A hacker will cost you money - a great detailer will save you money
07-16-2013, 02:59 PM
#1
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Thread Starter
A hacker will cost you money - a great detailer will save you money
I brought a MY13 E350 Estate to Garry Dean in Tampa, FL for detailing. The car is Diamond White and was delivered to us in September, 2012. It has approximately 10k miles. It has been "washed" at the MB dealer on a couple of occasions but other than that, I have washed the car by hand and I have only used a spray detailer to maintain the paint. I'd like to think it's well maintained but we use it a lot to drive on to the beach, carry kayaks, bicycles and other outdoor stuff.
Prior to bringing it to Garry, I brought the car to 4 other detailers near me to ask them what the car required. Here are the common things that all 4 detailers told me the car would need:
1)Foam down/soaked pre-wash plus hand wash
2)Clay bar the entire vehicle to remove contaminants
3)"Chemicals" applied to further remove remaining contaminants
4)Re-wash car
5)Two-stage compounding steps to remove defects using various compounds
6)Polish using a variety of stuff
7)Sealant or wax application
8)Clean wheels, polish and seal
Average time the 4 detailers said the whole process would take: 12 hours
Average number of Diamond White vehicles they said they have detailed: 30
The detailers came with good references from friends and were all very professional and courteous. They showed me an extensive list of exotic cars and daily drivers that they have detailed during their illustrious detailing career. I think they would have all done a pretty good job.
As previously posted, with the recommendation of TOGWT, I brought a brand new, non dealer prepared, obsidian black ML to Garry Dean for a new car prep. https://mbworld.org/forums/new-m-cla...-detailed.html After examining the ML, Garry ended up recommending a two step cut and polish with opti coat. https://mbworld.org/forums/detailing...ml#post5682966 Having seen his work in person, I now believe that Garry's reputation as one of the country's best detailers is very well deserved. So I decided to try Garry again.
Garry's first words after looking at the car with his dual xenon Brinkmann was "not too bad!" The other detailers comments were "see all those scratches?", "a lot of etchings", "lots of random stuff", and I heard "needs a lot of work!" more than a few times from all four.
Garry performed the following detail:
1) Rinseless wash using the "Garry Dean Method."
2) Decontamination using the nanoskin wash mitt.
3) Used air to make certain there was no water remaining on the car
4) Isopropyl alcohol wipedown
5) One step polish using Rupes DA, Buff and Shine Orange pad and Sonax perfect finish.
6) Infinite Diamond Shield applied using porter cable 7424XP with Red Buff and Shine pad.
Garry only used 4 products:
1) Infinite Detail Juice - (pre-soak, lubricant and also tire dressing)
2) Isopropyl alcohol - diluted with water
3) Sonax Perfect finish
4) Infinite Diamond Shield sealant (2 year protection)
He used less than 4 gallons of water to presoak the microfiber towels to wash; 8 total microfiber towels to wash, dry and touch up the car!
In total, the entire job took him 6.5 hours. If I was not there to interrupt him with questions, he would clearly have been done an hour or more sooner. Before applying the polish, I had never "heard" a car so clean before. It was literally squeaky clean. When everything was done, I have never touched paint surface that felt so soft. The car looked great.
There is a lot of chatter on various forums about Garry Dean being "too expensive" and "too elite" for the average person to use. I totally disagree. Garry could have easily recommended doing more to the car than necessary and I would have gladly paid. Instead, he chose to save me money by doing only what was required in the most efficient, environmentally friendly way possible. I trust him even more now. The four other detailers I went to see would have cost me almost twice as much what Garry charged me.
For maintenance, the Garry Dean wash method is really easy and effective. If you don't use it, you should google it and give it a try. You don't need all those bottles and cans of car stuff that's cluttering your garage. I washed my car in about 30 minutes with less than 3 gallons of water to presoak my towels and used only Detail Juice. With the sealant applied to the wheels, I didn't even need to spray cleaner to detail them. When I do need to use a cleaner, I only need Infinite Cleaner which can be used on paint, interior, wheels and anything else in between! I will post in due time to compare Infinite Diamond Shield with Opti Coat and when other cars get detailed by Garry.
Don't assume that the best detailer charges the most money! Hackers will cost you money in the end.
Prior to bringing it to Garry, I brought the car to 4 other detailers near me to ask them what the car required. Here are the common things that all 4 detailers told me the car would need:
1)Foam down/soaked pre-wash plus hand wash
2)Clay bar the entire vehicle to remove contaminants
3)"Chemicals" applied to further remove remaining contaminants
4)Re-wash car
5)Two-stage compounding steps to remove defects using various compounds
6)Polish using a variety of stuff
7)Sealant or wax application
8)Clean wheels, polish and seal
Average time the 4 detailers said the whole process would take: 12 hours
Average number of Diamond White vehicles they said they have detailed: 30
The detailers came with good references from friends and were all very professional and courteous. They showed me an extensive list of exotic cars and daily drivers that they have detailed during their illustrious detailing career. I think they would have all done a pretty good job.
As previously posted, with the recommendation of TOGWT, I brought a brand new, non dealer prepared, obsidian black ML to Garry Dean for a new car prep. https://mbworld.org/forums/new-m-cla...-detailed.html After examining the ML, Garry ended up recommending a two step cut and polish with opti coat. https://mbworld.org/forums/detailing...ml#post5682966 Having seen his work in person, I now believe that Garry's reputation as one of the country's best detailers is very well deserved. So I decided to try Garry again.
Garry's first words after looking at the car with his dual xenon Brinkmann was "not too bad!" The other detailers comments were "see all those scratches?", "a lot of etchings", "lots of random stuff", and I heard "needs a lot of work!" more than a few times from all four.
Garry performed the following detail:
1) Rinseless wash using the "Garry Dean Method."
2) Decontamination using the nanoskin wash mitt.
3) Used air to make certain there was no water remaining on the car
4) Isopropyl alcohol wipedown
5) One step polish using Rupes DA, Buff and Shine Orange pad and Sonax perfect finish.
6) Infinite Diamond Shield applied using porter cable 7424XP with Red Buff and Shine pad.
Garry only used 4 products:
1) Infinite Detail Juice - (pre-soak, lubricant and also tire dressing)
2) Isopropyl alcohol - diluted with water
3) Sonax Perfect finish
4) Infinite Diamond Shield sealant (2 year protection)
He used less than 4 gallons of water to presoak the microfiber towels to wash; 8 total microfiber towels to wash, dry and touch up the car!
In total, the entire job took him 6.5 hours. If I was not there to interrupt him with questions, he would clearly have been done an hour or more sooner. Before applying the polish, I had never "heard" a car so clean before. It was literally squeaky clean. When everything was done, I have never touched paint surface that felt so soft. The car looked great.
There is a lot of chatter on various forums about Garry Dean being "too expensive" and "too elite" for the average person to use. I totally disagree. Garry could have easily recommended doing more to the car than necessary and I would have gladly paid. Instead, he chose to save me money by doing only what was required in the most efficient, environmentally friendly way possible. I trust him even more now. The four other detailers I went to see would have cost me almost twice as much what Garry charged me.
For maintenance, the Garry Dean wash method is really easy and effective. If you don't use it, you should google it and give it a try. You don't need all those bottles and cans of car stuff that's cluttering your garage. I washed my car in about 30 minutes with less than 3 gallons of water to presoak my towels and used only Detail Juice. With the sealant applied to the wheels, I didn't even need to spray cleaner to detail them. When I do need to use a cleaner, I only need Infinite Cleaner which can be used on paint, interior, wheels and anything else in between! I will post in due time to compare Infinite Diamond Shield with Opti Coat and when other cars get detailed by Garry.
Don't assume that the best detailer charges the most money! Hackers will cost you money in the end.
