# What's the most shocking thing you've found?



## mighty chipster (Apr 13, 2010)

Question for detailers or any amatuer who has cleaned someones else vehicle...

What's the most shocking thing you've found wrong with a car? 

Not asking specifically about paintwork or even finish of paint but something that the owner didn't necessarily know about and may have caused damage or loss of life later on if you hadn't noticed it?

Not asking if you're supposed to be car engineers all of a sudden but something that was so blindingly obvious you wondered no one hadn't spotted it before!


----------



## Tsubodai (Oct 20, 2012)

I found my wife behind the wheel once.


----------



## J1ODY A (Nov 28, 2008)

I found a valentines card in the spare wheel well of one of my old cars... tucked in an Atlas, obviously being hidden from the wife


----------



## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

tyre with canvas showing...


----------



## tones61 (Aug 21, 2011)

old fiat panda came in work for new brakes,

owner made one pad out of wood to get car to us as one fell out between worn disc,:lol: :driver:


----------



## nichol4s (Jun 16, 2012)

Did a neighbours 59 plate masarati GT bottom of the drivers door full of rust and very crispy. Not good on a 65k car :doublesho


----------



## deanchilds (Dec 11, 2007)

Mine was poppers and condoms in a poofters car..... Was so tempted to say "sir, I put your poppers and jonnies in your door pocket"


----------



## J1ODY A (Nov 28, 2008)

deanchilds said:


> Mine was poppers and condoms in a poofters car..... Was so tempted to say "sir, I put your poppers and jonnies in your door pocket"


:lol: You're so PC! :thumb:


----------



## deanchilds (Dec 11, 2007)

I could have said batty boy or queer *******. I thought I was being quite nice


----------



## Bigbruno71 (Sep 28, 2010)

A big black D+$€o under the seat, said it was a joke ahem!!! 


Clive Ford


----------



## Tsubodai (Oct 20, 2012)

deanchilds said:


> Mine was poppers and condoms in a poofters car..... Was so tempted to say "sir, I put your poppers and jonnies in your door pocket"


Yeah, sorry about that.


----------



## R0B (Aug 27, 2010)

A pair of fa cup final football boots in the boot of the players DBS I was detailing week after cup final last year when I was working at Shinearama.

Shocking thing about this is I had no idea this player actually wore football boots when playing....his control and finishing a more akin to a man in steelies.......


----------



## MarkSmith (Dec 17, 2010)

Found the wedding ring of a mans deceased wife tucked under the passenger seat once - he thought he had lost it and was in tears when I handed it to him !


----------



## Mumbles (Nov 7, 2011)

MarkSmith said:


> Found the wedding ring of a mans deceased wife tucked under the passenger seat once - he thought he had lost it and was in tears when I handed it to him !


Good thing you didn't accidently hoover it up! :doublesho


----------



## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

i did a porsche boxter once, it had had a budget blow over. I noticed what looked like filler in the windscreen surround and above one of the side vent things.
I asked the geezer if he had noticed it, yes he said.
It had been rolled over and then repaired.
Nice.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Mirror Finish Details (Aug 21, 2008)

I saw the wife at 7am this morning drooling on her pillow.


----------



## PootleFlump (Jan 1, 2006)

Dead mouse trapped between wheel and wheel trim, owner, who was a bloke, was too scared to pull it out. I did it for him, bloody stank it did.


----------



## BolgOfTheNorth (Dec 19, 2011)

A couple of months ago I did a car which had two baby seats and one of them was fitted completely wrong, it was basically only being held in on one side so when I tried pulling and shaking it, it moved about quite a lot. I didn't say anything as I could see it causing an argument between the bloke and his missus so I just fitted it properly once the interior was sorted.


----------



## Mike k (Oct 14, 2011)

i found a mobile phone once. Ok fair enough i thought so said to the guy here u go your phone was under the seat to which he replied oh god ok cheers, u haven't asked my wife about it have u? 

needless to say i knew exactly what was going on there and just laughed about it, was a awkward but funny moment.


----------



## joelee (Nov 28, 2009)

i bought a bmw convert last year took the rear seats out to clean them to find a supply of condoms that would last years my other half walked out seen them and just laughed about it


----------



## Big Buffer (Jan 1, 2011)

Did an interior on a shogun and found more empty gun cartridges that there is on the front line.


----------



## bizzyfingers (Jul 30, 2009)

I was fitting a sound system into a fiesta, was looking for a nice earthing point when I found a golf ball within the panel below the rear light. Does not seem too interesting but the kid I was doing it for and his missus were shocked and instantly wanted to drive the car?!?!?!

Turns out they had spent almost £500 getting every component on the rear replaced trying to find an annoying knock... well, that's it.


----------



## J1ODY A (Nov 28, 2008)

Old vectra had the cim unit replaced, the garage told us they found a lot of weed scraps under the centre console... Although they never said what they did with it!


----------



## Mike k (Oct 14, 2011)

bizzyfingers said:


> I was fitting a sound system into a fiesta, was looking for a nice earthing point when I found a golf ball within the panel below the rear light. Does not seem too interesting but the kid I was doing it for and his missus were shocked and instantly wanted to drive the car?!?!?!
> 
> Turns out they had spent almost £500 getting every component on the rear replaced trying to find an annoying knock... well, that's it.


Lol thats brilliant. Sort of thing that would happen to me.


----------



## DJ X-Ray (Sep 2, 2012)

Detailing a Cherokee Sport Jeep for my sisters mate and found a cheeky little black thong with a ball of fluff on the back (like a rabbit tail)and a tiny little jingle bell,you should have seen her face when i left it hanging from the rear view lol,it was hilarious.


----------



## id_doug (Apr 6, 2011)

I never found anything shocking but I am enjoying reading everyone else's :thumb:


----------



## Natalie (Jan 19, 2011)

bizzyfingers said:


> I was fitting a sound system into a fiesta, was looking for a nice earthing point when I found a golf ball within the panel below the rear light. Does not seem too interesting but the kid I was doing it for and his missus were shocked and instantly wanted to drive the car?!?!?!
> 
> Turns out they had spent almost £500 getting every component on the rear replaced trying to find an annoying knock... well, that's it.


Makes you wonder if a less than reputable garage put it there in the first place?


----------



## DOBE (May 4, 2012)

I work in a bodyshop and when I was an apprentice, I was cleaning out a courtesy car and found a bra, tights and a pair of knickers under the passenger seat, then about 4-5 years ago I was stripping out the back end of a rover 200 for a new back panel and found a pair of lacy knickers.

Yes I did have a sniff!:lol:


The Mrs works for a car glazing company and about a year ago one of the tech's had cut out a front screen on a Beemer and the headlining dropped down revealing a few bags of white powder.


----------



## paulbraniff77 (Jul 17, 2012)

recently i was doing a customer valet and in the rear floor well was a pair of dirty passion killer knickers *** i near boked, one of the boys that works for me thought this was funny cracking that they were mine until i picked them up (with gloves on of course) threw them at his face and told him to give them back to his mum lol was quiet funny another thing that turns me is peoples bitten off finger nails on the floor why do that ???


----------



## paulbraniff77 (Jul 17, 2012)

used tissue in door pockets tramps egghhh


----------



## Ravinder (Jul 24, 2009)

I had my car on the ramp a few years ago and underneath the car near the rear suspension I found a magnetic box in the corner. Took it out and opened it to find a spare key and fob for the car and spare house keys for the previous owner. I guess he kept a spare set there as an emergency!


----------



## kk1966 (Aug 8, 2007)

Ok...where do i start :doublesho:doublesho

1. Got asked to quote an interior on a Renault Scenic and to 'de-odourise' it as it had a ;strange' smell. Upon arrival i recognised the smell instantly....once youve smelt dead rotting rat you never forget it....was caught up in the AC belt assembly....trying to remove the rat a si had the car jacked up i pulled at the tail and it just 'skinned' itself....disgusting.

2. Got asked to valet a traders cheap Astra Sxi he'd had px'd.....stunk of $hit....couldnt find the source of the smell until a pair of red knickers blocked the hoover nozzle as i was doing under the passenger seat.....they were full of it ....Smell still didnt go..eventually sat in the back and put my head back to check the headlining.....it all became clear....skidmarks down the headlining...front to rear!!!...obviously the young girl had had an accident and they'd used the headlining as an **** wipe...:speechles...must ave held her up and run her along the headlining...gross...

3. Porsche Boxster left parked in a barn for a while......had to remove a family of rats from the engine bay and a dead one from the covered tunnels below which they were using as a run to get out through the front suspension...

theres quite a list but some of you might be eating


----------



## Ravinder (Jul 24, 2009)

kk1966 said:


> Ok...where do i start :doublesho:doublesho
> 
> 1. Got asked to quote an interior on a Renault Scenic and to 'de-odourise' it as it had a ;strange' smell. Upon arrival i recognised the smell instantly....once youve smelt dead rotting rat you never forget it....was caught up in the AC belt assembly....trying to remove the rat a si had the car jacked up i pulled at the tail and it just 'skinned' itself....disgusting.
> 
> ...


That 2nd one especially is rank!


----------



## Superspec (Feb 25, 2011)

I didn't do this job in the end due to being busy but had a chap phone up desperate to get his car interior valeted "today." I said I'd be able to do it tomorrow but he insisted it needed doing now because of a stain. He needed it gone before he went home. I asked what it was - I thought maybe I could tell him how to remove it himself being the helpful chap that I am - turns out it was a bodily fluid that he didn't want his wife to see.

I wished him luck!


----------



## bignij (Jul 6, 2012)

bizzyfingers said:


> I was fitting a sound system into a fiesta, was looking for a nice earthing point when I found a golf ball within the panel below the rear light. Does not seem too interesting but the kid I was doing it for and his missus were shocked and instantly wanted to drive the car?!?!?!
> 
> Turns out they had spent almost £500 getting every component on the rear replaced trying to find an annoying knock... well, that's it.


I had a similar occurrence when wifey had a Ka. There was a knocking noise that came from the back, not all the time but generally above 50mph. I had the back wheels off, checked all suspension, shocks, wheel bearings, all fittings in the back. Everything, I could never find anything wrong.:wall: Then one day driving home from work, the sun just happened to be in the right position at the right time of day. The banging had started and the shadow of the car in opposite side of the road showed the Mickey Mouse aerial adornment, making the aerial bang on the roof of the car. I removed the offending object and the noise stopped!:thumb:


----------



## J1ODY A (Nov 28, 2008)

bignij said:


> I had a similar occurrence when wifey had a Ka. There was a knocking noise that came from the back, not all the time but generally above 50mph. I had the back wheels off, checked all suspension, shocks, wheel bearings, all fittings in the back. Everything, I could never find anything wrong.:wall: Then one day driving home from work, the sun just happened to be in the right position at the right time of day. The banging had started and the shadow of the car in opposite side of the road showed the Mickey Mouse aerial adornment, making the aerial bang on the roof of the car. I removed the offending object and the noise stopped!:thumb:


lol that's funny... :lol:

The skidding headlining story is nasty, how the hell do you manage that?!


----------



## rsblue (May 8, 2011)

found a pair of dirty knickers in a corsa....... was a surprise i must say


----------



## rsblue (May 8, 2011)

oh how did i forget the vectra that a kind lady had given birth in!!!!!! that was worse than the dirty knickers!


----------



## slineclean (Dec 23, 2011)

Sold my mini clubman when was 17 and the bloke brought it back because the rear subframe had collasped , Told him i only had £100 of the money left.

worse about it he fitted another engine and it sounded sweet, while in hte back seat found a soak with 3 pool balls in it ( s*** comes to mine ) landed up selling the car for spares or repairs and got the £100 back that way.


----------



## R5 MEE (Oct 14, 2011)

Pieces of wood used as brake pads. The wood was perfectly cut to the exact size,shape to match the real thing. owner said everything seemed ok and he only used the car for sunday outings with his young family :doublesho:doublesho


----------



## kk1966 (Aug 8, 2007)

rsblue said:


> oh how did i forget the vectra that a kind lady had given birth in!!!!!! that was worse than the dirty knickers!


Youve just reminded me of the Nissan Micra a farmer had put a sheep in to take it the vets and it gave birth on the way....lol.....ive seen a few horrors in 23 years of this job....lmao..


----------



## Bmpaul (Apr 12, 2010)

Pieces of wood as brake pads?! Really!!!


----------



## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

joelee said:


> i bought a bmw convert last year took the rear seats out to clean them to find a supply of condoms that would last years my other half walked out seen them and just laughed about it


Since you're married was it a 6 pack?! :lol:



kk1966 said:


> Ok...where do i start :doublesho:doublesho
> 2. Got asked to valet a traders cheap Astra Sxi he'd had px'd.....stunk of ....couldnt find the source of the smell until a pair of red knickers blocked the hoover nozzle as i was doing under the passenger seat.....they were full of it ....Smell still didnt go..eventually sat in the back and put my head back to check the headlining.....it all became clear....skidmarks down the headlining...front to rear!!!...obviously the young girl had had an accident and they'd used the headlining as an **** wipe...:speechles...must ave held her up and run her along the headlining...gross...


Should make that a new Olympic sport - a pack of Senokot, 24hrs and the only material is on the roof of the vehicle :lol:.

If it came to it surly she would have been cleaning her ass with her knickers than transferring it to the roof to 'clean' them up a little then rewipe the ass.....not what 'd be doing but more likley that doing a hand stand with a sk****ey Ass and trting to drag it along the roof lining while dodging any bits dropping down :-/


----------



## TubbyTwo (Apr 14, 2011)

Toenail clippings in the rear seat pocket of a C4. Along with barefeet prints on the rear window, side windows and some interesting "patches" on center rear seat....

Not even the steam cleaner could shift those stains.

Grim.


----------



## paulmc08 (Feb 3, 2009)

I found condoms under the spare wheel,the car was owned by a man in his late 50's


----------



## Ben_ZS (Sep 28, 2008)

A colleague found a business cheque made out for £250, signed but not made out to anybody in a P/X in my old job..............


----------



## age 555 (Oct 18, 2009)

Last week of august , the lady oposite me asks me to clean her cream beetle convertable to the same standards I do my car to, I find a tiny transparent size 10 thong under the drivers seat....

Needless to say I am now dating her ....result


----------



## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

age 555 said:


> the lady oposite me asks me to clean her cream beetle convertable


Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

I familiar with a similar saying though...


----------



## Guest (Nov 8, 2012)

Bero said:


> I familiar with a similar saying though...


:lol: lmao..... brilliant :thumb:


----------



## Yowfailed (Mar 14, 2012)

Once dealt with a 17 ton line painting truck that had just been involved in a very serious RTC. Days after the collision I did a full mechanical inspection of the truck and to my horror found that three of its wheels had brakes with absolutely NO friction material on whatsoever, they were metal to metal :devil:

As a 'Road Maintenance Vehicle' it was legally exempt from MOT testing and had no maintenance record. Both driver and company paid very heavily 

An the occupant of the car.........we'll leave it there!


----------



## Guest (Nov 8, 2012)

working for a car repairers that work with the police when i was young and had a limo in that had been in a suicide.
When jet washing it down for prep i had a part of bone fall out of the wheel arch!
Needless to say the police were back in to bag it up.

Something i will never forget.

Also had a few more like this, but knew what had happened so was a bit more prepared for when they come in.

Plus the usual condoms, watches, drugs and a pet hamster that had escaped while on a trip to the vets that the owners had asked me to find(still alive)


----------



## DOBE (May 4, 2012)

Hair and parts of a scalp on the inside of a windscreen of a write off:doublesho

A lump of cannabis stuffed down the back seat when working on a police car, obviously whoever was in the back managed to get it out their pockets before they got to the cop shop.


----------



## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

thanksfully we have a clean all things out of car policy prior to delivery. found a g string once stuffed between the seats though wife walked in just as I pulled it out of the car though was an akward moment right there


----------



## Matt_Nic (Apr 15, 2011)

I detailed a mates skyline for him a few months ago which prior to working on it, had only see photo's of it. 
Was quite surprised to find that at least half the car had been re-sprayed and badly, there was epic orange peel and literally no gloss on some of it at all as a result. 

Looked stunning in the photo's which he later confessed were 'shopped lol. 

I got it up to a pretty decent standard but there was little I could do with the resprayed parts - a gentle machine polish was all I was willing to do in light of it and the consequence was limited correction. 

He had no idea it'd been resprayed.


----------



## Glaschu (Sep 16, 2012)

Picked up an MG Metro many years ago down in sunny Port Glasgow and as I was driving away the guy ran after me, frantically waving.

"Forgot something" he says, reaching under the driver's seat and pulling out a machete...


----------



## Smithey1981 (Oct 4, 2011)

was working at the head office of a very big car parts suppliers doing a alarm and phone kit on the md`s car while i was removing the glovebox a very large dildo fell out. couldnt look the guy in the eye again after that


----------



## streaky (Dec 2, 2006)

Smithey1981 said:


> a very large dildo fell out of the MD I couldnt look the guy in the eye again after that


 lol


----------



## Porkypig (Jun 20, 2012)

Tsubodai said:


> I found my wife behind the wheel once.


:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:






Brilliant!


----------



## Porkypig (Jun 20, 2012)

This is one of the best threads I have read for a while!! 

I had a guy ask me to do some dent work on a 911 he had just bought. I got there and looked down the side of the car and it was very wavey. He then showed me the dents on the other side??

Turns out the entire N/S was pretty much filler and the car actually crabbed when following it down the road.... :doublesho


----------

