Detail my car myself, or get a shop to do it?

[StageLeft]

You would consider paying $300 for somebody to clean your car? Fvck me. I can't believe people pay for that stuff. If you own a Murcielago, sure, but I truly don't get how people pay others hundreds of bucks to clean their car. Do it like your dad did with a bucket and sponge and if you need a tub or two of wax from autozone, get it. Interior? Buy a shop vac for $70. Want to shampoo the carpets? Hell, spend $150 on a wet vac and then you can do your carpets in the house, too.

That's just a wicked-awful use of money any way you cut it. In a week it will already have started picking up some dirt and in a month even more, plus your wheels will start picking up brake dust as they tend to do. Then you've got a dirty car again and the memory of all that cash spent.

The only time I'd consider doing this is if I was just about to sell the car and there was a real argument to a few hundred in detailing making such an impression it raised the offer by that much.

 

[HannibalX]

I don't think you understand or appreciate what's included in a professional detail. It's more than spending 15 minutes with a bucket of dish soap and an old rag slapping suds around the car. Not to mention things like paint corrections or using polishing compound (not wax) could actually damage the car's paint if attempted by a novice. Then there's the whole equipment thing. I don't have access to an expensive extractor for the carpets or an expensive ozone machine to deodorize the interior. Those are things I'm not going to drop thousands on myself. I don't have an inventory of products to choose from when it comes to wax, pc, etc, etc. Not every product is right for every paint type - I could spend a couple grand buying each product and testing it to know what works on my car or I could have a professional who already has the products and knows what works on my car do it.

Yes, you could do the work yourself but many people prefer to pay someone to do it. Why does that bother you? People hire house painters, landscapers, accountants, attorneys, mechanics, maids, cooks, doctors, carpet cleaners, etc to perform services at a professional level. Having a car detailed isn't any different. Also consider some folks just don't have the facilities to detail their own car which is why they pay to have it done.

Spending $500 twice a year for a full detail is money well spent IMO - it's just part of the cost of maintaining the car. No one is paying for that every week, but once in the spring and once in the fall is a great way to keep a car looking and feeling new.

 

[angry hampster]

Originally posted by: iFX


Spending $500 twice a year for a full detail is money well spent IMO .

On a 15K econo-car? You're insane. You could repaint the car entirely with the money you spend on doing that for a couple years.

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: angry hampster

Originally posted by: iFX


Spending $500 twice a year for a full detail is money well spent IMO .

On a 15K econo-car? You're insane. You could repaint the car entirely with the money you spend on doing that for a couple years.

THIS

Bat shit crazy, that's what you do to a 6 figure collector car...

in 5 years you've spent more on detailing than the residual value of your civic. /facepalm

 

[Scouzer]

I went out and bought a bunch of detailing crap:

Turtle Ice Wax (leftover, bought it a couple years ago)
Turtle Zip Wax Car Wash
Turtle Wheel Cleaner
303 Aerospace Protectant

So I'll be doing a light job myself next week when it stops snowing

 

[BlackTigers]

I love taking the time to detail my car. I just refuse to do any paint corrections myself, I don't want to trash my paint.

Every few weeks I'll spend a few hours cleaning my enire car. I actually probably apply too much wax ha ha. But it's so built up at this point that if I even just rinse my car I am left with a perfect finish.

So if you have the time, just clean it yourself.

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: Scouzer
I went out and bought a bunch of detailing crap:

Turtle Ice Wax (leftover, bought it a couple years ago)
Turtle Zip Wax Car Wash
Turtle Wheel Cleaner
303 Aerospace Protectant

So I'll be doing a light job myself next week when it stops snowing

303 is awesome for rubber and crap like that, I love the stuff. (keep it in my car actually)