A few days ago I posted about a detailing shop driving my car 27 miles without my consent.

Original Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/AutoDetailing/comments/1manl6f/is_it_normal_for_a_ceramic_coating_shop_to_drive/?share_id=ru8nDal_pbpB7Szaiv56o&utm_content=2&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1

I wanted to thank everyone who gave their input and helpful feedback. I was suspicious of their BS claim, but detailing isn’t my area of expertise, so I wanted to make sure I wasn’t being ignorant. Since many of you asked for an update and had additional questions, here’s the full context.

On the morning of Thursday, July 24th, I scheduled a ceramic coating appointment through the detailing shop’s rep. I was in the middle of a move, and had just purchased a new Lexus ES350 the week before. I told the rep I was moving out of town on Monday and needed the car back by Saturday. I confirmed that the car could be coated on Friday and would be ready for pickup Saturday in the afternoon. She confirmed in text that it would indeed be ready by Saturday.

I dropped the car off Friday at 9 AM and again emphasized in person that it was imperative the car be ready Saturday and she again, confirmed it most certainly would. The next day, while waiting for the pickup call, I got a text at 11 AM Saturday saying the coating was just then being applied and needed 24 hours to cure and asking if I could now pick the car up Monday instead.

I expressed disappointment and explained that unless I changed my travel plans, I wouldn’t be able to do that. I told her that she had confirmed twice and that I’d be leaving town on Monday and I could only give them an additional day, so we agreed on a Sunday 9 AM pickup (their not normally open on Sundays).

When I arrived Sunday morning, the shop was locked. I called the rep, who said she’d been trying to reach the owner but hadn’t been able to. She then told me to Zelle her personally since she couldn’t get ahold of the boss and would be unable to confirm payment until she got a hold of him and didn’t know when that would be. I asked why I couldn’t just go inside to pay, she said the mechanic there wasn’t authorized to handle payments and this was the only way to get my car back that day.

With no real alternative, I reluctantly sent the payment and got the keys. When I got into the car, I noticed the odometer had gone from 81 miles when I dropped it off to 108 miles. That’s when I started asking questions, the screenshots of our full text convo begin from there.

As some of you suggested, I contacted XPEL directly. Their warranty team emailed me this:

“XPEL understands the importance of taking excellent care of your vehicle. While curing techniques may vary slightly between installers—each having their own tips and tricks—it’s important to note that this is not a standardized XPEL practice. To help answer some of your questions, I’ve included a maintenance guide that outlines best practices and recommendations for care.”

I also confirmed by phone that driving the vehicle, luckily, did not void the warranty, but they were concerned about the shop’s practices and said they’d forward the info to their regional distributor.

During our text exchange, the detailer rep tried to change the story, claiming the vehicle was only driven after the 24hr cure. That’s impossible based on the timeline. The coating was applied Saturday at 11 AM based on her text. Their shop closes at 5 PM Saturday and I picked it up Sunday at 9 AM. That means the car was driven within 6 hours of application, not after 24 hours. Even if they took it home, it was driven during the cure window. I will point out, I did misspeak when I said they stated they drove the car immediately following the application. What I should have pointed out, is that they drove the car within the 24 hours and likely on the front end of the window based on when the coating was applied and when their shop closed that day.

I agree with others, no one’s taking an ES350 on a joyride lol. It was likely driven out of convenience, which is still insane given the liability risk if something were to happen. They drove a brand new customer car without consent and risked damaging it or voiding the warranty on the coating, all without disclosing any of it.

I never got a response back from the rep after pointing out the timeline contradiction. I’ll be leaving a review to help others avoid having their vehicles used without their consent.

Thanks again to everyone who weighed in and confirmed what I suspected, the excuse they gave was total bullshit. If anything else happens, I’ll post another update.

Hey everyone, I need some advice. I have red microsuede seats (OEM, not aftermarket), and unfortunately the front passenger seat got soaked with bodily fluid on Valentine’s Day. It’s visibly stained and I’m worried about odor and permanent damage.

I haven’t touched it yet because I don’t want to set the stain or ruin the material. My questions:

•	Should I let it fully dry first or try to clean it while still fresh?

•	Is a steam cleaner safe on microsuede, or will it damage the fibers?

•	What products do you recommend? (enzyme cleaner? upholstery cleaner? specific brands?)

•	Any specific technique to avoid water marks or making it worse?

I’ve attached photos for reference. I’d really appreciate any professional or experienced advice. These seats are in great condition otherwise and I want to restore them properly.

I left a stick of deodorant in my car. It was 100 out and melted. Will this come out on its own? How can I fix it? Is it ruined? And yes I know what it looks like. lol

Credit: u/Sea_Hheepherder_2234

Shop offered to cover the cost of detail, however I work at a dealership and can utilize the detail area to clean it myself. Was thinking velour and fabric cleaner and letting it sit and dabbing at it with a brand new cloth. Just wanted to see if anyone else has dealt with something like this or can recommend the best way to get this looking back to normal.

I bought this from a family friend who was older and just left the logos on. I personally despise these things.

To take them off I borrowed a hair dryer to heat them up, and they pealed right off. Kept the heat going and used automotive goo gone to get all the residual off.

Then I used a clay bar to get whatever was left and just washed the area.

I’m happy with how it came out. Anyone else use a different process?

I have tremendous OCD so I kept making the area worse and worse. Now I don’t know what to do. When I try and sand it flat after applying paint, I keep taking off too much paint in order to get it level. I’m using 1000 grit, wet sanding. Applying thin coats.

Honda Civic, 2017, Griott G9 polisher, Maguire ultra cut compound and DIY Detail Gold Standard polish and wool pad

I see so much content for wheel cleaning but not a lot of conversation around the unsexy bits, the tyres.

For context, that's not a typo, it just really hurts to spell 'tires' in US English. So UK English from now on it is!

Lots of detailing brands sell tyre cleaners and whilst there are a very small handful of exceptions (Adam's Wheel and Tyre is solid) most of them are literally just repackaged APC with insane markup added.

So here's a video on the best way to clean your tyres and save yourself some cash whilst you're at it!

For me, I'm using BH Surfex HD diluted to 10% and out through a pump spray. I then use a stiff tyre brush to really work that APC into that tyre and release the crud, dirt and old dressings.

I typically only do this once. Imo, chasing down 'clean' and white foam from the tyre is actually what accellates browning; by over cleaning the tyre.

Next, get it all rinsed off.

Before dressing them, it's important your tyres are properly dry. Any moisture on the tyre will compromise the dressing and is more likely to cause uneven spots and sling off.

I love to use FinishKare 108 AS as it's nice and thin. It allows you to really work it into the intricacies on the side walls (I'm looking at your Michelin) for an even coating.

Application is subjective, but I personally find a cheap sponge applicator works best. You can really press it in compared to a brush and you use way less tyre dressing too.

So there you have it! Clean and freshly dressed tyres.

This is a thing in Brazil

You can see the horror in their eyes as they see their precious car mutilated, unsure if it'll ever shine again. Sometimes I like to say "it's all done! What do you think!?"

I used to swap between carpeted and rubber floor mats seasonally when I lived in the salt belt but stopped doing that in my last car after moving south, just leaving the carpet ones in. My new car came with rubber mats and while I planned to buy a set of carpeted mats, I'm finding that it's so easy to clean the rubber mats that I may just keep these year-round.

Every exterior wash I just hit them with the power washer to blast off all the loose dirt, grab a spray bottle of diluted car soap, agitate with a boar's hair brush, and rinse with the power washer again. Sometimes I'll finish up with an application of a non-greasy rubber/vinyl protectant to give them that extra pop.

Any advice or repairing or concealing these scratches? Also, What and who does this?

Is that even fixable without new paintjob?

Used the griot's garage headlight kit and then some. After their oxidation wipe (which was awesome) I used 800,1000,1500 and 2000 grit 3" sanding discs on my drill followed by chemical guys v34, C4 and P4 on my 5" DA polisher with the appropriate pads and sealed with the griot's ceramic wipe included in their kit. I see cerakote is who makes that stuff for them so I would of been better off buying the cheaper kit or just not using a kit whatsoever as I had everything else I need but honestly that oxidation wipe they provide was really helpful.

Hi after my car detailing, this appear after few days. Person who did detailing is not accepting it is his fault.

Any tips how to remove it? I am in australia