"A beautiful car starts with culture"

In Russia, detailing stopped being just a Moscow and St. Petersburg story a long time ago. More and more strong projects are popping up in the regions, and a new car culture is growing with them.

Founder of Simple Clean Shop in Irkutsk, a Foam Heroes partner, and a guy who loves quality car care chemicals and stance builds in equal measure.

Together with Misha we talked about how a random ad changed his life, why a good-looking store scared customers off at first, and why detailing needs to educate its own audience.

"I just saw an ad and got curious"

Misha: Maxim, do you remember the moment you first heard about detailing?

Maxim: Yes, it was around 2015–2016. I saw an ad for a company called White Gloves. I had an old Nissan back then, and I got curious why people take car care so seriously.

Misha: So it started as plain curiosity?

Maxim: Exactly. I started reading, watching, trying different products, and little by little I realized it goes way deeper than just washing a car.

Sometimes a career starts with something completely random.

A bad paint job that changed everything

Misha: What pushed you to open your own store?

Maxim: A very expensive mistake. I spent a lot of money on a repaint, and a couple of months later I saw scratches and holograms. That's when I understood that painting a car well isn't enough — you also have to take care of it properly.

Misha: So car care became the starting point of the business?

Maxim: Yes. I wanted people to be able to buy the right products right away and understand how to use them.

Why opening a good-looking store is harder than it sounds

Today Simple Clean Shop looks like a modern detailing space. But behind it are several months of tough prep work.

Misha: What was the hardest part of opening?

Maxim: Pretty much everything. We completely redesigned the space, drew it in 3D, calculated every rack. And the budget… we had to multiply it almost four times.

Misha: And after that everything ran perfectly?

Maxim: Here's the funny part — no. Some people walked in, looked around and left. The store seemed too nice and too expensive to them, so they assumed everything inside cost a fortune.

That's when Maxim realized the main job isn't selling — it's explaining the culture of proper car care.

"We educated the market"

Misha: Did you have to explain to people why specialized products are needed at all?

Maxim: All the time. A lot of people were hearing about pH-neutral cleaners, protective products or safe washing for the first time. I literally had to explain why you can't use the same chemical on the entire car.

Misha: So the store became an education spot too?

Maxim: Basically, yes. You can't build long-term trust without it.

From store to community

Misha: What keeps people coming back?

Maxim: The community. We built the Simple Clean Fanatic loyalty program, we host meetups, we talk with our customers. People don't just come in for soap — they come to talk about their builds.

That's why the shop slowly turned into a meeting spot for the car community.

How stance changed the way people look at cars

Besides detailing, Maxim has been into stance culture for a long time.

Misha: Where did the love for stance come from?

Maxim: It started with photos on social media. Then came my first build — a 1994 Nissan Laurel. That's when I understood how much the details matter.

Misha: What sets stance culture apart from regular tuning?

Maxim: The aesthetics. Wheels, ride height, the condition of the paint, clean wheel wells — it all works as one. The car becomes a reflection of its owner.

The most underrated part of car care

During the talk it turned out that Maxim's favorite topic isn't paint correction at all.

Misha: What do you tell people to focus on first?

Maxim: The wheels. They take the hardest beating. Better to use pH-neutral products and care for your wheels regularly than to try to bring them back later with harsh chemicals.

Misha: And if the car is on air?

Maxim: Then protecting the suspension parts and using specialized dressings matters even more.

Maxim's main point: good care starts with consistency, not with harsh products.

What's next?

Misha: Is there a dream you haven't pulled off yet?

Maxim: Yes. We're working on our own self-serve wash: four bays, including a dry one, quality tools and a rewards system for regulars. I want to build a place where people actually enjoy taking care of their car.

Instead of a conclusion

First there was an old Nissan, then a bad paint job, then a small shop — and today, a whole community of like-minded people.

Maxim Dolgushin's story shows how a love for cars slowly turns into a culture.

And maybe the most important idea from this talk is a simple one:

A beautiful car isn't an expensive build. It's the habit of caring for it every day.