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Which Polisher Should You Use? Windshield Protection Film Discussion Episode #921
Which Polisher Should You Use? Windshield Protection Film Discussion Episode #921
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About this episode
A lively discussion on the best polishers for auto detailing kicks off this episode, with hosts diving into the nuances of throw sizes and their impact on performance. They debate the merits of 15mm vs. 21mm throws, emphasizing that the best tool is often the one you're most comfortable with. The conversation also touches on windshield protection film, its benefits, and the challenges of maintaining it, especially for everyday drivers. Listeners will gain insights into the detailing industry, tool preferences, and the importance of proper care for protective films.
Topics:
polisher throw sizes
detailing tools
windshield protection film
cutting techniques
forced rotation vs rotary
detailing processes
customer care
automotive paint
detailing carts
car flipping
In this conversation, Marshall Hill and Nick Walters explore various topics within the detailing industry, including the debate over machine throws, the importance of torque in polishing, and the nuances of business relationships.
They also discuss the role of windshield film in vehicle protection and the practice of flipping cars as a business model. The discussion emphasizes the significance of choosing the right tools and understanding the market dynamics in the detailing world.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to the Season and Industry Insights
00:58 The Debate on Machine Throws in Detailing
09:58 Understanding Torque vs. Throw in Polishing
12:08 The Importance of Choosing the Right Machine
13:44 Navigating Business Relationships and Pricing
24:53 Exploring Windshield Film and Its Applications
28:11 The Nuances of Windshield Film
36:20 Detailing Cart Innovations
42:25 Flipping Cars: A Detailing Tradition
50:28 The Mechanics of Buying Used Cars
Filter:
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Ford Bronco
"...not my clientele. Do you remember the story of my Bronco? Yeah, that's if we could call Marshall senior th..."
Car
Jeep Wrangler
"...tor vehicle dealer. This is his first flip a 2004 Wrangler TJ nice only 90,000 miles four wheel drive five s..."
Introduction to the Season and Industry Insights
The Debate on Machine Throws in Detailing
Understanding Torque vs. Throw in Polishing
The Importance of Choosing the Right Machine
Navigating Business Relationships and Pricing
Exploring Windshield Film and Its Applications
The Nuances of Windshield Film
Detailing Cart Innovations
Flipping Cars: A Detailing Tradition
The Mechanics of Buying Used Cars
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.
It's fall 2025.
Back to schools.
Totally there.
All the ballgames.
Nick, we're done talking about that.
You know what time it is to talk because people inside the group, they've already started
talking about the fruity pebble gang.
Pumpkin beer is here.
We're ready.
Let's go, crew.
Step up.
All right.
It's our time of season.
So just joking about the beer.
Fun things though.
We're going to talk today quite a bit of stuff out of the group and things that I have found
to be interesting inside of the industry.
So we'll start off there, Nick.
I told you we might talk about that at the end, but I'm pushing it to the beginning.
Things I've found that are interesting in the industry and which ones would you
rather talk about?
All right.
We've got three options here, three options.
Would you rather talk about detailers and suppliers on social media voicing their opinions about
someone's death, the continued discussion on detailers who go on social and share about
their sobriety, or since we'll be releasing something very soon, what size throw is best?
Let's, let's, let's go with a C.
Throw is best for 200.
Alex.
Yeah, I'm not.
This is interesting.
What what throw is, but there's been some guy did this, you know, my video saying about
why they chose theirs and then these other companies had to release, you know, why they chose
their throw is the best.
It's interesting now to come back.
This used to be a discussion.
I think when the 15 was first release, we can go back to those early machines.
You know, most of them were just 20 ones, 20 ones, then you went to 15s, then
you got forced rotation, eights.
And I think what was Porter cable?
Wasn't a Porter cable like an eight or a six or I mean, it was something small.
Look, I think and I don't want to like not give an opinion here, right?
Because I know a lot of people have this question, but I think you and I, you know,
we kind of live more in the real world than I think what some of these
internet conversations turn into the tool that works the best is the one that
you work with the most, right?
So if you get used to a 15, then you're going to say 15.
If you like a 21 and you know how to maneuver the six inch pad around,
then you're going to say 21.
Then we got everything inside the three inch world.
Then you got one inch stuff.
And then, you know, when do we get to a point where we start to tell
people, pick a machine, pick a pad and go do some work with it.
OK, I'm I'm more inclined to say that there's some machines I've purchased
a lot of in my career from a company, multiple companies that I'll say this
that I don't see enough development out of you and I've had this conversation
where I think they've never fixed the torque issue on some of these machines.
There's some new players in the market that I think are becoming more and more
interesting for a variety of reasons because they're kind of fixing that.
We saw that out of some of the the early Chinese brands.
Remember how loud those machines were, but they had the torque, you know,
they fixed the torque issue.
I have a bit to weigh in because, you know, I'll step in at this point
before we get off too much into what you're going to say around what throw
because that was a move that I did years ago.
What can I get into the industry with?
And I chose a polisher and I white labeled one out of China.
Absolutely true.
And and we were able to choose what different throws we wanted.
I absolutely did not want the 21 and this came down to my choice.
Right. Like sure. So you're right.
Like I go, here's what I think is best.
And I chose a 15.
They had 12 and eights and I almost went with the 12.
Yeah, because it was different.
But I was like, ah, it was too different.
So I need to stick with what, you know, there's 15 mils going to be
a little mainstream enough people will buy it.
But there is a discussion about how far that, you know, that six
mils of of throw, is that enough?
Some people will say that that extra throw creates more cut.
Others would fall into the camp and go that extra throw slows it down.
So it actually doesn't get a better cut.
Yeah, I would lean into the second.
Where would you fall in?
I think the problem with the 21 in today's world is it hits too much stuff.
It's too big of a throw.
And again, if you work on big flat panels or you're doing large trucks,
but even those have different drops on them now.
You know, for those that don't use the proper term, a drop is,
you know, really what a body line is called.
If you want to get technical is how many drops are on the panel.
I think everything's gotten such sharp body lines and a lot of different
angles in today's car development world.
I think 21 is kind of hard to maneuver.
When you work on older cars, the 21 works great
because you got bigger, flatter panels and bigger
fenders that don't have as many drops usually.
But I would say this, anybody that tells me the reason why it's
I want everybody to understand the reason why those areas are difficult
is is let's go into it, right?
When you're trying to maneuver that tool into let's let's say,
what was that vehicle that we had in here recently that I bragged about
was a second Lambo I've done.
Oh, yeah, you're you're you're us would be you would never.
Well, here's the thing, you'd have to be very skilled with the machine.
You'd know how you'd have to know how to manipulate it.
I mean, it's really not worth your time, right?
Like, so the thing about cut and it's interesting, you bring this up.
And this is one of the things I've talked to a lot of people recently
with some things we're going to be bringing on board
and some things I got people to test.
For some reason, we don't understand that cut really comes from torque.
It doesn't come from the throw of the machine.
And here's the perfect example.
The rotary has maximum amount of torque
because it's a direct drive machine, right?
So you get direct torque onto the panel.
Now, again, people can say I'm using the word torque wrong,
but it's the easiest way to explain it that a direct drive has the most torque
into the machine, which then gives you the most torque on the panel,
which means it doesn't stall.
That's why most beginners should start with a forced rotation machine, right?
It's not going to stall.
It's it's not dangerous.
You know, you can make a lot of mistakes.
It will still cut.
There's a real argument that forced rotation is what most people
who are very young in the business should be using, in my opinion.
Now, it's great to learn the rotary and the DA and all that kind of stuff.
But the hang up with the forest is is how pressure sometimes it just keeps
pulling itself, people just get a little frustrated and tired.
Yeah, that's what feedback I've heard.
Yeah. And I understand that.
But also when you learn to work with that tool,
which everyone's most popular force rotation is flex, right?
They're going to be talking about the flexed force rotation, the 34 01 or whatever.
When you know how to use that machine, it doesn't walk away from you.
It's very, very simplistic to use.
It's kind of mind numbingly easy to use.
Like you really don't have to think about a whole lot because the pad always spins.
Again, that's kind of what happens when you use rotary.
Rotary becomes kind of mindless because things, you know, don't once you get comfortable.
I'm you I'm saying.
Well, and so what I enjoyed about 34 01 was basically what I do with the roadie, right?
I would actually put let it walk and then and then get that pool.
And while I'm pulling it back, that's when I really worked on my cut.
When I worked on what I was trying to do.
Yeah, no, it's a good point.
But again, when you get into the throws of machines and again,
a lot of manufacturers are going to hang their hat on throws.
What is throw our throw versus someone else's throw?
The fact of the matter is if if my again, forced rotation kind of proves this,
if my machine has more torque on the panel,
I'm going to be able to cut faster.
OK, because again, a forced rotation flex, I think has what an eight millimeter throw?
It's got less of a throw than any DA on the market, but it's going to blow any DA away
trying to cut defects out, just like the direct torque of a rotary is going to blow
away a forced rotation machine from flex, right?
So in flexes lineup, they have all of these machines, right?
And I'm just using them as an example, guys.
I'm that's all I'm saying.
They have a road.
Well, there's a dominant force rotation.
Yeah, they have a rotary.
Then they have a forced rotation.
Then they have a DA guess, which one cuts the fastest?
The rotary, it's got the most torque on the panel.
It's direct. It's very, very simple to understand.
So again, I guess people listening to us, what I want to say is
it's very foolish conversation to be talking about throw and cut.
When we know what cuts the fastest and we know what cuts the slowest,
the 15 and the 21 are going to both cut slower than a forced rotation
and a rotary, right?
So if you're trying to talk about cut, the cut is really about the torque
that can be had on the panel and no stalling while you're getting that cut.
Well, DA's magically stall more than a forced rotation and a rotary.
So why do I care about the throw that much?
I never really got into that because the only thing I ever cared about
is, is this going to torque down on the panel or is it going to give me
a headache when I try to have it torque down on the panel?
That's what causes cut, rotary and forced rotation both prove that pretty directly.
So let's go to polishing then.
Let's let's take that question.
We're trying to finish the paint, which is the best throw.
I know a guy years ago who he loved to finish paint with the 21.
But I just that's what he loved to do.
And by the way, that's all that's all that I had in the moment.
Right. I mean, I had a 21.
Certainly learned how to how to finish really well with the 21.
But again, a 21 and a 15 to me, the only real difference,
especially inside the same manufacturer,
is where I can fit the five inch pad versus the six inch pad.
I never cared about the throw.
I cared about where can I fit this thing in?
How much more work can I do?
And I think it's a sign of inexperience
if you're caught up on this conversation.
So I'd be very leery if somebody is trying to tell you about throw
when the whole thing behind it is where can you fit the machine?
What allows you to fit the machine in the most places?
More than it is that there's that much of a dramatic difference
between a 15 and a 21.
And if you're experiencing that much of a difference,
then usually you have a problem in your process
far more than those machines are making that big of a difference.
So you can start thinking, you know, some pillars
you could think under some side mirrors around side mirrors.
You get into those places.
There's no way I'm using a 21.
Well, because it comes uncontrollable for a lot of people.
Well, yeah. And you just start getting that bang bang.
You go, ah, I like it.
Yeah, yeah. And again, it's just it's just one of these things like again,
if you look at forced rotation, it's very hard to get a finish
like you can get with a 15, right?
So if you take forced rotation and you look like, OK,
I want to have a forced rotation machine.
You're going to have to be very good at finishing with that machine.
And it might take you some time.
But if I go forced rotation and cut the defects out,
then I come back with a 15 pretty enjoyable, right?
So this one size fits all stuff
that's kind of going on and detailing and everybody's solved the problem.
The problem's been solved.
You want to cut the fastest, grab a rotary.
Let's just call a spade a spade.
Come back and start stepping it out with a DA and call it a day.
You say, hey, I'm not comfortable with that.
Cut with the forced rotation.
Come back and finish down with the DA.
At the end of the to me, this has all been settled science.
I guess it isn't on the Internet
because that's the way the Internet is now.
But for people listening to us, guys, this is pretty settled stuff.
Yeah, it should be.
And we're going to dive even more into it
probably over the next couple of weeks when there's some stuff
we're going to put out to the market.
Excited to do it.
Yeah. And by the way, when we put stuff out,
this whole we always have to reinvent the wheel
that's kind of gone on.
Guys, trust me when I say this,
any machine can become great if you use it.
Right. That's the part that's left out of these Internet conversations.
I can show you people at a body shop that use stuff
that you'd never be caught using that you and I know you go, man,
I've been to some body shops where you should see what these guys are using
or I've been to this shop and they're still using this and this
and they get great results, not all of them.
But you've been around places that you go,
I can't believe what those guys are getting results with over there at that place.
And it's because they got thousands of hours behind the machine
and they got a process.
And that's what we've kind of tried to do with our compound polish and one stuff.
Then we'll show you the pads we've picked
and then we'll show you the machines that we think give you
some nice entry points in some places.
But again, guys, this has all been settled science.
I mean, to me, we you and I don't go in any groups or any places
and leave comments, you know, besides our own.
So I don't even really do any of this publicly other than on here.
Well, I mean, I don't anymore.
Yeah, right. That's what I mean.
You know, I used to. Yeah.
I used to love it back in the day.
Yeah. You grew up. You grew up. You grew up.
You know, you know, one of those bombs got us into
a little battle, which was interesting, but I digress.
I saw a question this weekend.
I found it to be pretty interesting because it's going to go into what this
person viewed as like a person of power, right?
Somebody of prestige.
And they were going to ask a question before we get into that question.
You were recently around a lot of people of prestige.
Did you want to talk about that or not talk about it?
No, no, I'm good.
OK, well, dang, I was hoping so.
All right, well, I'll talk about then the question.
And this question was about people of power that were of the spiritual aspect.
Right. We can see where we're going there.
A pastor.
Right. And this guy wanted to know he's got a question.
Would you charge your pastor full half or no charge to detail their car
since they are covering you in the church?
That would be full charge.
Yeah, I mean, I mean, I say that again, if you're trading things out.
Look, we've all done some things in our career where we've traded some things out.
Are you saying you're trading some pentance?
No, no, no, I'm not.
No, no, I said I said full charge.
I've seen where some of these cats live.
He's getting full charge.
You know, I would say this.
We do get this question a lot.
What would you do?
You know, hey, I'm doing this work for this person.
I think I've really learned some hard lessons on this.
I think you probably feel the same kind of the way best way to do businesses.
And this is if you're doing somebody's going to come and do work for you
and then you're going to do work for them.
I have found that the best way to operate now is you pay my business
and I'll pay your business, right, is not really trying to do tradeouts.
I know a lot of people think that works in the end.
Yet I've seen that go worse more times than I've seen it go better
because somebody always feels like they didn't get the best part of the deal.
You and I had a situation there at HQ with some construction stuff.
As you talked about it, I go, what about family, right?
Yeah, family and people at your church kind of fall into the same category.
Yeah, I just guys, you can get yourself in some sticky stuff.
We certainly can share here.
We had, yeah, but I mean, you know, everybody listens to everything all the time.
Like we had a sticky situation with, you know, some construction that we had done
because we had something break at HQ and Marty thought he had a deal.
Hey, we're going to ceramic coat some vehicles for the workers
and the owners and this and that and get to the end of the job.
And we get a $5,000 bill and there's a lot of confusion and a lot of anger.
And we just paid the bill.
And now when you look at it, you go,
they should have paid for us to ceramic coat their trucks.
And we should have paid for their service to fix the issues at HQ.
And I wish it were different.
I mean, I'm sure some of you got great stories about this
and I can share some great stories I've had of trading some things out.
I can also share the bad.
And so I think now my whole mentality is, hey, I'll
give your business money and you'll give my business money.
And, you know, we're all good and nobody feels like they got slighted.
And that's just kind of how it works.
And I just think you can get into a lot of sticky stuff.
And trust me, I've done the trade out thing.
I'm not saying this as judgment to others.
It's probably just easier to exchange the money.
It is. And they have it in their budget.
Not just what you talked about, like you've seen the cats.
But as somebody who was in that profession, the first part of my life,
I know that you can put it in as a line item to where basically
part of your salary can be a package to get whatever.
I mean, you can put whatever you want in there.
Yeah. And by the way, that's like, executives do that all the time, right?
So we have several accounts where we detail the executive's car
that's billed to the company because it's part of their pay package.
And at the end of the day, those are great things to realize they happen.
Like you just happen to be sharing something about somebody running a church.
The same goes for any business.
You know, there always is a way for somebody to have that as part of their
pay package that, you know, gets paid for.
So I just wouldn't treat anything differently
than you would treat any other business owner.
So business owner, pastor, somebody, you know, good acquaintance.
Is there a deal? Is there, you know, because I bet you you and I are probably
I guess I shouldn't ask that question.
I know the answers. No. Right.
You and I are both that way.
I know there's a lot of people that go I could see that in him.
So I guess instead of just saying what is the answer?
I guess a better way to ask it is,
why do you think people want to give them a deal?
And why? What is it about?
Let's just take even pastors out of you, like you mentioned, other business owners
or as I start, just people of power, like feeling they presume to have prestige
that they want to give these guys a deal.
Yeah, I think people are scared to stand their ground.
And I've been early in my business, so of you.
I mean, sometimes you see somebody go, oh, this this guy's got a lot.
I want his business and I'll do anything to get his business.
And then what you realize is
those people that are good and are that powerful, they do want to pay full price.
They don't want a deal.
They're actually going to look really down upon you.
The good ones, the ones you want to be in business and go.
The right. Hey, why would you?
Yeah, why would you want to cheapen?
Yeah, why would you want to give me a favor?
Why would you want to give me a deal?
You know, why would you want to do all that?
Like, this is your business.
Why aren't you protecting it?
So I think what I've learned through some hard lessons and some good lessons is,
hey, man, your price is your price.
Make sure you can explain to them why it's your price.
Make sure you're a professional.
Make sure of all those things.
But any time you're in that give give someone a deal mindset,
I don't think it all turns out the way that you think.
And again, we had a recently something at my home where somebody
you know, tried to basically say to me, I was getting a deal
and I didn't end up doing business with them because I was like,
well, I never asked for a deal and this just feels wrong.
And like you're trying to sell me a deal here.
Dude, I want the project done right.
I don't want a deal.
And it comes off to people with experience a lot worse than you think it does
because now they worry, is this guy going to screw my car up?
Does this guy actually know what he's doing?
Why do you bring up a deal?
You know, now bad people that you don't want to be in business with,
they're like, yeah, he's giving me a deal.
Like they're going to be pretty hype about it.
But the good people, they don't want a deal.
They want stuff done right and they're happy to pay.
I had, we're having some stuff done at the house, too.
And I had a contractor come in and just say this number, right?
Seventy five hundred.
And I go, OK, like just, hey, man,
just want you to know not trying to do that to you up.
And I'm just you're way out of bounds here from everybody else.
He cuts it in half.
Yeah, he's out.
And I go, you're out.
Whoa, my guy, I did that.
Hey, OK, but thank you.
Thank you for showing me your hand.
So by the way, the right way to handle that,
if he was really pricing it appropriately is to say, hey, great, man,
let me walk you through why this actually cost seventy five hundred dollars.
OK, so for everybody that just heard that story,
what Marty, the consumer was asking like,
hey, why is this price so high?
It's really out of bounds.
Now, could Marty have directly said, hey, can you break down?
But that's not how human beings talk.
They go, whoa, that's a lot higher than everyone else.
So you as the business owner need to go, great,
let me walk you through maybe some things they weren't pricing in.
And if you don't want them priced in, I can take them out.
But here's why I priced it the way that I did.
What you found out is this guy just threw out a price
that didn't mean anything.
And I think a lot of detailers do that.
Their price just doesn't mean anything.
Absolutely right.
And then if it doesn't, they just go.
Let's just cut.
You go, I know.
And now buddy, then it's just going to immediately push you out.
Yep, because you're right.
If he would have explained it, I could have at least had a reason
to compare to the other bids.
Yep. But I didn't get that.
So he just gets cut out.
Yeah. And again, the cost might have been said
if he was a high integrity doing everything right,
that might have been the cost.
And he would have looked at you again, if he was high integrity
and doing high level work, he would have said.
Explained why?
Yeah, he did, Marty.
Look, I know you got a lot lower bids.
Let me walk you through this and I'll walk you step by step.
I think that's what a lot of people don't feel like they should have to do.
But in business, when you're talking about high ticket,
you you got to explain yourself and you better be able to do it.
Those are worth, right?
They say this, right?
You've seen that.
They talk about this like, no, you're worth, you know,
put out this big number, but they really have to your point.
No real, you know, way to show,
way and explain like this guy could have easily talked to me about the cabinets.
Could have easily talked to me about this.
Could have talked to me like, could have walked me through it.
Yeah, hey, hey, we're going to we're going to yeah, we're going to demo this.
And when we demo it, we're going to do all this behind the scenes
to make sure this whatever it is, you got to know what you're talking about,
right? You got to know what you're talking about.
Yeah, yeah. So the whole problem around the whole crowd of know you're worth
is they didn't actually say know what you're talking about.
Right? They just said, no, you're worth.
Well, no, you're worth.
Well, knowing your worth is actually knowing what you're talking about
on a high level, being able to have somebody that comes in and goes,
hey, you want to charge me three grand?
This guy gave me a bid for a thousand.
What's the difference?
Well, now you're in education mode and you really have to know
what you're talking about.
And it doesn't mean your price is wrong.
It means now you have to explain why your price is the way it is.
But what you found is the guy's like, well, I'll take half.
It's like, well, that's a little bit of a strange way to do it.
But that's kind of what people do.
Drop your pants. Well, I'm out.
Yeah, I'm not going to.
Yeah, you're not going to just drop your pants in my living room, pal.
Get out here.
All right. So a question that we're going to see more and more,
I know, because now some some new people have found this miracle
film, and now they're going to display it around about how great it is.
But let's talk about it, because we had a question inside of the group.
Let's talk about window film now.
Somebody no, no, windshield windshield film.
Correct. Thank you.
You're you're right.
Windshield film. Yeah.
You know, they listed a specific brand.
I don't know if we care to talk about brand.
I don't know. Right.
Because I've never messed with it.
I don't know anything about windshield film,
except one day I know that I'm going to send a car up to you
and finally get some window film or windshield film.
They don't know how to pronounce or say the right words, you know.
So we've been in windshield film for a long time.
I think windshield film is really great for the right people.
OK, you have some incidents.
You know, we had a 14 14,000 customer or the detailer.
What do you mean?
The customer, the customer really is is the deciding factor of this.
Actually, I just had something over the weekend.
Somebody's brand new Lexus SUV got hit with a rock chip.
My direct quote to him is, I know how you treat your cars
and I'm not going to put windshield film on your cars.
It's going to be nothing but a headache.
And he just took a big, you know, boulder to his windshield.
It cracked everywhere.
He's like, what's that mean?
He's a friend of mine. I go, but when you put this on your car,
like you have to look after it.
You have to understand it.
You have to take care of your car on a certain level, that kind of thing.
So let me walk people through this.
Well, hold on. So wife has one.
She's got the star just started.
The other one, Friday, I told you we had we got this like recall.
Nissan, you got to get there.
530, like we have this recall.
Apparently, we have two recalls.
One was the turbo hose.
Yep. Scary there.
So they did that.
But the second one, which they don't have the parts yet for,
was even more scarier, where engines are just dying.
Yeah, that sounds like Nissan.
Yeah, that's a very Nissan thing.
So we asked the guy, hey, we have this star.
It's formed, right?
Because my wife loves to get behind big semi trucks for some reason.
I've followed her sometimes, and she has this addiction of trying.
You're just like honking, like, whoa.
I've texted her, I've done everything.
And then we finally get I'm go, this is why not only the front end.
How bad the front end is now.
But now you've got a star on your windshield.
So we're at the dealership and they're going to get us a quote
because they don't they don't.
I said, well, you guys don't do it.
Well, we third party it like.
Yeah. Yeah.
So, you know, windshield film has this.
When you use the right windshield film
and there's really only two companies that do it on a high level.
And I'm not going to give him a shout out here because most of you guys don't care.
You don't think more and more.
That's what I was just saying.
I mean, whether or not you want to shout them out.
I this is why I want to talk.
I think there's more and more detail is starting to.
Yeah, yeah.
Look, and here's the thing.
I'm going to I'm going to show them here that it's it's a very select
business that should be looking into windshield film.
In my opinion today, we're in 2025.
I don't know when you're listening to this.
We could have some huge development years from now that changes this.
But here's what you have as a problem.
So the reason I got into windshield film is we had somebody who cracked
a $14,000 windshield.
OK, on a huge exotic car, you know, big, huge mess.
That's why I searched it out.
And those are great customers for windshield film because now you're
talking about even if they have to replace it every six to 12 months,
they don't care because they don't want a $15,000, $14,000, $11,000 bill.
There is an argument that windshield film is the most beneficial to daily drivers
like your wife.
The problem is your wife isn't going to be sensitive with it.
She's going to run her wipers all kinds of ways.
She's going to not keep it, you know, always the cleanest.
And when she goes to clean it, she's going to, you know,
just take all that debris and wipe it right into the film.
And the top coat is going to get damaged.
And so I think windshield film has this really interesting point right now
where I'll just tell you the people that would help the most
aren't really helped the most by the windshield film
because it's such a sensitive thing.
It has to be cared for.
It has to be cared for properly.
What's that?
It's a little pre-Madonna.
It's in, by the way, it's expensive to have done right.
You've got to do real heavy heat molding.
Heat, you know, heat shaping for the ones that work, I'm saying.
I know I see a lot of ones now that just get squeegeed on.
You guys will find out.
I'm saying, I mean, it's going to start popping.
I know there's some people start posting, you know,
they're getting into this and it's like, yeah.
No, man, it's the stuff that works really, really well
is very, very labor intensive.
Guys got to be trained on it.
You got to stick with it.
You got to do a lot of installs.
You're going to burn a lot of film.
And again, it fits a very certain type of clientele.
Again, I think that we'll probably get to a place down the road where
because we know technology does always get better.
So I don't want to sit here and tell people that we can't have a breakthrough
that makes things happen in a certain way.
But I think right now you have no idea the headache you're inviting
when the wrong customer gets windshield film
when they get windshield film and they don't treat it well.
It turns ugly.
They rip off the top coat.
They can't see out of it.
They got all kind.
I mean, it's I can't explain you when.
Oh, yeah, that if they don't know how to treat it, that's what I say.
I mean, mostly we've done it on exotic cars.
And when something goes wrong, you rip it off, you reapply,
you charge the customer, the customer doesn't care.
They know the game that they're in.
It's really like, you know, again, it's kind of what we've seen
with paint protection film.
Paint protection film started to be put on by dealerships
as part of the warranty programs that are all nonsense.
It's all crappy film, that kind of thing.
And you see all these people that go, well, look at my paint
protection film that they sold me.
It looks like crap.
Well, it really wouldn't look that way if you went to a reputable shop,
bought reputable film, had somebody explain to you how to treat it,
all of that kind of stuff.
But you didn't get that.
So you're thinking of paint protection film in a way that really isn't true.
Right. Paint protection film is a good product.
It's just the customer has to understand what they're getting into.
And no dealerships going to explain that.
They just want their couple grand for a hundred bucks worth of work.
That's the name of the game.
Right. So windshield film is in the same boat as it just doesn't fit everybody.
It does work.
You know, I can show you instances where we've had racing teams
and all kinds of people use the film and it's worked great.
But they also were willing to rip it off and get a new piece.
And when that expense comes up to a normal driver,
they get what's that number?
Well, truthfully, on good film that actually works,
you should be somewhere between five hundred and seven hundred dollars
every time you apply it.
And I would make the argument that it actually should be much closer
to seven hundred dollars than five hundred.
Now, imagine somebody driving around in your wife's car
and she gets that bill two to three times a year
because of how she treats the film.
You think that's going to go over swimmingly?
It's not. No, let's say she lands due at once a year.
OK, I think I could push her to it.
But as we said, long time ago, when we first got the rogue,
you know, there's a lot of manufacturers of cars now
that don't give you the spray like the old days, right?
So it puts out this little dribble at the back side of the wiper.
Sure. It has no chance of even getting so wet.
Yeah. So you have a dry wipe and you're just going to rip the top coat apart.
It won't rip apart on good.
How fast? Well, actually, if you're in extreme heat,
like we see this here in Vegas.
So let's say you guys have a hot summer, your wife's driving down the road.
She dry wipes the top coat when it's super soft because it's so hot out.
She could rip it off in one.
I mean, not the whole thing, but she could leave a huge scour mark
just doing that once.
And so the first thing I tell people is you do realize
unless you're like in a torrential downpour, you're done with the wipers.
Like I make people turn off the automatic wiper.
I'm like, you can't even have it because, you know, some of those are so sensitive.
It's going to dry wipe.
And I had one woman, she's like, well, I'm not going to do that.
I go, OK, well, when we install this,
just know the only thing I can ever say about that woman is she's like,
hey, my automatic wipers messed up my film.
Can I have it replaced?
I mean, luckiest that I got that customer.
But I've had other customers that didn't listen and they get pretty angry
because they know a seven hundred dollar bill is coming, right?
So you start to understand how much somebody really loves their car.
It sounds like you love your car,
but when something has to be ripped off and reapplied,
you start to get a very good view of not very many people want to deal with that.
We even had a situation recently where guy put film on the film,
worked swimmingly and saved his paint.
And he's like, well, I don't want to pay to have it ripped off.
I mean, it looks ugly, but I mean, why should I have to pay to have it ripped off?
I said, because it worked.
That has saved you from the body shop.
You're supposed to replace it now.
That's that's the whole reason to do PPF.
And it's like he knew a bill was coming.
So he's like, I'll just leave it.
I said, great, but that area is now not protected.
You realize that it is basically, but you see what I'm saying?
Like he thought he cared about his car, but now the PPF has worked.
It's time to rip it off and reapply.
And he's like, well, I don't want that bill.
It's like, OK, well, it worked exactly how it's supposed to work.
And so I just don't think people it all sounds good to make a buck.
But many of you are going to get phone calls that you don't want to get,
that you don't know how to handle that was sold to the wrong group of people
because it won't just be one you sell it improperly to.
You'll sell it to a bunch of people when those headaches start rolling in.
And now maybe you have to eat some installs
to get somebody to go away and you have to eat some money.
Hmm, it's a much different world.
Yeah, I'm out.
Yeah, 100 percent.
And look, in our group, if you guys go in our group, Marissa,
who was one of the top reps in the windshield film business,
did a great job answering the guy.
She knows better than anybody.
She had hundreds and hundreds of shops she dealt with.
Go into the group.
If you're not a member, you can see her responses.
She put it better than we can hear that group.
It's hyper clean specialists on Facebook is what she's talking about.
And I inside of there, we also saw from Sean,
this wonderful cart, like you even commented,
man, nicely done organized cart.
And I just started looking around.
I go, you know what, it's been a long time
since I've had a detailing cart.
And what goes in today's carts?
Like what? I mean, this he's got his bottles lined out.
It looks awesome. Some 16, some 32s.
It's got some pump spray or some different things.
It's like, hey, man, people's cars look like people's carts or
people do great job with this kind of stuff.
You know, I don't know if it's like when you and I came in the business,
like when I put stuff on a car, it's like, this is the necessities.
Let's churn and burn here.
Like, you know, and then there's other people, man,
they got crazy good setups and have really thought through it
a lot more than myself.
Like, you know, I can learn a lot from and I do take a lot
from what I see guys do like, Oh, okay, yeah, I'll add this.
And, you know, this kind of thing.
But yeah, man, some people just knock it out of the park.
It makes me wonder. I'm like, man, did we did we miss something here?
Because I'm certainly a little bit more primitive on that stuff.
I think there's one thing I have missed that I do want to try
at some point in time is not I don't know what brand it doesn't matter.
But it looks like he's got one of those like pump up that like foams.
I've never used I've never used a good one, like a pump up sprayer
that also foams. Yeah, we had we had that we had Merilex, but
I mean, yeah, I just our problem.
Like, you're right. I did what everybody else did.
I didn't clean them out.
And if you didn't clean them out one time, yeah, you can get that
could be the one that could be the one that gets you.
You're right, you know, and you just like, I've never found
one that I like, and that's it was going to be what I just
was like, you know, I wish I found a pump spray.
Yeah, same. I like, you know, I'm in the same
vote as you. I I really gave the Merilex a lot of love and a lot
of time and and try I I guess, you know, out of habit, grabbing a
32 is so ingrained in me and spraying something down that it's
if something doesn't work flawlessly, I'm like, forget about
you know, I'm sure I'm like most people it's like my way
already works pretty well. And but I'm with you if there was
one that I was like, this is going to work so well, it's
going to save me so much time. But wouldn't that just be put it
in the foam cannon?
Don't know. I guess I don't know. I just put I just put TRX
straight in the foam cannon and, you know, how let let the water
meter itself and I think it works great. So it'd be hard
for me to move. And I'm sure there's great stuff out
there. I mean, this is not something I sit here and test
all day. So you and I aren't in the in the building a foamer
business. So I'm sure there's probably decent stuff out there.
Yeah, it'd probably be like what you said earlier, you know,
sort of like different preference because would
somebody to your point, great question. What's the difference
with using your foam cannon with some TRX and, you know,
whatever sprayer that is a pump sprayer or, you know,
there's that brand that started, you know, you can do the
compressed air or yeah, you've talked about a detail keg, you
could take a detail keg and you can make the sprayer the in
sprayer. Yeah, you put the right foam or nozzle on it, you can
create a foam there. It kind of does come down to your
personal preference, right? I and and what you're doing? How
much you want on the ground? How much you don't want on the
ground?
That's true. Yeah, no, it's just something you know, what I
like to see is everybody have their own process and then
try to like pick up things I want to try. I'm like, I kind of
want to try that. Then I try it. I'm like, I must have tried it
wrong. It's just like one that's what I say to myself a lot.
I'm like, I bet I did something wrong here. I tried this. You
know, that's what I always feel.
So do you go back and forth on like, I've tried something
I'll go, Oh, this is fun. And like, for instance, I'm like,
I'll go back to these type of promo sprayer because a lot of
the videos I watched that they're popular with is that
ASMR or that slow motion, you know, and you just go, yeah.
And then I do it for like two wheels. I'm like, Okay, let's
just go. I don't know if that's the thing for me. This is where I
go wrong. For right now, detailing a car is so
mindless for me, meaning like there's just I'm in a routine.
Hey, I'm pulling this car in, we got to get it done that I
just kind of like go on autopilot. You know what I mean? And
even if I just pull my own car out, I'm like, Hey, time I need
to get this cleaned up. We got rain or whatever. I pull it out.
And for whatever reason, it's just like, I look for the same
bottles at the beginning. I set up the foam can in this. I
don't even think about it. I don't even like you're not
experimenting at all. I mean, unless you've sent me
something, and you go, Hey, I need your feedback. It's
sort of just like, I don't know, man, like I don't even I don't
even think about anything. It's just like I just have the same
routine that I've been doing for so long. It's it kind of sucks
because I bet you there's cool ways to do stuff. And I'm just
like, I'm just doing the same thing.
There's got to be I think one of the next things got to be
some people that just come up with some random new ways of
doing some stuff. Like you said, you're not reinventing
the wheel. You're just using the same things but just
doing them in different ways. I know there's going to be
some stuff start coming out that it's cool. Like, yeah, I
don't even know idea. Don't don't put me and go, What are you
talking about? Like, I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm
just going, there's got to be some people that come up with
some weird things of doing some stuff that actually work,
right? Like, I think that's the fun stuff. All right, let's
go back in the day because Sean Minor said he has a client
with early 2000s tourists. I first want to pause. Yeah, go
back in the day. That's a throwback.
Yeah, a tourist back in the day. There was a tourist wagon. You
remember the Ford tourist wagons? And the show? Yeah, the
show is sweet. A show could compete on the street with
most I can compete with a lot of cars. Hey, when they go to
the tourist, you know what they killed? That was like, that
was the corporate car. For those that weren't around.
Everybody that had a company car had a tourist. Yep. And
most of them had what I was thinking of is that Oh, get back
up there. Yeah, the headliner would always fall. Yeah, that's
true. Good call. Always. Oh, that was corporate America 101
once upon a time. Yep. All right. So any suggestions
because they've they're going to spray paint that says he
asked what clear would work under ceramics? Yeah, so yeah, I'll
say this. I got some clarification. But look, there's a lot
of companies now that are selling like turbo nozzle paint.
That's actually automotive paint. Like it's it's in a
turbo nozzle in a in a in a spray can. And people are
doing yeah, yeah, yeah, people are doing interesting things
with but it is car paint. Like I'm not sitting here
saying it's the highest quality car but it is car
paint. And his question is relevant because he goes what
clear? Well, as long as they use an automotive clear, a clear is
a clear. I'm not talking about how good it's going to look. When
they talk mills, we don't know how many meals. If they shoot
clear on the top of us, a clear is a clear, right? As long as
they put clear on there, you can ceramic coat it. It
doesn't matter where that also has clear in it. Do they
have now the the aerosol that's combined? They say you just
spray it on? Yeah, I'm sure that they do. But I think in his
instance, they were talking about laying down a base layer.
And then they were talking about laying down some clear but
you're exactly right. I'm sure there's stuff that that I'm
not big in the spray paint world for anybody out there
listening. I mean, I don't know everything they have, but I've
seen a few things. It's not my clientele.
Do you remember the story of my Bronco? Yeah, that's if we
could call Marshall senior the Bronco that I had in college that
he was it rattle canned? He rattle canned it. Yeah. He actually
got so much stuff all over his arms. Yeah, he did it right in
our garage. You know, I mean, that was his let he put that
little better now. I mean, look, there's guys that are
really talented with this turbo can stuff. And I've seen
some cool stuff. Again, I don't know how it looks in
person. Wasn't that back then we know. But you know,
again, guys, if there's clear on something and they've
actually shot clear on the top, it can be coded. That that's the
answer to the question. It can be coded. I don't know how it's
going to look again, because it's going to be talent specific.
How good is this person at doing this? But yeah, you can
absolutely code it.
Alright, I got a text from Corey, so we're staying back
in the day. I think I sent it over to you. Did I send
over to you? I recently became a motor vehicle dealer. This is
his first flip a 2004 Wrangler TJ nice only 90,000 miles four
wheel drive five speed red. Beautiful that old red. Yeah, looks
good. Looks good. So we love seeing people that that post
this is cool that somebody now is getting into moving into
some cars and that look that was a big part that was a big
part of my life. So pre COVID here in in Nevada, you were able
to sell six cars individually every year without getting a
dealer's license. So obviously, I'd put cars and a lot of
people's names and take their six without having to get a
dealer's license. So look, this was kind of part of the
detailing business for those of you that weren't around a lot
of old school detailers. This was part of their business
model. They always were flipping something an old Tahoe and old
truck. You know, that was part of the business. And that's the
business that I was kind of brought up in is like, Hey,
this mechanic wants to get rid of this car or this shop down
here has a car they want to sell it or so and so's grandmother
wants to sell hers and it hasn't been taken care of and
then but the engine would be good. So that's kind of what
detailers did back then they go okay, it's mechanically
sound because I don't know how to do that stuff usually. But I
can rehab the exterior I can rehab the interior and I can sell it
for a little bit of money. And that was part of the business
it's not so much now. Obviously Corey is dipping his toes
into this but for those that ever want to want to ever
wonder about me like that was a big part of my business is
there'll be times I'd have six and seven cars or three cars
or whatever and I'd be trying to offload them and we'd gone
through them and we did everything. And then I as I
started to get better at it, I'd take some that had some
warning lights get a better deal. You know, but I had
mechanics I'd go to and hey, can you fix this warning light
fix this problem? You can get into some trouble and now
with the numbers being so big, I think it's probably
scared. It hasn't scared me I just don't have the time to
do it I'd still probably find a way to do it but as soon
as COVID hit prices went crazy. You know, I had
hyperclean other things going on. But yeah, it used to be
mechanics and detailers and body shops used to flip cars a
lot more than is regular today. They always flip cars. So
that's just kind of how it happened. Well, an interesting
as you said, like, this mechanic would have
something the engine's great, but the interior needs a
little love. Yeah, that paints paints gonna need a
little bit of love but you know, it ain't too bad.
Yeah, look, I still know some guys in Southern
California, there's a couple guys that come to mind. I
still see them flipping cars, but they've also been the
detailing industry like 30 plus years, you know, just guys
that have been doing it a long time. You know, you'll
see them do it like getting ready for Christmas. They're
like, I picked up this, you know what I mean? It was
like always their thing of my family wants to go on
vacation. So this summer, I'm going to pay with
vacation. I'm going to get this GMC and I'm going to
fix it up and I'll get it sold and then we'll kind
of take like that's just kind of how some of these guys
did it. I thought that was a cool just not as mainstream
now, right? It's just not how everybody does it now. But
it was very, very popular. I mean, it had to be most of
your career, most of my career.
Well, and and what I was going to say is it ties in
exactly with that picture that I sent you last
week. 2003 28 I
Yeah.
Oh, no.
Can you guys see Marty having a deal with BMW dings and
chimes and, you know, we've been on this wagon ear
project for 800 years, it seems at this point. So I
can't imagine if that thing starts digging and buzzing
at you.
But two mechanics previously owned it. That's only
thing that people and that's what exactly they
said. Hey, the engine has no leaks. Engine's great.
I think it's just a lot of BMWs. Yes, it could have no
leaks today and have a ton of them tomorrow.
Sure. But they just they said and then exactly the way
that car is is what you talked about. The engine's
good. But it needs some love on his pain needs a
little I mean, it just it was exactly what you were
talking about. I mean, it's that is what needs to
happen. There's some stuff on the seat that needs
some work, you know, but it's just dingy, right?
Like, then it just needs some love just needs some
restore some rest. That says two mechanics owned it. You
know what I mean? Like that dingy interior, the messed
up paint, it's like you and then they tell you two
mechanics owned it and you go, Oh, makes sense. Makes
sense. But if everything's on the engine's right, I
think I'm in. I really do. Yeah. Yeah, why not? You
only live once, then you're gonna put that on the
company card. You'll be like, Hey, Nick, guess what?
I got a new ride. Alright, guys, go interact with
this over on the hyper clean specialist page on
Facebook. There's a place to go in. We love
everything that goes on there. It's a great time.
So we'll see everybody over there. See you guys.
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