Cold weather presents unique challenges for auto detailing, and this episode dives into effective winter detailing strategies. The hosts discuss the importance of using the right products, managing water temperatures, and adapting techniques for interior cleaning in freezing conditions. They also touch on window tinting, emphasizing the significance of quality materials and the risks of using subpar films. With insights on maintaining business momentum during winter and tips for enhancing detailing processes, this episode is packed with practical advice for detailers navigating the colder months.
In this episode, Marshall and Nick dive into the nuances of car detailing, particularly focusing on the impact of winter conditions on detailing processes. They discuss the importance of using quality window film and the challenges of maintaining a detailing business during colder months.
The conversation shifts to practical tips for detailers, including how to handle interior cleaning in freezing temperatures and the significance of using reputable products. Marshall shares his personal experiences with carpet cleaning, emphasizing the need for thoroughness and the right tools, while Nick provides insights on the best practices for detailing in winter conditions, including the use of heated garages and the importance of product quality.
The episode wraps up with a discussion on the differences in detailing various car types and the challenges that come with them, particularly in colder climates.
The BMW X5 M is a fast and sporty version of the BMW X5, which is a type of SUV. It has a powerful engine and looks really cool.
The BMW X5 M is a high-performance version of the X5 SUV, featuring a powerful engine, sport-tuned suspension, and aggressive styling. It's designed for those who want an SUV with sports car-like performance.
"...is on window film right and you know, I were discussing this window film that I have is a three in window film put on by a previous, you know, owner, but all scratched up."
Window film is a special material that you can stick on car windows. It helps keep the car cooler and protects you from the sun's rays while also making it harder for people to see inside.
Window film is a thin layer of material applied to the interior or exterior of a vehicle's windows to reduce glare, heat, and UV rays. It can enhance privacy and improve the aesthetic appearance of the car.
"...when it comes to anything tent related, which is what you're dealing with is tent. No, there is no doesn't matter what people say, you're dealing with a very thick film..."
Tint is a special film you can put on car windows to make them darker. It helps keep the car cooler and gives you more privacy, but it can also make it harder to see out at night.
Tint refers to the application of a colored or shaded film on car windows to reduce light transmission and increase privacy. Different levels of tint can affect visibility and heat inside the vehicle.
"...a good film that you have all scratched up on your BMW from somebody using a sunshade on the interior. It's just replacement..."
BMW is a car brand from Germany that makes fancy and fast cars. They are known for their stylish designs and great handling on the road.
BMW is a German automotive manufacturer known for producing luxury vehicles that emphasize performance and driving dynamics. They are often associated with sporty designs and advanced engineering.
"...when ceramic film was promised, we had, you know, big issues out here with that. I know warmer states have had that. I don't, I wouldn't put on any window tent that wasn't ceramic."
Ceramic film is a special kind of window tint that helps keep cars cooler by blocking heat and harmful rays from the sun. It's better than regular tints because it lasts longer and doesn't make it hard to see out the windows.
Ceramic film is a type of window tint that uses ceramic particles to block heat and UV rays without affecting visibility. It is known for its durability and effectiveness compared to traditional films.
"...ceramic coating in a glass bottle and a metal bottle with the proper amount of ingredient versus everything else..."
Ceramic coating is a special liquid that you can put on a car's surface to protect it and make it shiny. It helps keep the car clean by making water and dirt slide off more easily.
Ceramic coating is a liquid polymer applied to the exterior of a vehicle to protect it from environmental contaminants and enhance its shine. It creates a hydrophobic surface that repels water and dirt, making it easier to clean.
"...sealant type of stuff that's being sold as a coating, but also that the stuff that you and I can see very clearly in our world is somebody putting almost nothing but solvents in a glass bottle..."
A sealant is something you put on a car's paint to keep it safe and make it look good. It lasts longer than regular wax and helps protect the car from things like dirt and rain.
A sealant is a product used to protect a vehicle's paint and enhance its appearance. Unlike wax, which provides a temporary layer of protection, sealants offer longer-lasting durability and protection against the elements.
"...Think of a dealership coating. There would be a perfect example and we'll give you an example that we probably haven't talked about in a while..."
Dealership coating is a special treatment that car dealerships offer to protect your car's paint. Sometimes, these treatments can be expensive, and people wonder if they are really worth the money.
Dealership coating refers to protective products applied to vehicles by dealerships, often at a premium price. These coatings may not always provide the quality or durability expected, leading to concerns about value for money.
"...Tesla's are the easiest car to detail says if you say anything about the glass yeah I mean it's easy I mean there's not a lot of nooks and crannies on your pretty basic..."
Detailing is a way to clean a car really well, making it look like new. It involves washing, waxing, and cleaning the inside too.
Detailing refers to the thorough cleaning and restoration of a vehicle's interior and exterior. It often includes washing, waxing, and polishing to achieve a high level of cleanliness and shine.
"...Tesla's are the easiest car to detail says if you say anything about the glass yeah I mean it's easy I mean there's not a lot of nooks and crannies on your pretty basic..."
Tesla cars are easier to clean because they have simple designs without many hard-to-reach areas. This means you can clean them faster and with less effort.
Tesla vehicles are known for their minimalist design and ease of cleaning, particularly due to their lack of complex nooks and crannies. This makes them easier to detail compared to other vehicles.
"...the hardest car they said was a luxury full size car like because there was more size more stuff going on so many different things happening."
A full-size luxury car is a big, comfortable car that has a lot of fancy features. Because they are bigger and have more stuff inside, they can be harder to clean.
A full-size luxury car is a larger vehicle that offers high levels of comfort, technology, and performance. They often have more complex interiors and features, making them more challenging to clean and maintain.
"I mean maybe the Model S considered luxury about it I mean you're talking about Model S Plaid that'd be about it."
The Tesla Model S is a high-end electric car that offers luxury features and fast performance. The 'Plaid' version is even faster than the regular Model S.
The Tesla Model S is a luxury all-electric sedan known for its high performance and advanced technology features. The 'Plaid' variant is particularly noted for its impressive acceleration and speed.
"...hardest things to deal with when it's cold. Alright so does win and this is what we're going to all have to get used to right the new abrasives right because I had somebody asking you know hey I've got this new C8 with black paint..."
The GMC 2500 is a strong pickup truck that can carry heavy loads and tow trailers. It's often used for work because of its durability.
The GMC 2500 is a heavy-duty pickup truck designed for towing and hauling. It is known for its robust build and capability, making it a popular choice for work and utility purposes.
"...this is what we're going to all have to get used to right the new abrasives right because I had somebody asking you know hey I've got this new C8 with black paint..."
Abrasives are substances that help to clean or smooth surfaces, like car paint. They are used when detailing a car to make the paint look better.
Abrasives are materials used to smooth or polish surfaces by rubbing them against the material. They are commonly used in detailing and paint correction processes to remove imperfections from a vehicle's finish.
"...hey I've got this new C8 with black paint you know no deep scratches nothing crazy but what should I hit it with..."
The C8 is the latest version of the Chevrolet Corvette, a famous sports car known for its speed and style. This version has the engine located in the middle of the car, which is different from earlier models.
The Chevrolet Corvette C8 is the eighth generation of the iconic sports car, featuring a mid-engine layout and advanced performance capabilities. It represents a significant shift in design and engineering for the Corvette lineup.
Rubbernecking: The Allure of Cool Cars
Window Film: Quality Matters
Winter Detailing Challenges
Interior Detailing in Cold Weather
Adapting Techniques for Winter Detailing
Final Thoughts on Quality and Process
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Welcome to the pints and polishing podcast, the most influential and listen to podcast in auto detailing. Welcome to the community.
I don't want to know what is something that makes you rubber neck while you're driving down the road. All right. Now, most of us of all, we should all go, Well, there's this beautiful dot dot dot. Right. Most of all going to rubber neck over something beautiful.
I rubber necked the other day over. Now, maybe is it because I'm just seeing BMW is too much. Maybe. But if you ever see
A black freshly detailed coated seems to be even special or you can see that glisten off the
You know, the side of the the hood, you got those different body lines. You just see something special. It made me shoot over and look at it.
I couldn't help but just kind of gaze and go, you know, sort of this is what I always do. It's that whole thing, you know, the three fingers up from like mocking J. You're like, go well, oh great one. Right. They detailed fully dialed in. It was that X five M. Oh, super cool little SUV.
Is that what always makes you or you have anything that makes you just wow, what is it? Yeah, I don't bad. We'll assume we're all probably the same on that. Just if you see a cool car, you don't get to see a lot. Yeah, I would say that's mine.
Do you think you look over the, you know, this week was chilly bowl coming into Tulsa created a different scene into town.
You think there's certain cars that makes you look more than others or do you simply stay in your your land. You always laugh at certain cars. We can just certain think of chilly bowl. Right. And some certain styles of cars that might come in.
And we might be a little bit more aggressive laughing at those as they drive down the road or not. I guess.
Yeah, no, I think for me, it's I just just you know, obviously guys with a lot of stickers guys with, you know, bad taste and aftermarket parts, things like that would be something that I just
Well, you post some stuff and the reason why I was bringing up like there's some cool stuff to post in the specialist group, right. Like so it was just more of a pick your brain like what is it that you really like that really grabs your attention.
Yeah, we'll see it in different stuff that you put in the group. We definitely see it. Yeah, cool cars.
I see we had a question last week. You and I were talking it was is on window film right and you know, I were discussing this window film that I have is a three in window film put on by a previous, you know, owner, but all scratched up.
Right. Now, first off, can we can we polish film? Right, let's talk about you have a lot more experience in window film than than most people know is window polishable.
You know, look, there's going to be people who do some stuff with windshield film. You have a chance to remove some haze on outside windshield film. When it comes to anything tent related, which is what you're dealing with is tent.
No, there is no doesn't matter what people say, you're dealing with a very thick film, a good film that you have all scratched up on your BMW from somebody using a sunshade on the interior. It's just replacement, you know, I mean, that's the thing about tent is, you know, once you have an issue is just replacement.
If somebody gets window film on the windshield, right, they don't need a sunshade necessary. I mean, that crazy story that people would do that, then just don't get the just don't get the film. I mean, I don't really know why you would get the film and then still deal with, you know, putting a sunshade up, but look, sunshades are big where I live, like if you're in Florida, Texas, Arizona, Southern California, you know, Las Vegas, it's it's something people do.
If they put, you know, windshield tent on, if they put the right stuff on, there's really no reason to fool with that.
All right, the right stuff, right? There's sort of the question because, you know, I talked to a guy that he's a local guy, you know, I asked him, he's a tenor, I said, Hey, man, what, you know, what do you use? And he threw out just some name, you know, I had probably thousands.
Well, I don't know if they're sell, I don't hundreds, I don't know, you know, of tint shops and tint companies. I mean, that film, let's let's be very specific, tint film companies that we're talking about, that I would never even know their names, right?
Like, I only know of a handful of names, like I would say, probably most people that are in the detailing quote unquote industry that that don't actually apply tint or it's around 10, they probably only know a handful of names.
Now, he used one that I don't know. Is that a, is that a like a immediate line drawn? You can only go with these handfuls or
weird thing about if you go with something else barely cheap, using reputable stuff, you know, meaning like for the shop for the installer. So it is kind of a red flag when
you know, people don't use the reputable brands because I mean, it's already so incredibly affordable to do it right.
I think you got the suspicion that maybe, you know, you felt it was cheap, because you're like, I don't know, I mean,
what's that brand? I'm not trying to pick on any brands. I mean, it's just so easy to do tint correctly.
You know, that I don't think you really need to venture into cheaper brands, but you know, just like we see in detailing, you know, when
window tint and PPF are no different, actually probably more aggressively now, we're seeing PPF where shops are searching out the cheapest that they can find,
you know, let's say the Chinese brands and things like that, they're going through their little phase of cheapness that they maybe didn't have as harshly,
you know, in the last decade as they have now. But you know, when it comes to window film or, you know, windshield or window tint, excuse me,
I really kind of stay in the pocket of the big brands, the people that have the technology because look, people don't know this,
even the brands that make the stuff don't make that much money on window tint. So it tells you that there's a little bit of a divide between the people that manufacture it
and quote unquote, like you said, these hundreds, if not thousands of brands just popping up, you know, more power to them if they've actually developed something that's great.
I certainly don't know every window tint company, but I've sort of stayed with the most reputable ones and just left it at that.
Well, I mean, we're a quote unquote, a startup manufacturer, you know, people that are detailing might not know us, but yet others might say, Hey, no, you should go with them.
So there's got to be some out there because this guy, he goes, No, I mean, they're they're this brand or whatever they were, and he goes, I love it.
Right. So how, how do we know because we know we go into Facebook groups, there's people that love buying the cheap stuff at the body shop store, right? Like, we know that
Well, the thing is, I would just I would just try to find a manufacturer.
What is why is something different than a lot of companies that have come out as you know, we're not, we're not, we're manufacturing our stuff, right?
So, which is actually fairly rare in today's, you know, detailing world.
It's a lot of just going to somebody and having it labeled for you and there's nothing wrong with that.
But that'd be our separator at this moment in time.
And that's the same thing with tent.
You know, when you don't manufacture and look, there's some big brands, I mean, one of the biggest brands in the industry, they don't manufacture anything.
But I also don't put that tent on my car. And I never have that's long before any of this.
They didn't really own any real technology.
They didn't really do anything differently.
So look, you're talking about a core few brands that actually make anything in the in the PPF or window tent world.
You know, so again, I'm sure there are great brands that I haven't tried.
If we're asking what I do on my cars, situations I've had with my customers cars, there are brands we stick with and there are brands that we don't.
But that doesn't mean I've tried every brand.
And I'm sure there's good brands out there I don't know about.
But I just what we see essentially, if you talk to, to, to many shops behind the scenes and you have relationships, they are specifically going for the cheaper film.
I mean, could it be good? I'm sure it could be. But if you talk to them, they'll be like, yeah, I mean, it just cost me less.
Sure.
And it's what does that do to the customer, right? I mean, you mean it could be hotter.
It means it thinks is what going to be a lot of where where, you know, a lot of carbon film is being put on when when ceramic film was promised, we had, you know, big issues out here with that.
I know warmer states have had that. I don't, I wouldn't put on any window tent that wasn't ceramic.
I just wouldn't fool with it.
Because I mean, essentially car.
How do I know if I'm if I'm the end user, how do I know when it's my car is their way of knowing is that I mean, it's really hard to detect if you if you don't know anything.
You got to hope that you're with an honest shop.
But this is kind of the thing that we've said to everybody, you know, we're starting to get a dividing line between people and shops that are willing to do things the right way and shops that are going to skirt doing things the right way.
I mean, it's always been a part of this business. There's just now more businesses. So we see it a lot more.
Is this the similar, I don't want to say con, but some people might say it's a con, right? Is this a similar con to, you know, yeah, ceramic and water or ceramic and solve a big difference, right?
Like ceramic coating in a glass bottle and a metal bottle with the proper amount of ingredient versus everything else.
Plastic bottle, you know, sealant type of stuff that's being sold as a coating, but also that the stuff that you and I can see very clearly in our world is somebody putting almost nothing but solvents in a glass bottle.
Think of a dealership coating. There would be a perfect example and we'll give you an example that we probably haven't talked about in a while.
There's a major film company that's constantly struggled with their ceramic coating line and we have behind the scenes knowledge being a manufacturer of them searching out $9 bottles of ceramic coating, their cost to then charge the end user 200, 250 to the shop.
Well, they've continued to have this problem and when I was able to talk to them, this was, I don't know, Marty was at two years ago, maybe 18 months ago.
And they gave me this information. I said, bud, that doesn't work.
The raw material costs something and they've never budged off that, by the way, in the last five years and they still have a coating system that's struggling, right?
And they're having a coating system that's struggling because they don't want to pay.
So they have all of these installers of their film also installing their ceramic coating going, we don't know why it's failing.
So it is all related, right? Like, you know, I'm just using this as a point of, you know, window tint, ceramic coating, everything costs something to manufacture.
If one is exceedingly cheaper to the company providing the service and they're going with that, they also could be, you know, putting stuff on a customer's car that is not valuable, not going to last, not going to do what's promised.
And there is a difference. I mean, you know, when you, when you see window tint that works really well, there's a very, very big difference in quality of tint, just like there's a difference in quality of ceramic coating or anything else.
Okay, let's say I'm a detailer. Let's change it up to a detailer, not the end user. And because we're going to get into here pretty soon, you know, things that people should be doing in the winter.
You know, this is a could be a winter project for somebody thinking about bringing in tint. Should they bring it in? What companies to go with you said, you know, hey, go with the top, you know, let's say I'm somebody that goes, I don't I don't maybe I don't have a rep in there.
I'm just you could throw out whatever examples right like that whatever they they don't want to go with one of those. And they're looking around at some others or let's go with this. Let's go with this very viable, you know, scenario for people.
I got a sales call from somebody. And I'm not sure on that company, but the guy sounded really nice. Or somebody came in, made a stop by sales call. And then that guy sounded really nice. You know what, what should I do trying to examine if I
think you should be good quality 10 very tough. You know, you can you can do, you know, heat tests on your own and, you know, get into some specialty stuff with that. Look, man, a lot of this stuff is is what a lot of guys end up doing is taking the sales reps word for it.
I mean, that's just always been how this stuff works. It doesn't matter for in our world or million other worlds of business. That's that's what ends up happening. We, we even have to do that with some of our vendors from time to time that information comes back and it's not great information.
We actually test their product and go, and we can't put this raw material in here. It's not an eye for an eye on this thing. You've had that happen probably a million times over the last 3648 months.
Look, man, that's why I would tell guys, especially if you're getting into it for the first time, stick with the known names, stick with the people that have been proven in the market. And then once you get a little bit more knowledge, you can start to figure out there's other brands that you like and things like that.
But largely, you know, most detailers are not prepared to get into Windows 10. You know, they're not prepared to get into paint protection, but we've talked about this a lot on this podcast. That's not to tell people not to do it, but it's just a different business.
It's a different type of customer. It's it's different all the way around. And if you're detailing business is not doing extremely well, you know, adding some of these services becomes a problem.
It does the guy that picks those 10th or, you know, saving 50 cents a square foot or those like the guys that buy the water down the situation. So I was outsourcing, you know, and I have a chance to outsource quite a bit of 10 because, you know, as you know, at the shop, we're dealing with more stuff now and doing some things that just don't give us as much time.
And the number one reason we couldn't outsource to a certain shop was because he was using a subpar tent that's being built here, you know, locally and it's it's like this that it's not a good tent like I already know it isn't.
I have proof that it isn't. And he just flat out said like hey man it's cheap. It works good enough.
You know, type of thing and it's like, okay, man, well, I can't, I can't send people to you. Like if you don't start using a reputable tent because again, there's real ramifications out here, because 10 can fail fairly quickly.
I mean one bad summer you could have some problems with 10 out here. Not only that the consumer doesn't get the value out of it, but you could have bubbling you can have, you know, delamination type of stuff.
I mean, you can just have all kinds of things happen in these high heat situations. It's not worth the rest.
Alright, cool. Alright, so I want to say thanks vehicle detailing services really enjoyed last last episode. The business detailing episode is what he calls it really likes those.
And, you know, we're going to get into today of more the process, not so much the business. But there was one process that you want to kind of update everybody on. And that is my carpet situation.
One thing that I have realized and I took your advice and we are working on something as reason why I want to bring it up but I went ahead and used enzyme and went and cleaned all of my carpets.
Now, I think two things I immediately noticed one enzyme when I first did that video we introduced it and I did the, you know, here's what people are going to love. One of the things I talked about was how enzyme fluffens up the fibers.
And as soon as I used it was brushing out my carbons vacuum and everything, you could just feel is like the fibers just released and opened up. That in itself in there really helped a lot of my issue of whatever dirt's in there, whatever stuff has been trapped just the opening
of the fibers and the fluffiness really does help release a lot of the stuff out. Yeah, even when I used your favorite tools.
Enzymes one of those things should be your first step should, you know, very easy to use and there's a reason we have it.
So, your favorite tool probably wouldn't be used on a regular basis in your shop, your favorite tool being the tornador, the tornador for carpets not Nick's favorite.
But we come into carpet cleaning we got a couple situations and this process that I want us to specifically think about because in the business talk when we talk about car washing we talk about detailing carpets right here, you know, people would call detailing using
enzyme using a system spraying scrubbing you'll watch it in videos you watch detailers spray scrub all very generic. And this is detailing. And that's what I did. You know, day or two later once once I was you know ready to kind of get back in it's not a car I'm using on a regular basis.
So I just want to kind of work on it and then come back. I realized something. The quote unquote detail didn't really happen. You know around the edges carpets that hadn't been cleaned in a while you know around the the the seat where the rail comes, you know in between the seats all that.
There in the lies where I missed as the detailer for me. Like like and that. Oh, I can't unsee it now. Now I get in and I'm bragging I'm like, Well, look how clean I am Nick would be so proud of me, looking at the main parts of my carpet.
Until I lean over and I go damn it. I really need a steamer or here's my I you know which we talked about like I don't want to use an extractor there way too much water to be shot down. So that needs to be a steamer or if I'm a guy that doesn't want to spend the money
You got to get in there with that one. I got to do a toothbrush now.
And there becomes that. That's the detail part nobody likes right that's the labor s part where I could have subbed it out, spent the money and bought the steamer that process should already 100% be solved, especially right now in the winter.
Who wants to be scrubbing carpets when they could be steaming them so let's get into processes inside of the winter that need to be changed versus other times right because we can start immediately with one one that I saw right out from the gate now we know that
Nick and Vegas isn't used to cold doesn't get cold there in Vegas, but everybody else you know we get cold. Nick you just have to, you know, let other people know what you do in Vegas. I'm just making jokes here right now you know like this is all just fun stuff but
But in a sense, if you put water in a tank, very large tank. Yeah, it's cold. What happens Nick?
Going to freeze you can see in groups, not the specialist group we haven't had it but we see in different Facebook groups, people going, Hey, what can I put in my water tank to keep it from freezing.
Yeah, here's the thing. I here's the clue out there in Vegas doesn't get cold. I wouldn't put anything but you know especially if it's going on carpets but I guess I don't know.
Yeah, I never put anything in my water tank either that's I'll bring it out guys are going to guys are going to say things like alcohol.
I mean if it's going into a carpet I don't think you. Yeah, but I just don't put a lot of alcohol. That's too much alcohol.
Oh, you almost have to use like the stuff you put in your window washer fluid right you you almost have to just go to but you don't want to spray that all over car.
Like this is a question though this is asking and is there anything and you'd almost just go. No, you can buy like probably stuff dropping water heaters things like that.
I mean I think a lot of people are in tough situations right you know where it does get extremely cold and they're still trying to do stuff and I'm sure there's secrets out there that we don't know about but
I think you have to solve it by you know number one probably having a garage you know which some people may or may not have maybe they live in an apartment in there.
But you know I mean you're almost better off finding a place to store your vehicle in the winter time than you are any of these different you know quote unquote chemical fixes that people would try.
I think you're probably talking about some type of heater going into your water tank would be really the only play but look there's there's there's fire hazards and you know different things that come from that.
Yeah I never put a I never put a heater in there but you're right that was in some of the comments was that I always you know I when I was mobile I was at the apartments right so I was living with some guys and I would always make sure that I rented you know you
paid the extra hundred hundred fifty bucks to get that that garage and you just have to have it like and that's where I say I learned how to back a trailer into right you learn pretty quickly when you only have a couple inches on each side.
I never I never put anything in to me if I had a couple hundred gallons of water.
It's going to take a long time for that to freeze now you got to drain that here no doubt we can get lines have to be trained but you got to make sure that you get the stuff out of there and allows you to work the next day.
The other thing is if you're if you're buying the water from somewhere else you know you can you know you could just pick it up that morning that way you don't give it time to freeze.
I mean I don't envy anybody working in that type of weather but there are definite ways around it and like you said I mean the number one thing is to rent a space to put you know your van your trailer whatever it is and if you don't have access to putting it in your own garage.
Yeah but that's definitely a reason you always bring in I had an open trailer so I'd always have to bring in every squirt ball you know throw them in the milk carton bring everything in you know it is it is more work in the winter I but I would rather do the more work that I don't know how the people close down.
Right like I mean the interesting part when I say we got to talk about processes differently is because the other options close I don't know how right you and I've talked about this.
I don't know how people close down when we had bad weather and I was fully mobile you know I just will get into some jokes like what should be done there was days.
I just decided he's better for me to just sit here and play Tiger would golf and hang out with my buddies because we're snowed in right like I would take some blow off days.
Is that right.
I don't know I was young but at some time you also go yeah I mean sometimes maybe I mean you just work on your marketing work on your sales ability there's a lot of things you can do I don't know that everybody's going to do that.
If your winters if your winners are.
No so that's why I did cheap food yeah McDonald's I got cheap beer you know yeah you just live a cheap life if you take off time that much time that means there's there's other changes elsewhere I would say this to anybody I grew up I mean I started this business
in the snow belt and dealt with it.
You know there's a really big conversation of you know do you try to you know find a spot to rent at a shop during the winter months.
You know it could be a mechanic shop could be some type of body you know body shop could be any kind of shop a glass shop and they'll let you work out of there.
You know the other thing is you could take you know like you know where I grew up it was really popular for people to plow snow in the winter.
You know and that's what they did that's that's how they they kept their money coming in for a landscaper or you know different people like that.
I think it's hard to lose momentum but could you run this business working yourself to death you know during the winter month or during the summer months and then take the winter off yeah I think you could probably pull that off.
But then everybody complains about all the hours they have to work during the warm months so you know I don't know what the right is I would say I'd find every excuse not to shut my business down.
And long term if I lived somewhere cold I would be moving myself into a shop situation whether that was just a one bay shop that I rented that was fairly cheap and not the perfect shop.
To Bay shop doesn't matter I mean that's where I would work myself towards as fast as possible but then you're talking about overhead and worry and how do you keep that going in the winter.
So everybody has a different you know reality of what they want to do but if you want to eventually have a large scale business I don't think you can really shut down during the letter.
I don't think so either so let's think about some things and let's discuss some things that people should do then when it's cold because I talked to a detailer last week and he's like hey man it's snowing.
I'm going to get together an order but you know I'm probably just going to wait.
So you know that immediately when it's snowing you start thinking through some things that you could do easy right this is just we're not going to go into this is just easy low hanging fruit.
You immediately go into hey what am I using a lot of can I reorder right that's easy stuff the easy process of your business.
Here's one that I don't know if people will think about when it's chemicals and this would be the right time to do it.
Should I start venturing out into some new products that would generate some new services or some new offerings for my customers right should I begin to change my packages.
And begin to offer something right this would be a time to go ahead and spend researching these random things that you thought of spend the hours actually invest the time reading watching the videos and then play some orders right like get some orders in to start testing around with some products.
Another guy talked to last week he was asking me if he could test something of ours and I was like no no but I appreciate it and he's like oh but I love to test and I was like dude I think it's great time to test stuff.
I think it's just all dependent on what you want to do if you're trying to run a business you need to run your business and you need to try to get business in the winter time.
Is there time for blow off time and goofing around and testing stuff sure but you know if we're talking to people trying to actually do this long term you know interiors are probably going to be your friend in the winter time correction and coatings if there's you know good.
All right so let's let's do the interior I'm glad you got so that's what we're going to get to right so we're going to go over some different ones.
If you had to do an interior detail at zero degrees weather how would you do it this was a post I love it when people are an ominous participant this was out of some group right like how would you do an interior in zero degree weather.
I think your go to is going to be what one of these guys says yeah no I mean a garage on in the car let the customer know you got to run the car.
You know we operate that that way in the summer you know that you know when we're doing interiors the AC is on customers are well aware of it they understand.
But you know just make sure the heat is on and you know you got the car warmed up and you're good to go I mean but it but you get to these points where you know there's a lot of people that seem to get to the winter time and confused on how to do things in the winter time.
And it's not their first season going through winter you know if you haven't started figuring things out for your area.
I mean that's the best use of your time there is I mean you should be figuring out that you know leave one of your cars outside all night and then go detail the interior.
I mean you should be able to find some things out there seems to be people that are in year three four and five that always get surprised by two things it's hot in the summer and it's cold in the winter.
We seem to always see repeated conversation around how hot it is and how cold it is and it's just one of those things that you're going to have to find out what works for your area.
And you know the question that was listed in some of these comments which is is a valuable question but I just wanted to say I never had the issue because I took my spray bottles in is you know what about the spray bottles and you know you're going to go
spray a car you know and it's 32 degrees or negative zero whatever you want to say like it's cold it's negative for whatever.
I always had a rule when I would communicate with my customers it had to get above you know if 32 is freezing had to get 3640 degrees somewhere around there before I could come out because a the car itself.
I spray the water it's just going to freeze on the panel but the people wanted to know about freezing on the interior.
No I mean it's 32 degrees out it doesn't you don't just spray a chemical on it suddenly freezes on a vinyl leather chemicals is one of the worst things that can happen to a chemical as it freezes.
I mean I hear all this talk about hot weather and how chemical like the worst thing that can happen is your chemicals freeze.
I mean it's just just a fact so if you are living in a place your chemicals need to be somewhere where they don't freeze and like you said it's it's the winter time it's not the most convenient but if you're leaving them out in your van or your trailer and they're freezing.
Anything can happen I mean you've now changed a lot about that chemical so they can't freeze I mean that's that's just a bottom line you know fact that you can't let your chemicals freeze.
All right so let's say you're in the winter Nick all right and you are not in Vegas.
What is the easiest car for you to clean this is what somebody posted inside one of the groups he says a hill I'm willing to die on literal literal his words a hill I'm willing to die on.
Tesla's are the easiest car to detail says if you say anything about the glass yeah I mean it's easy I mean there's not a lot of nooks and crannies on your pretty basic yeah I mean I would say he's probably right I mean it's pretty easy to detail.
I mean you're going that you didn't have one already did much easier than that there's you know any kind of small sedan you know anything smaller you know obviously the bigger you get the bigger headache it's going to be but yeah I would say he's probably not far off.
Yeah you're interesting right the bigger you get the bigger headaches because then you know inside the comments there was a said on the other hand the hardest car they said was a luxury full size car like because there was more size more stuff going on so many different
things happening.
That is interesting though right like the the easiest being a Tesla to the hardest being also a luxury car.
I mean maybe the Model S considered luxury about it I mean you're talking about Model S Plaid that'd be about it.
Yeah that'd be about it yeah the other ones are too cheap yeah you're right.
Okay so we're going to end on this one and because oh well hardest car if it's interior.
Okay here's what I had do you think the interiors on the hardest car would be different or on the luxury cars would be different or the soft paints and the GMC's and those with the real soft clear coats.
Yeah I think anything would be harder to talk about large scale detailing when it's cold out it's already kind of a headache I'd say anything large I mean F 250s you know 2500 GM's I mean I think those are the hardest things to deal with when it's cold.
Alright so does win and this is what we're going to all have to get used to right the new abrasives right because I had somebody asking you know hey I've got this new C8 with black paint you know no deep scratches nothing crazy but what should I hit it with and it basically has you know does the cold is that change anything with when I'm working on polishing and things like that.
Not the chemicals of spring but the actual abrasives.
Yeah probably I mean it could sometimes you might have to work a panel and extra pass or something like that but I actually think at times if it's too hot would be a bigger concern for me than if it's too cold.
Yeah I love cold coating.
Yeah I did shot a video much more than I like that I'm uploading right now that'll be on YouTube where I actually think I could have done half the car.
At a time I mean it's hard to do that on camera but I did show one whole side how I just did one whole side very easily in the cold like it's to me it's just it's just way easier.
Some things are easier but but Wesley sent me a message we were talking back and forth on some stuff he says it's much harder to get streaks out of glass in the cold.
Well I think here's the deal.
They're definitely processes that have to change.
If you have a process for glass in the summer and you have the same process in the winter you're going to really struggle.
Number one you should be using much less product in the winter than you do in the summer.
And I don't know how many people you know we talk about this you know with my guys or you know here you got to blow blow out the cracks you know a lot longer in the winter time than you do in the summer.
You know especially before coating something like that same with glass.
I'd be using half if not a quarter of the priority don't even use a lot of product on glass because I get it pretty much.
I just use glass cleaner to kind of get it finished out but yeah I mean very very little product should be used on glass from our glass cleaner in the in the winter time but that would be any product.
But if you could code.
Oh yeah I'm pretty sure I could have gotten pretty close to like a half to three quarter of the car laid down.
So but the interesting part is when I was talking to this guy over in a you know more the West sorry the East Coast.
He said they actually now have to put dehumidifiers in he said they get so much humidity in the in the winter I was like what.
Well yeah no that's what he says he said they have to.
That's what you know here we don't write those those dry airs coming out of Colorado is what we get.
We go when we used to do trainees in Colorado we were we would loved it.
There's we could code forever.
Like there's something about dryer colder weather.
For sure.
And I love to code cars.
Much easier much easier.
All right thank you guys everybody.
We'll see you over at hyper clean store dot com.
When you're thinking about products that you need to do for the winter coatings and all this stuff go in there.
If you need to ask us a question go over to the hyper clean specialist group.
If you're dealing with the cold and you want to talk through some stuff hyper clean specialist on Facebook we'll see everybody there.
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