It's 70 degrees! Time for spring cleaning!

Chuckmotor · 03-15-02, 08:58

It's that time again for removing swirls, fixing mistakes, removing scratches, reducing oxidation, and perfecting the protection on your pride and joy. Most of all, removing swirls!

Here's my game plan that I will execute in about week:
1) Dawn wash
2) Mother's Clay
3) FI-II with PC- yellow pad (I was thinking about stepping up to the Perfect-it II Fine Scratch Rubbing Compound, but more than likely I will not do that. Any opinions on that? My ten year old black BMW has some fading)
4) Meguiar's #9 2.0 with PC- white pad
5) Klasse AIO (x2)- white pad (Question: is the Meguiar's #9 2.0 neccessary if I am going to use AIO)
6) Klasse SG by hand (as many times as possible)

As for the rest:
Clean tires and wheels with A2Z, dress tires with Turtle Wax Tire Wax or Endurance, dress wheel wells with Turtle Wax Wet 'n Black, wipe down and dress engine with 303 (none of that spraying water in the engine bay for me), vacuum the bejebus out of it, shampoo carpets, clean leather with Lexol, maybe condition with Lexol, protect it with 303, dress the vinyl and interior trim with 303 (and some Vinyelx in the parts that I want shinier-- not the dashboard, though), and get all those tiny interior cracks with some q-tips. Did I miss anything?? I think I got it all covered.

That's my plan for spring cleaning. What are you guys gonna do for your favorite car (or cars)??

And also, is Meguiar's #9 Swirl Remover 2.0 neccessary after using FI-II if I am going to use Klasse AIO?

joed1228 · 03-15-02, 09:07

Well I already messed around with the Klasse sealent products so I want to go back to carnauba setup.

Clay (my new found toy)
SMR if need be on specific areas.
Meguiars glaze, at least 5 coats
Meguairs hi-tech yellow wax, at least 3 coats

From there I don't know if I will strip or just layer more on but I want to somehow work with blitz wax, meguairs gold class wax, meguiars hi-tech yellow wax and possibly pinnacle paste glaz wax.

I've had my fun with the Klasse, I'm out there every single weekend detailing whether I layer on enough Klasse for 6 month of just a single coat of Blitz so I might as well add something that may shine more but doesn't last as long.

bretfraz · 03-15-02, 09:28

If you have it I'd experiment with the Perfect-It to see what kind of job it does on the real faded areas. IIRC, your BMW hasn't seen much car care before you bought it. So an aggressive polishing won't hurt it too much. Although I haven't seen it in person my guess is that the paint job is mostly wasted and short of a full respray, not much is gonna make a big improvement. So if it were me, I'd use the BMW as a test lab to learn, refine, and hone my detailing skills. She ain't never gonna be a show car so no point in treating it like one. Use her as a rolling classroom instead. Just my two pennies.

Oh, and what are you gonna use on the windows, inside and out?

And isn't there a little chrome and stainless trim on the car?

Chuckmotor · 03-15-02, 09:36

Thanks for the input, Bret. Makes a lot of sense. If I use PI-II, should I follow with FI-II and then #9 2.0 and then AIO??? That's a lot of work!

Windows I will use Stoners, and there is no stainless steel. It's an E36.

bretfraz · 03-15-02, 09:53

Well, I suggest trying a few things. Give this some thought:

Let's say the hood is badly faded. OK, so use the PI on 1/2 the hood and evaluate the results. Take the 1/2 hood you just polished and divide in 1/2 again (making each section 1/4 of the entire hood) and use FI2 on one section and 2.0 on the other. You can always redo the section that didn't come out the way you wanted it to. You may not even need AIO on the hood.

My guess is the either the 2.0 or the AIO will be a wasted step. But the only way to know on your paint is to try it in small sections and look at the results. Maybe all these steps will make a noticeable difference or maybe they won't. But at least with small sections you're not wasting time and product.

On other areas of the car like the lower rocker panels, they probably won't need the PI so start off with the FI2 and evaluate. If it looks good then follow with AIO and skip the 2.0. My hope for you is that most of the vertical panels will be in decent shape and need only two steps. Hard to say but worth a try.

So, three steps max on horizontal surfaces, two steps max on vertical. If you break each panel in half and try a different polish on each section, the work will go quicker and you can evaluate results and change products and techniques accordingly.

Hope all this helps. Keep us posted.