Autorange

Education is crucial to get a good end result regardless if you are a pro or Mr/Mrs Smith eager to get your car in good shape.

 

Autorange is Lahega Kemi AB car detailing retail line. We have focused the line towards Mr or Mrs Smith that want to give their precious car the treatment that it deserve, with other words the best!

And once again this need some knowledge and we try to give them this in different ways.

One is this Autorange online guide so they could sit in there sofa and decide wat to buy before they enter the shop and get overwhelmed with options that probably will confuse more than straight things out.

Reducing CO2 emissions

To give more focus to our CO2 emissions reduced detergents, TwinZip HD and Alkaline 2, we have put up a logg at our Lahega home page.

Here can you as our customer see the log tick on and  watch how you contribute to a cooler world.

Car Wash harmful to your teeth!

 In a report from the Sahlgrenska Hospital, we read that there is a risk of dental injuries if you work with car wash and car care.
 
  That acid can corrode the enamel have been known for a long time, but now a new study from the Sahlgrenska Academy also determine that strongly alkaline substances can damage teeth.

 

Subjects with high pH can include destroying the plaque so enamel becomes more vulnerable.
 

The study was conducted at the Department of Work and Environmental Medicine at the Sahlgrenska Academy and published in the scientific journal Journal of Dentistry.
 

- The study also shows that alkaline substances are harmful to the teeth, but the injury process is different compared to the exposure of acidic drinks or acid vapors in the industry, “said Fabian Taube, occupational hygienic and one of the researchers behind the study.
 

There were no cases of occupational injuries in the car wash and reconditioning, which attracted scientists’ interest. Common to all cases was the exposure of an alkaline degreasing agent that was sprayed on parts of cars. Product proved to have a pH of between 12 and 14, and is very alkaline.
  – Exposure to this medium led to tooth enamel surface was damaged and peeling away. The type of injury makes the risk of tooth decay and other dental injuries increases significantly, “says Jörgen Norén, the dentist and professor at the Sahlgrenska Academy.
  The alkaline degreasing agent used primarily in the food industry, including the cleaning of kitchens, but are also common in the car care industry.
  – Occupational Injuries in the teeth from exposure to alkaline medium is probably not as common as the damage caused by the acidic medium, but it becomes a problem when employers do not inform about the risks or do not provide access to the right protective equipment, “says Fabian Taube.
  The study suffered prolonged teeth for degreasing and other basic solutions. Enamel samples was subsequently examined by scanning electron microscopy and various spectroscopic methods. The researchers note that the rapid dissolution of organic material on the tooth surface, such as plaque.

 

The results suggest that although the organic components of enamel affected by exposure, as the enamel becomes more porous.
  – However, we have been able to show that the basic means changing the composition of the minerals that make up the bulk of enamel. Thus differs from the effects arising from exposure to acids, “says Fabian Taube.
  The study has been supported by, inter alia, Research Council for Working Life and Social Sciences (FAS) and Magnus Berg Walls Foundation

http://www.sund.nu/docs/artikel.asp?td=20091023&tem=0&art=1094

http://www.hallekis.com/xx091022g.htm

http://forskning.se/pressmeddelanden/pressmeddelanden/avenhogtphskadartanderna.5.1d1244e81246c6eab9080002531.html

http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/view/pressrelease/aeven-hoegt-ph-skadar-taenderna-332718

Economic crises in the eastern parts of Europe

One thing that surprised me on this last trip in Romania was that the economic crises didn’t hit eastern part of Europe until just before summer 2009.

We are looking into some  positive progress in the Nordic region with customers who is increasing their purchase of chemicals to their producing lines. We see it in the car manufacture industries and even the ordinaire industries starts to see the light in the tunnel.

The aftermarket has sold out all there used car stock and are now looking into a bit more booked new car sales.

In Romania they are in the middle of the crises and on top of that having a political break down with sitting government leaving there seats.

All though the companies with a strong portfolio could gain market shares as always in crises if the dare to confront it.

I’m glad to say that our partner is such a company therefore I’m pretty sure that we have a good future together in Romania.

Detailing concept

At my visit in Romania we meet a Skoda dealer in Bucharest who asked for a total concept for detailing

He was interesting in time schedules, chemical consumptions and education for the staff

I told him that we have a total concept of products, education and equipment to full fill his demands

He was looking for a way to move the used cars more frequently and improve the cashflow in his business.

After we had show him how our concept was we took a walk through the used car line on the front yard.

He explained the difficulties they was facing and we explained the solutions we could educate his personal at.

It was exciting to see the opportunities that we have together in Romania

Truck detailing

There is a huge amount of used truck in storage in many truck dealers where they sit some times years before they could be sold.

Todays used market is hotter than in many years because lack of economic resources to buy new truck customers instead look into the used truck market.

Could you as a dealer get extra margin on selling a used truck with the help of an detailing makeover it wouldn’t hurt would it?

Here we have a Renault that had been in a Volvo truck dealers storage for over 2 years up in the northern parts of Finland

We educated 6 Volvo truck dealers in how to cut down storage time of used truck and speed up the cashflow if you could address the market with a good looking truck  instead of a dull dirty old one.

First some theory describing what to use to what problem then a full day of hands on working and the result was stunning.

The front plastic detail was really worn down of chemical abuse and hard weather.

 We polished it with No1 Fastcut 13 and got a quick result.

We polished it with No1 Fastcut 13 and got a quick result.

With a ladder and a polisher we buffed until it shined all over.

We did also some inside cleaning

The customer decided that they should start truck detailing on 2 of the 6 dealers doing what we showed them.

A crew of Lahega technicians could return south away from the snow after a well done job.

Pre-commercial paint

To buff a car that has commercials all over the paint use to be a nightmare for a lot of detailing professionals. Specially if the paint is dark. .

I was travelling in Sweden and stop by one of our customers and came right into such a problem.

The detailer was just taking out the wet sanding paper to take away the differens between the non commercial surface and the surface were the commercial had been.

 As you can see this is hard work to take away.

He asked me what I thought he should do and I said let’s try No1 Fastcut 13 with the No1 Mediumcut pad. If it’s not working we could always take the sander.

Well we did and even I was a bit surprised. He buffed the area with our three step process and it was gone.

 

This is a one stepper!

We did not buff after with No1 Finnishcut 18 and the No1 Softcut pad.

This is amazing!

He is a oustanding detailer with a long experience handling the buffing machine but…….

Education 573 km north of the Arctic circle

I was invited to perform a car care education up north in Norway. It’s more than 2100 km from our facility in Helsingborg. 6 Toyota wholesalers needed a basic education in detailing and of I went to the north.

It was a two day education with theory the first day about how two work with chemicals, how to handle the buffer and how to think about our environment.

That evening I was invited to a barbeque with elk entrecote and elk hamburgers, real treat I tell you.

The second day we did a hands on education in wash bay, exterior detailing, interior detailing and final preparations. A full day  with some new idées and inputs from both sides.

 

Buffing with No1 Fastcut 13 and No1 Mediumcut buffing pad.

 

Dog hair removal

The day ended with 6 tired detailers with some new idée how to make things easier and better to there working environment.

Chewing gum

To remove chewing gum from a seat is hard if you don’t have the right technique

Use a freeze spray to remove the upper part of the gum. When it’s stiff just break it of from the fabric.

Then apply No1 Interior 40 in a 10% solution on the residues. Let it work on the gum and then use a stiff brush and microfibrecloth and work it of from the fabric.

To remove the last of the gum use an hot extractor machine and it’s done.

A clean seat.

Back in business

 

So after a long and nice summer I’m back in business. I hope that you all had a wonderful summer with some memorable moments.

Christer Ekstrand