call it detailing, paint restoration is more like it. I took my car to some guy to get a "detailing" and it came out horrible. It looks great in the shade but when the car is in the sun, you can see all the swirls marks. I think all he did was pass the clay over it and then gave it a coat of wax! What an A$$! I'll go as far as to say that he put more swirls on my car! So I want to get my paint completely RESTORED by someone who knows what they're doing. And I've heard it's not easy on darker cars (CGP TSX). I know they're are a lot of detailing shops out here in NY/NJ but I need to know of someone LEGIT! Please, if anybody knows, let me know. I hate spending money for no reason.

 

detailers domain. they're located in north jersey...check their website. http://www.detailersdomain.com/ they're a sponsor on the forum and post a lot of their write ups on cars they detail in the wash / was forum. i know others will highly recommend them.

 

I love the work that they do at detailers domain BUT it's a bit too far for me. I know that they take a couple of days on cars that the paint is in pretty bad condition (like mine), so I don't know how I would get back home after I drop my car off.... I could probably take the bus/train but that could take me a while..... I wanna see if anyone knows any place that does work like detailers domain in NYC.... Thanks though. If I can't find any other place, then I'm definitely going over there.....

 

Forget it..... Did a quick search in this forum and found two good places that most people say are good that are closer to where I live.... 'Detailing Dynamics' and 'Big A Detailing'..... I'm going to get quotes from both to see which one I can afford LOL. I heard they both do really good work....

 

Let me know which one you decided on, also post pics of the results. I'm also in need of a detail(paint restoration)

 

No doubt.

 

Can you put up some before and after pics?

 

Definitely. I'm going to do the detailing in a couple of days. I'm just getting quotes from the two choices that I mentioned in my previous post. They both seem to do good work so which ever one gives me a better deal, I guess I'll go with that one. I'll be sure to post before and after pictures.

 

Big A is really good, I use him all the time.

If its as bad as you say, it will prolly be around $500 at Big A and upwards of $1200 at DD

 

Be careful guys.. lot of detailers use Glaze... and to me thats just a dirty trick to make you think your car has no swirls when in fact they are just hiding it. Removal is better than hiding it. This is why certain places are cheaper ... so dont go based on price.

 

detail the car after the winter season passes

 

raj how can you tell when they use glaze on the car?

come spring time i might put up a tent in front of the detailer's shop and make sure they dont pull some sh*t like that on me

 

Yea I was pondering on doing that.... but it's just that I'm so conscious of the swirls that it's killing me now! I think it is smarter to wait until the spring.... But I may have another resort though....

 

Most detailers dont mind you sitting their and watching them work on your car...at least any of the ones I've been too.

 

Yea but most detailers take more than one day to do the job.

 

and we call those car washes!

1 hour detail special

 

A proper paint restoration will take a minimum of one entire day of working on the car with maybe 2 15 mt. breaks and half hour lunch break. LOL. If only one person is doing it... then it will take 2 entire days. It took my 2 days to do the following on my NBP TL:

STEP 1: Wash Car with Meguiars Gold Class
STEP 2: Clay entire car
STEP 3: Wash Car with Dawn Degreaser
STEP 4: Use PC 8424XP w/ Yellow Cutting Pad and Meguiars 105 and start a panel.
STEP 5: Use PC 8424XP w/ Green Cutting Pad and Meguiars 205 on same panel
STEP 6: Use PC 8424XP w/ Black Pad and Poorboys Black Hole (GLAZE) optional step
STEP 7: Use PC 8424XP w/ Blue Pad and Menzerna Power Lock Sealant
STEP 8: By hand used poorboys nattys Paste Wax

Step 6 should only be used after every swirl is taken out and its just to add depth to your paint. It does fill in minor marks that you can barely see with the naked eye and by doing this it reflects the light better giving the depth of the color.

Step 7 is the actual sealant that makes sure that locks the water out from causing stains and also helps aids in easy removal of dirt and grime on the next car wash for months come.

Step 8 is the actual protection from UV rays and pollution.

I do steps 7 and 8 every few months and do the entire process STEPS 1 - 8, 2x a year.

 

These are some really good steps.... I just wish I had the equipment and a heated garage to do this.... That's why unfortunately I'm going to have to get someone else to do it for me....

 

haha true, I just meant that wherever he does it, most detailers dont mind you hanging around if you got the time to kill

 

tintmax.com

 

^^ I promote Steve all the time when it comes to Tints as he's the only guy I will take my car to get my tints done and also car washed.. but detail is a whole different ball game. I had work done by them and wasn't too thrilled ... and its mainly because he does not do the work .. he has hired mexicans do the job and they don't put any effort into it.. so I do not recommend that place for details. But for tints.. he's the only guy that will touch my car.

 

So I finally did my detailing....

Thanks to Jose (BluLabelCL9) for the recommendation, and his cousin Luis who hook it up! He did an amazing job. It was well worth the money. Unfortunately, right when I was leaving his garage, it started snowing so it messed up my plans for doing a mini photo shoot of the car. But nonetheless, I have some cell pics (quality not too bad) to show before and after shots. This is just a sample, in the next couple of days or weeks I'll clean up the car and have a photo shoot to show a good amount of pictures of the job he did.

Before:




After:




Again, sorry for the picture quality, I know it's not the best but you can see the difference in these pictures. Higher res pics to come with halogen lighting and everything....

 

Wow that turned out really nice. This is exactly what my car needs. May I ask how much it cost, how long it took, and if you know, what were the basic steps needed to take out all those damn swirls (Well, what is it you payed him to do)?

Looking forward to final pics!

 

Thanks!

I've been getting PM's from members asking me how much it cost, but I'm hesitant to say an exact price because it all depends on the condition of your car. I only did a paint correction (exterior only). It took him basically the whole day to do it because my paint was in pretty bad shape. It depends what you want to do also. If you want a full exterior/paint correction and interior, it may take him more than one day and I don't know how much more he would charge... I don't like giving exact prices so I just give estimates. Again, depending on the condition of your paint, it could run you from $200 to $250 just for a paint correction. I'm pleased with the results and I'm definitely going back to him once the spring hits to get the car ready for the summer. I'll be posting up better pictures of the car with a better quality camera so you guys can see.

 

Car came out great! Glad you liked the work. Menzerna products were used on this car. Not sure of the process but it did take him 10+Hrs just on the paint.

 

Sweet, I bet your paint looks brand new. I think 200-250 is a very reasonable price. Could you please provide more info such as his name, location, and phone number?

 

He's a member on here but is more active on the other RSX site. I'll tell him to swing by this thread.