Any Experience Getting Car Detailed At Dealership?
 

So I've had my car for about four months now, and I've been wanting to get it detailed professionally. I brought the car into the dealership for them to do the recall servicing of the engine. When I was in the office, I noticed a sign for their detailing service. It seemed pretty comprehensive, and was $168 for complete interior and exterior. I'm wondering if anyone has had their MC detailed at their local dealership, and how happy they were with the service.

Where are you located?
You may be within range of some members, who detail cars.

and to answer your question, no have not seen any dealerships who offer detailing around here, if they did, i doubt i take it there.

$168.00 to get a car detailed and at a dealer might pretty good! Did it look like there was anyone there gettting their car detailed while you were there? I'm sure that they detail the cars that are sold there as well, so it might pretty good.

I'd shop around some local places near you before I would go to the dealership.

I live about ten miles north of Boston. The only place I have seen locally that has gotten good user reviews is a place called AutoImageDetail. The guy does pick up and drop off your car which is nice, and I did call for a quote for inside and out, and he said $200.
I did not see any cars getting detailed when I went in. It was just kind of like you drive your car into a garage and it sits in line while you go into the office inside the garage. The cars being serviced were further in the back kind of hidden.

So obviously $168 compared to $200 is nice. It also did say at the top "100% Satisfaction Guaranteed" (Which I know everything says that nowadays.) I do remember it included use of the clay bar, machine polishing and the wax, and I did want all three of those done.

Kind of another stupid question. I have some spots from what looks like touch up paint in various spots on the car. Will the waxing/polishing etc. blend those in so it just looks like part of the original paint job?

i would make sure they will stand up to their satisfaction guaranteed before you pay, and check it before you put the money down, after they give it back, also, if its touch up paint, it may not look perfect, but it will probably help to make it look better.

things i would check for after would be swirls, light scratches, spidering marks, oxidation and such.

You could search around for good local detailers on www.autopia.org

I'm a car detailer at a dealership, and i'm pretty sure up here (alberta) we charge less then the detail shops... keep in mind that most dealerships work on piece work so they have a certain amount of time to get your car completed in which may be a good or bad thing pending on how clean your car already is. But some detail shops are way over priced on their work, dunno if that helps ya much

Thanks guys.
Kidspace,
Its definitely something i want to do myself going forward, but I'd like to have it done once first professionally. If it's looking great,it'll give me more motivation to keep it looking its best. :p
If I do do it, I'll make sure to take before and after pics.

Montechick,
How good of a job would you say they do?

Dealerships do a pretty good job some so air ti clean the vents some don't it all depends on what place you go to I guess and who you get, chanced are if you go peek in the windows of used vehicles you'll get a good idea :) I'd image if you took it to an actual detail shop they would get into it more then a dealership and it'd depend on what kinda packages they have to offer

And I think I do an amazing job :) I get into the spots the other girls tend to miss lol, detailing mine today, minus the shampoo

If this detail includes them putting a machine (buffer) on your paint then I'd advise against it. I have yet to see a buff job come from the dealer that looked as good a week later as it did the day it was completed. The problem is that they don't have the time to invest in actually removing the defects in the paint (swirls) so they do the next best thing, fill them in. The problem with that is that after a couple washes those fillers wash away and the car looks as bad as it did before the detail but this time with halograms aka buffer swirls from the detailer who rushed through the job and didn't finish it down appropriately.

Thanks..

I am an active member on autopia.org and I think its one of the best detailing forums on the web.

04Monte,
Would you recommend shying away from the machine buff everywhere, or just the dealership? Do you think a professional detail shop would take the time to remove the defects? Also, would asking a dealer the approximate time the job takes give me an idea of if they would remove the defects or simply cover them up?

Maybe point out the defects you want fixed up in particular so they are aware that you are aware of them.

its too bad you live near boston ... id do your whole car minus materials which i would get to keep of course for 80 bucks, 50 if you helped and i could teach you how ...

once you know you can do it yourself so easily, youll never dream of paying someone else to do it for you ... check out this picture ... and that was 3-4 days after the last wash so its a bit dusty, but you get the idea ???

https://montecarloforum.com/forum/pi...pictureid=5900

oh btw ... anyone near chicago ... the offer for full detailing is extended to you as well ... just please dont have a black car :p its such a pain in the A$$

Good questions here

Detailing is one of those things that anybody can do, but surprisingly few do it right/good. I run my personal detailing business and most of my jobs are fixing what the "professionals" did. Me personally, I'd only take my car to a place that I was referred to from a friend who has the same standards for his/her paint as I do. The problem with alot of these detailing places is that they used a high speed rotary buffer to get the job done quicker but more often than not they use an All in One product that does more filling in of swirls than removing, so after a couple washes you'll notice the swirls are still there and more likely than not, accompanied by some horrific buffer swirls. Buffer swirls are caused by the buffer pad either being contaminated, bad technique with the buffer, pad being loaded with product or not having enough product, over/under working the product into the paint, etc. It takes a highly skilled detailer to be able to finish down with a rotary, not many can do it, I know I can't and I've owned one for 5yrs now. It's no easy thing to do, but using a product that fills in light swirls helps alot cause the end result looks lovely.....temporarily at least.

A dedicated detail shop would likely take the time to remove the defects, but again, very important to get word of mouth referrals from someone who's opinion you respect because otherwise it's just a crapshoot.

Yes, asking how long the job will take would be a good indicator. But it depends on what all they're doing too. Spending 3-4hrs on the exterior alone is alot different than spending 3-4hrs on steam cleaning engine/shampooing/vacuuming the interior/interior detail and exterior detail.

dude truth in that ... i wouldnt even attempt to go at the worst sections of my cars paint with the mildest compound i have with a rotary ... im scared ****less of those things .... cause ive seen firsthand what happens if you get too happy and stay in a spot for 20 seconds to long ...

thank the baby jesus for random orbitals and milder compounds for general polishing ... and a medium pad and meguiars ultimate for everything but the deep stuff ...

Especially on black.....ughhhhh.....

First off the only stupid questions are that ones that are not asked.

Sencond of all if you can feel the paint chip with your finger nail, it will not come out. This requires putty glaze and touch up paint.

Sorry if some one posted this aready im just catching up.

Dont shy away just look on the lot and some of the other cars they have done.

Yes i belive a professional detail shop would take more time, be sure to slip in this tho " I have some friends that are looking to get there car detailed."

Depending on the condition of you car depends on the time spent. Most full details range from 3-5 hours. Other then that i would show the buffer/detailer the paint defects and ask him if they can come out.


OOO very nice mc

The reason its a pain is because on the black cars every flaw shows, i belive kid space posted something about how to keep a black car clean. It envolved washing that car once or twice a month/week. You may already no this.


I have been detailing for the past 2 years and in that time i have done over 2000 cars. I was trained to buff by a man whos been Detailing for 30yrs and owned 3 detailing shops. This guy does a porche racing team and gets paid 5,000 to do that. This guys also does exotic cars around here.

Safe to say i payed attention. lol

sign me up, I need my car done to the max, inside and out!!!!

Come on over i seem to have some time open

Wow, a full detail in 3-5hrs? What does this detail comprise of? Just curious because a full detail takes me anywhere from 6-8hrs, that's with a machine.

When you say a full detail what does that entail. I herd and I can do a full detail with Interior and correction of swirls ect... It takes anywhere from 12 to 20 hrs depending on how bad and what car ect..

BTW most GM cars take longer to correct because the clear on GM cars is very hard and takes awhile to get the swirls ect.. out

My fiance just spent 7 hours yesterday detailing a pick-up truck - it was pretty bad and had to be wet sanded & buffed.

Any detailers near PG County M.D? (sorry for the off topic) :)

The Ford edge i posted took me just over 3hrs, but it was pretty clean.

that envolved

a wash
Tires and Rims
Wheelwells
Bugs removal

Detail
Vinyal
Interior windows

I was luck and didnt need to extract the carpet

Exterior
Compound - buffer
Polishing - buffer
Finishing wax - da
Exterior windows
Hand removal of wax

jaws - i love your rims ...

gothkid ... i will never buy another black car in my life ... no matter what ... it took me nearly 20 minutes just to buff out the decklid to my liking with a lambswool pad, meguiars ultimate and a random orbital polisher ( its all i got, but it does the job ) ... i would love to have a porter cable DA with a full set of pads and compounds and polishes ... but i just cant afford it right now - student loans man ... they dont care if you didnt get the job your degree is in ... they still want their money back :mad:

Thanks...

Sorry I just dont see how you can detail a car in 3hrs.

In 3hrs I only get done:
Washing of car
Wash Wheels
ClayBar entire car
Maby start applying a compound to the car.

On the Black Nissan Sentra I did recently I spent 1hr on the Hood alone including the test spot. That was 2 passes of Meguiars 105 on orange Lake country CCS pad and the 2 passes of 205 on white LC CCS pad

The hood was the only part besides the rear quarter panels that got M105 the rest got just M205 on white pad because the customer didnt want a full correction

All in all with Interior it took me 13 hrs.

BTW it takes me approx 2 hr on full interior with shampoo carpets and seats

jaws, lancaster PA, Hmmm, me, pittsburgh, PA, hmmm are you getting what I'm trying to say here?? :D

I think LOL...

If you dont mind the drive Id be more than happy... BTW I love detailing black cars.

:) that would be awesome, some day I may take you up on that, thanks man :D

i love detailing black cars to, because there the hardest just makes my talent show more.