Below is my stab at helping out...
Could you kindly help me with the detailing process flow? I’ve attached my draft flowchart for your reference. I am still a novice in this field. I completed my CD Chemicals exam last May, and my partner and I are planning to open a detailing garage here in Sri Lanka.
I’m a bit confused about the correct sequence, especially for interior cleaning and glass cleaning.
My current draft looks like this:
- Engine bay cleaning (optional)
- Wheel cleaning
- Pre-wash
- Contact wash
- Chemical decon
- Mechanical decon
- Interior cleaning
- Paint correction
- Paint protection
The above looks good to me with these comments,
I see that the engine bay cleaning is optional as it should be. The flow chart shows STARTING with wheels and tires, followed by the optional engine compartment. If it were me, the first item in the flow chart would be the optional engine cleaning because I would clean the engine compartment before I cleaned wheels and tires.
The reason why is because in some cases you tackle the hardest parts first, and in some cases you tackle the things that will get other areas of the car dirty as you do the process. Engine and engine bay cleaning and detailing falls into these two exceptions. That is, if you're going to clean the engine compartment doing what's called a Wet Wash Engine Detail, this is where you use degreasers, brushes and a pressure washer or water spray, then you do this first, before wheels and tires and everything else.
Headlight Correction
I practice and teach doing headlight correction as a part of the Prep Wash process.
Why?
Because one trick when sanding and buffing headlights is to open the hood to get any hood PAINT away from the sanding and buffing process. Factory clearcoats are thin. You want to tape-off any paint or trim next to the headlight with at least 2 layers of protective tape. Then, if you ACCIDENTLY sand any surface next to the headlight, you will prevent a major problem.
I teach using a rotary polisher to machine sand headlights. If the headlights are in really bad condition, I normally start at 500 Mirka Abralon 3" discs on a 3" rotary backing plate with 2-3 foam interfaces pads. With 500 grit, if you accidently run the spinning sanding disc on to factory car paint, in order to work your way out of 500 grit sanding marks to say something like 2000 grit and then start buffing - chances are very good you're going to go through the clearcoat or leave it so thin you risk clearcoat failure.
So, it MUCH safer to tape-off and protect any paint near the headlight.
The Hood is Different
With the hood, you could tape it off, but you can also pop the hood open and COMPLETELY remove this paint from the sanding and buffing process.
Working Smarter instead of Harder
I teach doing headlight correction as a part of what I teach called EXTREME Prep Wash - that is, we do anything that will make the car dirty/messing BEFORE actually washing the car. It only makes sense.
In the context of engine bay detailing, IF you're going to do the headlight correction as a part of the wet work, (washing a car is wet work), then it's SMARTER to do the headlight correction FIRST and then clean the engine bay.
Machine sanding and buffing headlights will sling splatter onto the engine compartment. If you clean the engine compartment first and then do the headlight correction, you risk repeating steps or in other words, wasting time because now you'll have to clean the engine compartment again.
So my order would be, and remember, some of these are OPTIONAL because some cars won't need or get engine detailing and headlight correction, so here's my normal order of process.
1: Topical Glass Polishing - Tape off sensitive gaskets first, while car is dry.
2: Headlight Correction - Sanding and buffing - but not sealing or protecting - save this for later.
3: Engine Detailing
4: Wheels & Tires Any exterior plastic cladding like running boards, bumper covers (trucks have these), etc. I teach machine scrubbing tires and while you already have a cordless rotary polisher in your hand with a 5" brush, might as well scrub all the plastic cladding at the same time.
5: Pre-Wash - This can be power rinsing, and/or foaming the vehicle and then rinsing before contact wash.
6: Contact Wash and THOROUGH rinse. This usually includes a careful washing of door jambs in a way as to not introduce lots of water into the vehicle.
7: Chemical Decontamination - If I'm going to do any machine polishing, I skip this due to a really bad experience with a NAME BRAND Iron and Fallout Remover staining anodized aluminum trim on a VW Passat. Ever since then, I simply stopped using iron removers on anyone's car.
8: Mechanical Decontamination - I like removing any bonded contaminants while the car is already wet. This saves time, towels and clay lube, plus the car is already wet, if you clay the paint later, you have to get it wet again with clay lube - this is repeating steps and wasting time. There is an EXCEPTION to this rule, and I'll share later in this thread.
9: Final Rinse
10: Dry vehicle - Blow dry emblems, door handles, any tight areas where water can pool. If the car has not been regularly maintained, this usually means water will NOT easily blow off large body panels, so after blowing out intricate areas, like the grill, etc. then give the vehicle a good hand dry.
Then move the car inside, I have multiple fans I aim at the car to further dry it. While the door jambs are still wet, give them a final wipe with a spray detailer, spray wax, or I use our spray-on ceramic coating - Bead Hero. Might have to wipe these areas a second time after buffing out the car, but at least they will be clean, dry and already slippery so they will re-wipe fast.
Test Spot
Before anything else, do a Test Spot and dial-in and prove your process will work for the paint on this car. Once you prove your process on a body panel like the hood or trunk lid, then it's time to tape-off and cover over.
Tape-off any exterior pebble textured trim - I don't do this until AFTER the Test Spot. I've come across a few cars in my life that simply cannot be saved as proved via the Test Spot. If you pro-actively tape-off any plastic trim or other sensitive surfaces, like matte graphics, etc., and then find out you cannot fix the paint via the Test Spot, then taping off will have been a waste of time and tape.
I think I answered the questions with the above?
My questions are:
- Is this the correct order?
- Where does glass restoration/cleaning fit in?
- Can we start with the interior first?
- Should I add anything else to make the flowchart more accurate?
As far as glass polishing goes, there are two types,
Topical Glass Polishing - This is removing any water spots or traffic film off outside glass. I try to do this BEFORE washing as it's very messy and all the splatter that is slung all around the window will wash off when I wash the car.
Sub-Surface Glass Polishing - This is removing actual scratches, like wiper scratches out of the glass. If I'm doing this - it is its OWN job. Not included with any other detailing job and for this reason I would tape-off and cover the entire car with plastic, then polish the glass, then move the plastic cover and then wash the car. At this point, this job is completed. If the owner also wants the interior or exterior cleaned and detailed - this starts a NEW job, new charge.
Interior - Order
The order in which you clean the interior is a lot of personal preference, but I would do it after the Prep Wash and before doing any exterior detailing. This is persona preference as I don't much like cleaning interiors and I always practice doing the hardest things first, to get them over with, or I do them first because I don't like to do this type of work and even though it may not be the hardest part, it's the part I least enjoy, so I get it over with.
How the above?
Mike
