A4, Carrera Cabriolet, Jag Xk, 325, Silverado 3500HD, Denali

Scottwax · 10-18-07, 10:57

2007 Audi A4. Owned by the brother of one of my customers. Overall, it was in decent shape (especially the paint) so it was one of my quicker Audi details.

Dirty but nothing excessive...

Sprayed with wheels down with Optimum Wheel Cleaner.

Throw in some ONR, 3 different brushes, a couple terry cloth towels and a few minutes of time and...

As expected, the front mat was the dirtiest.

BioKeen Traffic Lane Cleaner, a few minutes of dwell time, scrub, wipe, wetvac and wipe again. Not 100% perfect but a vast improvement.

Vinyl/leather cleaned with Woolite/water, carpets with BioKleen TLC, dressed with Optimum Protectant Plus.

I got a couple pads from David at Optimum that a vendor had sent him and he asked me to try them out. The name is Ultimate Soft Edge Buffing Pads and he sent me a blue polishing pad (which feels more like a finishing pad) and an orange one step pad (which feels like a light cutting pad). I only found a couple of links using google on these pads. I have no idea if this is where the pads came from, the links are provided to give some information on them. I guess David is looking for pads to compliment his product line.

https://secure.ultimatemicrofiber.co...m?CategoryID=6

American Buffing Company

Anyway, since the Audi only needed light polishing, I opted to try the orange one step Soft Edge pad using Poli-Seal. Cleaned up the very light swirling and I didn't notice any marring the few times the sun peeked out. I finished the car off with Opti-Seal.

BTW, that is an early 70s Monte Carlo SS under the car cover, hopefully I get to detail it soon. Also, in addition to the Greddy exhaust, the A4 has a cold air intake.

stiffdogg06 · 10-18-07, 11:01

Hey Scott!

How do you like Optimum Wheel Cleaner?

Do you have anything compared to it? Like s100 Gel or p21s gel wheel cleaner?

Can't wait for thee others!

Scottwax · 10-18-07, 11:07

1986 Porsche Carrera Cabriolet. Only about 40,000 miles on the car. It was at the shop where I had detailed an '85 Carrera the week before for one of their customers. Anyway, the next day, the owner of the shop called me and asked if I had time the following week to detail another car. Set him up for that upcoming Monday. Monday rolls around and I awaken to howling winds and heavy storms. Luckily, they said I could use their wash bay and by the time I had finished the car, the weather had greatly improved, although the sun never really did more than peek out a couple of times.

Seeing as this was a 21-year-old car, I didnt want to go too hard into the paint so I started off with Meguiars DACP #83 using a white Sonus pad via UDM. Door is polished, fender is not. I hope that is obvious...

I followed #83 with Speed Glaze #80 using a yellow Meguiars polishing pad. Same fender, both lights on it. Please excuse the dust.

I finished the car off with Clearkote's Carnauba Moose and backed the car out for some pics. I did raise the top, clean it and polish the plastic window (Pink Moose), then put it back down and reinstalled and cleaned the cover.

Woolite/water for vinyl/leather, BioKleen TLC on carpets, OPP on vinyl, Meguiars GC Leather Conditioner on leather.

Scottwax · 10-18-07, 11:15

2006 Jaguar XK. The owners live next door to one of my weekly wash customers. She'd had me look at it a couple of months ago for an estimate but didn't get around to scheduling it until recently. Heavy fog that morning, the forecast sunshine never happened.

The interior was in decent shape, same process and products as the '86 Carrera. First two pictures, the interior is only cleaned, next two, cleaned and dressed.

I used Optimum's Wheel Cleaner and a hose this time since the hose was right near where the car was. This is just after washing, drying and dressing.

When I first looked at the car a while back, it was in the sun and the paint looked really good. Cleaned it up with Optimum Polish using a yellow Meguiars polishing pad and sealed with Opti-Seal.

Scottwax · 10-18-07, 11:26

2002 BMW 325. Only 26,000 miles on it. The current owner got it from his Mother-in-Law who rarely drove it and he takes after her, I guess. He is so used to driving trucks (he is a home builder) that he just can't get into driving a car. He wanted it detailed so he can sell the car. The paint had some light to moderate swirls and really needed two polishing steps but the owner really didn't want to spend that much. I decided to start with Meguiars DACP using a white Sonus polishing pad. Worked very well and left a pretty nice finish. I figured I could kill two birds with one stone by finishing the car off with Poli-Seal, applied via the Soft Edge one step pad.

The interior was typically dirty for the color. Vinyl/leather cleaned with Woolite/water, carpets with BioKleen TLC, dressed with Optimum Protectant Plus.

==============

Brand spanking new, 2008 Chevy Silverado LTZ 3500HD beast! Owned by the same guy who has the black Z06 and blue Mustang GT I posted last time. He wisely opted for no dealer prep so the paint was excellent. I used Ultima Paint Prep via my Cyclo (great for these large vehicles!) using green Edge pads and sealed the paint with Ultima Paint Guard Plus.

As you can see above, the paint color looks amazing in the full sun. No full sun, not so amazing....

Scottwax · 10-18-07, 11:32

2007 GMC Denali. I had used Opti-Seal on it in April (over a 3 month old application of Werkstatt's Prime and Acrylic Jett. Here in mid October, it was still beading nicely, had decent slickness and looked really good. This was after a summer that gave us 26" of rain from early May through early August. Anyway, since I see it regularly, I applied Ultima Paint Guard Plus so I can see how it holds up compared to Opti-Seal.

Shade shot:

Scottwax · 10-18-07, 11:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by stiffdogg06

Hey Scott!

How do you like Optimum Wheel Cleaner?

Do you have anything compared to it? Like s100 Gel or p21s gel wheel cleaner?

It seems to clean as well as P21S wheel cleaner, takes less dwell time though. Very little foaming in the ONR bucket during use too.

stiffdogg06 · 10-19-07, 12:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scottwax

It seems to clean as well as P21S wheel cleaner, takes less dwell time though. Very little foaming in the ONR bucket during use too.

Is it safe to use on all wheel coatings?

Thanks scott!

Instead of commenting on each vehicle! I will say it all in one word "AMAZING!"

That 3500HD is stupid big! Lol

- Andrew

mr.ikon · 10-19-07, 12:46

Man oh man, what if you did all those vehicles in one day? hahaha that would be insane. Awesome work Scott. The Jag looks beautiful. So do the rest of the cars.

euro · 10-19-07, 01:37

I like the wheel-well work here....nice and tidy.

gmblack3a · 10-19-07, 03:52

Nice work on all Scott. Jag has really come a long way. That 3500 is huge, I might have a black F350 coming up that is not exactly in the same condition.

I believe those pads are the same ones that Patrick at Excel used to sell as the P2 pads.

BlackElantraGT · 10-19-07, 04:22

excellent work Scott! I'm looking forward to the Optimum wheel cleaner. Do you know if it's safe for all finishes and also, does it come RTU or in concentrate form?