I usually spend a good 1-2 hrs doing vary quick usually a AIO and can spend 4-8 hrs on single stage polishes the reason it takes me a long time is because I take my time and do a good jobs and take pride in my work. Especially on vehicles where you can't use a 5 or 6 inch polisher on most of the surfaces. The most clear/paint I've recorded removing on a single step correction was on a ford taurus with trashed paint and went from 4.2 mils average to 3.9 mils average. 90 percent of the time it .01 of a mil and gets them to 70+ percent correction. I could race though my jobs and still provide a Ok service but I'm not usually providing service to average folk who don't care for there vehicles most of the time.
Yvan: Great advise. I've had customers tell me that it didn't look that good when they got it from new. And yes, they want their car to sparkle with no drama, professionalism and a solid job.
I am not a deep thinker so I just usually pick a thing and go. A couple of years ago I started doing whatever Yvan says. Doing so has changed my game for the better many times over. Thank you Yvan for all you do and you really do make a difference.
So very true Yvan, and yes most paint damage is just that from ‘life’ of a used and driven vehicle. If If I hide or minimize the clear coat, it just is getting thinner
Thank you for this video Mr. Lacroix! I'm a big fan of the 5,5,5 method you did with Nick at Hawk Pro to round over deeper scratches but not creating heat. And any customer I've ever had was perfectly happy with me making the car shine again, and gettingthecar back same day. Like you said.. we maintain and preserve and we have fun doing it. Thank you for passing along your knowledge
Another awesome video and content brother. Truer words have never been spoken . So many keyboard detailers think they know EVERYTHING but they truly don't know shit.lol.sorry 4 cursing .that topic is really never talked about since most people are just like sheep. I rather be the shepherd. Lol.b well
Yvan love the info!! I enjoy detailing and also use McKees products exclusively for my cars and boats. Thanks again for you’re always valued experience!!
Yes! It’s very rare I do more than a single-stage polish with something like Scholl S20 (even if applying ceramic). Under the unit lights we still see random scratches etc, but outside the vehicle always looks amazing - good results and a happy customer, to a price point within a profitable time frame
That’s why I love Icon Rocklear. I’m getting everything out of the paint and adding rock hard clear coat to it. A low solids ceramic coating over the top of it and it’s out of this world.
@@Detailers-Business-Academy I could be a distributor for them in my territory if I choose to sell the product to other because I own the rights to my area. But I decline to do that because it’s a monopoly.
Thanks Yvan. Pertinent as usual. Are you giving any training in the near future around Montréal? I have doing more and more paint correction. However the fact that I learnt 100 percent from the internet makes me struggle with what the standards are for enhancement vs one step vs two step. I also did my first paint correction with a rotary yesterday thanks to your encouragement and that of Brian Spitler via tour videos. Results will be up on the Apex Facebook page later today.
not to hijack yvan here but an enhancement is mainly about running over the paint for a couple hours max with either forced rotation machine (love those) or a medium or long stroke DA. The correction pecentage is whatever you get not a targeted amount. A one step correction can be up to 90% correction but can be 65 to 75 or 80 in most cases with an excellent finish and a two step being a higher standard than that (correct all the swirls and reduce or round over the scratches) but I'd keep two steps to aftermarket paint or european high end cars with 150 to 200 microns or more if they are still that thick.
Great content as usual Yvan. Thank you. But what if the customer wants perfect paint even after we explain about the importance of paint preservation? 🤔
First of all, your vision of perfect paint and your customers idea of perfect paint may be 2 totally different things. Do a paint enhancement test spot, most customers will tell you that’s perfect. If the customer wants more, charge accordingly.
A great video Yvan. Wish I knew this at the start of 2000 when I turned full time pro after seven years as a hobbyist/amateur. Here are my thoughts on the subject. Daily driven cars - 1 to 2 hour enhancements or GLARE Zero and Advanced applied with forced rotation to fill in the swirl marks/marring etc for four to six months or possibly longer if garaged. They achieve a mega shine due to the paint cleaners and the silica in it (I've used it since the 90s). sure it's solvent based but only 5 to 10%. It doesn't remove any paint off that a tool can measure from my experience. One step corrections (not AIO's) for a daily once or twice in it's lifetime, removes 2 to 5 microns max each time and leave it at that. Most people are too lazy and automated wash their cars or get swirl hand wash places to clean them and they inflict swirls with one mitt run over the whole car without regularly cleaning it - more swirls in it again. Weekend cars - give a little more work but spread out the time to about five to eight years per polishing. Aftermarket paint with tonnes of clear - go hard and achieve excellence but remember - if it's sanded flat and polished to a super high level, any swirls or other marks that the paint gets, you can see from so far away it's awful. that's what sucks about that kind of paint. The days of 25 to 40 /50 hour jobs should be over on all bar aftermarket paints which are the only ones worth that much time and effort. . modern paint is pretty shit most of the time. Only a select few brands have exceptional looking paints that love to be polished. the paints are between 40 and 90 microns most times now, a few over 100. 110 micron clears like my old Ford XR6 run out at 65-75 or 80 most often, I know cause I went there in a few areas a while ago. dont chase it, it's not worth it. Your teachings on this will turn this industry in a much better direction hopefully. I'm loving giving my black Toyota 86 a liquid decon, a clay, prep chemical then another layer of coating and not polishing it at all. looks fine. sure I'll polish it when it's no longer a daily then leave it for five to eight years before I do it again but until then I'm keeping the paint on the car. Detailers disease is a profit killer and can ruin paint finishes. most of you detailers are working on paint as thick as a post it note or less.
@@Detailers-Business-Academy I often get way too long and drawn out with my replies but I have 30 years of knowledge to share and it's passion too that sometimes makes the replies long. The Glare system is old by todays standards but it's one way to enhance paint without removing it. It's also how I got my XR6 factory paint from 1998 so good and didn't go through everywhere already after over 100 hours. It has five layers of my mentors unique coating on it now and all that the car will get. no more abrasives.
Thank you for the humble reminder, Yvan. What are your thoughts on the clear coat products on the market such as "x kote" or "poppy's patina"? These are advertised as wipe on clear coat options.
Wipe on clear coats serve a purpose. On paint that can be saved by polishing they are not a good choice. The time it takes to properly prep and apply them ( I’ve been using this type of product, and developed 2 of them for over a decade), is longer than polishing a car. They do not leave a perfect finish.
I'm overthinking things and I'm scared to damage the paint/clear coat and burn edges so I go kinda slow therefore it may take me 8 hrs 😂 Straight to the point video ! 👍 P.S. I'm new to this also so...
A new car with a finishing polish will amaze people as to how amazing their car can be better than the "new car" and i used to always do a 2 or 3 step on a normal car. No one noticed when i switched to a 1 step with The Last Cut and a medium cut or finishing pad. I however on my own car will use a finishing polish as a 2nd step before a coating but if there are visible scratches to me i use one with fillers
The reason for switching was either one of your videos or write ups that made me have an aha moment. I even lost one person who was asking me to do a paint correction on a vehicle that gets used as a daily driver all year about a month before winter in Ottawa Ontario for telling them not to do a correction or polish till spring
@@Detailers-Business-Academy This is the first time somebody spoke the reality. Up until everybody talked just about how to get every possible paint defect out - which is fine, but nobody explained the other side of the medal. I hope more such advices and reality checks surface on this channel.
They say we all accidentally eat several grams of powdered plastic each year, and that it lowers men's testosterone. Now I know where it's coming from!
Yvan I have a new nano skin clay mitt. When I was claying with the spray wax and onr the mitt left black streaks on certain parts of the paint like the coating was coming off. Can you tell me why please?
A few possibilities, first the mitt isn’t compatible with the technique, the mitt wasn’t broken in, or there may have been some APC or tar remover that the mitt came in contact with
Have you heard this??? I have been told, the outer most surface of clear coat is physically harder than the “inside” of the clear coat? Sort of like a “crust”.. so the more you polish off, the softer the surface becomes? Making it more susceptible to future damage. Any truth to this?
@@Detailers-Business-Academy I mean to break down the polish abrasives so that it finishes well or that it even comes off the vehicle in a clean and easy manner
@@Detailers-Business-Academy just following the instructions “Innovative paintwork finishing polish provides an initial deep cut, then diminishes to a high gloss, resulting in a hologram-free paint surface”
Yvan what do you think about X-Kote? It seems like some kind of lacquer, they say it’s nothing like ceramics or Tio2. You do have to be a “certified installer” which sucks, but they say it’s a faster method of achieving the same result and not removing paint. If the ultimate goal is making the customer happy by making the swirls invisible, without damaging the vehicles paint, what’s the point of buffing paint when products like X-Kote exist?
Used X-Kote many years ago. It’s a great product to use when polishing is no longer an option. To do it properly takes as much if not more time than polishing. The finish is glossy, but you can still see imperfections below it.
I'm in the beginning stages of getting setup and I'm gathering information from various sources. I keep seeing people all over RUclips and Reddit saying it takes them 3-6 hours for a detail... How are these people making any profit whatsoever? I'm trying to go at this with a business mind first rather than being a perfectionist. I just don't see how it can take longer than 1.5 hours for one person.
I love how this guy just gets on here and acts like he knows everything lmao... Are you a car painter? Are you a clear coat chemist? Do you have any clue what your talking about just asking. Every situation is different just like there are many different brands of clear and paint processes.. Just randomly making a broad statement that your hurting the clear if you polish for over 8 hours shows you have no clue what your talking about. Some clears are super hard and some or super soft and everywhere in between. I just don't agree that you should do half ass work yes there are some scratches your not going to want to get out but literally there are a ton of people not getting anything out and making shiny swirl marks. Having a paint gauge and understanding how much clear you have to work with and how much your removing is the proper way. You want to get out everything you can reasonably remove.. I'm going to make a video called your doing Half Ass Work making swirl marks shine...
Thank you, and FYI, I’ve worked in the formulation of both paint and detailing products, owned multiple detailing shops and body shops in my short 42 years in this industry. That said I know I’m just a student of the industry.
I usually spend a good 1-2 hrs doing vary quick usually a AIO and can spend 4-8 hrs on single stage polishes the reason it takes me a long time is because I take my time and do a good jobs and take pride in my work. Especially on vehicles where you can't use a 5 or 6 inch polisher on most of the surfaces. The most clear/paint I've recorded removing on a single step correction was on a ford taurus with trashed paint and went from 4.2 mils average to 3.9 mils average. 90 percent of the time it .01 of a mil and gets them to 70+ percent correction. I could race though my jobs and still provide a Ok service but I'm not usually providing service to average folk who don't care for there vehicles most of the time.
Good
Man, you're preaching right now!
Teaching, thanks
Yvan: Great advise. I've had customers tell me that it didn't look that good when they got it from new. And yes, they want their car to sparkle with no drama, professionalism and a solid job.
Exactly, thanks for commenting.
Excellent Advice! Exactly what strive for!
Thank you Phil!
I am not a deep thinker so I just usually pick a thing and go. A couple of years ago I started doing whatever Yvan says. Doing so has changed my game for the better many times over. Thank you Yvan for all you do and you really do make a difference.
Wow, thank you!
So very true Yvan, and yes most paint damage is just that from ‘life’ of a used and driven vehicle. If If I hide or minimize the clear coat, it just is getting thinner
Thanks for your comments, agreed.
Always reminding us of what we're trying to achieve, please the customer not our egos. Appreciate the advice!
Thank you for commenting David.
Regards from México. Thank you Yvan for taking the Time to make this kind of videos. Waiting for The next Q&A live
Should be doing one in 2 weeks.
Thank you for this video Mr. Lacroix! I'm a big fan of the 5,5,5 method you did with Nick at Hawk Pro to round over deeper scratches but not creating heat. And any customer I've ever had was perfectly happy with me making the car shine again, and gettingthecar back same day. Like you said.. we maintain and preserve and we have fun doing it. Thank you for passing along your knowledge
Thank you for commenting.
I love this video! It’s great common sense advice that most detailers don’t consider
Thank you
Great video.
Thanks! Need to be reminded of this from time to time.
Thank you for commenting!
Another awesome video and content brother. Truer words have never been spoken . So many keyboard detailers think they know EVERYTHING but they truly don't know shit.lol.sorry 4 cursing .that topic is really never talked about since most people are just like sheep. I rather be the shepherd. Lol.b well
Thank you for commenting.
That looks like the 80/20 rule! Very good strategy. I like that!
Definitely.
Yvan love the info!! I enjoy detailing and also use McKees products exclusively for my cars and boats.
Thanks again for you’re always valued experience!!
Thank you
Yes! It’s very rare I do more than a single-stage polish with something like Scholl S20 (even if applying ceramic). Under the unit lights we still see random scratches etc, but outside the vehicle always looks amazing - good results and a happy customer, to a price point within a profitable time frame
Thank you for commenting.
Awesome and thanks..
Thank you for commenting!
Big thanks from Québec Canada 🇨🇦
Merci
That’s why I love Icon Rocklear. I’m getting everything out of the paint and adding rock hard clear coat to it. A low solids ceramic coating over the top of it and it’s out of this world.
Are you a distributor for them.
@@Detailers-Business-Academy I could be a distributor for them in my territory if I choose to sell the product to other because I own the rights to my area. But I decline to do that because it’s a monopoly.
I can't get enough of your content!
Thank you, if you want I also do one on one coaching
@@Detailers-Business-Academy it would be in the future, I can email you, right?
Correct, yvan1lacroix@icloud.com
Thanks Yvan. Pertinent as usual.
Are you giving any training in the near future around Montréal? I have doing more and more paint correction. However the fact that I learnt 100 percent from the internet makes me struggle with what the standards are for enhancement vs one step vs two step.
I also did my first paint correction with a rotary yesterday thanks to your encouragement and that of Brian Spitler via tour videos. Results will be up on the Apex Facebook page later today.
Yes, I will be doing a training in Delaware July 15-16, and near Montréal mid August .Looking forward to seeing your post.
not to hijack yvan here but an enhancement is mainly about running over the paint for a couple hours max with either forced rotation machine (love those) or a medium or long stroke DA. The correction pecentage is whatever you get not a targeted amount. A one step correction can be up to 90% correction but can be 65 to 75 or 80 in most cases with an excellent finish and a two step being a higher standard than that (correct all the swirls and reduce or round over the scratches) but I'd keep two steps to aftermarket paint or european high end cars with 150 to 200 microns or more if they are still that thick.
This is the precise reason why I only do a single stage or two stage enhancement, as opposed to a minor or major corrections.
Excellent, and I’m sure your customers agree.
Absolut true !! Thank You sir !! 🤝
Thank you for commenting!
Great info...thanks
Thank you for commenting!
Great content as usual Yvan. Thank you. But what if the customer wants perfect paint even after we explain about the importance of paint preservation? 🤔
First of all, your vision of perfect paint and your customers idea of perfect paint may be 2 totally different things. Do a paint enhancement test spot, most customers will tell you that’s perfect. If the customer wants more, charge accordingly.
👌🏻excellent, comme d’habitude.
Merci!
A great video Yvan. Wish I knew this at the start of 2000 when I turned full time pro after seven years as a hobbyist/amateur. Here are my thoughts on the subject. Daily driven cars - 1 to 2 hour enhancements or GLARE Zero and Advanced applied with forced rotation to fill in the swirl marks/marring etc for four to six months or possibly longer if garaged. They achieve a mega shine due to the paint cleaners and the silica in it (I've used it since the 90s). sure it's solvent based but only 5 to 10%. It doesn't remove any paint off that a tool can measure from my experience. One step corrections (not AIO's) for a daily once or twice in it's lifetime, removes 2 to 5 microns max each time and leave it at that. Most people are too lazy and automated wash their cars or get swirl hand wash places to clean them and they inflict swirls with one mitt run over the whole car without regularly cleaning it - more swirls in it again. Weekend cars - give a little more work but spread out the time to about five to eight years per polishing. Aftermarket paint with tonnes of clear - go hard and achieve excellence but remember - if it's sanded flat and polished to a super high level, any swirls or other marks that the paint gets, you can see from so far away it's awful. that's what sucks about that kind of paint. The days of 25 to 40 /50 hour jobs should be over on all bar aftermarket paints which are the only ones worth that much time and effort. . modern paint is pretty shit most of the time. Only a select few brands have exceptional looking paints that love to be polished. the paints are between 40 and 90 microns most times now, a few over 100. 110 micron clears like my old Ford XR6 run out at 65-75 or 80 most often, I know cause I went there in a few areas a while ago. dont chase it, it's not worth it. Your teachings on this will turn this industry in a much better direction hopefully. I'm loving giving my black Toyota 86 a liquid decon, a clay, prep chemical then another layer of coating and not polishing it at all. looks fine. sure I'll polish it when it's no longer a daily then leave it for five to eight years before I do it again but until then I'm keeping the paint on the car. Detailers disease is a profit killer and can ruin paint finishes. most of you detailers are working on paint as thick as a post it note or less.
Thank you Matt, great analysis.
@@Detailers-Business-Academy I often get way too long and drawn out with my replies but I have 30 years of knowledge to share and it's passion too that sometimes makes the replies long. The Glare system is old by todays standards but it's one way to enhance paint without removing it. It's also how I got my XR6 factory paint from 1998 so good and didn't go through everywhere already after over 100 hours. It has five layers of my mentors unique coating on it now and all that the car will get. no more abrasives.
Thank you for the humble reminder, Yvan. What are your thoughts on the clear coat products on the market such as "x kote" or "poppy's patina"? These are advertised as wipe on clear coat options.
Wipe on clear coats serve a purpose. On paint that can be saved by polishing they are not a good choice. The time it takes to properly prep and apply them ( I’ve been using this type of product, and developed 2 of them for over a decade), is longer than polishing a car. They do not leave a perfect finish.
I'm overthinking things and I'm scared to damage the paint/clear coat and burn edges so I go kinda slow therefore it may take me 8 hrs 😂
Straight to the point video ! 👍
P.S. I'm new to this also so...
Thank you for commenting
A new car with a finishing polish will amaze people as to how amazing their car can be better than the "new car" and i used to always do a 2 or 3 step on a normal car. No one noticed when i switched to a 1 step with The Last Cut and a medium cut or finishing pad. I however on my own car will use a finishing polish as a 2nd step before a coating but if there are visible scratches to me i use one with fillers
The reason for switching was either one of your videos or write ups that made me have an aha moment. I even lost one person who was asking me to do a paint correction on a vehicle that gets used as a daily driver all year about a month before winter in Ottawa Ontario for telling them not to do a correction or polish till spring
You lost one customer but are satisfying many more with integrity.
Cool
Thank you
Fantastic and completely on point explanation. Who gets it - gets it.
Thank you, happy you get it.
@@Detailers-Business-Academy This is the first time somebody spoke the reality. Up until everybody talked just about how to get every possible paint defect out - which is fine, but nobody explained the other side of the medal. I hope more such advices and reality checks surface on this channel.
Thank you, and yes, I’ve been teaching this for well over 30 years now.
My paint corrections from wash clay and decon to corrections and seal are about 90 minutes on average thank you yvan
Excellent!
Nice! Mine are about the same, with great, shiny, clean and smooth results.
And happy customers!
Well said 🙏🙏🙏
Thank you.
Should we consider one-step polish over 3-step paint correction?
Definitely, one step paint enhancement over 3 step paint destruction.
They say we all accidentally eat several grams of powdered plastic each year, and that it lowers men's testosterone.
Now I know where it's coming from!
True
Yvan I have a new nano skin clay mitt. When I was claying with the spray wax and onr the mitt left black streaks on certain parts of the paint like the coating was coming off. Can you tell me why please?
A few possibilities, first the mitt isn’t compatible with the technique, the mitt wasn’t broken in, or there may have been some APC or tar remover that the mitt came in contact with
@@Detailers-Business-Academy Thanks I'm going to rule out the apc and tar remover but it could be one of the first two. Thank you
Thank you for commenting.
Have you heard this??? I have been told, the outer most surface of clear coat is physically harder than the “inside” of the clear coat? Sort of like a “crust”.. so the more you polish off, the softer the surface becomes? Making it more susceptible to future damage. Any truth to this?
Absolutely, the first 5-microns are critical, after that you have caused irreparable damage.
Totally agree with you, however. I can’t seem to even put Sonax PF through it’s cycle on a black Honda Pilot in much less than 6-8hrs. Thoughts?
What do you mean by “through its cycle”?
@@Detailers-Business-Academy I mean to break down the polish abrasives so that it finishes well or that it even comes off the vehicle in a clean and easy manner
Sounds like you’re over working it, using too much, or using a dry pad. Polish doesn’t need to break down.
@@Detailers-Business-Academy just following the instructions “Innovative paintwork finishing polish provides an initial deep cut, then diminishes to a high gloss, resulting in a hologram-free paint surface”
Try only doing 3 passes ( left - right, up-down, Left-right)), low speed, no pressure.
Wiser words never spoken! 💯 👍
Thank you
Yvan what do you think about X-Kote?
It seems like some kind of lacquer, they say it’s nothing like ceramics or Tio2. You do have to be a “certified installer” which sucks, but they say it’s a faster method of achieving the same result and not removing paint.
If the ultimate goal is making the customer happy by making the swirls invisible, without damaging the vehicles paint, what’s the point of buffing paint when products like X-Kote exist?
Used X-Kote many years ago. It’s a great product to use when polishing is no longer an option. To do it properly takes as much if not more time than polishing. The finish is glossy, but you can still see imperfections below it.
I'm in the beginning stages of getting setup and I'm gathering information from various sources. I keep seeing people all over RUclips and Reddit saying it takes them 3-6 hours for a detail... How are these people making any profit whatsoever? I'm trying to go at this with a business mind first rather than being a perfectionist. I just don't see how it can take longer than 1.5 hours for one person.
Exactly, the job takes 90 minutes, inflating their ego take 6 hours.
1st from 🇨🇦 😁
Thank you
Video summary: Aim for Paint Excellence, not Paint Perfection.
Yes, stop before your damage it.
Leave the damage to the customers.
They caused it…
1st
Thank you
I love how this guy just gets on here and acts like he knows everything lmao... Are you a car painter? Are you a clear coat chemist? Do you have any clue what your talking about just asking. Every situation is different just like there are many different brands of clear and paint processes.. Just randomly making a broad statement that your hurting the clear if you polish for over 8 hours shows you have no clue what your talking about. Some clears are super hard and some or super soft and everywhere in between. I just don't agree that you should do half ass work yes there are some scratches your not going to want to get out but literally there are a ton of people not getting anything out and making shiny swirl marks. Having a paint gauge and understanding how much clear you have to work with and how much your removing is the proper way. You want to get out everything you can reasonably remove.. I'm going to make a video called your doing Half Ass Work making swirl marks shine...
Thank you, and FYI, I’ve worked in the formulation of both paint and detailing products, owned multiple detailing shops and body shops in my short 42 years in this industry. That said I know I’m just a student of the industry.
Ouch lol
Par ici les profits🚀🌛
Certainement!
If I were to double my detailing income it would still remain a 0. No rant, just saying.
Well you can still save time.