Court Kevin Simon - Automotive detailing in detail: a guide to enhancing, renovating and maintaining your vehicles appearance

AUTOMOTIVE DETAILING

In Detail

A Guide to Enhancing, Renovating and
Maintaining your Vehicles Appearance

AUTOMOTIVE DETAILING

In Detail

A Guide to Enhancing, Renovating and
Maintaining your Vehicles Appearance

Dom Colbeck, Jon Steele and David McLean

THE CROWOOD PRESS

First published in 2016 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2017

Dom Colbeck, Jon Steele and David McLean 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 243 4

Disclaimer

No responsibility can be taken by the author or publisher for direct/consequential or indirect/inconsequential loss or damage caused to a motor car or other vehicle or surface by the reader applying products, processes or techniques described in this book. All guidance is in general terms only and merely the opinion of the authors; no specific recommendations or suggestions should be acted upon without the reader carrying out all necessary forms of due diligence beforehand. If the reader is in doubt as to the effects of a detailing process, that process should not be undertaken.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Thanks to the explosive growth of the internet, car-care advice and information is abundant and accessible. After all, every car owner has experience of car care, and therefore an opinion on the subject. And there are a myriad of ways of looking after a car cosmetically, from slotting a token into an automatic car wash or driving to a hand car wash, to spending hundreds of pounds on a machine polisher and creating a finish that could rival or better that of a professional spray shop.

Detailing has risen in popularity, creating an abundance of readily accessible information; the problem is separating the valuable hints and tips from the chatter and chaff.

The variety of processes, products and techniques, coupled with every car owners personal experiences, spawns millions of posts on forums and social media sites every year. Thats a lot of suggestions, recommendations and advice.

Some of the content is, of course, extremely good. Videos can show processes in detail, and many forum/group members are knowledgeable, whether car-care professionals or not. The problem is that so much information and no clear way to define what is good, bad or downright misleading creates a lot of confusion. There is, in effect, more chaff than wheat. Add in compromised information disseminated by those with vested interests in certain products (such as car-care manufacturers), the peculiarities of internet behaviour (where the loudest and most argumentative posters often have the most authority) and long-standing myth and misinformation, and the waters get muddier still. Which leads us to this book.

The idea is to create a more definitive guide to car care, which the shifting sands of the internet simply cant provide. Competitive books on the market tend to be a little out-dated and invariably US-focused (the birthplace of detailing). By investigating the surfaces of the car, the contamination and defects found on them, and then the products and techniques to decontaminate, perfect and protect those surfaces, the aim is to break down detailing to its fundamentals and provide a system that everyone can follow and follow to good effect. A systematic approach, based on solid and established principles that can be applied time and again (whatever the surface or car), will be far more valuable than a dozen differing opinions given in reply to a narrow and specific question on a forum or group.

That said, this book isnt intending to supplant car care information on the internet. It should always be seen as a supplement to it, a common-sense fallback when confusion reigns or suggestions conflict.

Also, remember that whilst it intends to be as definitive as possible, some aspect of detailing, or a crucial piece of car-care information, may be inadvertently missed out. How do you get a rhino-skin gear selector clean? What is the best way to polish a titanium sill guard? So the authors apologize in advance if the advice falls short, and reiterate that it is just that: advice. The advice may be considered, thoughtful and informed, but it will always be the thoughts of just a few people what the authors have learned, what they have found to be useful and what they have found to be false. Given an infinite number of monkeys with access to typewriters and machine polishers, a superior book would surely result... and maybe in less time than a millennium or two.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dom Colbeck is one of the founders of Dodo Juice, a manufacturer of hand-made car-care products. He has worked with some of the worlds best detailers, and became proficient in detailing techniques early in Dodo Juices history, when he realized that this would dramatically improve his understanding, testing and development of the products he was bringing to market. His passion is in dispelling the myths and misinformation that litter the car-care industry (and the internet) through his unique insights into the way products are made, and the way that they work. He has regularly held training and tuition days, for both amateur and professional detailers.

DaveKG is a famous name in internet detailing circles, and belongs to David McLean, an early pioneer of forum detailing guides. During his time testing and reporting on products, he has sourced five identical brand new cars (black Vauxhall Corsas) to minimize variables, travelled thousands of miles to detailing meets and training events, and written tens of thousands of words of advice. A reluctant legend, Dave enjoys great respect and recognition on detailing websites, but can thankfully walk the aisles of his local supermarket without undue harassment.

Jon Steele is a semi-professional detailer with an insatiable thirst for product knowledge and an evangelical desire to improve detailing processes. Semi-professional means that he has a normal day job, but has previously been commissioned to undertake extensive details on supercars as part of an exclusive detailing team. His academic and analytical style suits a deeper and more investigative approach to detailing matters.

Internet forums and groups are an important source of information, but need to be treated with caution; often the loudest member holds court, rather than the cleverest.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

ABOUT THE BOOK

Detailing guides tend to follow tried and tested formats every task is tackled as a separate project, leading to a specific end result. But this inevitably means a large degree of repetition throughout the book, and it is a fragmented approach that often fails to empower the reader. The authors therefore decided that it would be better to interrogate the surfaces tackled and the products/equipment used, rather than just dictating a string of processes that would be followed blithely. After all, if you realize that your wheels have the same (or a similar) clearcoated finish compared to the bodywork of your car, then you can employ the same fundamental techniques to decontaminate and protect them. And if a detailing spray cleans a particular surface and adds gloss without leaving a chalky residue, there is nothing to stop it being used on textured black plastic exterior trim, or even the dashboard.