Burning Wheels May Not Always Happen For Reason You Think. Also, Talking With Customers in Your Business. Episode #957
99 annotations
“Clutch culture” gets framed as a practical bridge for detailers: talk about the cars customers actually buy, then use that conversation to set expectations and build trust. The hosts also break down why customer acquisition is harder than “more Instagram followers,” especially as paid ads get pricier and less effective. They connect detailing value to real-world outcomes—preventing bad dealership decisions, protecting paint, and avoiding irreversible interior damage—while sharing concrete workflows for scratches, stains, and wheel cleaning.
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00:42
Concept
clutch culture
“Clutch culture” is basically the community of people who really care about driving feel—especially cars with a real clutch and manual shifting. The host uses it to explain why people ask questions about cars and gearboxes.
00:55
Term
manual option
A “manual option” means you can get the car with a stick shift. Instead of the car choosing gears for you, you pick the gears yourself.
01:27
Term
button shift
“Button shift” is when you put the car in gear using buttons instead of a normal shifter. The host thinks it feels worse and less satisfying to use.
02:33
Topic
bridge moment
They mean a “bridge moment” where the show connects what listeners are curious about to the deeper explanation. It’s about answering questions in a helpful way.
03:15
Concept
mobile detail
Mobile detailing means the car cleaning service comes to you. Instead of you taking your car to a shop, the detailer shows up where your car is.
05:26
Concept
PPF
PPF is a clear protective film put on your car’s paint. It helps protect the paint from small rocks, scratches, and everyday damage.
08:19
Term
tent shop
“Tent shop” is shorthand for a shop that installs window tint film. Window tint is a distinct detailing/appearance service because it involves film selection, surface prep, and careful installation to avoid bubbles, peeling, or misalignment.
08:29
Term
slip solution
A slip solution is a kind of lubricant used during detailing so things glide instead of grabbing. It helps the installer do the job smoothly and accurately.
08:47
Brand
hyper clean
Hyper Clean is the name of a cleaning product brand. The host is saying they use that brand’s enzyme cleaner for carpet stains.
Range Rover is a luxury SUV from Land Rover. The host mentions it just as an example of a car customers might own so the shop can talk to them about what they’re into.
13:56
Car
Ford
Ford is a car brand that makes lots of different vehicles. The host is using it as a simple example of “whatever car someone has,” to show how to talk with customers.
16:22
Concept
trading in their car just because it looks ugly
The host is saying that how a car looks can push people to trade it in sooner than they should. If the car looks bad, they may feel fed up and accept a worse deal just to get rid of it.
17:23
Term
scan
A scan is when a mechanic plugs a tool into your car to read computer error codes. It helps them figure out what’s causing the warning light and what repairs are needed.
The Nissan Rogue is a popular family SUV. Here, they’re using a Rogue as an example of how keeping up with maintenance (like oil changes) can prevent expensive problems later.
18:17
Term
three cylinder engine
A three-cylinder engine is an engine with three combustion chambers. It’s a common design in many newer cars to help with efficiency, and it can change how the car feels when you drive it.
Welcome to the pints and polishing podcast, the most influential and listen to podcast in auto detailing. Welcome to the
community. Last week, I got to wash the 2026 Honda Porsche Lude. Now, the Honda Porsche Lude, those you guys don't know, it came out
of the NADA after Porsche met up with Honda and infinity for some drinks. And we got the 2026 Honda Porsche Lude.
Now, this is just my joke. It really somebody because one of the neighbors saw something was like, Hey, man, is that a Porsche?
I'm like, No, it's a Honda, right? It is funny. But I went immediately after seeing the car and driving the car. I immediately was
like, Okay, well, what is Nick? And what is clutch culture? And what's going on over Rob? Like, I guarantee I was just my mind
going, I guarantee you, they've assaulted the 2026 Honda trailer.
Yes, look, it's underpowered overpriced. No manual option. I mean, it's everything that you would expect not to do. I
mean, it's exactly as we state. It's not that exciting. The world's not that excited about it. They underpowered it. They overpriced it from the
get go. No manual as a heritage to sort of the cool preludes of the past. I mean, a lot of bad decisions right there. There's no
question.
Not only no manual, but those stupid button shift.
I mean, it's worse now. I mean, I was trying to explain it to somebody who has who has one of the like, the little blocks that you
kind of just move now. You know, and they were like, Well, yeah, I mean, this mine is this was like, No, no, no. No, you at least get to hold
something and move it.
Yeah, we've over we've over thought the shifting of cars into gear. There's no question. Yeah, I mean, it was, it was brutal. It was
brutal. But you know, the other thing too, as I was listening to the episode, I messaged you, I messaged Rob was was chatting about
this. I called it the Porsche lead, right? Because because I just thought it was funny. You know, and I go, Wow, clutch culture
really gives us a unique perspective. You know, it's something you've done. And it's something you you've you've done amazing with
right? It's almost like every other week you messaged me about some other clips gone viral and some other things, you know, continue to
get new people, you know, hearing about what you're talking. And you go, Wow, it is really unique for us. It's so unique that you've
got questions, people started asking you questions. I think what's cool is it puts us in that bridge moment. And it's a bridge of
their questions as well as detail or questions all all explain. Alright, let me let me explain it this way. I think some people inside
listening to clutch culture, you've said they they've asked, right? They've asked you, Hey, who is the best car detailer near
me? Great, right? Seems like a very legitimate question. Many people probably searching for that. I got asked last week by a guy
named john. He's a local guy. Actually, my second website guy. And so this is a long time ago, just random message me. He asked
me, Hey, who is a good mobile detail place? Was like, What? Who's a good mobile detail? Like, Okay, John, I don't know that
that but so people are actively searching right there. They're looking for who's the best? Who's good? Who's in my area
that's detailing and then flip the coin. This is Dima. This is out of some group. One of the Facebook groups are
wonderful that we all have for detailing. He goes, How to get clients and grow my Insta followers. So it seems like
right both sides, detailers, the pro detailers and customers. And we're the bridge is somebody you've been on record
multiple times saying what associations and what people should do to grow our industry is get the people that are
searching connected with the detailers. This is what I love about clutch culture and what's happening is so
what's become apparent, you know, with all the things you just said is that we have a more crowded space than ever,
right? People don't know who to hire. They don't know why to hire. They're paying more for their cars than they've ever
paid. So now they're interested and I need to talk to somebody, you know, how do I care for my car because now I'm
what clutch culture, which is mainly just car people, right? They're not detailing people. They're just they like their
car, whatever it is, their five cars or two cars, whatever. I think this is an interesting time for all of us in this
space that we're in to start having a conversation of why are these people why do these people think they're having such
trouble finding people? Because like you said, I'm guessing your tech guy there locally who messaged you has been there
his whole life, maybe, or has at least been there a decade or two decades, it's a computer guy. Yeah, that was ironic.
Right. And you go, Okay, so he spent the last 10 plus years making zero relationships to help deal with his car. But
now he goes out of the blue, I need to start thinking about, you know, getting a relationship with a mobile
detailer or shop. And this is the benefit of the internet to detailing and PPF intent is that now people are getting
an awareness. The issue is, they're getting an awareness to a point, but they don't know what to do next. Right, they
don't actually know what's what is the next thing? What is the next thing I should do? And I would tell people asking
your network as you were asked by this guy is probably the best thing to do. I mean, go to the most meticulous car
people that you know, use shops or use mobile people and say, Hey, who are you using? You know, get that, then go do your
research on those people, you know, go see exactly maybe their Instagram or their TikTok or, you know, their Google or
whatever, and see if that matches with what you're looking for. But this has gotten really no easier, you know, on the
consumer side of things, it looks easy to all of us that know what we're looking at. But if you look at it from the
other side of people that don't know anything about what we do, you can see why the confusion is building.
Yeah, absolutely. And you can definitely see it on the opposite side, right? Like, if we say the second part of my
innocence, point or question or topic is, he's also on the detail or the pro detailer side, how many are so new, and
just getting started, which is great. We love them. We love that you're here. Absolutely. But but they're going, how to get
clients? How do I get clients? And he's in a Facebook group, asking people, How do I get clients? The I think they are on a
part two is, and grow my Insta followers like, like there's a connection. I think that's, that's, that's really in, in June of
2026. There's people with the idea that if I grow my Instagram followers, I'll get customers in my local area. What's your opinion
now? Right is something we, we used to say, I would say, you know, you gotta listen, we've actually, we're probably going to come
out and, and flip the coin now for our own selves. Because we use, I guess, myself in particular used to say, Hey, post on
Instagram, tag locally, right? And you go through all that stuff. Well, it's 2026.
Yeah, it's, it's the world has changed. There's people that use social media really effectively in a local area. We have to
say that. But they're also not going to make content that's relevant to other detailers. They're going to make content
specifically educational. For the questions they know customers in their local area have. And so it takes a lot of game
planning, so to speak, to understand what that looks like. So if you go on most detailing PPF or tent shop, Instagram,
TikTok, whatever, what you see is a lot of industry talk. What I mean by that is, I'm using this slip solution, I'm using this
product, I'm using that. And that stuff has a place while you're educating on the service you're providing that vehicle that may
pertain to somebody locally, right? So I use enzyme from hyper clean on this carpet. Let me explain what we're doing on this
carpet, what problem we're solving on this carpet, maybe you have this on your carpet. This is the importance of somebody doing
this correctly. If you do it in the wrong order, you could have a set stain out your carpet will never be correct. That is much
different than trying to flex to people that are already in your industry. And it's very hard to get out of the mindset. And
when you go into a Facebook group, that's not a negative thing. But you also got to realize now you're just talking to more
industry people. So most of those people, if you go to their Instagram are trying to flex for people in the industry,
they're not actually there to hyper educate the local consumer on the exact service they're providing on that exact car.
Now, the people that do that effectively, they absolutely get a lot of business off social media. But I was probably one of the
first people that that I heard in our industry saying, don't lie to yourself about social media, it's a pay for play game.
It's always been pay for play. Like, you got to then know how to take that information that that that thing that you recorded,
make it into an ad and get it out into your local geographic area. And you know what I see all the time in Vegas, I'm sure you see it in
Tulsa, I'll get advertising for detailing PPF intent companies from New York, from Florida, from California, and I go, Hey, bud, you
made the ad, you just didn't actually pick a specific area to run the ad.
Yeah.
Oh, I was just saying, yeah, right? Like, it's, it's crazy. I laugh. And I feel sorry at the same time is both because I know how
much they're spending. Yeah. And they're like, Well, you spend less if you make it very open. Well, yeah, no, I actually need to
define my target and pay more per because it's so defined. Instead of this overarching big one where I'm in
and you know, let's let's kind of share some stuff. I mean, we talked to tons of shops, we talked to ton of people helping
shops. One of the things that's becoming apparent is that internet marketing that's paid for is not working the same as it used
to. And it's actually now getting in some places so expensive, it's becoming prohibitive to even locally try to land a PPF or ceramic
coding job, where people are paying ungodly amounts of money just to get somebody to click on their ad. And so you're seeing a
sort of a revisit to how this ecosystem has worked, right? This this ecosystem has largely worked the same for the last decade.
Make an ad, you go out into the ecosystem and you bid on how much you'll pay for somebody to click on your ad. And you'll get a return on
that if you do that intelligently. Now you're seeing that there are a lot of very large shops that are finding out all this
internet advertising thing is starting to really be a problem, not only in the cost that I'm paying everybody in the ecosystem to
do this. But what I'm actually seeing is that I'm not getting the results I once got either. So this goes back to the consumer and
the shop and the professional to really think about why aren't we all talking? Right? Why aren't we all? Why don't we feel
comfortable calling a shop calling a mobile guy and just getting educated? You know, and if if I'm a consumer, I understand from their
standpoint why they're a little bit intimidated to do that. Right? Because they just don't know what they're talking about. And when any of
us don't know what we're talking about, we don't want to get on the phone with somebody and sound like an idiot. I mean, it doesn't
matter what you're buying, you're like, Oh, I don't even know where to start with this. But I think now you're going to see a
probably settling down of advertising working on the level that it's worked the last 10 years. And now, you know, car shows,
you know, going out in your local community, knocking on doors, shaking some hands, going to events, this stuff's going to become more
important than ever. And there's already a lot of people that saw this coming that have have done that with their shop or their
mobile and they go, I just need to get out out and about more and shake some more hands.
So you mentioned something there that, you know, I want to just kind of say, this is why I consider clutch culture a tool.
I didn't like sounding like an idiot. And most of you probably laugh, be like, Well, you normally do.
We definitely do. Right? I get it. So I just hate it to do the extra, right? Like, to sit there in front of somebody that loves
cars and talks about cars and thinks that I also do, I would just kind of sit there almost like a deer with the headlights,
like, uh, uh, like, I didn't know what to say. And so this is why when I call it a bridge, like this is what I love about
clutch culture. I can now go in and if somebody gets a vehicle, right, I've got this 2026 Honda Prelude, I'm not
sure all about it. But I go, wow, this guy probably bought it for a reason. Let me go listen to what Nick and Rob had to say
about it. Let me get some information. And now I actually have something to chat about with the customer, right?
Whether it's a Range Rover, whether it's a Ford, whatever it is. And if you regularly listen, which most of us do, we just
go in and we have it said as a notification every day that it comes out every once a week, we just go listen. And we
just stay up to date with, listen, all the news, I think every news that you guys break of all the stuff's coming out,
your perspective is very unique that and it's a tool that I think all of our listeners, if you're not taking advantage of that
tool, it really is a great tool for you because maybe if you're like me and you don't know everything about cars, it can at least
give you something to go back and look at so you can listen to what I haven't really thought of that perspective, but it's
probably the right perspective for the listeners of Pints and Polishing is like, hey, man, first of all, we're just a couple guys hanging out.
So just if you're during a detail or whatever, and you're just looking for something that's just lighthearted and a bunch of jokes
and a bunch of opinions, it works. But if you don't have time to stay up on all this stuff, which most of us don't, it is a good tool.
I haven't looked at it that way. I mean, I think it's a unique perspective. But guys, there's a lot to learn. I mean, you also realize what
clutch cultures taught me, because all of you mostly listening to this are somebody that's very elevated on taking care of your car.
And I don't think a lot of times people in the car industry from mechanics to shops in our industry, guys that do off-road work, I don't
think we really understand how much other people don't care about the things we care about.
They just don't care. That doesn't mean they're not interested. It just means that they don't live and breathe this industry or whatever
part of the world you're in and automotive. And so one of the things that has become very apparent is just how misguided so many car owners are.
And not only just from detailing perspective and keeping their car looking good and why you should really do that.
And I think we do a pretty poor job as people in detailing explaining the value of keeping your car looking great is really not about
just the pride in your car. It actually keeps people from making a bad decision and trading in their car just because it looks ugly.
It's destroyed. They haven't taken care of it. That's the number one reason people make a bad decision because they get just sick of looking at
their beat up car. And when it's not beat up, they wouldn't go into the dealership and get talked into a bad deal, right?
We don't talk about that a lot in detailing. And I don't think mechanics talk about it enough.
They just talk about, hey, you should maintain your car. Well, why don't you explain to them why they should? Well, most mechanics don't know why
because that is the time you have worked in the dealership world. And I remember when I started doing work for dealerships,
one of the things you notice is
those men and women that walk on that dealership lot, you can tell when they're fish out of water. You can also tell when they're desperate.
They roll in that car and you go, oh, they got to buy a car.
And guess who else knows that? The dealership.
They look at your car and they go, oh, they don't, they're, they got a check engine light on. They don't want to deal with it.
We just ran it. We saw the scan. We know it cost 3800 bucks to fix.
These guys are leaving with a car.
And so now you're the sucker at the poker table
because you need what they have. You don't even want to drive to the next dealership.
Like you're worried if I drive to the next dealership, this thing might shut down.
You know what I'm saying? Like we don't talk about, about this kind of stuff.
It's impulse buy. The same as you're going through the grocery store.
The reason why you're at that register and they got this line of whatever.
You're like, no, that doesn't interest me, but it interests somebody. Then suddenly you go, well, I love that gum.
Yeah. Oh, I'm going to get this candy box.
Look, you know, it's the same because, and I'll give you, like I'll tee up exactly what you're saying.
As you know, as most of our listeners know, my wife drives a rogue
and it's a 24 rogue, I believe 24. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's 24.
The year they came out with the three cylinder engine, Wesley really helped us
getting to the right one.
Came with tinted windows, came with everything. It was awesome. It was great. Thank you, Wesley.
The interesting part is now when she, and over the years as she goes in to change the oil and do the stuff,
at first I would go with her, but goddamn, thankfully
now she can go do it on her own, right? Like, whew.
I don't get as many messages of the, you know, oh, look at this because I think it's
I regularly clean the car. Yeah, her car doesn't get very dirty.
But you can imagine if it wasn't me every Sunday or every Saturday, something like that
in the garage using eco one or product that we're going to be releasing here sometime soon
every weekend.
Hmm. What would that look like? What would a because we're now what two and a half
pretty much almost going on, I think three years on a black
rogue. Yep. What do you think that paint would look like? What do you think
that she would feel when she gets in the car?
And so then when she goes to the dealership and she sees those ones in the, you know,
yeah, it's something we just don't talk about. Right. We just
and again, I'm not picking on detailing mechanics don't speak properly about this.
You know, the real reason to maintain your car mechanically is not only so it runs better,
but it keeps you out of going to a dealership and making a bad decision because you got this
check engine light on that was all, you know, it could have been avoided with proper maintenance.
Now it's going to cost you three grand to fix it or two grand or 1500 bucks and you don't exactly
have that. But I can go in here and place, put zero down and get a new car and I can get out of
this headache and it is a real tactic dealerships use that they had nothing to do with.
They didn't have anything to do with you not taking care of your car. They just benefit off
of it. And so as soon as you walk in there desperate and you may not think you're desperate,
but like you said, you're sitting in the service drive. They just gave you an $1,800 bill and
you're like, well, I don't have 1800 bucks or I don't want to spend 1800 bucks. What's going on
with that new one over there? I mean, happens every year. I mean, you've been in enough dealerships
to watch this happen. I'm giving the oil change, not even there to spend money walking through
the dealership and God's true too. Oh, look at that. Right. It looks a lot better than mine.
Yeah. Doesn't look like mine. I want that one. That's a good call. I think that happens. Oh,
yeah. I mean, you've witnessed it happen. I mean, if you've been in enough dealerships,
you've witnessed this happen. And you know, the power of detailing and mechanics and all this
other stuff to the consumer is they keep you from having to make a bad decision, right? Because like
you said, you know, you look at your car and your car's in great shape. You're not really thinking
about other cars. You go, Hey, I like my car. It's always clean. The engine runs well. We've
stayed up on the maintenance. You actually feel what pride feels like. You're like, Hey, it's
my car. It's doing well. And I don't have major issues. And this goes up economic class too.
You know, I've told the story before, I know I haven't still my client today is so rich,
it would blow your mind. He drove this Range Rover for so long that I literally said to him,
I said, Why are we still taking care of this Range Rover? He's like, Looks great.
And I'm like, Well, that he's like, I just love the I love this Range Rover. This Range Rover is
mine. I got a connection to it. It looks awesome. And I'm like, Now the crazy part about that Range
Rover is when he finally upgraded that Range Rover lived on in his network of people for like another
10 plus years. I think my my wrangler is going to be that way. Yeah, yeah, it's because it's
going to be one of those things you go, Hey, who kind of somebody want this? You know, it's time
for me to upgrade. Hey, I mean, keep around forever somewhere in my network. Yeah, somebody's
going to have it as well. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, I think so. I'm 100% with you. Like,
Podcasters are embedding Car Curious to show their listeners every car, term, and reference
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To All The Cars I've Loved Before
"B-roll for audio"
— Doug Kay, Host
Every episode is someone's relationship with a car they've owned. Doug and his co-hosts have covered hundreds of cars across decades of automotive culture.
A twisting force that causes rotation. More torque = quicker acceleration.
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