Have you been browsing around the internet, looking at ways you can detail your car to make yours look better? Lost hours of YouTube and blog posts has led you to buy a few products and tools so you can try on your car.
At first it’s a lot of fun. You’ll buy one or two products to try them out and you’ll have great success with them. Then you’ll buy a few more, perhaps the price increases a bit. After a while, you’ve spent close to $500 on a bunch of different tools and products to get your car looking right.
It’s happen to most detailers I’ve met. It all starts from curiosity and turns into a hobby. For a few others, it turns into a side small business on the side to make money or an actual full-time business for them.
What I like to share with you is not so much the glamorous side of detailing, but more so of how much physical stress is can bring to your body and what you need to look out for.
You’re In Weird Positions All The Time
This more so applies to you when you’re cleaning an interior of a car. Unless you’re small and the interior is really big, you’re not going to have a lot of comfortable room to get around in there.
You’ll be crammed in tight spaces, in awkward positions trying to clean something in the interior. If you’re detailing on your own or your own personal car, you can spend around 3 to 6 hours in the interior.
Personally, when I work on customer’s cars, it takes me an average of 4 hours to complete a full interior cleaning. That’s top to bottom, front to back, everything is cleaned.
Although if you are detailing your car for personal use, you do have the luxury of removing the seats and taking your time so you can get the job done right at your own pace.
Sure it will take you much more time, but since you have the time for it, it’s no big deal.
A Lot Of Standing and Back Stress
Now that we talked about the interior part of the car, let’s move on to when you’re detailing the exterior. If you’re doing something like a basic wash, you won’t have much of a problem with back stress or standing on your feet too long.
However, if you’re going to wax your car or even remove the swirls and scratches from your paint with a buffer, your back and legs will definitely be hurting.
It’s not like you’re going to be lifting 50+ pound weight, but the positions that you have to be in to detail a car is not what our backs are accustomed too. So having proper back posture is critical so you can stay safe and effective while you detail.
How To Make It Easier For You
Okay, so now you know that detailing could take a toll on your body? So are there any options out there to make your life easier? Of course!
If you’re going to detail a lot of cars that request paint correction (aka removing swirls and scratches), then having a lift would make it a lot easier for you to work on the car. Unfortunately, you’ll have to have the space and funds to purchase one, but if you can afford it, I say go for it.
You’ll be able to stand up straight and work on the bottom of the door panels instead of lying on your back or getting into some other awkward position just to detail that area.