Carrera, swirled BMW, Cadillac SRX, Kia Sedona, more...56k read Altas Shrugged

Scottwax · 09-08-06, 02:07

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My son and I had 3 vehicles to do one afternoon, all on concrete in the full sun, about 95 that afternoon. Almost like a cold front considering it had been over 100 pretty much all of August!

1995 Pontiac Gran Prix, 2003 Kia Sedona to wash and wax, and an '04 Suburban to wash, wax and detail the interior. No polishing on any of them, their boss pays for a one step exterior job, but the owner of the Suburban also popped for a full interior detail.

Just starting out here:

I didn't get any after shots of the Gran Prix, he came out just as I was finishing the windows (which took forever because he is a chain smoker) and had to leave immediately to pick up his kids at daycare. I guess just picture a shiny white mid 90s Gran Prix in your mind.

2003 Kia Sedona. My son was glad we only had to vacuum the interior on this one, spills, stains, stuck food, etc everywhere. Probably would have charged $120 more if he wanted the interior cleaned, maybe more. Anyway, just waxed it with Poorboy's EX. It actually turned out pretty good considering we didn't polish it. Not much in the way of swirls, probaby because it never gets washed.

2004 Chevy Suburban. Same deal on the exterior as the Kia, EX by hand. My son cleaned the interior with Woolite/water and dressed it with Optimum Protectant Plus. There were a few spots on the side of the rear seat that appeared to have been caused by bleach or acid because the color was bleached out. Other than that, it came out really good.

Scottwax · 09-08-06, 02:13

Exterior shots of the Suburban. I hadn't yet dressed the side steps, I wanted to make sure the customer wanted that done since it can make them a bit slippery. I had to get the pics quickly though, she was waiting on us to finish up. We did end up dressing the steps though.

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2004 Porsche Carrera. Regular customer, I detail it every 1-2 months. The paint is still quite swirl free, so I probably won't need to polish it until spring. I think I will just keep doing what I did this time, wax it with a 50/50 mix of Optimum Car Wax and Werkstatt's Carnauba Jett. The interior was cleaned with Woolite/water and dressed with Optimum Protectant Plus.

Scottwax · 09-08-06, 02:21

A few more of the Porsche:

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Back again at the office where the first 3 vehicles were at...

2006 Cadillac SRX. Owned by the owners of the company. Pretty new, they've only had it a few months. The hood had some rotary swirls, the rest was fine. I polished the hood using green Propel lite cut cyclo pads and Optimum Polish and waxed the whole thing with Poorboy's EX.

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2005 Chrysler Sebring. About 7-8 months old, owner opts for just the wash/wax her boss pays for. Glad she didn't want the interior cleaned. It was just horrible. Debris and stains everywhere, plus it smelled inside. Whatever is getting spilled isn't wiped up. Yuck. Outside wasn't bad though, just EX by hand like the SRX. BTW, you can see the white '95 Gran Prix we did the week before in the background of this first shot.

Scottwax · 09-08-06, 02:31

2000 Chrysler Town & Country. Better shape than most we've done, even after pulling the middle and rear seats there was very little debris to vacuum up and almost no stains. Again, Woolite/water and OPP.

Exterior had some light tar and a few minor paint transfers-typical of vehicles I have done for older people. I guess backing up gets tougher as you get older and your eyesight weakens. Polished up real nice with Optimum Polish and green Propel cyclo pads and sealed with Meguiars #16. I think these pics really show how nice #16 looks on white paint. The plastic mirrors were polished by hand using Optimum Polish and a terry cloth towel, really worked out well.

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2001 BMW 325ci. The owner has the worst luck. This car has been hailed on and wrecked (not once his fault) 3 times so the paint is really hit and miss now. Varying hardness, orange peel, scratches under the paint from poor body work, etc. This last time it was rearended and the back end was repaired, repainted (poorly) and buffed out (horribly!!!!!). In fact, he took it back a second time to get it buffed out and they told him this was as good as it was going to get:

This was after using Optimum Compound and yellow Cyclo cutting pads. Some light hazing but it pretty much removed the rotary swirls. Yes, I know I didn't wipe the compound residue off as well as I could have.

Scottwax · 09-08-06, 02:38

I then followed with OC and the orange Cyclo cutting pads and then Optimum Polish and the green Propel lite cut pads. No wax, just the results of polishing. You can see some scuffs on the top of the bumper, all were too deep to remove completely---believe it or not, what you see is a huge improvement. Like I said, the paint on this car is horrible. It really needs (and the owner is condering it) a complete repaint.

Overall, it turned out pretty decent. I can't get it perfect but it looks a lot better. Final process was Optimum Compound using yellow, then orange Cyclo cutting pads on the rotary swirled areas and the heavily water spotted hood, then the whole car with Optimum Polish and green Propel cyclo lite cut pads then sealed with Poorboy's EX.

stphotographer · 09-08-06, 02:47

Great work! Who is John Galt?

klnyc · 09-08-06, 03:25

Dang thats hella of work you got your self in. The Porsche Cerrera is sweet and rest of the cars aswell too.....of course

dtailmycar · 09-08-06, 03:32

Dang is that it? I feel like I was in the middle of a movie or something, didn't want it to end.. LOL
Scott> I'll like to know, what are your armor all dilutions for tires, trim and inside vinyl/plastics/

Scottwax · 09-08-06, 03:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by dtailmycar

Dang is that it? I feel like I was in the middle of a movie or something, didn't want it to end.. LOL
Scott> I'll like to know, what are your armor all dilutions for tires, trim and inside vinyl/plastics/

I use it straight. I might start diluting 1:1 with water for fenderwells though to see how it works out.