2 black Escalades, metallic yellow S2000

Scottwax · 07-01-09, 09:36

Times are tough even in the strip club industry-especially when the city of Arlington shuts down your top money making club. No more black Rolls Royce Phantom to take care of, in its place is this 2008 Escalade ESV. He didn't even buy a new one and this one frankly wasn't in that great of shape. Has some minor paint issues like scrapes, etc. Also had some white overspray on the front end.

He just wanted it cleaned up a bit and waxed. Clayed with Opti-Clay as I washed it with Optimum No Rinse. Along with the overspray on the front end, the roof was very gritty. Polished with Meguiars #205 using a yellow Meguiars polishing pad via a Meguiars G110 (needs more polishing than that but he really didn't care), then waxed with Clearkote's Carnauba Moose. Interior just needed a good wipedown with a damn MF towel. The chrome wheels were polished with Optimum Metal Polish.

Scottwax · 07-01-09, 09:47

The next day, I went back to take care of his son's 2007 Escalade. His son is the one who originally called me to take care of his Escalade but since his dad pays for pretty much everything, his Escalade was done first. Anyway, the son was complaining how swirled his Escalade was and how horrible it looked in the sun. No sun to speak of so I brought my halogens. ONR wash and Opti-Clay (like the other one, the roof was nasty) got the truck cleaned so I could take a good look at the paint.

This was pretty much how the whole truck looked and in person the paint looked even worse.

I was given a price that I was not to exceed by the dad and he definitely wasn't prepared to pay what probably would have been a $1000+ correction. What he offered would be enough for a two step rotary job. No way was I going to approach what the Escalade needed and if I hadn't been detailing this guy's vehicles for 15 years, I probably would have passed on the job.

Since this was a black vehicle, I felt I couldn't two step it using Meguiars #105 and be sure it would end up rotary swirl free, so I opted to use Meguiars #205 and a lot of rpms, mostly in the 1600-1800 rpm range, finishing under light pressure at 1000 rpms. I followed with 3M's Ultrafine Machine Polish using the blue Ultrafina pad at 1000-1800-1000 rpms.

Big improvement but still a long way to go. However, I can see my customer's point-his son really doesn't take care of his vehicles all that well and he'd probably quickly undo a full correction.

After polishing, I waxed it with Carnauba Moose.

Scottwax · 07-01-09, 10:00

2004 Honda S2000. I had detailed the owner's M5 about 6-8 months ago and he mentioned he wanted to get his wife's S2000 detailed. It was her birthday this week so he called me out to take care of it as a present to her. ONR wash and Meguiars white clay got the car ready for polishing. The trunk lid, hood and front fenders were pretty swirled up, the rest of the car, not so much.

Started with #205/Meg's yellow via rotary but the swirls were too deep. I thought Honda paint was supposed to be soft! Bumped it up to #105 using a yellow Meguiars polishing pad and 1000-1400 rpms. That did the trick while leaving some light holograms behind. I followed with #205/Meg's yellow at 1400 rpms, finishing with light pressure at 1000 rpms. Paint looked flawless even after baking out in upper 90s temps for an hour. Still, I like to be sure, so 3M Ultrafine and the blue pad at 1000-1800-1000 rpms was the final step.

Here are some before and afters comparisons (not waxed in the afters).

The top was cleaned with BioKleen's Traffic Lane Cleaner followed by a wet MF wipe down and a damp MF wipe down. Car was waxed with Carnauba Moose.

Woolite and water to clean the vinyl and leather, BioKleen's TLC on the carpets. Vinyl dressed with Optimum Protectant Plus and leather with Leather Master's Leather Vital.

gtpaul · 07-01-09, 10:08

Great work Scott...but you have to stop using photoshop to make those cars look so wet....

jswhitley · 07-01-09, 10:18

wish i was broke down to an escalade

.... great work man

SpoiledMan · 07-01-09, 10:24

Scott, the S2 sure came out nice!

megadeth · 07-01-09, 10:49

How old is that kid that his dad is still buying stuff for his Escalade?

the sons looks awesome for how much you put into it!

jordanrossbell · 07-01-09, 11:05

Great work scott. the son's escalade was hammered!

sacky zg · 07-02-09, 01:07

great job and great finish!!!

Sludge · 07-02-09, 03:31

Quote:

Interior just needed a good wipedown with a damn MF towel

Great job. I've been using the same damn towels your using, but I don't get your results. LOL

EisenHulk · 07-02-09, 06:27

All three look great, Scott!

Nice flake on the Honda!

Scottwax · 07-02-09, 06:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by megadeth

How old is that kid that his dad is still buying stuff for his Escalade?

the sons looks awesome for how much you put into it!

23 years old. I asked him what he is doing now and he said "stripping". He works in a Chippendale's type club. Didn't ask the Dad what he thought of what his son does.

When the kid came back with his Dad's Escalade, I re-emphasised how important it is that he not park anywhere near sprinklers (it had water spots on it when I started) and that he not use the brush that was next to his Dad's pressure washer (they have a de-ionizer/reverse osmosis system but the tank needs to be changed) or the polishing would become a weekly ordeal. Told him that also meant no brushes at coin-op car washes either.