Well, it's Father's Day so I get to do whatever I want ... and I want to detail my car. Actually, I started the project Friday and worked on and off with it over the weekend, finishing it up late this afternoon. I probably spent 14-15 hours total on it, inside and out.
I've owned the car for 18 months (17,000 miles) and have polished it every six months ... so this was the 3rd go-around. I don't have any before pics, but the paint condition was very good with just your typical light-to-moderate swirls after 6 months of weekly washes.
Here's some after pics (process description at the end):
Process:
exterior
Z-7 wash
Zaino clay bar
Z-12 glass polish front & rear glass and moon roof (Griot's random orbital with white pad on speed 4)
Optimum Compound /
Menzerna Intensive Polish (50/50) on the rotary with orange LC pad (horizontal surfaces only). Speed 3.5 on the Porter-Cable rotary (guessing about 1,600 rpm). One pass overall, with a second pass on a couple of spots.
ZPC using the RO (speed 5) using black LC pad. One pass on all surfaces.
Zaino AIO on the RO (speed 3) using black LC pad. One pass on all surfaces.
Z-6
3X Z-5 Pro (with ZFX) by hand, Z-6 in between
Z-8 final gloss
Tires dressed with Z-16.
interior
scrubbed mats with Woolite & water
vacuumed all carpets ... some spot cleaning (Woolite)
Z-9 leather cleaner (on all leather and vinyl surfaces)
Z-10 leather in a bottle (on all leather and vinyl surfaces)
Griot's window cleaner wipes on the glass.
I did not go with Z-2 or Z-CS because they actually make it too bright, which makes the small imperfections more obvious again. Plus, on the non-metallic Jet Black paint they don't add much depth beyond Z-5 Pro.
I've also stopped using the PC to apply Z-5. Instead I use a small hand-held pad holder (velcro back) and a blue LC finishing pad (5"). I found I can apply it just as thin and evenly, but much, much faster (because you don't have to stop the PC all the time to apply new product).
This is the first time I've used the glass polish and it works very well. There is only one problem with the Z-12 glass polish - it works so well on the outside that you spend a lot of extra time on the glass inside because you can see all the bad spots so clearly.
I really enjoy all the work that goes into making my car pop like new again. But I'm a mere hobbyist at detailing my own cars, and after all this work I have even more respect for you pros. This is back-breaking, sweat-drenching, frustrating work ... and you guys achieve results us amateurs can only dream about - and you make it seem easy.
Your kids didn't help you?
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