How to reduce my time

Whenever I detail the exterior of a car it takes me twice as long as it should according to the post I've been reading. When I am done the work is nothing short of awesome, and this being mainly on dark coloured vehicles.
What I would like to know from the pros here, is how do you get a near perfect, flawless finish without taking 1 1/2 days to do it? I know everyone didn't start out just whipping out vehicles as good as they do now. I understand you get better with time, which is where I am, but I don't know how to workfaster and not lose quality which I pride myself in doing. What are your tricks and tips?
I use a highspeed polisher for paint flaws(scratches, webing etc) and a PC for application of waxes or sealants. I use Meguiars pads, 3M swirl removing and polishing products. The time, 90%, is taken up getting rid of the fine webbing that we see on newer vehicles. I prefer vehicles that are just a few years old and or vehicles that have not been abused.

Oli,

I will reach in my bag of pearls and.........No wait, thats from a movie I just saw.

I usually spend the same if not more time on the interiors than I do on the exteriors mainly because the owner is in the car more than outside looking at it.

On average I spend about 2 1/2 to 3 hours on the exterior. Case in point. I did a black on black 02 911 on Friday afternoon, started about 12:45. I machine polished it with a 1200 cleaner/polish. Hand rubbed it out with cleansing lotion then applied a hand wax. Did the wheels, windows, vacuum, vacuum the convertable top, clean out the engine, front deck and door sils and I am done at about 3:30 -3:45.

The key here was knowing that the paint, while it had light scratches and some webbing, was not horrible. In fact I could of just put on a speed wax and it would of looked good, for a few days at least. So I knew that a mild polish appiled with a polishing pad at about 1200 RPM's was just the ticket to remove the light scratches, level the paint and remove any swirls. A finishing pad would of been perhaps too mild.

A going over the paint by hand, using a back and forth motion with cleansing lotion, removed any oils and residue and also ensured there were no swirls in the paint and also set up the paint for a proper bonding of the wax.

Hope that helps you out in some way.

Anthony

one key is definately a compatible system of steps and products. if your products work together or compliment each other, you spend less time cleaning up and wiping off haze,splatter,dust etc.