I was always that neighbor that was outside washing my cars as a teenager. In the late 90s, early 00's, I had a coworker ask if I'd detail their car for them. I needed some extra $ so I did. I did that a few times and then it all sort of exploded for me. Circa 2001/02, I had a WRX and joined NASIOC and starting detailing alot of subarus.
There was a local kid on NASIOC that had posted a few detailing threads and I reached out to him, we got a paying detail job and I sort of learned on the spot. I bought a Porter Cable 7424 Dual Action, a different counterweight and 6 inch Velcro backing plate. Him and I only did the 1 job together, as he was a full time student at the time and it was late summer, he went back to school. I started getting more and more detail gigs off NASIOC and other forums. Eventually, I got hooked up with some local import shops, like P & L Motorsports, Profunction, Six Star Motorsports, Garage Kwai, etc.
Meguairs #83, Dual Action Cleaner and Polish was my go to polish, but I had tons of different compounds, pads and other products. I like the Meguiar's brand, cuz if I needed something TODAY, any of the autoparts places would have that tan professional grade bottle that I could grab in a pinch. I used to drive up to Libertyville to an Auto Body Supply store on Milwaukee and buy red Meguiars cutting pads all the time.
My hangout shop was P & L Motorports.
I'd hang out at the shop after work and detail the cars of the employees in exchange for help working on my cars. And I'd detail some customer cars after a motor build or if someone came in looking for detail work. I ended detailing probably 300 cars in the years of side work on the forums and through P & L and the other shops.
I thought about opening a dedicated detailing shop about 15 years ago, but never had the guts or $ to pull the trigger and do it. Detailing is hard work, I still enjoy doing it. I recently Polished and ceramic coated my Jetta GLI. I used Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and coated with CQuartzUK 3.0.
There was a local kid on NASIOC that had posted a few detailing threads and I reached out to him, we got a paying detail job and I sort of learned on the spot. I bought a Porter Cable 7424 Dual Action, a different counterweight and 6 inch Velcro backing plate. Him and I only did the 1 job together, as he was a full time student at the time and it was late summer, he went back to school. I started getting more and more detail gigs off NASIOC and other forums. Eventually, I got hooked up with some local import shops, like P & L Motorsports, Profunction, Six Star Motorsports, Garage Kwai, etc.
Meguairs #83, Dual Action Cleaner and Polish was my go to polish, but I had tons of different compounds, pads and other products. I like the Meguiar's brand, cuz if I needed something TODAY, any of the autoparts places would have that tan professional grade bottle that I could grab in a pinch. I used to drive up to Libertyville to an Auto Body Supply store on Milwaukee and buy red Meguiars cutting pads all the time.
My hangout shop was P & L Motorports.
I'd hang out at the shop after work and detail the cars of the employees in exchange for help working on my cars. And I'd detail some customer cars after a motor build or if someone came in looking for detail work. I ended detailing probably 300 cars in the years of side work on the forums and through P & L and the other shops.
I thought about opening a dedicated detailing shop about 15 years ago, but never had the guts or $ to pull the trigger and do it. Detailing is hard work, I still enjoy doing it. I recently Polished and ceramic coated my Jetta GLI. I used Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and coated with CQuartzUK 3.0.