September Contest: Mazda Tribute.

[35TH LE]

This little SUV was in horrible shape when it was put into my hands. Owed by a local Animal Vet who used it to cart around dogs and cats all over. The exterior showed extreme signs of abuse... A LOT of dog and cat scratches and what seemed to be a rather excessive amount of rock chips on the rocker panels. The interior was just as bad.. grey leather that was abused by many many animals and the rear storage area was used as a travel kennel.. hence the grate marks on the rear head rests and tons of scratches all over the plastics.

I knew immediately this one was going to be a HUGE handfull!

Heres some befores, as always.

[35TH LE]

More Befores.

[35TH LE]

I sectioned off half the hood and worked my magic. Heres some examples.

*note.. got myself a Brinkman Dual Xenon. Neat little tool.*

Half and half pics.






Untouched side with Xenon light.


Finished side with Xenon light.

[35TH LE]

Finished pics. I took 100 pictures during this detail. Sometimes I go overboard but I know pics are worth 1000 words when the difference is this big.

[35TH LE]

Remember this fender? Check the before pics for the massive scratches that were there before.






Hey... theres that fender again!




What the heck am I doing putting pics of my SS in here? Yeah.. its a reflection shot.


Dont believe it? Ill back up a bit so you can see for yourself.

[35TH LE]

Now... there was a TWIST to the story.

This SUV was brought home by my neighbor, his house is in the reflection shot, it was owned by a friend of his. My friend was road testing it for a local Ford dealership because it had a brand new motor installed, due to dealer fault on a service. Shortly after the engine was installed, like 20miles later, they decided to sell it and get a RAV4.

My wife has been looking for a CRV, Escape, Tribute, etc.. for some time now. My neighbor talked it up with her telling her it was for sale... little did she know I already told him Id buy it. So I bring the Tribute over to my house and start detailing it... I told her the owner had sold it but the buyer wanted it detailed. Needles to say she was PISSED that I didnt buy it, let alone talk to her about it. So I spent a good 9hrs on this thing and evertime she walked by me in the garage shed shake her head. After I was done detailing it her and I decided to go to dinner... and when she walked into the garage I asked her "Do you want to drive the Civic or your new truck?" Anyways.. she was happy as all hell and almost started crying.

Pretty cool little story. Im happy.. shes happy.. we got a nice new ride out of it all.

Process......

Exterior:

Wash with Megs Gold Class.

Dried with Megs water magnet.

Clay with Megs Blue Clay and QD.

#83 with PC x 2 and x 3 in some areas.

#80 with PC x 2.

#26 paste with PC X 1.

PC with MF bonnet to remove #26.

Megs PlastX on the headlights and tail lights.

Flitz metal polish for wheels.

Megs Hot Shine for the tires.

Interior:

Megs All Purpose Cleaner Plus on everything!

Stoner Glass Cleaner on the glass.

Megs Natural Shine on the dash and doors.


As you all can see Im a Meguiars fan.. but Im starting to experiment with other products too. I just picked up a Edge2K kit and some of the XMT products.

[Sludge]

35TH LE

Nice turnaround. Went from abused to brand new. I think your wife should be very happy.


Sludge

[smprince1]

Excellent paint correction/polishing ... and all done via PC. Just shows you don't NEED a rotary to achieve drastic paint correction and beautiful results. Great work.

[martinager]

what brand / size pads with the pc ?

Very nice work

[TexasTB]

VERY nice indeed,
I find that Ford paint is very good to work with... In my opinion though. Always seems to come back nice.

Great Work and Great turn around

[tdekany]

excellent excellent! But didn't I read this story elsewhere awhile back?

[35TH LE]

Originally Posted by tdekany

excellent excellent! But didn't I read this story elsewhere awhile back?

Thanks everyone!

Yes.. from last month sharing it on another forum probably. Although I didnt detail it this month I decided to use it as my entry here for this month.