Comments:

1. I like every aspect of automobiles. I took 2 years of Paint and Body. I somehow fell out of that when I got married and had kids. I also like mechanics, but cars now-a-days are too freaking hard to mess with. I like clean cars, work at a few stealerships scratching and swirling up cars.....LOL I figured I had what it took to do it right and be appreciated for it.
   
   I up and quit my job and jumped right into my own mobile detailing business. Pretty dumb move since I had a truck payment, mortgage, and a Wife and umpteen million kids.... LOL It all worked out.... Now working on my second year of business...      by Tex Star Detail
   
2. Cars have always been a passion for me. I went to auto body school for two years in high school and realized I didn't want to be a body man, so I took the next logical step and joined the Marines. While I was stationed in California I met some pretty influential ppl in the import car scene and knew I wanted to own a business in cars. Detailing is the most affordable way for me to get into the automobile industry. I plan on expanding far beyond detailing and consider myself more of a business person than a trades person.      by Squeak Squad
   
3. I just LOVE being around nice cars. Simple as that. And it's great to meet people w/ the same interests. Oh, getting paid to detail isn't half bad either      by Kevin@DetailsIM.com
   
4. I had gotten my first car and wasn't satisfied enough with Turtle Wax Hard Shell. Searched online, first thing I read was about claying. I decided to clay and do the Meguairs Deep Crystal 3-step. Then after those simple steps, I was soo amazed by the results, that I looked a bit deeper.      by Joyriide1113
   
5. Ive always liked to keep my cars nice and clean, but i didnt realy have much knoledge when i just cleaned it once a week. I got my first nice car, a 95 325 e36 bmw in green and i used only autoglym products. I even used to use a water blade!! that was until i left two big scratches down the whole length of the drivers side. He she is. Pic was taken from my phone
   
   
   I then started using megs products but not long after that pic was taken, i crashed the car due to a farmer leaving mud on the road, with no warning signs. So as i went round the bend, the tyres filled with mud and i drifted into some trees.
   
   
   
   I came away ok, with only a few deep cuts in my arm:
   
   Anyway, i needed a new car and i wanted another e36, so after months of searching i found my 328 sport. This is when i decided to step up my detailing game because i wanted to look after it properly. So a few months after getting it, i was at a supercar show and i saw the swissol stand. After talking to the guy for a while and telling him what i had, i bought the starter kit with zuffenhausen wax, some clay and a few other bits. I think it came to nearly 200 quid.
   
   So the first nice weekend there was, i tried out my swissol gear. 7 hours later and im left with this. (again camera phone)
   
   
   
   So this is where my long and very expensive journey began.
   
   So of my swissvax gear:
   
   In the bags behind are the leather care kit and other bits. I have more but each item here is of a different product. I have more of each.
   
   So, now ive sold my car and bought a vauxhall vivaro van because im starting up my own mobile detailng business called emerald detailing. Im nearly set up. The website will be up and running soon and as soon as i get insured, i'll be able to start.
   
   Thats my story. Thanks for reading.      by paddy328
   
6. I've always been a perfectionist and the Meguiars Gold Class Wax wasn't doing it for me. My used A4 came with a good amount of swirls marks that I didn't care for so I did my reading on the car forums and then dropped a good amount of money on a PC + Pads + Polishes + Wax.
   
   A little obsession turned from hobby to a career and here I am. The neighbors don't think but know I'm crazy.      by awahl63
   
7. Well I always used Megs stuff off the shelf and was always let down 2 days later when the shine was dull, dust all over the car. Seems I spent hours to get a little shine. Now I have a pc 7424 Menzera Polishes, Zaino Sealents, and a list that goes on and on. I have yet to use any of these on my own car pictured below. But on my better halfs 350z we made the RED pop like we never did before.
   
   
   
   As soon as I get the new engine installed I will give this a head to toe full detail and post some pictures.
   
   Ryan      by ryan350z
   
8. Well I'm 17 and my dad gave me his truck a couple months ago, and everyone else thinks I've fallen in love with it. I went to get all of my dad's crap out of it and was disgusted with the amount of junk inside of it. So I actually started with the interior. Once I finished that, I went to wash it. I went out and bought some wheel cleaner and tire dressing, and after I cleaned the wheels, I was astonished. The wheels had NEVER had a proprer cleaning, and they looked completely different, like brand new. The wheels shocked me so much that I figured that the wheels looked too good for the rest of the truck, so I needed to fix the rest of the truck up. Thats when I started doing research and joined this forum. I've ordered all my stuff and soon I'll be doing a head to toe detail of the exterior. I can't wait to see what people say when it's done. Even now, I keep it up as good as I can, and I can't tell you how many people say "Did you just get that?" or "Woah, nice truck! Is that an '07?" It's actually an '02.      by hockeyplaya13
   
9. Born in London, England in 1944, I studied at London University (Bartlett College) and received a BSc Architectural Engineering, then studied at the London School of Economics and obtained an MBA in Business Management, after graduation I joined the RAF and attended Royal Air Force College at Cranwell, Officer Cadet training graduating as a Flight Lieutenant. I then gained a position in the Oil & Gas, Hydrocarbon Exploration sector working for British Petroleum, a few years later was granted a Shell & BP scholarship, and studied at Imperial College, London graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree (BSc) Chemical Engineering
   
   I began detailing Mercedes-Benz / BMW at my Father’s dealership as well as his Jag collection back in the late 50's, he enters them into Concours d’élégance events (detailing to another level) and as such I’m used to a large number of high-end new and used cars. The one thing I learned (and still have that last 98% to learn, mind you) way back then still holds true today “ It’s the surface preparation that makes the difference, not the product”.
   
   I detailed my first car when I was fourteen (a mere five decades ago) it was a 1929 Bentley that belong to my Fathers friend Brigadier John Dix of Kensington, London. If, as they say, "God is in the details," then a 1929 Bentley is truly a religious experience.
   
   It has always been a relaxing past time for me and while at college I had a part-time business detailing classic vintage cars. From there to Concours d’élégance entrant then judge, and then on to writing car care articles and How-to: instructions, then writing a series of books on my favourite subject.
   
   It is my intent to educate, based on four plus decades of experience passing on to my readers not just “How-to”, but “How it works’ and “Why it works”. Because I’m passionate about what I do and care about making sure detailing is a safe, fun and rewarding experience for the enthusiast and professional detailer      by TOGWT
   
10. Well I guess I'll chime in...
    
    My father had a car dealership for as long as I can remember and unfortunately when I was a child he was always away at auctions and when he was at home he was always at the office. Well when I turned 14 my junior high school was about a 2 minute walk from his dealership so to spend more time with him I would just walk there after class. To kill time I started cleaning his cars, mostly just wash and vac here and there. Ocassionaly one of his dealer friends would need some cars cleaned so I would do theirs as well and what really inspired me was one of his friends old military Jeep. I spent hours washing and cleaning the interior and exterior. Similar to hockeyplaya what impressed me the most was how clean and nice the wheels looked when I was done.
    
    So go forward 6 years and I finally bought my own car with my own money (previously owned a Maxima which 3 different people hit while it was parked and I could afford to fix it) which was a G35 coupe, that was 2 months ago. So started reading around on the forum mostly about the car when I saw a thread on my350z about detailing which I found interesting b/c I use love cleaning my friends 330i...so I also joined G35Driver and saw a thread by this VERY nice and courteous sponser who seemed to be there to help people more than just push his own product. Well I don't plan on paying for a car for the next 3-4 years that isn't going to look good so I spent around $800 on detailing equipment and still have a lot of work to do but love how the car looks so far.
    
    BTW Jon, I noticed you're 3x older than I am and I hope that I still have the energy to detail...do you still detail full time or mostly just do it for fun now?      by kernel843
    
11. My detailing habit started when I bought my GTO. I found several references to Zaino on a forum that I frequent and took the plunge. It's been downhill for me since then. Having a black car really keeps you busy. I don't care how often I wash or do a QD the car picks up dust.
    A fellow GTO club member picked up a new GTO (he's also got a 70 w/an LS2) a couple of months ago and the dealer did absolutely nothing to it. I was rather upest and told him that I'd come by before our next car show and clean up his car for him. The car had sat outside for at least a year on the dealer's lot. When I was done with it, the car looked totally different. So much so that when we went to our club meeting everyone that saw the car before asked what did he do. One guy even asked if he had the car repainted. That made me happy and now I'm going to detail another club member's car right before his wedding. I'll be sure to get some before and after pictures of his car and let you guys grade my work.
    My friends car before my hanidwork.
         by LittlemissGTO
    
12. I was really into performance tuning of cars, and I read a lot of stuff about the RSX Type S and learned a few things about Honda. I wasn't able to attain one and I quit reading because I can't really do much with the knowledge that I gained. Then I started looking into the car care section of clubrsx, and somehow found places like Autogeek and Autopia Car Care. I started off by reading the correct way of washing the vehicle, such as 2 bucket method, the tools etc. Then I saw how you can correct the paint with a machine called Porter Cable. This was about around when I was in high school, maybe 2-3 years ago. I started very slowly, just reading up on car care. I decided to make a purchase on autogeek, a set of Shmitts (wash mitt and wheel mitt) and the Ultimate Guzzler, which was on sale. Ever since then, I've gotten hooked. I upgraded from armor all soap to Duragloss from a Carquest nearby, and bought two 5 gal buckets and 2 grit guards later on, and some boutique MF towels. Recently I received a UDM as a gift from my friend. I am hooked onto this hobby and it is great. I can make my family's vehicles look beautiful again, as well as my friend's. I think this hobby is worth it. I do admit lately I have been lazy and I'm in school right now, but I plan to try to fill detailing into my schedule. I haven't washed my car for about 2 months .      by klumzypinoy
    
13. I started buying quality product instead of supermarket specials when I got a new car, a black Dodge Caliber.
    
    And I almost cried when I found out the washing technique I've been using is VERY VERY bad.      by 23790554
    
14. i needed a job quickly when i moved back from france quickly, and started working for a mobile valeter. I did some dealerships, and thought i could do better myself. Now i have one van with employee out and about, and working on the second. Unfortunately i don't get to do much of the work myself, as have other commitments, but i still do the really disgusting wrecks every now and again (usually my girlfriends).      by bobmcol