Exploring the future of auto detailing products, this episode dives into the differences between professional-grade chemicals and DIY options. The hosts discuss the challenges faced by DIY enthusiasts, including the effectiveness of various cleaning methods and products. They share insights on using steam cleaners, the necessity of extractors, and the importance of using the right chemicals for specific tasks. The conversation also touches on the evolving landscape of detailing, emphasizing the need for proper education and product knowledge among both professionals and DIYers.
In this conversation, Marshall Hill and Nick Walters discuss various topics related to car detailing, including personal confessions about shopping habits, effective cleaning techniques, the evolving role of extractors in the industry, risks associated with sanding and paint correction, and the importance of using professional-grade chemicals.
They also touch on the differences between DIY and professional products, the significance of maintaining a car, and opportunities for distribution with HyperClean products.
Chapters
00:00 Confessions and TikTok Shopping
02:59 Cleaning Techniques and Tools
06:02 The Evolving Role of Extractors
09:00 Sanding and Its Risks
12:04 Glass Polishing Techniques
15:13 Top Services for Consistent Income
31:00 Understanding Car Wash Products
36:03 Choosing the Right Soap for Your Vehicle
41:58 The Importance of Proper Washing Techniques
49:07 Navigating DIY and Professional Detailing
55:07 The Future of Car Care and Detailing Products
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Confessions and TikTok Shopping
Cleaning Techniques and Tools
The Evolving Role of Extractors
Sanding and Its Risks
Glass Polishing Techniques
Top Services for Consistent Income
Understanding Car Wash Products
Choosing the Right Soap for Your Vehicle
The Importance of Proper Washing Techniques
Navigating DIY and Professional Detailing
The Future of Car Care and Detailing Products
Select text to request an explanation
Welcome to the Pints and Polishing Podcast, the most influential and listened-to podcast in auto detailing.
Welcome to the community.
All right, Nick, we got to start out with confessional time.
All right, let's start with some confessions.
We know you've done some great shopping over the years, but as this guy posted inside of a group,
I'm wondering if he has the same problem as you.
What have you purchased off a TikTok shop?
Yeah, I just never been a TikTok shop guy.
I mean, it seems like, yeah, just not my thing.
What? Really?
Yeah, really.
I've never felt lucky.
Right? Like, let me see if I can find something good cheap.
I mean, it's just not my move.
I know. It's not your move. It's not.
But I saw this post inside of a group I thought it was fun to talk about,
because, you know, you can't take some chances on some stuff,
and this guy's got a car that he passed down to a daughter
that then passed down to another daughter, right?
Kind of understand his situation.
And unlike the Porsche guy,
my Porsche guy that was in last week that you saw the order from,
he had some kids going back to school,
so he gifted them little boxes of hyper clean products.
Nice.
That wasn't this dad's move.
Uh-uh.
This dad was like, I'm going to get out there and clean it.
He got himself a TikTok shop steamer and he was ready to go.
Right?
So he got to the carpets,
and that's where he wants.
That's where he needs some help.
Right?
He's using some different cleaners,
and he goes, listen,
I don't want to use an extractor.
What do I do?
Right?
So what's the go to?
If you've only got a steamer,
you don't want to use an extractor.
We like that too.
I guess he's the guy that's not going to throw away the floor mats.
Right?
He's going to keep trying to clean them.
Yeah.
Well, if you go,
once you say TikTok shop,
I would assume his move is not to actually do things
that you need to do,
but I, you know,
this is really simple.
We've been talking about it a lot over the last few weeks.
I mean, you know, you lay some enzyme down,
you put some elbow grease into it.
You can even use the steam alongside of it.
But I think what we find most people do in these positions
is they use the wrong stuff.
So he's probably got a general APC,
all purpose cleaner type of thing.
He's going to throw it down.
He's going to like, this didn't work very well.
The problem is he may have set some stains already.
Who really knows on that,
but it kind of shows you.
I mean, I know a lot of people that listen to us
or they are trying to learn and they're at the start,
but some of you are more experienced and you go,
man, at this point, if you had this much to do,
you bought a steamer.
I mean, even if it was cheap,
I mean, what's the steamer,
a hundred bucks, 75 bucks?
I mean, even at a cheap side,
then you had to buy all the chemicals.
I mean,
couldn't you have just hired a professional
to do the interior at this point?
I mean, isn't that kind of the weird thing
that happens at times?
You're buying all this to clean the car up
probably one time to give it to somebody.
But yeah, you lay some enzyme down,
you know, take your steamer,
take some elbow grease,
get the carpets agitated.
Then I always like to go back with complete,
finish it up and you're good to go.
Yeah, I love it.
You mentioned, you know,
what you thought maybe what chemicals and you're right.
Just a general interior cleaner.
He listed out his, you know, towels
and his different brushes and stuff.
It's not cool.
It was one that I thought was interesting
and he uses, you know,
the certain brands dash and glass
and a glass microfiber towel for the windshield.
I just go, oh, two products in one, huh?
Yeah, it just doesn't,
it doesn't really look,
it's good to use a nice interior cleaner
like revive on the glass,
especially one that's heavily soiled,
then come back and give that final,
final cleanup shine,
so to speak with,
with hyper clean glass cleaner,
but I mean more power to him,
but I mean,
I guess this is probably what most pros out there think is
you're spending a lot of time,
a lot of effort,
spending a lot of money,
probably for a pretty subpar finish here,
it sounds like.
I think pros would kind of go after that chemical too,
right?
Like trying to claim too much.
I laugh at the guys that are like,
you know,
we had to have an AC guy come here to HQ.
I had to have some people come to the house recently.
And it's always,
it's always interesting.
A plumber is going to be an AC and a this, right?
Like, there's so many that are this and this and this.
And you just,
but then we have a hard time with getting a chemical
that's supposed to do all these different things, right?
Like pros definitely stick their hat.
You did, you know,
kind of you said,
you mentioned pros probably have a hard time.
I know we have a hard time with like certain products
that just,
they just do too much quote unquote.
I mean, look, I thought,
I think that's kind of been the,
the funny thing about rinseless washing, right?
Rinseless wash products.
And they're like, hey,
you can use this to clean your interior
and you can use it to do this and you can use it to do that.
And you can,
it's like, I don't know, man.
I tested those theories.
It'll get the job done.
I mean,
I'm not saying that something like eco one can't quote unquote
work on your interior.
But I've always told people really feel the interior
after you use products like that.
And it's not as clean.
It's not what it's designed for on the interior of a car.
And so you get a little bit of a different feel.
It's like,
all of this stuff is pretty affordable to do properly.
We've kind of beat this drum for years.
I don't really see the need to cut a corner.
But look,
we also know for all you prosumers who are trying to learn
and even for a lot of professionals that think they're going
to cut a corner and there's a one size fits all with some
product that's going to solve 25 issues.
I haven't seen it in my career and I never really tried to do
it that way.
Yeah.
So there's one thing that I have been seeing lately that
people are trying to do a lot of.
And that's the Frankenstein of a shop vac to make an
extractor.
Yeah.
That's been around for a while.
Yeah.
It has,
but I just seem to be getting more and more lately though.
Like I don't know why maybe it's just algorithm.
Maybe it just happened to be the time.
I've just been seeing a lot more like this weekend.
And today I just saw a ton of them.
I don't know.
Yeah.
I mean, look,
wet dry vacs,
you know, good place to use it.
I don't know that it's,
I can't really comment on it.
I don't know that it works well.
It doesn't work well.
I have seen them,
but I'm just like,
I don't know.
I've never Frankenstein one,
but I mean,
I've used one to try and get up as much moisture as I can.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You get the right attachment.
They've got,
they've got some pretty good suction to them.
I mean,
it's not an extractor.
Yeah.
But again,
I would say this,
the question that I've had for a while now is,
you know,
we've moved detailing,
especially if you're doing something,
you know,
you have in your business ceramic coatings, right?
And ceramic coatings is sort of going after this elevated customer.
I just wonder how much the elevated customer really needs
an extractor.
So I think an extractor,
and by the way,
whether you make it.
It's luxury service.
Yeah.
Whether you make it out of a shop back or you buy one,
I just kind of go,
I don't know, man.
If you want to get out of that world,
having that stuff in your truck and constantly doing that work
isn't getting you further out of it.
But again,
dealer work,
wholesale work,
all that kind of stuff and extractors are necessary.
Evil.
If you're in certain parts of this industry and extractor is a
necessary thing.
I think you just have to be careful.
There's a lot of guys in it up buying extractors.
I'm sure you've seen this and the extractor sits in the corner
for the entire time that they own the extractor.
And I would say that's most extractors.
Most extractors end up in the corner and you've been,
you know,
you and I have been in the wholesale and dealer world.
I can tell you this.
Once technology started to advance,
those extractors got less and less use over the years.
And I can't imagine.
And I know there's people that use them every day.
So, you know, good on you,
but I don't think the extractor is as necessary as it once was.
It's not.
And even at the dealerships arise,
some of the high volume places have moved away from it.
Hey, not only because of the carpets and the overdamping and
people not getting everything out, right?
That's always the number one, right?
The used car manager throwing fits because his line smells terrible.
Like it does happen.
That is one.
Two, they got tired of them breaking.
Oh, yeah.
And then to get an extractor service.
Hey, a hot water one that would spray on your hand
out of those fittings.
Boy, that was, that was an experience.
You'll never forget your hand to be like bright red at the end of
end of using it.
Oh man, it was just a different time.
And again, I think we live in this, this world now where if
you go in certain parts of the detailing world,
there's some people still holding on to that.
I get it.
If that's the work you're chasing,
that can be an invaluable tool.
Right.
I just think that most of us won out of that.
I would just be careful putting yourself in that world.
It's real hard to get out of it after you're in it because those
are the referrals you get.
You know, those are the people that keep coming and all while
my sister, my brother, we own this business.
I heard what you did on Johnny's car.
Yeah.
I mean, it gets, but that happens on the other side too.
If you get into the other side, you get better, cleaner,
you know, higher end vehicles.
Does I'm not talking about, you know, lambos?
I mean, just at the higher end range of ownership.
And I think people have a hard time understanding that if
they've never gone through it,
but I would never want to go back.
You know, and I know many people that have gotten out of
that that say they'll never go back and they don't because
low money, a lot of work, hard to get team members to
want to do that as a, as a prosumer,
don't even buy any of it.
You know, trust me that that extractor will sit in the corner.
But the other thing is, man, with electronics being under
seats now and whatever one wrong spray,
you could fry a lot of stuff.
I think there's a lot of reasons we've seen dealers,
wholesalers and the whole industry kind of move away from
it, you know, the way it used to be.
I mean, you used to have an extractor.
I mean, there was, if you started a detailing business,
you an extractor was one of the purchases.
That is no longer the case at this point in time.
It's almost like, like the rotary, huh?
Kind of has gone.
Maybe you don't always have to have it.
Well, I agree with that.
But I think that went too far.
I will say that went too far.
I think you would even agree that way too far.
I mean, I almost made it.
I know Wesley's probably listening to this.
I almost made a little joke on that really cool Nissan that
he did a phenomenal job on.
I said, I was almost going to make a joke.
You know, some of us might just have picked up the rotary
and not having to do some kind of special technique,
but I didn't make the joke.
But yeah, West did an unbelievable job with our products
and putting a ceramic on that.
And like I said, I think the rotary thing went too far.
I think we're seeing that correct itself now.
Yeah.
And third, I'd say probably the reason why we've gone away
from the extractor is also then the technology of chemicals.
As you had mentioned before, right?
The only thing you did was an APC, but if you were crazy,
but if you were crazy, you'd throw on DeGreaser.
You know?
Crazy people threw on DeGreaser.
If you had like a brown carpet and it was all black,
you'd look around and go, I think that's grease.
Let's go ahead and fill her up.
Yeah, no.
This is the coolest part.
It's the same thing with compounds and polishes.
It's the same thing with everything
throughout taking care of cars now.
I mean, the technology is fantastic to use.
I mean, Rensseless and Waterless Wash, right?
I mean, there's a technology to use to your advantage
where it fits you and, you know, look at where we are
with wheel cleaners.
Again, you had really heavy caustic degreaser
and you had acid.
You didn't have anything else.
You didn't have anything with surfactants and cleaning
ability and a little bit of degreasing, you know,
in the foreign.
You didn't have any of that.
And it's great where we are.
But even still going back to this post,
it's like, let's cut a corner as great as everything is.
Like, I mean, guys, if you're not spraying enzyme down
as your first step of carpet,
I mean, it's just so friendly to everything.
Make sure nothing is going to set a stain faster than an APC.
And again, if you can just spray an enzyme down first,
why not?
So some of the last dealerships that you and I held
as customers, right?
Kind of tagged along with me with that was
that's what we did with them.
We had them do enzyme first right now.
Is it because they were a Mercedes, a Porsche?
Like, you know, where they were up into those,
we talked about upper echelon.
Now, those aren't, those aren't Lambos,
but those people do care for their cars a little bit more
than, you know, afford a Dodge guy, right?
Like you just call it what it is.
The Volkswagen crew doesn't, the Mazda crew doesn't, right?
Yeah, across the brand, it's not the same owner, right?
The owners are just at a different level.
That's all.
Yeah.
And those dealerships, they didn't use extractors.
We had them completely on steam and enzyme.
Like it was awesome.
And that's the way we began to teach people.
I love how it's continued on.
And we'll be able to be one of the first people
to branch out and to continue to push that in the industry
years and years ago.
All right, let's go over to another question.
This guy's got a windshield and he's got a windshield
with a lot of scratches from the wipers.
What's a good product?
That's price friendly.
Okay, come on.
To help remove them.
They're not deep, deep scratches.
They look like just surface scratches, right?
Now is this where we can go with the hyper clean
abrasives?
Do we need to get something special?
What is it?
What is it like when you're working on glass?
Look, cerium oxide is the gold standard of trying
to help you really polish glass.
But yeah, grab our compound, grab a cutting pad of your choice
and throw it on a, you know, 15 or 21 DA and go to work.
See what you can get out of there.
More aggressive pad, the better.
Yeah, I mean, you can go as aggressive as you want
at that point.
I like polish and paint, right?
You start low and build up.
But on this, you just start as much.
Yeah, but on glass, just go.
Because you can use, what are those pads called rayon?
Is that the pad that use with cerium oxide?
As you can tell, my move is let's get that thing replaced.
There's a lot of things people do where it's just wasted
time down the toilet.
Yeah, I just told people they wouldn't come out.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, look, I've done in fairness.
I've done a little bit of this and I did always have
some cerium oxide, you know, compound or polish on the,
on the shelf.
It's pretty limited.
Okay.
I mean, it is pretty limited on what you're going to get out.
Now you may have some surface level scratches.
They come out.
You're good to go.
Is it worth a try?
It's worth a try.
You know, windshields can get expensive.
It's a headache.
Maybe you don't, but I mean, when you say they're wiper
scratches, it's usually means that somebody did not
have a wiper blade on it and the metal was directly on
the glass.
I'm not sure I've ever seen those be light, quote unquote.
Like, you know, I just, again, for all you guys doing it for a
living, give it a pass, you know, give it, give it the old
college try, but I move on quicker than most that in these
types of situations.
All right.
So if I'm buffing it down, right?
Let's say I don't have that oxide.
Let's say I'm just grabbing, let's say I'm not like
Wesley and I'm going to use a rotary, right?
I grab my rotary.
I get a wool pad.
Let's go.
Yeah.
Let's get after it.
Yeah.
Can I go too far?
Like, you can burn glass.
You can start to distort.
I mean, it's pretty hard to do.
You can start to distort glass.
I would say for most people, man, just stay away from the
rotary on glass.
I'm not saying it'll do anything, but I don't think most
people are comfortable with a rotary at this point in time.
If you're comfortable with the rotary, then yeah, I mean,
no matter what you do, you'll probably be pretty fine
because you got to remember rotary does, if you handle it
right, have less heat than a DA.
I just think a DA is a little bit more friendly to most
people out there.
But I've never been scared of damaging glass.
I think it's pretty hard to do.
I mean, you've got to be pretty unaware of what's going on
around you to really screw up glass.
So it's worth a shot, but I would always tell people,
when things are going to work on stuff like glass,
it's going to happen pretty quickly.
It's not going to be, you know, I'm spending 45 minutes
and I mean, that's when you get into, okay,
I mean, this needed to be replaced.
Have you seen somebody mess up headlights?
Oh, yes.
Yeah.
Hey, I've seen somebody crack a headlight.
Rotary?
No, I forget what tool they were using,
but they were pushing so hard that they just,
you know, it was just already brittle, right?
I mean, once you start to see that something's really
that heavily oxidized, you also got to remember,
a lot of these plastic headlights get pretty brittle.
And so I just saw somebody one time had his hand down
on the polisher, obviously it was going to work
and the thing just cracked, just split.
And I mean, just basically split right down the middle.
But again, don't be scared of it.
You know, is that going to happen?
Most of you guys aren't going to crack a headlight.
It's worth messing around with them.
There's not a lot that can go wrong that can't be fixed.
I mean, sure you could, I guess,
with all the information that's out there about polish
or about restoring headlights, I can't imagine
most people couldn't get it to looking better
no matter what they did.
So we, I remember, because we used to train people
on those little discs, right?
You put it on the air tool, it was great
because they would go through a ton of disc
and I'd make about a dollar a disc.
So it was wonderful.
I loved it, right?
But I had to stop because they, you know,
they get that little tool and I'd sit.
Well, if you put it on its edge a little
or got a little or got on an edge.
Yeah.
There were some headlights replaced.
Yeah.
I believe I guess I better get out of this little game, you know,
like, yeah, but I mean, if you put it on a three inch,
you know, DA with an interface,
there's not a lot that can go wrong.
I see a lot of guys doing it by hand still.
I just don't know that there's that much money
that I want to sit there and do it by hand.
I might just just stick a three inch on there
and just call her that maybe have to work
some of the other angles by hand.
But damn, not that much money.
All right.
So, so you can, you can mess up some glass.
You can definitely mess up some headlights.
This post, this guy's name was Edward.
I fell for Edward.
Not, not our Edward.
We've got Edward in our career, but it wasn't him.
Different last name.
So is there any way to fix this?
And it's a picture of a back, a back hatch, right?
Kind of know where this is going.
I'm sure I sanded it down too much.
We just talked about this last week too.
I've compounded and I've waxed it already.
Like, and you just go, hmm, you waxed it?
My guys, it's good.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, just over clear.
I mean, you can take a wax off with some hyper clean
wipes.
So let's not act like that's really, you know,
standing in the way of much, but again, guys,
I see a lot of people willy-nilly with sandpaper these days.
I see it all over social.
Can it be fixed, right?
I can't.
No, I mean, once it's, once it's burnt.
And by the way, if you sand enough,
you're going to burn some stuff.
I mean, hand up, I've burned some things.
It's, it's, it's what it is.
And I just don't think, you know, again,
not to beat the dead horse from last week, guys.
If you're not comfortable getting a panel repainted,
it's probably a good sign to not have the sandpaper in your
hand in the first place.
Like if you're not willing to look at your customer and go,
Hey, I want to let you know something to be sanding it.
That's what it takes to do this job.
Here's what can come along with sanding something.
If you're not in that mindset,
I think you're playing with fire because then the call
becomes real awkward.
You never even broach the subject of the things that
could happen, right?
It's sort of like pulling off PPF.
If you're not telling the customer,
Hey, when I pull this piece of PPF,
some paint could come with it.
I want to let you know, we still got to pull the piece,
but this could happen.
Then are you really doing a service for your customer?
There's too many people grabbing sandpaper today.
Just like we said, the rotary and all these companies
getting rid of the rotary and acting like it was a bad
tool went too far.
We're going a little too far on guys grabbing sandpaper.
If you have the skill terrific,
but if you're not talking about burning through paint
with your customer,
then I don't think you're really doing justice to your
customer or what you're trying to do.
Okay.
Now, did I think I had the skill?
I mean, for what I did,
I thought I did okay, right?
So what I always did with sandpaper was just little,
little touch ups.
Like if somebody told me there was a scratch or right,
some shopping car hit it or something that they
specifically mentioned.
And that's why they were there.
I would attempt to get it out, right?
Like I would feel like that was part of, you know,
if they, if they mentioned it, I'm going to do it.
Otherwise, if somebody had a scratch in their car,
I remember trying to upsell every once in a while,
but then realizing what, what that risk at $50,
you know, what's a, what's a $50 scratch removal?
Some people would kind of,
ah, nah, don't worry about it.
So then you'd go less.
And then I would just sit there being anxious,
like, well, what if, right?
Like, what am I getting out of this?
Yeah.
I mean, look, anybody that's, anybody that's sanded
a lot will tell you, and again,
I've said this a thousand times on the podcast,
you have to be fair that it's very hard to charge
what you need to charge to sand things.
The reason is you really can't accurately charge
for the damage you may cause having a door repainted,
having a fender repainted, whatever.
Now there's guys at the elite level that have figured
out how to charge for it.
But even they would tell you they take a lot of hits
on the chin, you know, sanding cars
and they have over the years.
And so I just think there's a very easy thing.
The vast majority of people shouldn't be touching
sandpaper.
Like they just shouldn't be.
Not that I'm saying don't go practice on a hood
and don't try to get your skills.
Don't go, this would be the way I would say,
you know, number one, working in a company
that would have taught you that would have been
very valuable, but now you have to pay to play,
which means you need to go to somebody that really
knows how to sand cars and you need to pay them
to teach you how to sand cars.
And let me tell you, you're still going to burn stuff.
If you push things far enough on a show car
on anything, you're that is there.
And those people that do that kind of work day in
and day out, they're very aware and they have
a body shop that they know very well that cars go to
that doesn't make it bad.
It just means I see guys reaching for that
sandpaper and not knowing.
I'm going to be responsible to pay the body shop
bill.
And that's when I think you shouldn't be
touching the sandpaper if you're ready to
send it to the body shop and pick up the
bill by all means do your thing.
For those out there that aren't ready to do
that, you're never going to get the money out
of sanding that the risk is there is going to
provide you.
I guess I kind of think of, I don't know what
customers, how these guys find these
customers that want this
deep level of, you know, like,
Well, they talk.
It's how you talk.
I mean, if you talk, if somebody's looking
at it and you go, hey, I can make that 50%
better, or that person's looking at you and
go, I can get that out.
I mean, that you're kind of talking your
customer into what you think
you can do.
There's plenty of guys, and I always got to
make this distinction.
There's plenty of guys that this is what
they're doing as a career.
They're doing this level of work.
For the general guy, you're
not doing this every day.
You're not really dedicated to doing it.
That's when it becomes dangerous.
And to your point, why even talk to
your customer that way?
Why even bring up sandpaper?
Why even go down that road?
I have customers
probably a handful of times a year
get something that happens to their car
and they go, I want it out.
I don't want to see it.
And I have the same exact spiel.
Great.
Just want you to be aware.
I'm going to take it to the limit,
but the limit may be
this ends up in the body shop
and there's really a 50-50 chance
with what I'm looking at in front of me
that this could end up in the body shop.
I'm going to swing at it.
Yes, I do.
Great.
You've been informed.
I've been up front.
I'm going to take it to the limit.
I'm going to do everything I can.
Probably going to put some touch-up paint
in this deep scratch and try to sander down.
Everyone's aware.
Just willy-nilly doing it.
And by the way, when I do that kind of work,
I'm going to charge.
Like, there is no
price break or, you know,
it's like I am going to charge
very high dollar.
I'm going to make them aware of what can take place.
And I'm very comfortable with that.
If you're just bringing it up to people,
which I think is 99 out of 100 times,
I think for the average guy,
not skilled, it's a very dangerous game to play.
And you got a guy here, unfortunately,
that's about to end up in the body shop
with a bill and who knows how big it can get.
Well, I don't think it ranked
in this next post question.
I love this question.
He says, top three services
that brings in consistent
income, right?
Definitely not sanding
as consistent income.
Unless, that's what you said,
your business is wholesale
to those guys.
Listen, it's probably, I guarantee you,
probably one of the busiest shops in Tulsa
is down there on 11th Street,
which is right next to
a mechanic that my wife has started going to,
because he and this car wash,
they do a lot of the work
of all those 11th Street dealers
and 11th Street dealers for us
are all those buy here, pay here,
auction style.
That detail shop
slammed, slammed.
Yeah, they're doing
between 100 and $250 details,
right?
And they're doing a lot of them
and probably more towards the $100,
right? And they're doing volume
and they're cranking them out
and they're soaking your carpets
and they're still using an extractor
and they're using a lot of glazes
to glaze cars and get them sold
and there's not, again,
too many detailers are getting
into this right and wrong conversation
all the time. That's just a level
that they're being paid to do.
They're being paid to do
what is traditional wholesale work
and there's a lot of money in it
if you do it right and there's a lot
but consistent work is
really simplistic.
First of all, you got to think that most people want their car
maintained.
That's always going to be the biggest thing
and if you guys want to
really dive into it,
that's going to be the most consistent work.
Yes, it's going to be lower ticket,
it's going to be higher volume.
Now you're in the world of how efficient
can you make your process.
Then you're talking about things like
elevated inside and outside details
where you're doing things just a little bit more elevated.
You're doing
a more thorough wash, going through the wheels,
going in scrub and tire.
More like a full detail.
There's your second layer.
Then probably for us
in the detail industry now it's some level
of a one step
and a protection package
being the third one on that list.
Again, when I say one step
we're talking about all in probably less than
five hours.
That is
really probably the standard
of the three places to look if you really
want to do volume.
That is cool.
There's some of the quotes
or some of the comments were interesting.
Some guy said, no money
like tint money.
You go, okay, I'm with you.
Those get big tickets, but
consistent work?
If you want to run a tint business
I'll tell anybody this. Tint has stabilized.
Tint was very unstable
for 10, 12 years.
Tint has stabilized.
If you run a great
tint only shop
you can make a lot of money, but
tint only shops are usually doing two things.
They're doing residential, commercial,
architectural tint
and they're doing cars.
That's a true tint shop
as we sit here today if that's all they want to do.
Then they also branch into
PPF.
Yeah, flat glasses
by far.
One of the things we never
talk about in this industry,
just security
film jobs, schools
and federal buildings and whatever
that's been the biggest boom in the last
five years in any part of our
business.
Anything that surrounds tint, PPF
detailing, the biggest boom
has been security film
very few people can do properly
can do the scale.
Imagine an entire school district
landing the contract. How many guys
in our business can really
front that money
for 30, 60, 90 days?
You're talking about millions
of dollars on the line.
Commercial and residential
tint, you could absolutely do it.
Again, I think this is
where we get into
should somebody
start a tint shop that's never tinted
because
a guy in a group, and this happens all the time
a guy in a group says if you want to get volume
start doing tint. Well,
the guys doing volume can crank out cars
and been tinting for quite some time
and they know what
the hell they're doing, but on the tint side of things
the money in tint is like we said
commercial residential, but it's also
dealer work.
The number one place that the highest volume
goes through on tint is actually
dealer work. Landing dealer
accounts, setting up at the dealer
by the way
and just cranking out the same cars
over and over and over again.
Very true. Good true.
Some guy said maintenance washes,
which he was on board with you.
Headlight restoration.
Yeah, I didn't think that
I'm not into that.
Interior ceramic.
That's going to bring
volume.
It shows you also
a lot of people answer questions
they didn't really read.
I think a lot of times people just say stuff.
So I thought the best was
this guy named Phillip said I advertise
that I do my washes in a bikini.
They usually pay extras.
Hey,
now that is a funny comment.
It was that was good. Okay,
let's move over to a couple out of our group
and then we'll head out of here.
Brad, great question.
Can someone please help me
and quickly break down the difference between
foam wash,
car soap,
cleanse. I also need to try
ceramic snow. I won't read the rest of
the rest of his comments, but
he basically he's a DIY guy.
Thanks
Brad for the question.
He wants us to basically break down the differences
of the soaps. Yeah, so I think
car soap is really a dealer
high volume type
thing. So that's number one complaint
about that low foam
always people are like, ah,
I've got to realize it's not meant
for they don't want foam.
They got they got to rinse more
they got to take more time. So that
that's a high production soap and
99.9% of people don't need
it.
Foam wash is simple. That's your everyday
soap. You know, that's that's a nice
very lubricated
good cleaning ability pH
neutral. It's not going to affect anything
in a negative fashion, very
safe. Even if it were to dry
on your car, nothing adverse
could happen. It's it's a very
everyday soap and that's probably
what most DIYers should be
using right is just use a simple
nice
good experience high foam high lubrication
good experience. There's
where I was going to say, I think what foam
wash what separates it from other just
general soaps
is that experience that feel
right. We we really
wanted to be lubricated that and
what we mean by that is when you go to move
your your mid your towel, whatever
we want it to glide not after you
done washing it you know the throw the
towel and let it go off it like love still
love that still one of my favorite things
to do on drop a towel I still do it
but it's why you're doing a while you
wash and you want your towel to glide
over the surface
is what helps protect it from from
getting marring like
marring even maybe these people that
are questioning some scratches you
can scratch you can scratch a car with
the wrong soap. It's the
biggest reason I mean actually washing
and drying your car is the big reason I
mean think about it from a car wash perspective right
I mean we bang on car washes
they're technically damaging your car
during the wash process right so
then I mean simple
the way I describe cleanse
it's a prep soap you know so if you're
about to do something paint correction
ceramic coating whatever you want to
deep clean you want to start stripping
some some light oils some some things
that may be hanging around some sealants
some some waxes etc but
also hey man
life gets in the way you somehow
went four weeks in between
washing your car
you need some power because maybe
you've been through some rains you know we got
we got monsoons hitting here
you've been sent through some rain and some dirt
and some mud throw some cleanse on it
give yourself a little extra bite
I also want to say this
a higher pH soap doesn't mean it's
inherently insanely
dangerous okay
can you get to that point
absolutely cleanse
is extremely safe it just
has a little more bite it has more
cleaning power because again
when you're at neutral
in the cleaning you know
you don't have as much
cleaning as
something out of 10, 11, 12
that's just the nature of the pH
balance right and
so the easiest way is if I have
something neglected you know it's
taking me a while to get to it I use cleanse
a lot on my family vehicle
I don't see as much but has ppf
head to toe front to back
I'm very safe with cleanse and probably
use cleanse the most on that just because
I need a little bit of that purifying
get get down and dirty and get
something you know cleaning the surface
with a little bit more bite
and then ceramic snow to me
I saw a bunch of answers
that I thought were cool there's guys that like to use that
3, 2, 3
times a month and then use
something like cleanse or then use something like foam wash
I'm sort of the opposite
I like to use ceramic snow
about once a month
on stuff that I maintain and then the other
3 times use something like foam wash
or cleanse or whatever fits the bill there
but that's a
user
what fits what you're doing what makes
you feel better and really you start
to split hairs with this stuff
but they are important hairs
and you need to figure out what you care about
as the person using the products
yeah and you know
if you're gonna regularly clean do you
necessarily need ceramic snow
you don't is it great
absolutely you know you keep
bad more on but
do you have to do it every week you don't
foam wash and then a ceramic
snow every once a while
that's a good go to most of us don't need cleanse
probably unless
like you said it's neglected
or it's extremely nasty
dirty right or prepping
for ceramic coating
like if you're running a ppf business you have less
use for foam wash more use for cleanse
you know if you're doing a lot of
ceramic coatings you have more use for cleanse
than you do for foam wash in the prep
stage right so again
I think it's a great question
I also think you know guys I really
are our team
as a whole it's not just Marty and myself
there's a really good job explaining
things on the website I really
encourage you to really
look through that and really
read and try to comprehend but I love
that Brad went in the group and asked the question
right that's what the group is supposed
to be for hey man just help me out a little
you know I'm just a little confused great
great question I think that's
the perfect use of any Facebook group
it's like hey can I just get a little
bit of help here
alright so I got asked for some
help and this was from
our neighbor at the warehouse
wanted to know you know
he had some eco one
and he had a buddy
that was coming up from Texas
had bought a
truck and
apparently right now
there's some good deals on some trucks
certain
brands that
start with the D
so they both bought
you're a Dodge owner so you know
you're in the Dodge Chrysler Jeep family
so but
as par for the course
this guy's always owned
a Dodge
that's why I have a thing with these guys right
it's just it is it's like it dusted
like I can always throw a jab because
once you buy a Dodge truck
they seem to always keep buying Dodge trucks
by the way same thing with Chevy
and Ford guys though it's it's an irrational
opinion you have
maybe maybe not I know a lot of Chevy guys
in life work later
come on dude like you're crazy
I mean I've never seen somebody who owns
the brand and then bangs on the brand
and then tells me his car is great
well because I even well
okay I bang on also
it's the attitude and I'll always say
that because it's fuzz the very first
Dodge truck owner that I saw
the repeat was from
my first father-in-law so
we can all understand that why there's
there's this you just
haven't grown up dude just
guys in the Dodge truck that are on
my ass flipping me off all the time
I happen down this street
right this street here at the warehouse
I mean I've watched you drive slow
with a cup of coffee in your hand why shouldn't
he flip you off it's like bud we're all trying
to get somewhere here
but I got my foot out my doors
off yeah I would flip you off I'd be like
dude what are we doing here can you shift
can you please get this thing to third
all right
so our Dodge truck owner
next door and his buddy that has a
Dodge truck they they wanted to
code him right so
our neighbor across
across he got dose because
he goes listen I want the extra
and it doesn't seem like because he did
watch the videos I see him multiple
a hyper clean YouTube videos
yep and he said listen
the process everything looks
pretty similar between
Uno and dose so
why not just take the second year and I go
yeah agreed you're right like
that's exactly right the process
and the application between
Uno and dose they're identical
yeah you really can't tell a difference
yeah just so you know I don't
you know I know Wesley I'll take take the
joke earlier as as
you know fun but I mean that's kind of
Wesley's thing I mean Wesley
puts dose on a lot you know because
he's like hey still it's extremely friendly
we don't talk about this enough is
like
you know stack Uno dose
share a lot
of the same installation
because that's what we wanted we
wanted to be a gradual
way that you experience
the lineup right and we want you
to be able to go okay I'm new to
doing this I'm gonna get stack I'm gonna get comfortable
easy to jump to Uno after
that easy to jump to dose
after you do a few dose trays
easy after you do a few tray
Sparta becomes easier
and so we you know I know
a lot of times we don't discuss this but
there's a logical progression
to getting comfortable and if
you're you're pretty DIY
you know savvy
doses extremely friendly
you know so like you said take the extra
years and extra year or two and
then be done with it you know just and again
if you care for it you're gonna
be amazed at the way those three last
I mean we're seeing stacks people are
now well above a year on
Uno's I mean we've had some Uno's
go three plus years since you and I
been around yeah was it Dustin
he posted in the group or somebody just
this past week and I think he even said
he's like look man I haven't really been on top
of the maintenance the way I should have been and this stuff
is acting like day one it's not like he's in the
most friendly climate gets winter time gets
gets snow gets things like
that and so yeah
I mean it's any three of those
coatings are a great place to get
comfortable and I don't
see stack is different
because it's a little bit more of a flexible
formula that can go on top of things
and stuff like that but
those three are a great place to get
yourself very comfortable and you don't
have to be very you know very
savvy to understand
how it works just take your time you'll be fine
all right so I first
asked him all right let's talk about
how you gonna wash it right
you know where you gonna wash it how you
gonna do what are you gonna do had a bottle
of eco one okay
no problem zero issues
some people would say
you can't you can't use
a waterless before you use
a coating I'd argue
and he he's gonna prove it correct
right I mean you can use eco
one before
you put down a coating
you're gonna use why
yeah I mean
and or you're gonna
flow through now his question after
eco one
was
do I have to use fuego
his truck was new only had
a thousand miles on it
and I was walking
him through it and I go I get it
man you thousand miles
doesn't seem like you
would get a lot of stuff I go but
let's think I said
this this truck it's a it's a dodge
so you know how long it's
set yeah that's true
well not only that
I mean how it was delivered
I mean you know one of the big
delivery yeah I mean it's
if it gets on the railway man you
you got iron fall out I mean here's
what I would say
I'm not a fan of that process
using eco one absolutely
can be done like don't get me wrong
but
it would make me feel more comfortable if
I ran some fuego over
a vehicle like that again because like
you said they're running up on
100 plus day of supply it's been sitting
around it was probably delivered
by rail at some point got on rail
I would assume
you know when you look at this it's like
you're gonna have to get the water out
at some point so I'd rather
just kind of do cleanse
fuego that type of route
absolutely you can do it
the other way but I don't know
for a guy like that if skipping fuego
is something I would do not not
especially when you know
you've been sitting around and look I always
tell people we're pretty fortunate
here unless something comes out of
Los Angeles here I don't
deal with heavy heavy fallout
but if it comes out of Los Angeles it's
getting a heavy
dose of fuego or a heavy dose
of fuego and we're calling it a day
so what he could do is
and I you know I probably
should be that nice guy and check in on
him right I haven't
but well I would hope
and you know
what's he gonna do after he sprays
fuego because he bought fuego
you gotta rinse I mean you gotta
let me be clear with everybody it's gotta
be rinsed off I mean there is
no doing a water less and
rinse less I mean you you'd waste
the whole five gallons of product
if you tried to like get it all
I mean anybody that's used fuego
or any iron remover I mean you gotta
go thorough rinse
and I think even for me I
still like just going back with some more
soap you know over top of it
and it makes me feel better
the other thing is
he's gotta identify if it needs clay
you know I mean you're not out of the woods
with just fuego I mean you know
you could have serious contamination on
cars that sit on lots I mean that's
just part of the game especially because
that's set for how long what'd you say
they got I mean yeah they got they got
hundreds of days of supply yeah they're
they're rocking and rolling
by the way if you need if you need a truck
they got one I mean that's
you know that's the one thing Dodge has on
everyone else there's no shortage
we just went we just we just clanged
and banged them right out like
you know I mean not not all
not all brands had a bunch
of them sitting around so yeah you're good
on those so
the end of the day if somebody goes
I want to use fuego
and I want to use eco one
my vehicle yeah no
I'm not doing it
not it's it seemed it seemed
a little too much but
this guy you know he was
trying to let's just say it there's just
I mean he even asked me he goes
can you take cash I go no
you know my partner I've got a
partner I can't take cash
he goes well I've been having some problems
with my card oh yeah that's
moving money around a Mildren
Mildren's about the
laugh himself so in the
death here because
that's I mean that's the ultimate joke right
but moving some money around my card might not
work you know I mean that was
for everybody that wasn't around back in the day
that was like the big excuse remember
because we took checks they're like hey could
you not cash this check I'm moving money
from this count and that account blah blah blah
so that's a little joke of some guys
that have probably been doing this too long
just so we're clear but that's
that's
to this this type of
it's what it came down to I realized
it in the moment once he said that I go
okay man
you want to use eco one and Fuego
I you're buying a 16 ounce
bottle it's not gonna got a truck
yeah it's not gonna work
it's not gonna work and look
I want it to work I mean
we all can awesome right
we all wish that we could
cut a corner and
make things easier but
I've also said this man I mean
a hose works
you know I know it's not perfect I know
you may need to check your water but
at the end of the day
you can you can get some work done at
your house if you're a DIY or by just
getting a good nozzle on your hose and
making sure the water is not too bad
I mean I've seen people try to wash with well
water that was pretty bad that you know cause
some problems but I think people
I appreciate everybody trying to
take care of their car that's a positive
thing you know but also
if you're this far along man don't cut
a corner you know at this point
what he's gonna need to buy you should have
just brought it to you you could have you
could have just gotten it fixed up I'm
trying to get I'm trying to get you behind
a polisher again because every time I get
behind one I'm like oh man
I've been doing this a long time
you already know he's one of those guys I
don't want to do that I know but
what's his phone number so what's his phone
number so I can be like hey you know what
I don't know but I think you should call him again
he'd really love to do it he's that guy that
keeps going hey if you need another car for
a video
I haven't done videos here in over a year
man what are you doing
exactly
we got a may we got a maybach
on the on the thing now not big dodge
truck you know
but he had a dodge he had one of the
early in his truck was in one
of the in one of the YouTube videos
which is why he says it so
he's that guy right he just
hey if I can get so that's why
he wanted to know can I do
I got to put dose like
I love his idea of going from uno to dose
I can get the same amount basically
for the same energy
spent it's right mentality
but can I go cheap on the
wash no
we're gonna close out but I want you to
explain some before it gets off guilt
if somebody's gonna
use the water out of their
hose we're saying
Fuego rinse that off
and then then come back with eco
one yeah or something right like
yeah you weren't gonna just leave
the water right yeah yeah you can't
just leave the water and again guys
we're talking about most of you guys
know better than to do this
but we do get these questions which is great
you know that somebody wants to take care of their car
I mean we would say to everybody that's
following us like we need to encourage
more of this I know it kind of
doesn't sound like it but
the more people get into taking care of their car
the more likely it is they use a professional
down the line I think that's what a lot of people
don't realize is I mean
you've realized that it's happened in my career too
I mean you have customers and friends
and people like the push guy a second ago
yeah I talked about it's
not just that he'll take care of his
but he'll also then buy products for his kids
yeah he understands the value of
having and when he's
above his you know he's he's above
he'll go to a professional
and be like hey I just need you to do the polishing
and the coating and then I'll wash the car
and all that kind of stuff so that's
that's how the ecosystem grows
right like that's that's one thing that I think
it's easy
as guys that know how to do this
or have some semblance of knowing how to do this
that you don't realize
that these things happen that way
I talked to a guy last week and he says
he made this kind of comment and I
I don't think he meant it
as in the way some people have
meant it but he goes he said something
about because he was I sent him some
well I sent him water spot remover
right and and and maybe
this was a couple weeks ago when it wasn't
up to I added more acid
to it and send it back out
and this first comment was well
I know you guys have been talking to more
DIY people
so maybe this would be for them
sure
and and I didn't know if that was a
jab
right because there are pros that feel that
that there should be chemical companies
that only work with pros
I think we even kind of hung our hat
years and years ago and we said
wow look at how many people have abandoned
the pro because sure people did
there were some brands that just jumped ship
sure because we
talked to DIY
because of clutch clutch culture
how many people have come into our orbit
this never means that we're
building for
the DIY
I think you have to
you know I think it's good
for us to share this stuff as guys
we have
younger and younger people
starting a professional
detailing business that don't know
a whole lot and that's not a negative
that's just what is happening
that wasn't really something
in our generation at 18
you didn't just start a detailing business
I don't care what anybody tells you I mean maybe
you knew of somebody but the vast majority
of us weren't starting a business at 18
years old you know just wasn't happening
that way not it not on a broad scale
and so now you have 18 year olds
going out and touching people's cars that are
$95,000
so you can't just willy-nilly
put chemicals out
there that don't have some checks and
balances of what are we really
trying to achieve
and how far do we want to push it because
if we got news for anybody
we could push a water spot remover where
most professionals shouldn't be using it
and only select
tiny few
would really know how to use it
I mean don't think so Marty
you're the one there you can push it
to the limit and go yeah let's
put it in the hands of some guys that think
they're real pros and they'll burn up
a car pretty quick I mean it
you have real problems and we saw it
with acid wheel cleaners right
for people that have been doing it a long time
just sitting there burning up wheels
at every turn
you have to strike a balance
and what you really want as a brand
in my opinion is you want
professional strength
easier to use
so the balance of designing a
chemical is how do we give it the strength
or the robustness
it needs for that specific chemical
whatever it may be
but also make it so it's safe for everybody to use
and by the way that's kind of a benefit
to all of us I mean if you want to grow a business
you'll find out pretty quick
you want the safest stuff in your shop
because if you're just guys are back there
just damaging cars what good is it
we see this a lot with bug cleaners
I mean I can't believe how many fried front ends
I still see and we don't even get bugs
that much but I can look at a front end
and go oh I know what that is
I mean I can't believe that's still happening
on the level it is so why have this
ultra dangerous bug cleaner
on the market that everyone
can buy by the way
whether it's on Amazon or whether it's through
that person's store or whatever
and you're frying front ends of cars
that cost $65,000
$95,000 $150,000
we just had an incident
here locally
where a guy in one very very
exclusive neighborhood hired a young guy
young guy's doing his best
fried some cars
I mean fried some cars and I can tell right now
he did he sprayed some degreaser in the hot sun
I've seen it
I mean I've seen it
as many times as anybody could see it
and when the owner called us
my guy snapped some photos
and I go oh yeah I mean
it's polish time I mean I hate to
break it to you and we better hope that that works
because I mean this stuff can get really down deep
I don't know how long it's been there
sitting in the sun having the problem
so I think again
we
all need to welcome more
people into this because it makes
the whole ecosystem bigger for all of us
you know professionals are
too caught up in
what they think the DIY
market means the higher level
DIY market the higher level customer
you have in this business as a professional
because they will go
I'm not doing this
I'm gonna go to my local guy and by the way
they're ready to pony up the money they already
know how much effort is involved
how hard everything is and so
you can't get a more respectful
customer in this business
than somebody who's actually
really taking care of their car
because they already know the elbow grease involved
and if they're coming to you going hey I
can't do this part of the process
they're ready to pay 100%
yeah and the chess piece
which it's not for his focus
because I know the guy for a long time
and his focus is elsewhere
while I think he could
kind of you know use a playbook
from well Billy
I'm pretty sure every time Billy buys
you know stuff from us he always buys
a 12 pack of slick
because he loves to throw
slick in on his cars of the cars
that he coats I know other detailers that are
that way right and
there is a chess play
there is a move
of why we've been doing
it and why it's also
I guess some people say
DIY friendly well
because yeah you can then
sell them the product
and they can then get the great
results and maybe that's
the hang up for somebody like some people
don't want other people to get great results
they want to be
right and by the way
you're going to be that anyway
you're going to be the guy that's exactly what I'm going to say
like it's okay you can get off your
horse they're actually going to praise you
and be grateful more
they're going to love you more
they'll think you're so helpful
that they'll give you referral
after referral after referral
people don't like gatekeeping
anymore I mean let's just say what it is
I mean the consumer
whether you're a pro detailer or just a consumer
of this stuff people are tired of the gatekeeping
and they're just like hey what should I do
and if you're the guy or the gal out there
telling them hey this is how you
should wash it here's the products
which by the way you're selling for a profit
okay you're not just giving away you're selling for a profit
you know if you come into
our network it's a great system
and look man the world changes
what I have thought this way ten years ago
no because things weren't
as big as they are now
you've had a boom
in the past five years
in this part of the business
like we all need to accept it and have a good time with it
I mean there's a lot of money to be made
if you just open your mind and relax
and by the way no matter what we do
I gotta be able to use the products
in my business so for
anything to be not professional
grade we don't really have that choice
because I'll just yell at Marty
I'll just be like dude this doesn't work
I mean Marty's gotten those phone calls
a lot you know it is what it is I don't like
this it doesn't work my guys won't
like it they don't like it
and that's our check and balance here man
I'm one of everybody listening
whether it's just somebody that loves their car
or professional I want this stuff to work
so we don't really
have a choice I mean it's just not something
that we do it's not
it's just not in our DNA
is that what they I think that's what most people
think right a DIY product doesn't
work like well it's just
it's the wrong
guys the stuff
that's being sold in Sam's Club
and that's not
that's a whole different animal
to what companies like us are doing
this is professional grade
with new technology
to keep things a little safer for you
for everybody that's the way it is
just I mean that's just that's the story
the story isn't
people hear DIY and they get very
like well that's available at Costco
yeah man we know those brands
nothing against them it's not the brands you guys would use
I mean something like TRX
proves the whole theory
TRX is about as friendly as it gets
with tons of power
we could make it infinitely more
dangerous and not get a better result
okay I can make it infinite you could
go back there make it ten times as dangerous
and not get better results
so why would you guys want it ten
you know ten times more dangerous for no reason
more concentrated
cause us pros gotta save our money
yeah but here's the deal it actually
doesn't get you anything right so
if it's formulated properly
yeah yeah 100%
and like I said this is a great
conversation like I just want everybody
to go I just want car owners
to care the more they care
the more they use the pro the more they
obviously take care of their car
you guys are working on less beat up
stuff what a great ecosystem to be in
and I think we're headed there not only headed
there I think in a lot of ways we are there
like this has been happening
agreed I have a saying
as a tide rises so do all the ships
right this is specifically
for that point and I got a
text message this weekend and
if those of you that are interested
in distribution yes you can
have the hyper clean photos on
your website you can
also sell right it is
a thing so if you
do want to go on to the website
hypercleanstore.com
and fill out the form for distribution
Nick will give you a chat you guys will
talk through it of how you can
begin to whether that's
chess pieces whether that's new
revenue streams whether that's just
take care of your customers better I mean
there's multiple reasons why you could be a part
of hyper clean distribution
alright so hypercleanstore.com
go look for the form
and get it filled out today
alright guys we'll see you guys next time
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