I've seen a few. The two that come to mind are (1) a gentleman cleaning his entire BLACK Prius with one of those windshield squeegees at the gas station, and (2) one of my neighbors cleaning the front bumper / headlights of his new Hyundai Tucson with Windex. I just wanted to walk over and give some good hearted advice, but decided to stay out of it.
What is the most egregious "detail" job you have ever seen?
- Thread starter gregk24
- Start date
The lady I used to work with was always jealous of how clean I kept my car, so she took her Fusion to a detailer one weekend and was excited to take me out to the parking lot to show me his work. I shouldn't have done it, but I ran my finger along the inside edge of her left front fender lip and it came out black and gritty. She wasn't pleased.
Were you a drill Sargeant at some point?
My grandfather had me use Comet ( a powdered abrasive) brand cleaner in the water to wash his fairly new 78 Buick LeSabre. I was 14 , I protested but he insisted I clean his car with it.
Caught lol!
You just gave me an aneurism. There is blood coming out my ears.
I have an old wash mitt dedicated to fender wells. One of my top five pet peeves is a clean car with filthy fender wells.
My first cousin and her daughters surprised her husband by washing hubby's Buick Electra 225 2 door for him. They used Comet on those green scrubbies to remove each piece of tar. He probably, "had at least", 40 coats of wax on it too. They were so proud....................He about died.
My Dad's cars when me and my brother were too small to reach the centre of the car. My Dad would assign the car washing to us, so the end result was a band of dirt down the centre of the car about 1 foot wide that represented the furthest we could reach. These were big late 1960's and '70's Fords and Chryslers.
My Mom thought this was a riot, my Dad would have to clean up the "racing stripe" of dirt himself.
My Mom thought this was a riot, my Dad would have to clean up the "racing stripe" of dirt himself.
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
It was me! When I was like 14 and didn’t know better, I washed my Mom’s Buick with a yellow and green sponge, the stubborn bird poop spots I used the green Scotchbrite side. Ouch. Oh well, it was a beater.
I never take my cars to a car wash, but I take my grandpa’s 14’ Grand Cherokee to the regular car wash since it’s a desert Jeep and gets scratched by bushes. A couple times I’ve been behind Teslas, and not even cheap ones like mine. One was a brand new Model S Performance that still has the paper license plate on it. Ouch.
I never take my cars to a car wash, but I take my grandpa’s 14’ Grand Cherokee to the regular car wash since it’s a desert Jeep and gets scratched by bushes. A couple times I’ve been behind Teslas, and not even cheap ones like mine. One was a brand new Model S Performance that still has the paper license plate on it. Ouch.
My mother in-law who lives with us, uses Windex and a cloth to clean the whole exterior of her 2017 Corolla. It pains me to see. I've tried to politely tell her that's not best practice...She's a 70 yr old Russian lady. She's going to do what she wants to do...
I'm not sure if your schedule allows, but maybe you could wash it for her?
This kills me 0.0
In 2014, my sister and her husband bought a new 2014 Pathfinder, black exterior.
When she showed it to me for the first time, I noticed swirls. Like, pretty bad, all over the vehicle.
Someone in the dealership “detail department” had put a buffer on it without having a clue what he was doing, and swirled the clearcoat significantly.
Not being “car people” (they’re the “point A to point B” type), they didn’t even notice the swirls.
I didn’t point out the swirls, because I didn’t want to kill their new car buzz and make them unhappy about their purchase.
However, I did obtain the dealership general manager’s email, and made him aware of what had happened, and suggested that he figure out what the heck was going on back in the “detail department” before they ruined some more finishes on brand-new cars.
When she showed it to me for the first time, I noticed swirls. Like, pretty bad, all over the vehicle.
Someone in the dealership “detail department” had put a buffer on it without having a clue what he was doing, and swirled the clearcoat significantly.
Not being “car people” (they’re the “point A to point B” type), they didn’t even notice the swirls.
I didn’t point out the swirls, because I didn’t want to kill their new car buzz and make them unhappy about their purchase.
However, I did obtain the dealership general manager’s email, and made him aware of what had happened, and suggested that he figure out what the heck was going on back in the “detail department” before they ruined some more finishes on brand-new cars.
No doubt ignoring what others do is best as if something works great for them that's what counts. If I had a neighbor stroll over trying to explain what he would do he might not like what I have to say.
A female friend of mine used to clean the snow off her car with the same scraper she used on the windshield.... Using both the brush end AND the scraper end. Paint was scratched everywhere!
A jetta with very aggressively polished paint, obviously using a power polishing tool: hologram affect on the entire car
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