Car Wash Damaging Ceramic Coatings or Is It? Selling More Coatings Made Easy. Episode #924
Pints and Polishing Auto Detailing Podcast
Car Wash Damaging Ceramic Coatings or Is It? Selling More Coatings Made Easy. Episode #924
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Term
ceramic coatings
Ceramic coatings are special protective layers you can put on a car's paint. They help keep the car shiny and protect it from things like dirt and water spots.
Term
graphene
Graphene is a super-strong material made of carbon that can be used in car products to make them last longer and resist damage.
Term
Carnauba wax
Carnauba wax is a type of wax made from a plant that helps make cars shiny and protects the paint. It's often used in car cleaning products to give a nice finish.
Term
chemical burn
Chemical burn is when strong cleaning products damage the surface of your car. It can ruin the paint or other materials if the products are too strong or not used correctly.
Car
Ford Bronco
The Ford Bronco is an SUV made by Ford that is built for off-road driving. It has a strong reputation for being tough and capable in rough conditions.
Car
Jeep Wrangler
Car
Fiat Uno
The Fiat Uno is a small car that was made by the Italian company Fiat, starting in the 1980s. It's known for being easy to drive and not too expensive, which is why many people like it for getting around town.
Term
ultra dress
Ultra dress is a product used to make tires look shiny and new. It helps protect the tires and makes them look good.
Term
tire shine
Tire shine is a spray that makes tires look shiny and helps protect them from damage. It keeps them looking good and can prevent wear.
Company
Twin Busch
Twin Busch is a company from Germany that makes lifts for cars. They are popular because they have a lot of experts who can help if you need assistance with their products.
Term
four-post lift
A four-post lift is a machine that lifts cars off the ground using four vertical supports. It's often used in repair shops to make it easier to work on cars.
Term
two-post lift
A two-post lift is a machine that lifts cars using two vertical supports. It's often used in places like oil change shops to help mechanics work on the car's underside.
Part
scissor lift
A scissor lift is a tool that lifts cars up so you can work on them without bending over or lying on the ground. It's shaped like a pair of scissors that opens and closes to raise the car higher.
Term
undercoding
Undercoding is a way to protect the bottom of cars and trucks from rust. It involves spraying a special coating that helps keep the metal safe from water and salt, which can cause damage over time.
Term
wheel coatings
Wheel coatings are special products that you put on your car's wheels to keep them looking nice and clean. They help protect the wheels from dirt and rust.
Part
caliper
The caliper is a part of the braking system that helps stop the car by squeezing the brake pads against the wheels. It's important for making sure your car can slow down safely.
Term
add-ons
Add-ons are extra things you can buy for your car when you purchase it. They can make your car nicer or give you more protection, but they usually cost more money.
Term
undercoating
Undercoating is a special coating put on the bottom of cars to protect them from rust and damage. It's especially useful in places where there's a lot of salt on the roads in winter.
Term
PPF
PPF is a special clear film that you put on a car's paint to keep it safe from scratches and damage. It's like a protective layer that helps the car look good for longer.
Car
Morgan Six Plus
The Morgan Plus Six is a fancy sports car made by a British company called Morgan. It looks like a classic car but has modern features and a powerful engine, making it both stylish and fast.
Brand
Porsche
Porsche is a well-known car brand from Germany that makes high-performance sports cars, like the 911.
Car
F-250
The Ford F-250 is a strong truck that can carry heavy loads and is often used for jobs like construction.
Term
upcharging
Upcharging means asking for more money for extra features or services on a product, like a car.
Car
Ford Excursion
The Ford Excursion is a big SUV that has a lot of space inside, making it good for families and towing things.
LIVE
Welcome to the pints and polishing podcast the most influential and listen to
podcast in auto detailing welcome to the community Nick thanks for my week off
last week I really enjoyed it good times over there was well done let's
let's continue on there was a phone conversation I had last week that I want
to start off with got to connect you into this conversation and let me kind of
give you a little bit of backstory okay like 1718 19 when we kind of came out
from Oklahoma into the nation and started doing online and all that stuff we
we were all local at first so I had a chemical rep from a national company
that we dealt with on a regular basis right that now as we were starting to
put out our own things and one of them was a ceramic coating he had a lot of
questions because they were a car wash chemical manufacturer so you can
understand about what seven eight nine years ago you guys are having this
conversation yep and so they were wanting to kind of be ahead of the curve
and wanted to start picking them you know what was I doing I was trying to
sell hey right because you know some other people you met where I was trying
to sell them some coatings and they just did not want to pay oh it's one of them
like under five bucks or something it was something company that company's
pretty well known for how do we get a $2 coating in charge $225 so those
anybody in this business listening that's really behind the scenes they
probably know that they were pretty active so this is one that I was trying
to hustle but the same time we were buying some other stuff from them so we're
trying to do one of those they end up coming out with their own stuff of
course great good for them go go ahead and over the years he was still calling
asked some questions well he got hit with a question from a lady that owned
17 locations hey she's what's her phone number exactly who is this right 17
locations well she's got a problem and it was a problem that she had diagnosed
and was blaming ceramic coatings so we got a car wash now blaming blaming
ceramic coatings and she was blaming them for having water spots said well we
don't have it except on some of these cars and when we talk to the people they
got a ceramic coating like oh okay interesting you had enough people you
want to call your manufacturer and ask about a coating well he goes hold on I
know a guy right so that's why he calls me it's like great thanks man should do
I measure tough tapping us in yeah like I didn't bill you back then but I mean
we've developed a little bit more than it's just like one of those like I get
to charge you but anyway eight years ago yeah we had a good time you know
catching up but you know they do have a serious problem and so let's talk about
it you know our ceramic coatings or are there select ceramic coatings or how do
we know if a certain ceramic coating might be more susceptible for water
spots yeah I mean that's that's always been the 10 million I mean I've never
been able to now when I first started coding cars probably pretty similar to
you you may have missed it I mean every coating got water spotted one spot of
time I mean it was like if it just saw rain in the distance you felt like the
car got got water you know some people tried to then come out with hey our
water angles better than others so it allows it to roll off more some people
over the years being to go well our sheets so you have no chance of a water
what I think is is that we got better with base and topcoats you know I mean
for anybody that wasn't around everything was a two-part system you lay
kind of a sticky base coat and then a very slick topcoat I think that didn't
always marry well not to get too technical I think there were some issues
with some of those systems and you were just kind of getting through the
beginning stages of this you know evolving technology right and I think
it's a better technology today than it's ever been but here's the interesting
thing to talk about with our crowd and I think it's it's always worth talking
about this that we essentially are watching people not want to take
accountability here's a here here's somebody who owns 17 locations they are
looking to blame something how do I blame something because we all know they
didn't pick up the phone and call all those people and say what coding do you
have who coded it is it a real coding what is going I mean they didn't do any
of that homework no but that's what I told them the homework needed to be done
a percent I mean in anybody listening to that's the common-sense thing when
somebody tells me that their coding isn't working and we didn't coat the car I
go who coded it go what product did they use what did they tell you they use how
many years is it supposed to last how have you taken care of it the same 20
questions we all know to ask and again we all bag on the car wash I think you
and I are a little bit more realistic about the car wash world than most
people in this this whole thing so what was funny is this car wash on our not
only questioning coatings but then dogging the dealership yep right dog
in the other stuff like oh you know it's got to come from there it's got to
convert which is one of my questions it was like how do we know where came we
don't and what do we know about the coding then if it's not spotting we
don't exactly know but we do know maybe what it's stored in right like we can
definitely tell us some things of quality based on what the you know what
the apparatus is holding the coding sure and this is why you know if we're
talking to professionals or even if you're a DIYer at home one of the things
is you got to get into the questions and so many people don't want to do that as
you probably heard during the phone call this this car wash owner we have a
problem we asked no pertinent questions to this exact problem because here's
what should be the truth and you owned for those that don't know just started
listening to us Marty at one point was an owner in a car wash you've sold
chemicals to car washes you're very familiar with all this why are you
leaving water spots on anything why are you leaving anything on anything why
isn't it hey let's look at our our mixture of chemicals let's look at our
process let's look at our equipment let's look at how it's all being set up
this is what we tell people about going through a car wash is that this lady who
owns 17 of them is showing you that it's a crapshoot because she doesn't want to
take responsibility because you shouldn't even water spot regular paint
that isn't it doesn't have a coating on it doesn't have anything you shouldn't do
any of that one other side you could go listen if had a coating it should be
more hydrophobic so when it goes to the dryer it should come out less good
point you know less wet quote-unquote I guess you say more dry yeah so look if
it's a dealership coating we all can insert the joke here we can all insert
our jokes here okay what about the one remember you know there was this one
dealership they used to put on something that you could put on jets and they
would call it like hey it was good enough to put on this you can put on a car
right yeah there's always like well that's interesting well that place and
that location that was heavy on that you know who they switched to after that the
company that says you can wash your car and it's ceramic coating we go wait so
let's have a conversation here a car wash owner or a dealership owner or
anybody that's not really professionally on the side of detailing
talking about coatings negatively when everyone else has been the real
downfall of the word ceramic including car washes you can't go to a car wash
here there's car washes here they use graphene all over their stuff there's
there's car washes that use ceramic all over their their billboards and whatnot
same probably where you guys live and now they're getting some backlash because
they've screwed some things up and they want to go well that's not a real
ceramic coating well no offense if you own a car wash you don't even know what
a real ceramic coating is because you've never applied one you've used the word
ceramic improperly for I mean we got to be going on close to five seven eight
years now at least when it started somewhere around there I mean you started
seeing it pop up it's now everywhere and it's not about fixing anything and this
is where I think the professional on our side of things really has instead of
getting mad about it you have to realize that these are education points to your
potential customers if you're a DIY or these are things you need to be aware of
if it's not in a glass or or aluminum bottle it's really difficult to call it
ceramic there's some thick plastics that people are using but let's just stay to
the facts glass aluminum stuff like that that's very very very you know can stand
up to the solvents and the ingredients in the coating there's your warning sign
at the end of it that's your warning sign use it as the warning sign be good
with the warning sign call it a day and car wash owners aren't going to know
that and and doesn't seem like she really wants to get educated on what is
going on here because when you don't point the finger at yourself first and
you start blaming all this other stuff you shouldn't water spot anything as far
as I'm concerned and you're a guy that would know better than me I mean I would
assume you try to stay away from that in just the way you put the chemicals on
the car yeah absolutely so you know I talked in the first and I was like hey
Ryan let's go over this like first off let's let's talk about the what is she
getting and who's got what on what car and you know we we came to we're not
ever gonna be able to find out unless they go do the research which is what I
took you know like like you had said and I said Ryan they got to figure this out
they can't depend on other people they got to ask the question find out where
this is coming from in order to get down to the bottom of it and and you're
right there she should be more concerned about why she having anything spot out
of her car out of her car wash you know that I think the second point which I
told him I said you know to kind of just keep going with it I said it's
ironic to be talking about this with you I said but you know there's this post and
here's the post I'll read it it's from this guy named Michael not in our group
and some other group and he says this has probably been asked before but what
are the best exterior and interior detailing products at Walmart doesn't
have to be specific brands honestly basically looking for just some must-haves
would you go you need a brand to know what to buy you think you just walk into
the eye on it says car shampoo and you just our shampoo you know and so I told
him about it and I was like Ryan and said same as you it's a Ryan you could go
to any car wash around here you know how to laugh with him like how long do you
tell your customers that what you're putting on your car so Ryan you've got
a water-based quote-unquote ceramic he laughs you know like yeah I know I know
I know because we talked you know I know just you know I only say a couple weeks
you know a couple washes sure you like right sure you run sure you do mm-hmm
that's what you used to tell us about that Carnuba wax lava that was before
there and now we're in the same but we're in ceramic I think one of the
interesting parts of all of this is now the customer continues to be burned you
know I think there's more confusion than I certainly had a decade ago when
hardly anybody was putting coatings on at a high level you know we have all
kinds of confusion in the market and to me this is an opportunity it's not only
an opportunity of people that you know for you guys that create content for
your for your own brand you know your own business is to start going through
these things you don't have to I hope you guys don't take I'm not talking
derogatory about car washes they exist they're always gonna exist there are
massive business around the car world that's what some people are gonna do but
you also can educate everybody that follows you follows us and go they're
never gonna take responsibility they're never I mean you have no idea if that
that man or woman's had a bad day when they put those drums of product in there
and they don't titrate them right they don't put the right dilutions out or
whatever they have something malfunctioning and they don't want to fix
it that day the person that's paying the price is the person in that car or in
those cars coming through that car wash for the most part especially as the
investors have gotten bigger and bigger they're not gonna take responsibility
unless they rip something off your car that you can prove with a camera or
something I mean they put up these big things out here with these you know
they're gonna get off the hook and by the way good luck figuring out who to
talk to I mean yeah they're not gonna take responsibility and so instead of
attacking the car wash I think you could make a lot of stuff for your for your
customer and just go these are the realities and I'm not saying yay or nay
or don't go into them but we see more and more chemical burn probably now than
we ever have and let's be honest we see that because of social media now there's
more people on social media using social media whatever so I'm not saying the
numbers actually bigger but it probably is because now you have car wash chains
that have 200 locations being run by God knows who and again just screw up the
dilution of an acidic pre-soak on a car or an alkaline pre-soak on a car and
it's toast I mean you're gonna burn trim you're gonna burn wheels you're gonna
burn plastics you're gonna burn every you know paint doesn't matter and you can
speak to it better than me this is a lot easier than people think yeah and if
they had happened to grab a quote unquote coating off of a shelf well you
know which I joked with him and you know within a couple washes he goes oh
yeah because you know especially you go there was touchless the amount that we
put on there say yeah man we're stripping that right off now the final and
that was literally what with the final I said Ryan to even say more into it I
said man ultimately if somebody got a coating why are they at the car wash
said Ryan ultimately we know that a ceramic coating you got to maintain it
yourself like the main the maintenance on a coating why are they going through
your this piece people's car washes right I mean you're not gonna say that to
the lady but she she shouldn't even be having those customers at her place
yeah and the other thing is she shouldn't be talking like an expert because
she's the furthest thing from an expert that's like talking to a GM of a
dealership about ceramic coatings I mean they just don't that's just not their
world and the finance department hey but here's what I'll tell you they sure will
talk like an expert both of them I mean car wash owners and whatever and look we
have we all have to say this together the word ceramic has been overused it's
on everything one of the things I saw was a solvent based tire shine with
ceramic that video had a thousand likes had about 200,000 views a brand
everybody would know with the user the brand wasn't putting out the user was
putting out this information if you take 10 seconds and look at the website they
don't mention that this person made it up 200,000 people saw it you're not gonna
fight that you know and I think you and I have been a lot more the last few years
especially of telling guys stop fighting the argument you can't win you know
you're not gonna you know convince people that that wants a ceramic coating
what's not but little by little you can grab a bottle of something and then show
people a glass bottle of ceramic coating and say the this isn't coating and this
is right this is what a coating should come in I mean simple things like that
we need to see more content around those things so that's ceramic coating on
paint through car wash and all that let's talk about another problem that
somebody recently had around ceramic coatings and this was somebody inside of
our group what had bumpers that were oxidized and I can appreciate it goes
hey I just thought I could put you know maybe try me try and put the coating on
first and just see if it fixed it right like sure I can I can understand his
moment right let me let me just see if I can do this quickly you know maybe I
don't need the full extent of the bumper kit that we have so what why why do we
need to first clean I guess I guess let's start there and then we'll go into
what can we do if we got coating on a on a bumper I mean I I don't know what he
can do that's why I didn't know what to say I'm not sure yeah I mean part of our
our trim cleaner product which is what you're referencing is if you go and you
clean plastic with our trim cleaner one of the things that will show you pretty
quickly is that if you clean it and you see dirt on your towel which all of you
will but that like white grayish hue comes back it's probably gonna have to
be redied not I'm not saying that's 100% but that's how I would take it you know
because I just don't think dying trim is that big of a deal I mean I can die
trim in no time it's simple dump a bunch of dye on an applicator let it sit on
the plastic it's pretty easy but one thing with our trim cleaners it'll give
you a bird's-eye view so to speak of can I just go right in with trim coating all
of our coatings are gonna be friendly on trim but guys when you use our trim
coating you'll see number one it drips out a tiny little bit of a different
color it almost looks and is a little bit thicker when it comes out of your
your bottle onto your applicator you'll be able to see it won't soak in quite as
quickly okay because it is a thicker formula and I kind of hate to tell
people you know don't do this but at this point if you're using our brand the
trim cleaner and trim coating just like our glass coating has made it easy for
you just to carry it for that reason many of you are gonna come across
plastics even if you own your own car you're gonna come across plastics on damn
near every car all of us own at this point so you know buying a little 50
mil of trim coating and a 16 of trim cleaner is really not that big of a deal
to just have the peace of mind but the thing with the trim cleaner is it'll
actually show you if the thing needs to be redied because what should happen
with you when you use our trim cleaner if it doesn't need to be redied your trim
is gonna look better just with the trim cleaner you're gonna go oh okay yeah
yeah this just got it off there's a tiny bit of abrasive in that formula that's
why in my trim videos you see me there's a lot of elbow grease behind trim
cleaner and the towel I'm trying to get any oxidation any really deep dirt off
of there and also I'm trying to get it to have it show me what's going on is
this so oxidized that I just need to dye it and look I did a Jeep video you guys
may all say it's obvious when you look at that front bumper yeah I'm gonna have
the diet but there's people that have gone directly in with coating and it's
been rejected and I think we kind of saw it with that and let me put everybody's
mind at ease we've all made the mistake we've all made this mistake like you put
a little coating on you go the only thing I would tell people is if you're
questioning it go behind the back wheel where there's some plastic that's kind of
burnt you know lightly burnt up and put some coating on there and see what it
does for you know instead of doing the whole car and just hoping it all works
out but it's lesson learned so there's another post inside the group because I
know the question is gonna be asked well how much should I get right and there
was a guy that remember his name yeah he's doing a lot of bands yeah there was
a bunch of bands coming through right like so we've got a van or we got a
couple cars right that's why we have that little kid that we were talking about
you get a 16 ounce bottle of the cleaner and a 50 mil bottle of trim coating
right if you go hey I got a bunch of stuff okay grab yourself a gallon is
there but we don't think most people will really ever use a gallon I mean no
we only know we only seen real heavy professionals guys that are doing a
lot of that stuff or just like to have things on hand if you're one of those
guys just like I never want to run out of stuff just grab the gallon you know
that's the best move you know keep it in a cool dry place you'll be fine I think
you look at it's very hard to tell people how far a trim coating is gonna go
because we're seeing so many different plastics some are extremely porous like
the Jeep I did I mean you could you could dump a whole 50 mil on a Jeep
Wrangler plastic or a Bronco plastic they're just so porous then you can get
to things that just aren't that porous and aren't gonna soak up a lot of coating
so I think the best case scenario is if you I got a lot of plastic to do and
that's the thing you say to yourself then get the 16 ounce of trim cleaner
grab two bottles of trim coating and call it a day now in this instance this
guy had a lot of vans to do so you know three or four bottles is now the question
because those plastics wear so poorly they are usually pretty porous and I
would want to lay it on so thick just to make me feel better about how it's
gonna last that and again guys you keep your trim coating in something like a
refrigerator or a cool dark place and it doesn't get opened it's gonna last you
a pretty good amount of time right so inside the the hyper clean specialist
group was where that was a couple other things that we're gonna talk about we
found inside the specialist group and with ceramic code has got a couple of
things in there one that they not all of us realize but there's some posts here
recently that we're seeing more of that you know our our detailing quote unquote
products we we fall into a group that other people call hi and I right so
that's home industry and this is what I didn't realize it's I had to look it up
institution right so schools hospitals stuff like that our chemicals are all
grouped in with them so when people go hey can I use the hyper clean ceramic
coatings on right and then they'll list off stuff inside the house yeah yeah I
mean it it falls in the same category home industrial and institution so you
gave the response which is a great response because people are gonna well
which one I mean you know who knows great on on everything now if if the bottle
says glass you know put it on glass yeah yeah that's that's the move we get
asked a lot about stainless steel and we had somebody we've had a lot of
somebody's do some really like elaborate stainless steel outdoor grill set up
if you remember that one that was like 60 or 70 grand and stainless steel
outdoor appliance I think there's like two years ago or a year and a half ago so
guys Uno stands up really well to high heat okay that doesn't mean it's a more
durable coating on paint you know high heat doesn't equal necessarily more
durable for paint so a lot of people get confused and they go well I'll use
Trey because it's a more robust coating remember when it's going on paint heat
rejections not really a concern because if all of them are good over 400
degrees let's just use a number well your car paint gets to 400 degrees your
car's gonna catch on fire I mean that's that's not gonna happen okay so Uno's
makeup and part of what makes stack and Uno together a little different is the
high heat that that it that that Uno can stand up to is just usable on more
surfaces you know that's one of the reasons it doesn't last five years on
paint because it is better on multi surfaces like like metal stuff and
things like that doesn't mean it's the perfect coating doesn't mean anything
like that but it is a higher temp rating but higher temp rating doesn't mean
it's automatically a longer lasting coating so I know that that can get
confusing at times but that's not that's not apples to apples that's not how
great on granite can put it on pretty much anything but if you got a shower
door that's glass like mine like yours like you know a lot of people have glass
use glass now just the same as the the conversation with Ryan a second ago was
if you got a ceramic coating on something you need to maintain it I had
this conversation last week with guy named Nate you know him he was saying
yeah no I put it on glass my shower I just walk right out he's great no way
man I I wipe my shower still down every time we get out that orange crushed house
a perfect size for me we just sticking on top over in the corner of the right it
just sits right there we wipe it down real quick like I'm surprised like with
him and then some glass cleaner I mean if you keep some glass cleaner near
not it works great I mean it just kind of reinforces everything and I would just
tell people this off label is kind of something we all do okay let's just say
it out loud we kind of all do it but there is instances like we just said
with the trim question with glass like if there's something there go ahead and
use that something it is a better product for that application all right
you said off label I love it because the next one was an off label discussion
and this is you know I really appreciate Donald I appreciate 20 he tries to take
some some nudges and I'm like come on my guy come on like come on what are we
doing here so Donald did have a question and it was more of all what's HC got to
cover get all this pet hair right and it was a lot he said two hours I tell you
there's a lot of mass on those you want to know the surefire way of products that
I use it's the guy down the street might want to do that oh that was the best we
used to have right so we were a competitor at a car wash with and you know
they were just a mile away right another one so there's a car that we didn't want
to do they had a detail shop we had a detail shop we'll send you a dog poop or
had a bunch of crazy stuff in it oh we're not but they are they they're
equipped hey they can do it that's my move absolutely absolutely but but so you
know questioning the amount of dog hair that is that is in there right so my
tradition my way to go which my response to him that's something I learned a long
time ago was take take ultra dress now I would dilute it way down yeah you do not
want one to one I wanted you better really dilute ultra dress or take some
quick shine as it is spray it over now what happens is inside of their nick
remind us what is inside of tire shine silicone I don't have any silicone in
my dressing so that's what I was saying you know rinse list what people talk
about is this encompassing right they use that word of polymers will
encompass absolutely yeah you know fancy words big words even bigger than mine I
didn't even big enough to say it but you know so I kind of use that analogy that
think of that's the way the silicone inside of dressing does to the hairs and
it it'll encompass or encapsulate the hair basically you're just wanting the
silicone all over the hair to reduce the static yeah what's that static is
done it takes away the friction basically you go then it can easily be as
Dustin said blow it out great idea you stick the vacuum head right by the
the blower yeah not blowing hair all over the place there's nothing worse than
that I would have been the guy blowing it everywhere I'd be like shit the other
thing guys is like things like fabric softener if you got some around I mean
but if the dressing weird you out but you've been sharing that tip yeah it
does wear weird some people out though it does yeah you got to realize once you
dilute it down with water guys it's it's not gonna like make it sticky or
slippery and you're gonna vacuum it up it's and by the way I don't think you're
saying pour it out we're talking about just just just a little miss to get the
the static cling to go away that's kind of what you're trying to do yeah and you've
gotten all the dirt out hopefully so you're not putting you're not trying to
do all that so there's a process here yeah everybody to use a little common
sense all right so we'll close on the would you rather all right here we go
would you rather talk about salt life going out of business well that's the
greatest news we've ever heard okay so people in Idaho aren't like salt life
it's like we're good dude you're you're a long way from salt life okay I guess
you're gonna pass on that we just talked about it so we're good fortunately I
knew you were gonna be punting on it but so would you rather talk about salt
life going out of business or is team who a valid place for buying lifts yeah
the lift question is is getting more and more which I think is great I have a
lift here at the shop it's a twin bush lift if anybody I don't even know it's a
German company I'm not sure the only reason I bought a twin bush lift so
everybody knows why I bought one here in Vegas is their distribution center
used to be in North Las Vegas so I literally had all of their experts at
my shop in like two minutes after I ordered it but I mean you're to me if
you're in the lift game you're into things like noose bomb twin bush I know
or here's kind of been packed things like that the one thing you guys can do is
usually a lift company in your city that's kind of what they do I know we
have one if not three here they carry and will service your lift so if you're
not comfortable working and just buying something over the internet and having a
delivered which I understand most of you live in a big enough place that there's
somebody that does mechanic shops and all those kinds of things and they'll
direct you on what to buy you can buy it locally they don't build it locally
usually obviously but they support whatever they carry they've been in
business for a lot of years I mean usually these aren't fly by night places
and you know just like if you wanted to buy like an industrial air compressor
there's all kinds of like local companies that do that so that that's the
route I would go but I mean if you're in the noose bomb world and the bend pack
world if you're in the twin bush world like I'm in I mean so many of these
companies carry that stuff locally or those companies are so big they know how
to deal with you I don't think you can go wrong but I just don't know that I
would cheap out on a lift it's one of those things like I'm just not sure I
would take much risk with because that car falls off that lift you're gonna
feel a little different than I think you believe yeah that's that's a great
point that's a great point I don't know if I'm gonna go cheap when it comes to
me getting underneath a multi-ton vehicle by the way you buy a lift so well
so I want to go through what are the different lifts right because I don't
know right I yeah I haven't done a lift I know there's mention like four pole
lift mechanics yes four post lift some PPF guys love big four post lifts that
you can drive on a whole ramp and the car you know that's usually like
transmission shops if we go to dealership or a shot like a if we got a
mechanic shop those are a four post list yeah but most mechanic shops do two
posts where they have the the two legs that come out on each side and they're
just two and it just kind of hangs in the middle that's like your oil change
places and you know just general service doing brakes doing wheels doing tire
although I'm still crazy it's still crazy to me when you go to a discount
tire and there's like no lifts in there like you know or we have one bay with a
lift and the rest is like on a jack it's like man that business must be
killing it oh five minute oil change or five something there's there's somebody
that they always say hey you can get it from five minutes something so I send
mom there because I used to go there some too when I don't have a guy they
usually don't have a lift they usually have yeah that's what I was gonna say
they don't they go under yeah so it's like that used to be like the big car
guy thing is if you get your house permitted for to have a pit you know
that that was like a big thing I don't know I guess it would still be a cool
thing but I don't know that many people are fighting the HOA's these days for
for a pit in their garage but I look at it and I tell anybody this like four
posts two posts for most detailers you're gonna be looking at just a scissor lift
you know some type of scissor lift is just fine I have a scissor lift that's
what I have so you just drive on it and it can lift up but again when you're in
detailing you're really getting the lift to save your back you know get the car up
higher get to places other detailers or PPF shops won't get to you don't have to
lay on the ground you know what I mean like all that kind of stuff is it's very
worth it and if you guys have had a good year a good couple of years like yeah
lifts lifts are great you know you should definitely definitely buy one it
saves your back it saves some headache but just do it right I mean there's been
a lot and you guys can look on the internet yourself a lot of lift accidents
in the world so you see him at the week already talked about the shops and the
different but like you can see him or they could like suddenly starts to people
under the car and you know all this crazy stuff like I get asked to lift
question a lot I just tell people I just go with the highest quality one you can
afford but just call your local company if you're not comfortable with searching
on the internet there is somebody local that does it so I I just always just buy
an aid I just always just go well why do I need that right there's always gonna be
something to buy let's be honest you've been out of a detailing game on a daily
bit you'd have a lift right now but that's so what I was gonna say is when
you mentioned about me bending down to get the lower rocker panels or something
I go okay I could see definitely now me having a lift yes like especially if I'm
gonna be polishing back you know doing more politics you're gonna definitely
want to help yourself out okay that there's one but most people don't think
of your own safety or your guys back or helping your team that's not really what
most people are thinking when they go should I get a lift most people go well
what add-ons can I do now that I have a lift like yeah I'm sure polishing you
know better and yeah I'll vote right I'm in right we can all vote for that what
else is you know what other reasons yeah I mean a lot of people in the north
northeast upper Midwest Midwest as a whole I mean you could probably make an
argument at times in Tulsa you know undercoding trucks undercoding cars you
know we're talking about doing more business up in Canada it's a big
concern there so undercoding is a big deal I won't sit here and act like the
foremost expert on undercoding although you and I came up in a time when you
used to be able to take the stuff out of spray can and so undercoding at the
wholesale or dealership level I know you remember those days sprayed in the
wheel well tell them you're really doing something but undercoding seems to be
something people like seems to be something that people find a need for
and again I think I look at undercoding a little differently I might do it a
little differently than some but that's just not my daily life right I live in
a city where cars don't rust you know if you're in California Nevada Arizona
Texas you don't really deal with rust issues so it's not something but it
seems like you know seems like dirty work to me so keeping your space clean and
keeping all that would be kind of a challenge but seems like that'd be the
number one reason so I had somebody here asked me recently you know do I take
wheels off yeah I mean there'd be another like I don't never do never plan on
it I'm the guy that also doesn't take the seats out I don't want to touch and
mess with my customer stuff like I'm gonna clean it not not take it apart and
put it back together sure but but you know wheel coatings is definitely a lot
of people say you get a lift so that you can take off the wheels and coat the
wheels yeah and look you can coat the inside of the the plastics you know when
you take the wheels off you can get to the caliper coat that there's a lot of I
mean it's a good point to bring up I mean if you're trying if you're gonna get
into the wheels off coating wheels off services then the lift is I mean it's
probably mandatory I wouldn't want to be messing with a jack you know time and
time again if that's really a service I'm going after you know and one of the
things I was talking to somebody kind of unrelated to hyper clean that I that
I'll say to everybody here it's a little bit of a business thought you're never
going to get off the hook for the money at cost to do whatever you're trying to
do so if you are trying to go to these next levels and do these next services
whether that's PPF tent undercoating wheels off all that kind of stuff there's
a cost associated with it so if you're already running away from the cost of
doing the service the service is probably not going to be that successful
because everybody that's in that service is going to tell you right off the bat
yeah cost to do it so if they're already there doing where you want to get to then
there's going to be a basic cost to all of this and I think again we see this in
every facet of business not just detailing it's like I want to go to the
next level but I don't want to pay the cost to get there and so if anybody's
listening to this and you're really starting to get into these other things
then you got to be ready to invest the cost of whatever that thing is you're
trying to do all right I want to have a discussion let us just discussion I'm
gonna ask a question we'll discuss it okay if I'm looking to grow my business
my detailing business I do always have to think add-ons right like things I
could upsell things I could you know somebody's in and you know this would be
a good thing to add on I'm from Tulsa as you mentioned haven't run a shop for
many years so I'm not an expert either I'm just asking the question because I'm
gonna ask it and I can already say we can already go to the post to know who's
gonna come out and be so pro like yeah pro you know you got to do this the
under coatings of you know I put X amount of dollars into my business because
not right so there's gonna be some people that are like pro under coatings I'm
just gonna ask the question though if I'm looking in my business and I'm looking
at things to add on right is under coating is that is that something I
should definitely go or should I look at hey what in my lineup could I improve
my sales on right like good point maybe I could sell more coatings like that
would cover what some people are saying you know hey it's added X amount of
dollars to my business in a year right that's annual let's just think one
number was 20,000 sure okay so 20,000 a year is a great add-on it is it is a
very wonderful service it is and 20,000 is good right I cool that's yeah two
grand a month I mean stack three times a month covers that right who know three
or four times right I mean you could I wonder how easily somebody could I know
we're talking about add-ons and if I should get this ramp and we'll under
coatings do that but if I'm only really adding a couple grand per month sure
should I not just sell more coatings yeah I mean a lot of it comes down to you
know what you can do during the winter time you know what's an easier sell
during the winter time I completely understand that we're not from there
right which we don't sure I mean but I think under coating is valuable but I
also would would say to everybody one of the things that I'm seeing more and
more people and it's not necessarily in our group I just you know we have so
many people contact us we get so much stuff sent to us and we look at so many
things and people I would just tell everybody if you can't efficiently sell
what you're doing now and increase sales of those things it's going to be
harder to sell the add-on things at a high level so now you're not really
selling anything at a high level and that's kind of your point in a nutshell
right which is okay just sell you know one more five year or sell you know a
one year or three year and a five year so you got to get three more customers a
month to do that the same goes for PPF shops that punted on ceramic coatings
and now they're running back as the economy is getting a little weak and
they're like we need something that's not as expensive as PPF it's like well
this was always the highest profit margin so if you look at a detail shop and
you know we're seeing more and more PPF shops be honest about this which is good
in certain groups of PPF groups is ceramic coatings are the biggest profit
engine meaning the most money you'll make for a service over anything else that you
sell there's some 10 options and some some people that sell 10 to the high
level that can make an argument that they make a ton of profit but when it
comes to like PPF undercoating all that kind of stuff nothing's gonna be as
profitable as just selling more coating it's just amount of money you can make
as an installer of a coating it was a lot of money in 2010 there's a ton of
money in 2015 a lot of money in 2020 it's still a lot of money in 2025 okay
everybody that grasps that concept especially in our network that we get
to see every day but even people that come into our network one of the most
interesting things that we see is when you break down what you make on a
coating it doesn't matter what other service they have they go yeah I should
be selling more coatings I mean it doesn't matter largest shop you can think
of the smallest shops you can think of when the numbers all break out and you
really know the math coding is still the most profitable service alright so
everybody that wants to know okay then how do I sell more coatings we're not
going to go through a whole process of everything what all's entailed but when
you're talking to your customers you usually mention a couple things of why
they should get a ceramic coating yeah well I would say even deeper than that
we're seeing another problem people don't know how to market them I mean
there's one of the first biggest problems secondly their packages are a mess
had a conversation last week talking about packages for a business and when
I mentioned one three and five year or you know six plus month with no paint
polishing and I mean it was like I was speaking a foreign language I mean you
could put up a four package system and if most people just got good at selling
the four package system three package system whatever the good better best
type of world just setting it up properly they would instantly sell more
coatings so I don't even think it's about selling the features of the coating
as much as being organized when you're talking to a customer so they
understand what you're talking about right so for everybody that goes I don't
sell the longevity of a coating cool man that's not what Starbucks does that's
not what McDonald's does that's not how the consumers trained the consumers
trained in a good better best situation so if your packages are not organized
that way even for a general detail right you should have a good better best when
it comes to just general detailing stuff so I've seen a lot of chatter that
detailing is not that profitable it's not that profitable the way people
organize their packages that's why it's not profitable and so they go well it's
not profitable and I go you have one package that's not that profitable okay
because ultimately you sell the most of the mid-tier package just so everybody
knows the end result here if you have a lower-end package and a high-end package
and you have a middle-tier package the American public buys mostly middle-tier
that's always do that would be 90 plus percent of the consumer from rich to
middle-class to everybody down the line very few people buy a small value meal
they buy a medium and then some I don't need a large yeah yeah now you get around
me I might get a large and a large fry and I'm gonna get another burger which is
why I got to stay out of those places but I really think people before we get
into anything about the coating and what it does for the customer the vast
majority of what you and I see and this is just kind of the reality in our world
is we see unorganized packages therefore confusing the customer on what you're
selling so if it's an unorganized package then when the customer goes okay so why
do I need a coating yeah I think there's the second point where people are gonna
start going oh and then they're just maybe gonna say something like well it
helps protect your car longer is can protect it for x amount of years right
like it there's no real reason for them to it doesn't seem like when I'm reading
things that people say right so I don't don't misunderstand me I'm not sitting
there at at at detailers when they're selling to customers so I just read what
people put online and and it seems like there's not really a real a very clear
explanation of why that customer should get a ceramic coating and if you don't
know the answer that to yourself here's the answer well here's why I put a
ceramic coating on my car yep yep if you can't talk about your own experiences
and why you put it on your car you're not gonna be able to talk to them right
so why do I put it on you know my family SUV number one we may end up keeping it
a long time I'm not sure you know I don't know what the future holds but I
know that that paint is very very susceptible to damage it's always been
susceptible to damage this gives it protection this makes it last longer
this makes it look better longer this coating allows it to be cleaner longer
so maybe I don't have to wash it as frequently if family comes up and things
come up it's gonna make your car look better if you go to wash your car it's
gonna be easier to wash it's gonna take you less time all those things are good
points but again if your packages are messed up and let me give people
somebody shared this with me and I'm sure I'll be listening and he'll have a
laugh about this somebody had their packages online the package reads three
year coding starting at $1,200 right underneath that it says Cooper sedan
$850 starting at means the coupon sedan would be 1200 bucks right the next thing
would be up from there so think about somebody looking at this online reading
your headline starting at 1200 Cooper sedan $850 so when everybody goes well
that's not me it's a lot of people so if you're advertising this stuff on your
website or app or whatever it is you're doing does it look clean and simple for
someone to read so people always ask me because we work on a lot of sports cars
like Ferraris and Porsches and whatever they go what's your price it said the
same price as a midsize SUV what do you mean yeah until I get to a large SUV I'm
not having a conversation about price my three-year coding is 1500 bucks it's
1500 bucks why do I do that because I don't want all of these subsets to start
to confuse the customer just not worth it and yeah maybe I make a tiny bit less
on that midsize SUV than I do on the sports car but if I do enough sports
cars I do enough midsize SUVs it's all gonna come out in the wash I don't make
things more difficult now somebody rolls in with an F 250 somebody rolls in with
an excursion somebody rolls in with the Lincoln Navigator am I having a
conversation about some upcharging yeah but I'm not gonna put that on my website
I'll just say hey you know you have a larger SUV it's $1500 but it's an extra
$250 because of your large SUV usually there's no discussion what I put that on
my website I wouldn't personally okay meaning the price difference now I don't
even advertise pricing on my website because I just want somebody to call
me because I'm confident in my ability but remember your organization trumps
any feature of a coding any feature of paint protection film any feature of a
detail the organization of the way you sell your packages matters way more than
all that stuff all right so not organization is in like company but as
in the way it's laid out yeah the way you organize your packages because your
your customer needs to understand what they're looking at up front and then
you can talk about the features and the benefits when you talk to that customer
you know much more deeply but if they go on your website and says starting at
1200 and then it sees a price right underneath it for $850 you've already
confused them you've already lost sales because you're not organized in the way
you're talking about your package that's my two cents you know something that I
guess I've been thinking of more and more it's not something I used on you
know to sell or anything it's just I think just more and more my experience is
just if I don't get to a car within a week or so you know let's say something
on the weekend I wasn't able to or I was just fucking pissed off of my wife I
said fuck I didn't want to do it right like let's be real what is it I don't
know one or the other oh but if it goes a couple weeks you know if a car is
coded it doesn't look as bad it really does people talk about self-cleaning I
think that's the wrong way to think I don't understand what it means to self
clean do I know what it means to not look as bad yeah yeah yeah yeah keep it
simple and again I just love the fact of when my car is coded I know it's gonna
take me less time to wash it I know my car is gonna look better I know I have a
layer a sacrificial layer that's gonna save my paint if something goes like you
said you skip a week you skip a couple weeks there's a bird dropping you didn't
see on the roof or something you go there it didn't mark up the paint usually
doesn't even mark up the coding if you get to it quick enough but at the end of
it that's what this is all about and there's so many people worried about
selling the coding instead of saying does the customer understand what I'm
selling well right which is this service and then how do I make people
understand what this service is on a basic level and then get into the weeds
a little bit with those customers that want to get into the weeds then how do
you keep that customer coming back so his car looks his or her car continues to
look the same way year after year month after month week after week yeah our
shops that are killing it with Sparta like they have people coming back for
stack every year most those people are coming back like every six months if
they're really picky and they're I mean dude there's so many ways to win in this
and again if you're a DIYer and you really love your car like putting
something like Tray on and then stacking it every six eight nine twelve months like
dude you you're gonna be so far ahead of everyone else that it's it's it's
unbelievable yeah absolutely true all right guys thanks so much we'll see you
over in the hyper clean specialist group on Facebook all right guys
About this episode
A deep dive into the impact of car washes on ceramic coatings, this episode explores the misconceptions and challenges surrounding ceramic coatings in the detailing industry. The hosts discuss a real-world scenario where a car wash owner blamed coatings for water spots, emphasizing the importance of accountability and proper education in the detailing community. They also touch on marketing strategies for ceramic coatings, the significance of organized service packages, and the need for detailers to understand their products and effectively communicate their benefits to customers.
Original notes
In this conversation, Marshall and Nick discuss the evolution and challenges of ceramic coatings in the detailing industry. They explore accountability in the car wash sector, the importance of quality products, and the need for customer education.
The discussion also covers practical tips for trim care, the debate on undercoating services, and the significance of organized packaging in selling detailing services. They emphasize the necessity of investing in quality equipment and the importance of maintaining customer relationships for business growth.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Backstory
03:04 The Challenges of Ceramic Coatings
06:05 Accountability in the Car Wash Industry
08:52 Understanding Ceramic Coatings
11:43 The Importance of Proper Maintenance
14:50 Off-Label Uses and Product Recommendations
27:19 Managing Dog Hair and Detailing Techniques
29:21 The Importance of Lifts in Detailing
34:23 Understanding Undercoating and Its Benefits
38:56 Evaluating Add-Ons for Your Detailing Business
43:19 Maximizing Profitability with Ceramic Coatings
50:41 Organizing Packages for Better Sales
Pints and Polishing Auto Detailing Podcast
Nick Walters and Marshall Hill
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53:44