Choosing the right ceramic coating and detailing pads is crucial for both enthusiasts and professionals. The hosts dive into the upcoming SEMA show, discussing the evolving landscape of the event and the social media buzz surrounding it. They share insights on product testing, the importance of proper prep for ceramic coatings, and how to choose the right pads for one-step polishing. Listeners will also hear about the challenges of customer expectations regarding detailing services, especially in relation to weather conditions. This episode is packed with practical advice and industry perspectives.
In this conversation, Marshall and Nick discuss the current trend of individuals in the automotive industry expressing pride in not attending events like SEMA.
They emphasize the importance of personal choice in deciding whether to attend such events, arguing that there is no right or wrong answer.
The discussion highlights the need for individuals to focus on their own business needs rather than conforming to industry expectations.
Choosing the right pads for a one step correction out of our lineup was a large topic. Plus choose the best ceramic coating for your needs.
"...what I've been telling everybody listening to us for the last five years is I've told you actually what's happening at SEMA. It really hasn't been my opinion..."
SEMA is a big annual car show in Las Vegas where companies display parts and accessories for cars. It's a great place for car enthusiasts to see new products and trends in the automotive world.
SEMA stands for the Specialty Equipment Market Association, which hosts an annual trade show in Las Vegas showcasing aftermarket automotive products. It's a major event for industry professionals to network and see the latest innovations in car customization and performance enhancements.
"... so one recent picture I sent to you was a was a flex, but it was also of a little BMW wagon. Because I..."
The Ford Flex is a large car that looks a bit like a box, which gives it a lot of room inside for passengers and luggage. It's a good option for families because it can fit many people comfortably and has a lot of space for things you might need to carry.
The Ford Flex is a full-size crossover SUV that is known for its boxy design and spacious interior. It offers a unique blend of style, comfort, and practicality, making it a popular choice for families and those needing extra cargo space.
"use ceramic snow for the first time with slick was no more. That's my go to bro. I love that I do it's if I'm gonna wash my as well put on protection."
Ceramic snow is a product used to protect the paint on cars. It helps keep the car shiny and protects it from dirt and scratches, making it easier to clean.
Ceramic snow is a type of automotive detailing product that provides a protective layer on the car's surface, often enhancing shine and durability. It typically contains ceramic particles that bond to the paint, offering long-lasting protection against elements.
"I mean, I can tell you this major film company had so many failures of their launch ceramic coating. I mean, it was a bad ceramic coating. Shops paralyze themselves."
Ceramic coating is a special liquid that is put on a car's paint to protect it from dirt, sun damage, and small scratches. It helps keep the car looking shiny and clean for a longer time.
Ceramic coating is a liquid polymer applied to the exterior of a vehicle to provide a protective layer against environmental contaminants, UV rays, and minor scratches. It enhances the car's appearance and makes it easier to clean.
"...definitely revive no brainer. Okay, but ceramic coating, he's a noob and he wants to try."
Revive is a company that makes products to help clean and protect cars. They have a popular ceramic coating that many people like to use.
Revive is a brand that offers automotive detailing products, including ceramic coatings. Their products are designed to enhance and protect vehicle surfaces.
"...k. Look, I think you have two choices. Stack and Uno. Those are your starting points. And there's spec..."
The Fiat Uno is a small car that is easy to drive and park, making it great for city living. It's known for being budget-friendly and is a popular choice for people looking for a simple and reliable vehicle.
The Fiat Uno is a compact car that was first introduced in the 1980s and has gained popularity for its practicality and efficiency. It is often discussed for its affordability and suitability for urban driving, making it a common choice in many markets around the world.
"the interface microfiber is a cutting pad, a very heavy cutting pad. The orange is essentially late countries take at let's say you have an Audi a BMW harder clear..."
Microfiber is a very fine type of fabric that is great for cleaning because it can pick up dirt and dust without scratching surfaces. It's often used in towels and pads for car care.
Microfiber is a synthetic fiber that is finer than a human hair, often used in automotive detailing products for its ability to trap dirt and absorb liquids without scratching surfaces. It is commonly used in towels and pads for cleaning and polishing.
"the interface microfiber is a cutting pad, a very heavy cutting pad. The orange is essentially late countries take at let's say you have an Audi a BMW harder clear..."
A cutting pad is a special tool used when polishing a car to help remove scratches and imperfections from the paint. It's harder than other pads to do a better job at this.
A cutting pad is a type of polishing pad used in automotive detailing that is designed to remove paint defects and scratches. It typically has a firmer composition to provide more aggressive cutting action compared to finishing pads.
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Welcome to the pints and polishing podcast, the most influential and listen to podcast in auto detailing. Welcome to the community.
Naked Seema week. Hey, you ready? You ready to go? My bags are packed and I'm ready to stay here.
So there's something we talked about last week, Nick, that I forgot to talk about this week,
but is blaring on everybody's social media. Listen, I've been sent, you've been sent,
we've been sent plenty of people excited about Seema. There's some different posts we want to go
over. There's some different styles of people because I'm going to call this the Seema Flex.
Right now, before the way it used to be, the Seema Flex used to be the big trucks that you'd
see detailers at Seema cleaning, right? Remember that? Now, I don't know if my algorithm's gone with
that or just those detailers are gone. I don't know. Do you still see them? Yeah, I mean, there's,
they've always done this like a lot behind the convention center where people can drive in.
I got contacted a lot. I want to say this to everybody. I appreciate everybody reaching out.
Hey, I got a customer coming in. We're just not set up to take on so many requests,
but I always point to people and say, Hey, there's a ton of stuff going on
around the convention center where they set up and they know you got to get a truck or a car
cleaned up. So yeah, that stuff is still going on. And I know a lot of people from California and
Arizona and all over the place still come in and set up in those lots and try to make a buck
during the week. Cool. Yeah. And I used to see a bunch. So maybe those people are just,
like I said, we always know there's a circular motion to this industry. And so maybe the people
that I used to know way back then when I used to go to Seema, maybe those people just aren't doing
it anymore, right? Yeah, it has fallen off, right? Like there's a lot less people. I think people
are traveling to Seema for different reasons. You know, I think we're seeing those posts as well.
So I think a lot of people were generally coming out to Seema and they're like, I'll work Monday
and Tuesday and Wednesday, and then I'll enjoy the show Thursday and Friday. That used to be more
of a thing. Now it just seems like that's, that's not really part of it, but there's certainly
people still, still out there getting it. Absolutely. You know, there's the, there's those flex. I
know they're fighting now. The new Seema fight isn't actually at Seema. The new Seema fighters
are actually online on Facebook. That's why that's a wild place. It is great. Now there's the first
flex of the people that are going. Now there was a great time, you know, they're taking selfies in
the airport or we're seeing people take selfies on planes, you know, it's, hey, we're headed to Seema
looking over and this is flex, we're headed to Seema. I'm going to be drinking today from my
flax. This is my flax. And this is one of the old cups that I used to take. And this was, I
literally would take it everywhere. So it's got different badges, different stickers, different
stuff. It was interesting as I was looking at it because I was thinking about Seema, right,
thinking of the different weeks and different stuff that happens. It was like, huh, well,
there's fruits, fruits detail, remember, but there's quite a few of these that I used to collect
that they're, they're just gone, right? But yeah, but the flex is always there and the people always
flexing about being there. We're going to be there. Hey, it's always going to be something on social.
Now let's talk about the new and this is the most interesting, right? This, this is really the,
for 2025 versus the Seema flex, the most interesting flex right now is the people flexing about
not going. I think all of us, I would say it to our crowd and I think many of you are pretty
loyal listeners at this part at this point. We know we're getting a ton of new listeners
because you guys are in the group and, and DM and us and Hey, just found the podcast.
You can learn a lot by paying attention because there's a lot of people that we're supposed
to have, you know, I'm going to have five builds and 10 builds and 30 builds next year. Seema,
we're already lining them up and then it's the same, you know, people that are going,
I'm not going to go to Seema this year. Okay. I mean, that's, that's fine. I mean,
I just don't think it's that much of an announcement. If it's right for you to go,
then go. If it's not right for you to go or you want to stay in your business, then don't go.
And we see this a lot with detailing a lot of things in the automotive business. Unfortunately,
where people think it's like good or bad to do something.
Oh, let me tell you what Seema is. Do it if you want. Don't do it if you don't want.
It's not that big a deal. Just like any trade show for any industry, if it's right for you to go,
go. If you want to go just because you want to go, go. And, you know, I don't want our crowd to
get caught up in all these things people are saying about a trade show. You make it what you
make it. And that's by the way, that was the truth 15 years ago, 10 years ago, you know,
five years ago. I don't know why this stuff is happening. I think a lot of it is,
you know, people get embarrassed, especially the people flexing that they're not going.
They see it. They see everybody going and they want to tell you why they've made the decision.
Unfortunately, it kind of tells on themselves because I probably received 50 text messages
and going, what's this guy talking about? And this is from suppliers, guys. This isn't from other
detailers. Big companies, big reps, big executives just kind of makes you look like what are you
doing? And we always say this to our, to our people, guys, there's no reason to act crazy on
the internet. There's really not. And it seems like you said this is now this clashing why I'm so
smart for going, why I'm so smart for not going. It turns out that what I've been telling everybody
listening to us for the last five years is I've told you actually what's happening at SEMA.
It really hasn't been my opinion. And now everybody wants to go and go, well, you know,
you got to understand, well, what you weren't saying that five years ago when that stuff was
evident, you were going with the crowd. So I think it's just been an interesting time.
But SEMA is one of those things. I think all of you should strive to go one time
and see what it's all about and have a good time and take it as a little vacation away from your
business. But if it's not possible, that's not a bad thing either. There's times that I live
two miles down the road from SEMA in the last 15 years and I didn't go. I had other things come up.
There's no good or bad. It seems like more and more people are using your terminology that you've
been putting out over the past years. I'm hearing that more in 2025 when I'm reading people's
posts and they're talking, and this is people random, right? So it's not anybody in particular,
right? Like just random people. And, you know, they more and more are saying, because you go
into groups too. This is the other part. Other people in groups and other groups will ask,
I'll just go look through those comments. There's more people using the lingo of, hey,
I'm going to go out for a vacation. Like there's more people using that idea and that theory.
Now, I think if I'm going to put a stamper in a sense of where does it go after? Because
it's always then the next, which I don't want to have a SEMA episode three where we talk about,
you know, but we probably will. So I'll get a million questions this week. There'll be a
million texts and DMs. And yeah, so we'll have to address it next week. How was the show this and
that? I mean, it's just part of it, guys. Yeah, it's just going to be, but I wonder if we'll ever
get to the point now, I don't know that we will, but it's just I'm going to put this out there
because I wonder if I'm going to get to that point to where I no longer care about what somebody
thinks I'm doing or whether I think I should. If I want to go to SEMA because SEMA is become,
let's say 10 years, I'm not putting it like, I want to, I want to put out this theory that it
will become a nostalgic thing that will almost always still journey back to just the same as
like a Mecca, right? Just the same something that you always go back to year after year. Yeah, take
this journey back to you. You don't, you don't do, you know, don't think the religion side of it.
Like you go do your functionalities, you go do your routines, you go do your things and
you go see your people and hey, it's a good time and it's not a good time. There's people there,
there's not people there. It's just nostalgia to go. Yeah, I would say I'm already there. You've
talked to me enough. Guys, I live here, right? Hyper clean has a huge benefit that I live here.
And I can be a part of SEMA and I can meet with all of you and meet with people.
To me at this point is there's a lot of people we have to thank, you know, there's a lot of people
that have helped us along the way and our journey is hyper clean. So, I mean, you sent me a text
this morning like, Hey, can you search this guy out and give him a thanks? You know, yeah, man,
there's a lot of good things like that. And the last two years for me, and this year will be the
same. I've enjoyed SEMA the most the last two years than I did the previous 13 years.
Because I used to do a ton of work for SEMA. I used to work for manufacturers,
meaning car manufacturers themselves. I'd have all this work to do. I'd be stressed,
bell to bell, you know, sweating deadlines and all that kind of stuff. And that
truthfully is not that enjoyable for any of you that think you want to do this high level SEMA
work the week of and, you know, the weeks leading up, it can be tough, you know, it can be really
stressful. The last two years, I think you and I have had a healthy and I hope our listeners feel
the same way. Our relationship with SEMA is we're going to go there, we're going to have a good
time. We're going to shake hands. We're going to make sure we meet with the people that we need
to meet with. We have some big news coming, you know, for something that we're closing in another
country. We're going to be meeting about that and working with that team and all this kind of stuff.
So I think I'm already there. I go to SEMA and I enjoy a lot of things away from our industry
that isn't going in that hall and worrying about whether it's good or bad. It's literally meeting
new people, which was mainly what I'm doing now. And then setting up and having meetings with
good people that are either in the hyper clean world or Jason to the hyper clean world or whatever.
And I'm with you. I think that could be a product of age. I don't know that could be a
product of I'm just at a different point in our careers than we'd feel this way. But I think
it's just the best way to do it. And SEMA is an enjoyable thing. And I think instead of going
there and believing I'm going to find the next thing I'm going to use, I'm going to find that
and it's going to change my business. The likelihood of that as a guy that this will be my 16th
time, you know, 16th year around this event. I just don't think that's the case today.
I just don't think it is. And I think actually if you go, you could really damage your business,
which we've heard some stories of people going to SEMA, meeting up with a group of people,
getting into their system and wrecking their business. I think it's actually can take you
to an unhealthy place. And that'll happen this week to some people. So game changing,
that's that's a word that you're going to hear that you hear it every year, you know, like,
we already have it off now already heard it, right? The people that are showing the videos
of we're already there and they're setting up the boost, got this game changer, got the game
changer, we're going to release. It was funny. I sent it to you, right? Somebody's game changer,
was they're going to reduce their buy the saddle, reduce their size of bottles.
Game changer, we got this. And I said this, I think more to more people in the past 60 days
that I ever have is I didn't think SEMA was still like a launch party. I didn't really actually
with the internet and the way I mean, some of these companies do well on the internet. Some
don't. I just didn't think this was the place anymore. But boy, was I wrong. I mean, it's
it's definitely still a place and you got to look at it and go, you might not be doing business in
2025. If you think you got to release a bunch of stuff at SEMA, I don't really see that that being
the place anymore. All right, so no, I'm not going and my flex is I'm going to send you pictures all
week of being here in Oklahoma, because while we do have the advantage of Nick being in Vegas,
we also do the advantage of HQ being in Tulsa, the the rent's much cheaper.
Yeah, that's true. Hey, not Dustin, you're right, man, Dustin's going out. He's excited rather
than like temperatures all this way and it looks awesome. You know, that's a sacrifice we make here
at HQ. Absolutely no doubt about it. All right, so one recent picture I sent to you was a was a
flex, but it was also of a little BMW wagon. Because I was, you know, flexing about a product
that we were testing. And while I was testing it, you know, I have to wash the car with foam wash.
And I took a moment there while I was washing, because for those of you know, that you don't
know, I don't always use I really haven't used in a long time, actually, I use so you know what
we've been developing I've been using. And then my go to the same like Omar said, Omar posted in
the group, use new to the group and use ceramic snow for the first time with slick was no more.
That's my go to bro. I love that I do it's if I'm gonna wash my as well put on protection. Hey,
might as well throw on more protection might as well. Why not right like, that's my go to but
I was using foam wash and what we're testing I'm not going to come back and put any more protection
on okay. So I just using foam wash and foam wash only. Wow, even just the difference between foam
wash and ceramic snow. The feeling of foam wash going over like a freshly polished paint. Yeah.
That's all you could say is just like foam foam wash is
you know, it's kind of unfortunate for us at times. I just I just had one of my personal
vehicles in here I hadn't seen in a long time and the right product to use was cleanse. I hadn't seen
it in so long in the shop. And I had for everybody that hasn't listened to us but many of you have,
I'm all about what's the right product in the right moment to use. And so
on all of our customer stuff, we're almost exclusively foam wash. So my guys use foam wash
daily on countless amounts of cars because they're well maintained whatever. But you and I
don't get you know, we're always testing new products, which is a great thing, but it also
leads you away from being able to do all the things that like Omar does where it's like,
hey, I used I used ceramic snow and then topped it with slick. I kind of envy that because I don't
get to do that. But my guys, I mean, foam wash first, I want everybody to understand just one
ounce in the foam cannon is enough. I mean, foam wash is is pretty powerful in the foam cannon.
One ounce in a bucket is going to go a long way. Now, if anybody knows me, not the best at
measuring, I just kind of do the glug glug method. But one ounce is plenty. I mean, that is a strong
pH neutral, high foaming, high lubricity soap. For anybody out there taking care of your own
stuff or you know, what you know, customers that you see regularly, foam wash is a good general
pH neutral, use it on ceramic coatings, non ceramic coatings. I mean, it is a workhorse. But
yeah, you and I don't get to no matter what anybody believes, we don't always get to use
everything as often as possible, which kind of which kind of sucks at times because you're testing
new things and whatnot. Yeah. And so I had this epiphany in a sense this weekend. The next time
you guys are on a little road trip or the next time you go in and out of gas stations and fast
food places, you always go over to the bathroom and you know, they get the push the buttons and
you scored out the soap, right? Everybody's a little different. We understand what but the soap
that's in there, you can start to when we I'm doing this analogy if we'll go with me on the
analogy. Because this weekend, back out right chasing the Premier League chasing the down
through Oklahoma City down to this wonderful town of Clinton, Oklahoma. Now Clinton is only on my
radar because I had to sue somebody in Clinton. Wow. Long time ago, right? People have asked us
in the past about you know, hey, so and so didn't pay me. What should I do? Listen, I've just let
things go a lot. But this guy owed me too much. And I was young in business and I had to have my
money and I filed a small claims court and then had to go do it in in the town of Clinton. And
it's about three hours away. Not not a joyous drive when you're young in business to go collect
money. But there I was again, revisiting times, seeing the white ball get kicked around. And I
noticed something. I walked into a bathroom and you can you can all do this. When you do the click
click and do the wash wash and you go rub your hands. That feeling of the soap on your fingers,
the feeling of your soap as your hands go into the water. That all has variables where what
goes into the ingredients. And it was awesome to see the people when you feel the soap and you go,
wow, okay, well, that's different from down wherever we had gone into. And that's in the sense
the analogy I want us everybody to think about because, you know, there's more people coming
into the group that pose noob questions, right? This is what I want to get into the next one.
This comes from Drake, right? I appreciate this drink. Other people are noob. And he says he
did the noob thing says he's new to the group, appreciates the podcast, appreciates everything
going on. But he did a noob thing. And I just go cool, man. Thanks so much for saying that. We've
heard that action. Yeah, for sure. More and more. We're hearing more noob type things that people
come in. I don't want anybody we need to say this like there is no such thing as a noob question to
me. If you just I want everybody to feel comfortable our group, you know, a bunch of people chime in
bunch of people have, you know, tons of experience like, I don't think anybody I actually think people
actually hurt themselves because they don't ask. You know, like they'll DM us and we don't always
see it or they DM hyper clean, you know, that doesn't always get seen across all platforms,
like guys, go into the group. I mean, utilize it. There's, there's people that use this stuff
all day every day and all kinds of different ways. Like I don't want anybody to feel like I don't
think of it as noob to me. I just think of us like, Hey, it's a good question. And we though
appreciate it though. Say you're new. I love it. I do appreciate it. And don't feel ashamed.
Where we welcome you. I agree. We'll talk about it all the time. It's a giant revolving door in
our industry. Here at hyper clean, the more we can keep coming in and the more we can stay,
the less going out, the better it is for everybody. So you're welcome, you know, keep coming.
So he asked this question. And he was curious because he said,
you know, he did the thing and he bought a ton of products. And as soon as he's going to burn
through them, dot, dot, dot. And I go, Okay, cool. I appreciate it. I think somebody else,
there was a post about as soon as I burn through them, dot, dot, dot. So we're going to, we're
going to go out this a couple different ways, Nick, right? First off, I'm new. I did the problem.
I got some stuff, but I'm starting to hear these people. One product that you would say, hey,
this is where you need to start TRX. TRX is has the most versatility for most of you guys. You
can use it on lower rockers, wheel wells, tires, wheels, you know, dirty exterior parts, you know,
if you guys are into the truck scene, lifted trucks got all those exposed, different suspension,
whatever. I mean, TRX is the logical place. But I, you know, I'll ask you this question because
I'm sure we're going there. If I didn't like the products I was using, did you just toss them?
Was that your move? You know, Nick, you know, I was trying to walk you through it and you just
had to go around third base already. Hey, speaking of that, did you see the world? Did you see that?
Yeah, it was a great, great series. Precision. The work precision comes to mind, right? You think
of the, and I was trying to explain to him, right? Because people in my house don't understand baseball.
I was trying to explain to him hitting a round object that's moving with another round object
that moving comes to very, very precise moments. I mean, I mean, essentially Vlad should have
hit a home run. He just caught it on the top of the barrel. Yep. Games over, right? So yeah,
no, I mean, it was great. I'm happy that was a good world series. Me too. But so you're right.
You know, should we keep stuff? Or should we dump and move on? Right? How long should we,
what's your call? Hang on to things? Yeah, it's a great question. I'm trying to think through in
my head. I think there was times that there's some things that I go, you know, this is okay. It's
not ready to try. So I want to be fair about that. I think there probably have been some
things that I go, okay, I'm not ready yet. But no, for the most part, if something started
not working appropriately, and somebody kept telling me over and over, hey, you know, this
thing is going to solve your problem. Yeah, I didn't wait. I dumped and flushed. I remember
when Marty and I first got into business, and we were doing, I think we were doing something with
the labels. And I was out in my garage at the time. And I started taking pictures of all of these
like high level ceramic coatings that people had sent me, you know, high level and quotation marks,
but all very high level brands, right? And I go check this out. I probably had like two or 300
bottles of ceramic coating that people had sent me for free. And they all got tossed. I'd put
them on a little spot. I'd see if I liked it, this and that. If I didn't like something about it,
it just I didn't use it on a customer's car. I didn't I just didn't do that stuff. And so
and that's what I hear from a lot of high level business owners that no matter what point in
their business they were, they were very sure that if this didn't work, or I wasn't happy for
whatever reason, I just wasn't happy with it. It didn't matter if there was three quarters of a
gallon, a full bottle of coating, 10 bottles of coating, it was just move on. And I would say
that that's where I fall in. Fair enough. So but we're new. Let's let's think through it for a
second. And I'm saying I'm saying even at the beginning, that's the way I was. Oh, okay. Okay.
I thought you were talking about this when you that story of when we met. Okay, by the way,
I mean, that had been accumulated over years and years and years, right? Like this was all
companies vying for my business, which I appreciated. But when I tested the product and I go, this
isn't this isn't what you said. And I would go through it with them and I would give them their
due. Maybe I did something wrong, whatever. I just didn't use it again. And I mean, there'd be,
I mean, you saw I mean, almost full bottles, you know, three quarter bottles of really expensive
coating at the time that I just go this isn't for my customers. And it always got put on something
I owned, or a test hood, or a test door, or, you know, something that wasn't customer.
I did it that way. But I know one of my suppliers, before I came on the hyper clean,
they started having major problems with their formulas, they had been purchased. And I dumped
them. I mean, that's pretty much how you and I met. I mean, I think that's where I I think
that's where he's at. I think that's good. I'm glad you mentioned that part because that's where
I think it's like, if you already have stock, not about if somebody sends you something. But let's
say you just already have stock of everything. You've got plenty of cars. I've got plenty of
degrees or I got plenty of a PC, right? I got plenty of this stuff. I don't know that there's
something out there that's better from hyper clean. I don't know. I'm new. I haven't tried. That's why
I can appreciate them saying like, Hey, we listen to the podcast. We're not sure we haven't tried
anything yet. Right. So you can see I can get it. I feel you. I feel you. Right. Like, okay,
there needs to be a problem. Right. For what they're using in order to try something. Yeah,
generally, right. So I would ask the question. Okay, what is your word? What's the product that
you're least happy with? Yeah, if you're a noob. Yeah, if you're a noob, and you already got stuff,
and you go, Listen, I don't have a lot. I'm not trying to. Okay, cool. I'm trying to have more
cabinet filled. Gotcha. Then just think about what's your least favorite product to use and what
you're doing. And I'm going to throw out for me right for us TRX for me, I'm going to go glass
cleaner. Yeah, that's a good one. You went most versatile, which you were right. So most widely,
most versatile and one of our top sellers. Glass, you don't use a lot of glass cleaner. So it's not
a top seller. Because even on the video Nick did on YouTube, right? You're even you even go look how
little I use. Yep. Right. And so if you struggle, I bet you you struggle at glass. And if you want
to take your toe in the water of hyper clean, I'm going to say tip your toe into some glass cleaner.
Yeah, it's a good one. Yeah. But you know, people ask me this, I mean, we you know, this is such a
great question by Drake. But guys, the way I've always been as if I've since I thought something
better was out there, I just order it. And I know that is unpopular because now I think the
internet's jaded people into believing something that you can always do it cheaper. And I can tell
you, I when I left a product company who was having trouble with their formulas who had been
purchased, I didn't get cheaper. But I've always said this to to anybody that would listen, like
it's so little money to take care of cars, your own or customers. I just wanted stuff that worked.
So the first thing that comes to my mind is, once I'm unhappy with something,
I might order from whoever just to get something in my hand, just to get it onto some car to see
if I can solve my problem as fast as possible. And I think people get paralyzed. And that's what I
would rally against. Like, once you know you have a problem, and you go like, Hey, my degree
sir isn't I don't really like what it's doing, order TRX. Because if you're the kind of person
that's going to burn stock, no matter what, you know, it's not going to go to waste. So you might as
well just get it in, get to testing and see if this is your replacement, right? And so I just,
I see too much paralyzing behavior around this stuff.
What they call it analysis by paralysis analysis. I mean, I can tell you this major
film company had so many failures of their launch ceramic coating. I mean, it was a bad ceramic
coating. Shops paralyze themselves. Instead of doing the right thing and using a good quality
ceramic coating. And guess what? They dealt with failures. They dealt with customer complaints.
They dealt with going to bed every night new and they were doing knowing they were doing the
wrong thing for their customer over what over over a coding from a film company, like just get a
quality ceramic coating in there and live with what goes on. But it happens every day. And if you
talk to those film companies that made that decision, they'll talk about the level of regret
many of you haven't been through yet. They're like, dude, I did it for two years, we had to do this,
we had to this customer, we lost this person, this customer won't come back because their
coding failed. And then you did it for two years, like you literally were paralyzed
instead of just fixing the problem. And I don't think that's positive either.
No, but Drake does have a question. So we do get Drake, we'll get to answer your question
because Drake wants to know he's interested, really interested in trying a ceramic coating
wants to give revive a try also. Okay, definitely revive no brainer. Okay, but ceramic coating,
he's a noob and he wants to try. So Drake, because you are a noob, I'll remind you of
some episodes that we've already gone through, where in detailing, there's a lot of detailers and
Nick and I are one of them, they'll say ceramic coating the key to it is actually in the prep.
So if you want to put on a hyper clean ceramic coating, I mean, you will need to get some
cleanse, right? You're gonna need to get some fuego, you're gonna need to get some wipe. And then,
then after you do those, then you have your options of ceramic coating. I bet you I know
where Nick's gonna go. It's an eight ounce bottle with a sprayer. Yeah, stack. Look, I think you
have two choices. Stack and Uno. Those are your starting points. And there's specific.
There's a specific reason that we developed stack was number one to help people maintain
PPF longer term coatings like Trey and Sparta. There was that that thought process. But the
other thought process is something easy to apply. You know, something easy to deal with could be
for a new person could be for somebody that just goes Hey, man, I have this car sits in the garage
all the time. I just want to make sure it's protected. Or I just want to I work on my daily
driver. So I just want something easy to play around with in my driveway. That's why we call it
the ultimate flexible coating is that literally, anybody anywhere can use it. We've done detailed
videos on it. So you can follow along with how we do it. I think stack is the no brainer. But if
you go hey, I like a little bottle a little bit better, then go with Uno and you won't have any
issues as well. Alright, so Matt asked and we'll just skim through this because we'll ask it again
next week and probably every other week. And we're happy to answer it. We're happy to answer it.
Matt because we knew once we were released our abrasives and once we release pads, we know
there's going to constantly be pairing questions. We love it. So he's got a question about
compound polish line of everything and matches together. I'm going to go with staying on the
noob staying with the trying staying there and go, Hey, let's go Velo. And let's go two pads.
Right. If we want to try something with hyperclaim, let's go Velo and what two pads we're going to go
blue, blue foam. And then we're going to go orange microfiber. So those are the two. So the blue
interface microfiber is a cutting pad, a very heavy cutting pad. The orange is essentially
late countries take at let's say you have an Audi a BMW harder clear, you know, one step type of
pad, you can use a Velo, but the blueberry pad, the blue pad, the famous pad that so many people
have loved over the years is probably your more universal one step quote unquote type of pad.
So those two pads, the orange microfiber and it'll say one step. We actually wrote that
on the on the title and in the description that it is a complete one step pad. Now,
that can pair in a lot of different ways, right? Slower arm speed. If you have a faster arm speed,
you know, those two pads can be different. But yeah, you're right. Those two pads and Velo,
great place to start. All right. So you mentioned your hand speed there. If I'm using the blue pad
and my hands are going quick, what will I see? We'll see less cutting, right? We'll see less
stuff being pulled out. Now, if I slow my hands down, let's say I go, wait, this pad product's
not working, right? What we write here all the time, right? Okay, hold on. If you'll slow your
hands down and what we mean is literally slow your hands down to like you're a sloth. Okay, like
really, really get off the the the Jolt Cola. How I saw Jolt Cola this weekend. What we watch,
we watched some old movie, I don't remember. But Jolt Cola was in it was like crazy. But
so get off the caffeine, the energy drinks, whatever. Like, let's get some slowdown. Maybe
is this a time we're going to say that people like have a smoke break, right? Like, I don't know.
Right? Like, chill out, chill out. And just just creep. Just creep. And you're going to see that it
does actually remove more or do more passes. I am somebody has told all of you I struggle
with slower arm speed. I just I struggle. I've always struggled with slower arm speed. I think
it's coming from, you know, when we used to call them buffers back in the day.
I just am more comfortable moving the polish for quicker. So there's times that I'm just more
comfortable quote unquote, doing more passes than most people. You know, that's just that's just the
nature of the style I've developed, right? It's great difference. Nick was the buffer. I was the
cyclone. You know, there's a reason my hands are going slow. Yeah, no. And I think it's important
for everybody. Sometimes just going with what's most comfortable for you is okay.
Except for you got to adjust and not listen to everybody on the internet that goes Hey,
do four passes. Well, four passes with a forced rotation and four passes with the da and four
passes with the rotary that's all different. So I've always hated when people said just do four
section passes. Well, that would very rarely work for me because I might use faster arm speed and
way more pressure than most people. So I might be able to get a lot done in two passes because I have
all kinds of pressure down on the abrasive in the machine. You may have a lighter pressure. I know a
lot of people that don't pressure the machine hardly at all. They just like to go out and so they
move really slowly. They still get the job done in a reasonable amount of time. They just have a
different style. So one of the things that that we have in our system is and I think is great.
You said it, if you're really struggling with polishing paint, the first step to do is to slow
down. Right. I also am the kind of guy I might run my polisher at like five and a half and most
people might run it at four and a half. Okay, everybody's different. And by the way, this whole
right and wrong about polishing, if you polish enough paint and have seen enough people polish
paint, you realize that right and wrong stuff doesn't really exist. I mean, I know people,
you know, people who go crazy, move super slow and you're like, damn, they get good results. And
you know, people you're like, damn, they can really speed on that panel. It almost takes them the
same amount of time. But the way their brain works, they just they go a little quicker. And so
anything you have in your compound of polish step that you're struggling with can always come down to
pressure and speed. Right. So so if you mess with those, I think a lot of you guys will get a little
bit better result. Alright, final question. This comes from Brandon. I could kind of sense that
he's doing this. He's kind of was really trying to think through a way to take care of his customers.
And and appreciate it. Brandon is a great thing to chop back and forth. I owe him a picture.
He sent me a picture of something he did this weekend for Halloween. Oh, yeah, then he sent us
the their costumes right as fun. He's love it. I did pumpkin seeds. I always I was big pumpkin
seeds. There you go. So I owe him that picture. But Brandon, he basically the question boils down
to is there is there anything we owe a customer after they've made a purchase, right? Like that in
a sense is it does boil the question down. But he was asking about rain, right? Like if we clean
somebody's car, and it rains the next day, you know, do we offer them? Or do we offer something to
people that you know, in case weather happens? Do we do we do we compensate back for them?
And you know, it's a it's a it's a fair question. It's a fair, good thought, trying to be a good
person to your customer. We all understand it. I think somebody maybe said in the comments as
well as my thought, it'd be really hard on your schedule. Be really hard to run a business. But
also, this tends to come up, there seems to be parts of the country, they're getting really hit
by rain right now, for whatever. It's just one of those rainy, you know, not not always rainy in
the places that it's rainy right now. And, you know, all that kind of stuff. And I think we had
some kind of tropical storm kick itself up, you know, to a pretty high level. And it's all about
trying to do the right thing. But some of this stuff, mother nature's mother nature. And and I
think it'd be really difficult to figure out this rain protection service type of thing. But
it's a worthwhile conversation. But I just don't think there's any way to do it.
And I could see after what you're saying, and maybe some of his sense is like, Hey, it's a good way
to market, you know, brands a guy that tries to market a bunch of different ways. So, you know,
could it be a way to market to customers of, you know, it's okay if it's going to rain that way,
you don't, right? Because I think some people do it because, well, definitely here,
if it's going to rain, they feel like it's going to wash the car. Yeah, that's right. Remember
that? Remember that? So so they will they they they won't they won't get a detail, or they won't
even go through the car wash, because it's going to rain in the day or so. Yeah. So there is that
and then you would go Well, maybe those aren't your customers. Yeah, no, that's that's probably
the right attitude. One of the things that that I've kind of said is my philosophy, when we've
dealt with, like our monsoon season and people, you know, we had a rough October for rain, little
spotty rain kind of that Florida rain popping up out of nowhere. I had to remind a couple customers
like hey, it's never the wrong time to make sure your car is clean, because actually a lot of the
damage can happen when rain is added on top, then it gets sunny out, then you know, that's that's
prime time for that dirt that muck mixing together, water spotting, all that kind of stuff. I don't,
I mean, look, we've all detailed our own car, pulled it out, had to go somewhere and it got
rained on that night. It's never the best feeling in the world, even for yourself. I mean, it's not
a good feeling for a customer. It's not a good feeling for you. It's never it's just never a
good feeling. But I think when the overall attitude is you take your business from a holistic
approach of it's never the wrong time to have a clean car because most of the bad stuff happens
when your stuff is dirty, whether that's raining on top of dirt, you know, you guys have like that
red clay, I can only imagine how many water spots could have been avoided. If before a two day rain
situation, somebody would have gotten their truck clean, because I honestly think all of that stuff
mixing together becomes problematic. So if somebody's calling us or me back in the day, right,
like this going into that, like, and they would talk about rain coming, right? Well, what should
we do? You know, there's a chance of rain in a couple days. There's the reason I could understand
why Brandon might go, I agree, you know, we do have this rain protection. You know, ma'am, hey,
you know, I can book you on Thursday, there is a chance of rain, but I will promise you if it
does rain, you get dirty, we'll wash your car for you. And it's just an X exterior, it does lock
in the deal, but you don't make as much right and it is tough on your schedule. But hey, I mean,
that's the other side, if you got to get it done, and you need it, you sometimes just got to look
at somebody, somebody figures out how to do it financially for their business and really thinks
through what percentage throughout the year would this really affect me? I think you could
absolutely figure out a way. I just don't know of any way because I haven't done I mean, you're
talking like formulas and going through your business for a year and how many rain days do we
have and I mean, you'd have to start tracking this stuff so you could see if it would work.
And you'd also have to set a minimum, right, like a minimum dollar spent.
Yeah, 100%. Just a detail or something that I don't know if I'm going to come back and wash it
just just because you spent a couple hundred bucks. Yeah, that'd be that'd be really tough on yourself.
Right. But you know, hey, they did this big deal and they did this like, okay,
you know, you could definitely say that if somebody doesn't want to do a coding,
you're listening, we are coding, we'll get you into you know, you know, hey, it's got a quicker
dry time, it can get wet. And then within a couple of weeks, we'll offer you a wash because most
of us would say you want to do that anyway. Sure. Right. I mean, I'll take it into the price.
So instead of maybe charging $400, you charge $450. And that would be quote unquote,
come back for the first service, ie rain protection, ie the whole thing.
Yeah, there you go. All right, good talks out of the hyper clean specialist group.
If you'll be at SEMA, make sure to do a selfie with Nick. Yeah. And we will all send him
anybody there, come up, say hi, talk, chop it up. All right, see everybody next week. See you guys.
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