4 Lies the Detailing Industry Doesn't Want You to Know
Annotations will appear as you listen
0:00
27:01
LIVE
There I was scrolling my phone, then someone cracked open a Mountain Dew Baja Cabo Citrus.
Next thing I know, I heard a rip.
My friend tried the splits and jeans, but not a drop was spilled.
Have a blast with Mountain Dew Baja Cabo Citrus.
A punch of tropical citrus flavor.
As we all know, detailing is full of hype, myths, straight up lies.
Most people don't even realize it.
How could you if you're not knee-deep in the weeds of the industry like some of us are?
So today, I'm exposing four, maybe a bonus one too if we get really excited here,
of the biggest ones that brands and influencers really don't want you to know
and are kind of like taboo, kind of behind the scenes.
And it stems from my experience in this industry for, I don't know, 16, 18 years.
And I've done everything from mobile detailing to
product consulting with Turtle Wax for five years being on one of their global teams that
actually innovated, developed and launched products into a global market.
I got a ton of experience with how the retail side of things work.
And I also have extensive experience in private labeling.
And I private label for some of your favorite Amazon brands
and have been directly worked with a lot of those Amazon brands, Facebook, Ad Brands,
all that.
So I've really tried everything in the industry.
I've been kind of in the front with YouTube and being a quote-unquote influencer, I guess,
but I've also been in a lot of backdoor meetings and seen a lot of things that go on.
And I worked directly with Chemist because of my private label background.
I worked for a private blender here in LA for a long time and then branched out on my own
when they couldn't perform for a few products that my clients were looking for then.
And so I've worked with a group of actual real life chemists, not just people that
act like they're a chemist, but real life.
And that's, I can prove that by working with Tom when we talked about the polish and
one big differentiator about my brand that I'm trying to do is I actually showed the
development of the process of new products.
I'm doing it right now with a foam on rinse off application because
it's really something that a lot of column influencers or brands,
they actually can't show or don't show.
And so I know it's easy to say like, oh, I worked directly with the chemist and blah, blah, blah.
But if you're not working with real samples and you're not showing kind of the development
of a product and showing the behind the scenes, it gets harder to believe that you're
actually working directly with chemists and that you can actually tweak things
beyond color and scent, right?
So again, so let's get into lie number one, I guess,
which would be the biggest one, I think.
So starting with the heavy hitter, not making you wait at all.
Lie number one is that big brands have better chemistry.
Okay.
So this might have been more believable before Chemical Guys really took off,
but this is a massive misunderstanding.
Most people really do think that the bigger the company, the better the formulas.
And whether it's Chemical Guys, like I just mentioned,
or Turtle Wax, or McGuire's, or whatever.
McGuire's specifically we've seen over the past few years of their chemistry go away.
But the reality is, is that the bigger the brand, the bigger the budget is to do
influencer deals, package design, and a ton of money gets sucked up in shelf space
and payroll.
So the bigger the company, the bigger the bigger budgets they have for payroll,
for package design, pretty much anything other than the liquid in the bottle.
This is, it was mind blowing to me when I started to see this,
basically when I worked at the private label, the first blender that I worked at
when I started to see this, who private labeled a lot of Chemical Guys' products.
And then into my Turtle Wax and in those days of that, I really thought like most brands,
I still like to believe that most brands focus on the liquid in the bottle first and
everything is secondary. And what I found out is that is opposite.
And I know that's crazy. Maybe that's doesn't seem right, but it is 100% true.
And to be honest, it's not necessarily the brand's fault.
It's just kind of the nature of how businesses go when they get too big and you get too disconnected
from your end user, from your customer. Big brands are trying to get more shelf space at
Walmart, AutoZone, O'Reilly's, AutoParts, whatever they want to get at eye level.
And they pay for that spacing. They want to get an end cap.
They want to get a cardboard cutout right when you walk in.
They're jockeying with all the other brands and they're spending all their time jockeying
for this stuff and then paying payroll because they have a lot of people on staff that need to
have all these meetings and stuff. And so what goes by the wayside, ironically,
is the thing that could actually do better for the brand, I think even better than shelf space
and that's making a better liquid in the bottle. That's what was a big motivation for me.
When I had that epiphany, when I actually saw this happen, I couldn't believe it.
And so I was like, why are they, that is my blue ocean. I'm a big fan of the Blue Ocean Strategy
book. And so I'm like, man, how do I play in this seemingly red ocean? And that would mean
everyone talks about, oh, it's oversaturated and blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, it's only
oversaturated. I came to realize the market only seems oversaturated because there's so many
lookalike brands because no one's actually innovating anything. Or if they are innovating,
it's very slightly, right? Hey, we changed up the packaging. We put it in a different box.
We see this with McGuire's, you know, they had fast finish and then they had the blue bottle stuff.
And we've just seen it over and over and over with a bunch of people, bunch of brands.
And so they don't, they hardly innovate the liquid in the bottle. How about that, right?
So it is a flat out lie that big brands have better chemistry. You think they would,
but they actually don't, right? And in fact, a lot of big brands just kind of white label
from, they use big, big blenders, right? Big, big blending houses. And so they kind of just
white label a lot of times. So again, I'm not, I know a lot of people get caught up in like white
labeling, private labeling, what's the difference? But yada, yada, yada. I don't get too caught
up in that because in the world, in that world, the back end of detailing, it's not that secretive.
It's not that like important. No one really cares. It's just seemingly the people on the front that
seem to care, but the people on the front only seem to care because they're lying. They're
trying to hide something like, oh, we worked directly with chemists and blah, blah, blah,
when they actually don't, right? That's why they get pissed off. But again, this is,
this was my blue ocean opportunity after working and seeing the world of these big brands both
with the first blender than when I got at Turtle Wax. I'm like, whoa, I assume that they were just
the best, right? And it's just not true, which is, was very hard to kind of wrap my mind around.
It's been years and years now, but it's kind of defeating in it. It honestly took a lot away
from me and it took a lot of the joy away from the industry because I really did have the
opinion that like, hey, brand X, Y and Z has the, my best interest in mind when they're
developing a new product and trying to sell me on a new product at SEMA and, you know,
they spent all this money on a booth and they spent all this money bringing the people here
and all this money doing this and it has to be a good product, right? And then after being
let down over and over and over and then finally getting to see behind the curtain,
I went, oh gosh, it's not always the end user's, you know, best interest in mind.
Half the time they don't even consider the end user. I'm not saying this about Turtle Wax.
I'm just saying in general, through my torture test videos, through working with the blender
and my time at Turtle Wax all combined together and hearing, you know, data from
other brands as well is like a lot of times the focus is on everything but the end consumer,
which is what I think they have backwards. And so I set out to change that with Jimbo's.
That was my, that was my Blue Ocean strategy of, hey, if I focus solely on, you know,
the liquids in the bottle, yes, I want a cool label. Yes, I want a great design.
Yes, I want my website to be easy to navigate. But like if my number one thing can be liquid
in the bottle, and that's my main focus because here's my thought. If you trust me
enough to make a first purchase and try something in the bottle, we've all been let down, right?
And so if I, if you trust me enough to make a purchase, you get the bottle and you are let down
by that, you will obviously never make another purchase. On the contrary, if you get it and
you're like, oh my gosh, this stuff's amazing, you will be more willing to try other stuff.
And I have a big theory that it is much easier to sell to someone who already knows
likes and trusts you than a new customer. And one thing I saw with my private label
clients is they're always going for the next new customer and they don't focus enough, in my opinion,
on the returning customer. So I have two major things. I focus really hard core on the
liquids in the bottle and really hard core on following up with my current customers.
And if you're a current customer, you know this, you know, looking for ways to surprise and delight
people and all that. So again, I'm getting a little bit off on a tangent, but the bigger
the brand doesn't necessarily mean the better the chemistry. So lie number two, this kind of goes
into the lies that big brands do to kind of cover up their inferior liquids in the bottle.
More steps does not mean more professional. So, you know, brands will push this like
10 step system, you know, pre wash, two bucket method, drying aid, glaze, wax, topper, topper,
topper, because more products or more steps rather equal more products. And we see this all the time
in everyone's product line. It seems like super redundant products, right? That have
marginal difference from each other. And so again, this plays into why the industry seems
oversaturated because brands release look alike products because they think just throwing another
product out there will be good. And then to differentiate it themselves a little bit,
they throw it into a system. And before you know it, you have four or five different
compounds and polishes instead of just one. Why? Because bigger brands don't necessarily have
better chemistry. And they have bigger payrolls. They need to pay for that shelf space. So if they
can throw out more SKUs, that means more sales, more money, right? The reality is, is that we're
trying to have fun doing this, but we need to make it efficient. And most people don't have
all day to detail their car. So if you think about it, would you rather spend four
hours washing a car or 45 minutes and get the same result? Okay, I see these people scrubbing
their tires with four different cleaners and scrubbing their rims like crazy. And I'm like,
if you just had pure magic cleaner, you wouldn't even have to touch your rims to clean it, right?
And again, this is my blue ocean too with Jimbo's fewer steps. I'm taking the opposite
approach. I really take, I look at what people are doing here. Let me back up a little bit.
The traditional steps of starting a product brand is not too dissimilar from starting a
detail business. You enter, you want to start a detailing business, you look at what other
detailers are doing and then you blindly follow them. And then you don't know what to do, right?
Because you're just, it's the blind leading the blind essentially. And so what I've seen
and what I've noticed, and I've talked about this for years and years and years,
whether it's at SEMA or whatever, that brands just follow other brands. I mean,
jeez, we see it right now. It's like one brand runs a Labor Day sale and before you know it,
it's like every single brand is running a Labor Day sale. So what I try to do is do the exact
opposite. So who didn't run a Labor Day sale? Me. Why do I not run a lot of sales?
Because I don't think my products need to be discounted. I think and I'm trying to find
the people that want quality products at good prices all the time. I see all these influencer
brands right now running a sale literally every month they're running a sale. And I just tell
myself, well, why don't they just lower the price 15% and stop running the stupid sale?
To me, it's just like, oh, so your products are overpriced? Because from a business
perspective, running a sale actually hurts. You lose margin, you lose profitability,
and then you lose product. So you need to reorder inventory with less and worse cash flow.
It's like crazy. And I don't want to attract a customer that's always looking for a discount,
which maybe I shouldn't be even saying this, you know? So I don't offer a lot of discounts.
I offer a few targeted discounts around important events for my brand. It's usually
around the brand's birthday and my personal birthday, right? And that's a way to celebrate.
I want to use a sale to celebrate with people and let them celebrate. But for the other 360 days
of the year or whatever, I want to focus on delivering quality products at a quality price
and getting amazing results and attracting people that see the value in that. Because guess what?
Those are better customers too. Okay? Not saying if you use a discount, you're a bad customer.
I'm just saying discounting all the time is crazy. So again, I've taken the opposite
approach. Most brands say more steps, you're more professional, blah, blah, blah. I say,
let's do it fewer steps with better chemistry, super, super, all dressed up, tough as shell.
Let's cut off hours of a detail without sacrificing the result. Because if you get the end result,
if net, net, the result is the same, why would you spend more time doing it?
Why would you spend more money doing it? That's a perfect example too. People say,
people actually don't complain about the price of my product, which makes me think that I'm a little
too cheap. But if you look at something like the Picture Perfect Polish, it took me six
months to develop and produce that product completely from scratch. One product can replace
three to four other products. Now, when I thought about how do I price this product,
obviously my hard cost comes into play here. But when I look at the market and I see
what other people are charging for one product, and I have one that will replace four, I thought to
myself, well, I can't charge, I guess I could have, but do I charge $130 for a 60-ounce bottle?
Because that would still be cheaper than having four other compounds and polishes and
primer polishes on your shelf, right? Because you only need one. And maybe that's stupid
from a brand perspective, but from a morality perspective, I'm just like, if I could shove
everything, the chemistry of four different products into one, I'm just going to sell one.
I don't need redundant products. It doesn't really do anything for me. It just actually
makes me have to be a better marketer and salesperson. But really, I just think honesty
is the best marketing, right? So get off my high horse on that one. So lie number three,
longer protection claims equals a better product. Man, have we seen this one go crazy?
And this is a reason why I pay attention to what other brands are doing, but I definitely
don't follow and I definitely don't copy what other brands are doing, like a lot of other brands do,
because we've gone into this place or gotten to this place where everyone just says their
product lasts longer. It's five-year protection, eight-year protection, nine-year protection.
And really, everyone knows by now, this is just a marketing game, right? And I talked about
this in a previous video. It's about the one-year spray coating and everyone went one year, six months,
and I talked about the difficulty from a brand's perspective of quantifying that, right?
And so, I usually tell myself, if a spray bottle says it's going to last five years,
it probably won't last five weeks in real world, rain, sun, wash it. So
durability claims are usually lab tests under perfect conditions, right? And this is,
there's no better proof than when I would do a torture test and people would say,
well, that's not real-world conditions. It's like, well, no, it's not. Real-world conditions are
probably more harsh, but I like to take products to the extreme. So, anyway,
the longer the protection claims does not mean the product is better. The reality is,
the easier a product is to use, the more likely you'll reapply or keep using it,
which means your car will actually stay protected longer. This is a hack that I tell
all my customers in my detailing business when they say, well, how long does this
ceramic coating last? And I could say, I tell them, hey, I could tell you,
it's going to last five years, right? But the reality is I could also teach you
real easy in 10, 15 minutes and a couple of products how you can make the ceramic
coating last forever, literally forever. And that's not marketing BS. That's just
using quality products, reapplying often. And the reality beyond that is,
if you're listening to this podcast or you're watching a YouTube video about
car detailing, the chances are you're not going to apply a product,
ceramic coating, a ceramic spray, whatever, and do nothing to your car
for the next six, 12 months, five years, 10 years. That is just not reality, right?
If you're interested in ceramic coatings, you're interested in ceramic sprays,
chances are you're washing your car often, you want your car looking nice for a long time.
And I think the perfect place where ceramic coatings or ceramic sprays fit in
is they're just additional insurance to make sure that your car is going to look better
for longer, right? But the chances are if you're a car person, car girl, car guy, whatever, car
person, right, that you are going to touch your car often, you're going to wash your car often.
So do you really need something that lasts 10 years and is a nightmare to apply? Or would
you rather have something that lasts five years or six months or three months? But it,
you know, is really, really easy to apply. And that's why something like the Gloss Boss
and Tuffa Shell, they're built for reapplication. They're simple, they're fast,
but honestly, they're super, super durable too. Why? Because I have better technology,
better technology. So line number four, detailing is about perfection. So brands,
you know, YouTubers, they sell the dream of this like perfection, 100% paint correction,
concourse level gloss. Cars, literally, you're afraid to breathe on. You ever see those
videos that it's like, oh, we just spent 40 hours on a detail. It's like cool content,
super fun to watch. But like, who's got 40 hours to detail their minivan, their Honda Odyssey,
right? So, and even then, if you're doing it for money, are you sure that person's paying for that?
A 40 hour detail, you sure about that? Sure about that? Because I think
the truth is perfection is unsustainable. And I think chasing it can actually damage your car.
Too much correction, too much clear coat loss, boom, issues down the line. So I think the reality
and the real world detailing, as I call it, is a balance of this. How do we become efficient,
safe for our paint, our car, but also for us as the humans actually doing the work,
and good enough results that matter more than endless polishing. I don't know about you
guys, but part of, you know, developing the picture perfect polish too was like,
polishing is not my favorite part of the process at all. It's super boring to me. I don't enjoy it
at all. So I want to, and Tom used to laugh at this because he really loves paint polishing.
I don't love paint polishing. And so I was coming at it from a position when we were
developing the product of like, hey, I want to get this done as quickly as possible.
And Tom was coming at it from a point of like, yes, let's get it done quick and as good as
possible, but as safely as possible. Right. And so, you know, what do you think is more
realistic? A show car you never drive or a clean car protected daily, you enjoy it every day. That
is, I think the endless car debate that is going to go on forever. Do you drive the car
or do you keep it a trailer queen? Right? Are cars meant to be driven or cars meant to be looked at?
Are they art pieces or are they art pieces with wheels? And I think that'll be kind of the
debate that goes on forever. But again, in the real world and what I focused on for my product
line are they're made for daily drivers, pros who care about the results. And if you want to
chase perfection, they will get you there. I just had someone email me in that used the
picture perfect polish on a couple concourse cars and he said, I am literally throwing away
everything out of my cabinet, replacing it with the picture perfect polish, because that's all I need.
In fact, truth be told, he said, hey, I'm going to keep them around because if I get into a pickle,
but the reality is that he's always going to reach for the picture perfect polish because it
was just perfect. Right. And so my products have uniqueness where they can meet you,
where you're at. If you're a beginner, I've had, you know, beginners in Texas that are,
you know, applying a ceramic coating for the first time and saying what a dream it is.
And then I have the full, you know, opposite side of the spectrum where there's professional
detailers doing concourse level results. So I want my products to be able to meet you
wherever you are. So I don't have a consumer line and a pro line doesn't make any sense to
me why wouldn't you just make products that work for both. But again, if you
don't want to chase perfection, you can still get great results. If you don't want to clay bar
your car before you apply to have a show, you don't have to. It's still going to work for you.
It's still not going to wash off. May not get the best results, right? But let's go into a bonus
number five lie that we're seeing right now. And I just will touch on it a little bit.
This is a bonus. A lot of the influencer brands you're seeing right now are not
their brands. It's maybe controversial for some, maybe eye-opening for others. They are simply
licensing deals. And guess what? That's 100% okay. 100% okay. And maybe you don't even care.
Some people don't. Does it even matter? I don't know. But the problem becomes is that when
you, the consumer are looking to support someone, you may be supporting someone that you don't,
that isn't even really involved. They're just, it's no different than affiliate commission, right?
And so a lot of these influencer-led brands that we're seeing right now are just licensing deals
for their name. They're not working and developing the chemicals that they say they are. And how we
could tell is if their surroundings haven't changed. Look, when we, when you look at
my videos, you see the boxes in the background. I'm literally packing up your orders, right?
And another brand that comes to mind is Shine Supply. When, when Jeremy puts out a video,
you see his shipping department. You see his downfilling department. You see everything about it.
When Kosh Kemi, USA, you see, you know, their products coming in on pallets and all that.
And with a lot of these influencer-led brands, you don't see anything. They're still just
in their same garage. They're not packing up any orders. They're not even using their
own fulfillment house. And so just know, which again, maybe that's fine, but just know that you
may not be supporting the person that you think you're supporting through that. So that is the
bonus extra lie, number four. So the, you know, the four original lies, big brands equal,
equal better chemistry. Not true. More steps equals you're more of a professional.
Not true. Longer claims equal better. Well, my ceramic coating last 13 years,
that one only last three. Not true. And perfection being the goal, not true, I will say,
with an asterisk in most cases. So, and then number five, a lot of these are just licensing deals,
which I wish the influencers would just come out and say that, hey, I don't actually own this.
You can look up the paperwork and I don't actually own this. I'm simply licensing my name,
leveraging what I've taken the time to build, which no one would fault you for that at all.
I wish you would just tell the truth, but that's in their core. I don't know why they're
deciding to do that. It seems like a cash grab to me. But again, like I've been talking about
through this whole podcast for my product brand, Jimbo's detailing, I try to do the
opposite of what everyone else is doing. So though it's going to add to more gray hairs
and probably balding because it's extremely stressful to grow your brand. It's the way
I see fit for me. So all four of these myths or lies or whatever you want to talk about
or five of them, they're really costing people money time and sometimes even damaging their car,
which is why I wanted to shoot this video. So when you know the truth, you can detail smarter,
not harder, and you can enjoy the process. So everything I mentioned today obviously is
available at Jimbo's detailing.com. If Amazon's easier for you, I have a full store there
too. Again, I'm for the people. Links are in the description. And then let me know what lie
have you fallen for before either drop a comment or send me a DM, send me an email Jimbo at
Jimbo's detailing.com. I'd love to hear any of the lies or myths that you're products that
you've fallen for. So not that it's fun to talk about the myths and lies that you've gotten
trapped in, but sometimes with time it's fun to reminisce on those. So drop a comment,
send me a message or a DM and we'll laugh together. How about that? So thanks for the
sport for the Jimbo's detailing products. Again, I'll have everything linked below
and I'll catch you guys on the next one. See ya.
Are you tired of the constant rate increases from the power company? Then DPI solar is for you.
I'm sick of these price hikes. And if you're like me and you're sick of them too,
that's why you got to check out DPI solar dot com. Buying from DPI solar will actually add
value to your home, unlike these other companies that just want to lease you the equipment.
And it's all going to pay off because you own your own power plant. So no more surprise
rate increases for no reason at all. No more worrying about what you're going to do if the
power goes out. Just reach out to DPI solar dot com. It's time to take your power back. DPI
solar dot com. Tell them Tanner sends you. That's DPI solar dot com.
About this episode
Uncovering the truth behind the detailing industry, this episode reveals four major lies that brands and influencers perpetuate. With 16 years of experience, the host shares insights on why bigger brands often compromise on product quality for marketing and shelf space. The discussion includes the myth that more steps mean better results, the misleading nature of long protection claims, and the unrealistic pursuit of perfection in detailing. A bonus lie addresses the prevalence of influencer brands operating under licensing deals rather than genuine ownership, encouraging listeners to detail smarter, not harder.
Original notes
The detailing world is full of hype, myths, and straight-up lies. Today, I'm exposing 4 of the biggest ones that brands and influencers don't want you to know.
In this episode, you'll learn:
-
Why big brands don't always mean better chemistry (and what they're really spending money on).
-
How the industry uses extra steps and "systems" to sell more products instead of getting you better results.
-
The truth behind "5–10 year protection" claims (and why most sprays don't even last 5 weeks).
-
Why chasing perfection in detailing is a waste of time for most daily drivers — and what you should focus on instead.
These are the insider truths I've learned after 16+ years in detailing and developing my own chemist-backed line of products. If you're tired of wasting time and money on hype, this episode is for you.
Shop My Detailing Products Here:-
Jimbo's Detailing Store: https://jimbosdetailing.com
-
Amazon Storefront: https://amzn.to/3UVHD19
Featured in this episode:
-
The Super Soaper (semi-touchless wash soap): https://jimbosdetailing.com/products/the-super-soaper or on Amazon https://amzn.to/4eqLf3f
-
Tough As Shell (sprayable ceramic coating): https://jimbosdetailing.com/products/hard-as-shell-ceramic-spray or on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1SYXWTK
-
Gloss Boss (wipe-on ceramic coating): https://jimbosdetailing.com/products/the-gloss-boss
-
Complete Cabin Cleaner (safe on all interior surfaces): https://jimbosdetailing.com/products/complete-cabin-cleaner
-
All Dressed Up (matte finish dressing): https://jimbosdetailing.com/products/all-dressed-up or on Amazon https://amzn.to/3BsCpUc
If you've ever fallen for one of these lies, drop a comment or DM me — I'd love to hear your story.
The Auto Detailing Podcast
Jimbo Balaam interviews guest like Barry Meguiar, Jason Rose, Yvan Lacroix,
0:00
27:01