Anyone hear of Ammo NYC detailing?

[N-Wing]

I did a quick search and nothing came up. This kid looked to be the real deal on a YouTube video I stumbled across. Anyone have any experience? I would like to have my NSX put through a real deal detailing person. I hate putting good money into bad products though. Anyway, just happened to stumble across the company and was wondering if anyone ran across him. Ammonyc.com

 

[RPM217]

I know Larry very well, great guy, knows his stuff, and really believes in his products. I've spent a lot of time with him, you can mention me, he might charge you extra, but it'll be done right!!! (J/K)

 

[N-Wing]

I contacted him. I will be setting up an appointment in the spring. Thanks!

 

[NYCNSX]

^Let us know how it goes. Is he going to be doing a detail or doing an actual paint correction? I am looking for a local guy too.
Edit: Any idea around what he charges for a paint correction on an NSX?

 

[LJSB]

Nice avatar pic! (off topic, I know) Sharp.

 

[N-Wing]

Sorry late response. I never subscribed to the thread. He is just detailing my car and cleaning up any swirl marks as I understand it (we have not finalized plans yet). Inside and out somewhere around $500-$800. He said it entirely up to what the owner is looking for. I just want one professional look at it myself. This does include travel to your house so that is nice. I will let you know more once done, but it will be a month or two.

 

[NYCNSX]

^He is mobile only or does he have a garage in Manhattan? Do you have an appointment yet?

 

[N-Wing]

He is mobile. I have a tentative appointment next Friday (I am in central CT). I expect that to happen. He will be recording it for YouTube. So I will let you know how it goes and direct everyone to the YouTube link. I have never had any car done professionally so it will be a new experience for me.

 

[NYCNSX]

Looking forward to hearing all about it. I was hoping he had a garage in Manhattan. Keep us posted

 

[N-Wing]

I talked to him about the garage in NYC. He says that he does have a garage in NYC but its only available on Sundays (for paint restoration anyway) He must use it for something else durning the week I guess or he rents it one day a week. Not positive about that. In any case, I will let everyone know how it goes after this coming Friday.

 

[eric@thompsonracin]

You should all come to our detail clinic in Warrington, PA. Not a far trip from NYC. We'll actually have a whole crew from Martino Auto Concepts coming down to the clinic. They have a great detailer there named Nick Frank. His business is Synergy Auto Detailing and he focusses on high-end cars. He's doing a McClaren this week. PM me and I'll send you his contact info. He is mobile, as well as out of MAC.

http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php/171585-Detail-Clinic-Warrington-PA-04MAY2013

Talk to Nick and tell him Thompson Racing referred you!
https://www.facebook.com/SynergyDetailing

 

[N-Wing]

Looks like I just missed the Warrington thing. I've been traveling back and forth to Canada for work.

I got LASIK yesterday (quite an experience). Anyway, it was just in time to watch the AMMO NYC guy work on my car. Super nice guy and REALLY seems to know what he is talking about. Very eager to explain how to keep your car looking nice and let me tell you, I had no idea my car was as bad as it was. It's coming out so good and he has only compounded the scratches out so far. The polish is coming. Very exciting. I'll let everyone know how it turns out but so far, I'm sold this is going to be the best the car has ever looked.

- - - Updated - - -

The car is done. I can't believe how much I learned as I sat with him pretty much the whole day and it was easily 7hrs of work. Frankly the education was worth the money. Here is a picture but I can't stress enough how much different the paint looks. It is hard to see that in the picture. Larry really knows what he is talking about (I mean really). I was like how you feel when you drop your car off at Larry B's -you just have nothing to worry about and all will be perfect. He was great to hang out with and he talked all about the pitfalls, products, maintenance, care, etc. You really need to see it in person.

He did video tape some of it so when that makes it's way to YouTube I will post. It may be a while though.


2013-04-12 17.03.52 by michael_lohr, on Flickr

 

[N-Wing]

Summary of my experience on a 1 to 10 scale. 10 being the best.
Quality: 10
Knowledge: 10
Willingness to explain: 10 (I sat in the garage 90% of the time and he encouraged it. Usually people don't want you watching their work. He was pushing you to watch and understand. I honestly believe his primary concern is to educate the owner - Presumable sell some products but he didn't push me to buy a thing. Actually he pushed so little I was surprised, maybe that was his tactic as it worked on me).
Patience: 10 (I couldn't believe how much time he put into the car; like 7 hours).
Cost: 7 (you get what you pay for so this is kind of subjective. I would not say he's inexpensive, but like I said before, you know you are in good hands. I was pleased).

Key Lesson Learned: I am responsible for most of my paint damage (well, we owners are anyway). 90 of the restoration process was removing scratches that I (probably we) put in the car in the washing process. Larry made things quite clear to me. Driving in sandy conditions does not cause circular scratches or frankly most of the scratches (not that I'm saying do that of course) what does is, drying a car with a dry normal towel. Putting a car cover on that is dirty, etc, etc. From now on I am only drying my car with a wet microfiber towel and as soon as I pick some up, his 'hydrate' spray bottle which is designed to help safely dry the car (while wet which was interesting...).

I highly recommend him. His products are a bit on the pricey side too but I'm going to give them a shot.

His website: http://www.ammonyc.com/
Here is the video he had me watch while he was working: http://www.ammonyc.com/detailing/basic-car-wash/

Ok, that about sums it up. I'm going to apply and AMMO NYC sticker to the flat glass in back of the driver. Just opposite my NSXCA sticker...

 

[NYCNSX]

The paint looks great and "wet" in the picture above. Did he take any side by side before and after pics? Did you have him do the interior as well?

 

[N-Wing]

I have pictures of the car before after it was waxed last month and I took a few today after the restoration. It will be difficult to see by pic I think but I will upload probably tomorrow. I don't think I could afford the interior... That said, I just paid $200 for his paint 'regime' and interior 'regime' online. Also invested in some micro-fiber pads. I will watch his interior videos for help. I think I picked up that AmorAll is not the best thing for the dash. He went out of his way to not say bad things about other products but he very much believes in his and his goal genuinely appears to be helping people protect there car.

 

[LJSB]

How much was the service he did at your home and was it exterior and interior?

 

[N-Wing]

It was about $100 an hour. It needed a lot of work so it was around $700. He also drove to the house of course from NY.

 

[N-Wing]

We did not get to the interior if I didn't answer that.

 

[Aero Z]

This guy is really great and part of Drive youtube channel where he has many helpful videos how to keep your car clean safely. Just youtube Drive channel and his section Drive Clean will pop up. Here is one of his videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTZchsxdq7A

 

[N-Wing]

Very True. He has all kinds of videos on the Drive Clean channel. I have watched many of them.

BTW as follow up. Car still looks great so it was 'repaired' as opposed to masked. Also, the Hydrate product is great. It my new favorite car product. It's sort of like a fast wax but you use it to dry the car. It is pretty cool stuff. I highly recommend it.

In addition, the other other products are great too. I like the interior cleaner a ton as well and my dash is less glossy which drove me nuts.

 

[N-Wing]

I made the cut! I feel immortalized... That is my car from when he came down.

Thanks for posting! I hadn't heard it was posted yet.

In reference to the paint being soft in some spots and hard others (for those wondering), my car has had some repair and repainting from some incidents (prior to me). So that may account for some of the different paint hardnesses. When I found out about the accident details I brought it to Vince's Autobody to check and actually re-repair the rocker panel to get it back to the way it should be (it looks factory new under the rocker panel now). In the picture and video that is all after the repairs.

 

[PghMiller]

Hi N-Wing... how do you like the SKIN DEFENSE product? Being that it's the most expensive of the "Paint Regimen" kit ($65/bottle!!), I was wondering if it's worth that much??
Also, $18 bucks for a bottle of wash foam?? How many washes do you think you'll get from that bottle??
And, $25 bucks for that hydrate (drying) spray?? Again, how many "uses" do you think you'll get out of that bottle?

I watched every video on his website and I think he and his products are amazing (although I've never used any!!!!!).

 

[N-Wing]

The Skin appears to be working great. I just did it a second time. My plan is 2-3 times per year. His stuff is not free but so far I am happy with it. I actually just sent him a question a out the soap. It's not working great out of my foam gun. The Hydrate is my favorite. I use that probably every other week.

He was explaining that it cost quite a bit not to put additives in the products. It like we are buy organic food for the car. It's not free though...

 

[cparsons]

It was about $100 an hour. It needed a lot of work so it was around $700. He also drove to the house of course from NY.

Sounds like a great deal to me considering the amount of education he provided and the quality of the work.

 

[N-Wing]

The experience in and of itself was well worth it. I like the products but they are not free. That is a bit more of a judgement call.