Looking for good auto detailer? (new house, buying, cost of)

[SALUKI_LOVER]

anyone out there have a recommendation? looking for someone who can come to our home . .thanks!

[Sky1]

It's hard to clean a car without water.

[JJingle]

The mobile detailer I use was put out of business with the tighter water restrictions. I'm assuming most, if not all, met the same fate.

[gastric]

I went to the AutoWash on 6 Forks and after spending $165 was only mildly satisfied and wouldn't recommend them for a full detail. The detailer left the windows dirty, and totally missed the dashboard glass and fold-down visor mirrors.

In contrast their $20 wash-n-vac deal was an excellent buy. They dont vac out every nook and cranny but my van had sand from the summer beach trip still and it came out looking excellent. Particularly when compared to the $165 full detail our car got.

I guess for $165 I was expecting perfection. As if I had spent all day doing it my self where I q-tip the vent louvers, etc.

On the flip side I'm a picky SOB and hard to please. But seriously, the windows were dirty and they totally missed some spots.

They're on the city can-stay-open list so in that regard it's a plus.

[SALUKI_LOVER]

guess they are still in biz . . I made an appointment to have someone come out to my work place..

[sacredgrooves]

Just an alternate thought for those DIY'ers.


I would recommend, if you don't mind doing the work, buying top notch products and doing it yourself. Get a Porter-Cable random orbital buffer (model 7424 is awesome and only a little over $100) you cannot hurt your finish with it unless you throw it at the car.
Hit autogeek.net and pick up some "lake country" buffing pads, then click on over to zainostore.com and buy some of the best detailing waxes and polishes in the world. The stuff they sell in auto centers, and used by most detailers, is basically junk. Zaino is optically clear and really does last several months. It also only takes a fraction of the product to wax with. Once applied you just maintain it with a spray (Z6 or Z8). You can apply many many many layers without it gumming up, or putting white residue all over your trim. I had about a dozen layers on my corvette.
The cost of approximately 2 details by someone else gets you everything you need. I definitely understand if you don't care to do it yourself, but it really takes just one saturday every 6 months and 15-20 minutes a week to keep it near perfect.
Another thing to keep in mind...only use microfiber towels as terry cloth with micro-mar your finish. Also, the less you have to touch the car with any towel, the better. I use an electric leaf blower to dry my car. This leaves no water marks and no fine scratches from dirt embedded in a towel.



Trust me, I know a thing or two about detailing after having owning this car for years lol(sold it to buy help buy my new house). I would not take any of my cars to a run of the mill detail shop like auto-spa etc simply because they tend to be young people that don't know a thing about proper detailing.

[hula]

Jeez, ya shoulda warned us - I didn't have my shades on! Very shiny!