Less
12-16-2006, 08:01 PM
For the firs time in a long time I got a whole after noon to devote to my car. No Kids, no wife, no nothing. Just me and my black `06 Infinity G35 sedan. Today was pretty mild too so with the electric heater in the garage I was able to work around the harsh New Hampshire winter weather. I started with the interior. It was pretty bad. I`ve had to travel to alot of client sites for work and I`ve been pretty much living out of my car for a week. After a few hours of intensive, meticulous cleaning, the inside looks gorgeous.
It was still early and I was pretty pumped up after having such great success on the interior. So I decided that I should go after the exterior. Its too cold to wash outside but I figured that this was as good a time as any to get used to ONR. I had used it once before and it did an ok job. I figured that with some more reading on autopia and some practice I could really refine my technique. I soaked one panel at a time with a pesticide sprayer. 1oz/gal ratio. Then I soaked my wash mitt in a bucket mixed with the same 1oz/gal ratio (note this is double the recipe given on the bottle). I washed one panel at a time, using no pressure other than the weight of the mitt. After about two panels, it was apparent that my mitt wasn`t going to make it. It was getting really dirty. So I pulled out my bin full of MF towels. I used a fresh MF on each panel. Working top to bottom and drying with two Megs WW water magnets, the car was looking pretty good in about 45 minutes.
The only thing I will say, is that I got some pretty bad streaking. Probably because I doubled the recipe, or maybe because the water was hot. Who knows, further experimentation should answer those questions. Besides the streaking wasn`t anything a QD couldn`t take care of. By the way, I tried using some Black Magic Spray Detailer that I bought before I knew better, and the streaking was unacceptable. The bottle immediately hit the trash. I finished with some Mother`s Showtime instant detailer. That stuff is the berries!
Now the moment of truth. I put the halogen on the drivers side door. I almost died. My will was broken. Swirls, marring, cobwebbing, call it whatever you want but it was everywhere. This was my first time looking at the car under a halogen so I`m not sure how much was there previously. I`ve only had the car for two and half months. I know that the dealer probably did a number on it before I picked it up but I don`t think that they could have done this much. Maybe they did, who knows. But I can`t help thinking that I did it with the ONR. The car was pretty well covered in road grime and salt. I probably should have taken it to the touchless first.
I tried using some AIO by hand and that seemed to help a little, but not much. I tried some NXT, and that seemed to help a little too, but again, not much.
At that point I felt like I didn`t want to detail ever again. I thought that I had learned enough to keep the car looking good and fix any imperfections that I found. I was starting with a new car so all I had to do was maintain. And now here I am, the finish is horrible and I am not motivated to fix it at all. I didn`t even finish QD`ing the entire car. I didn`t clean the wheels, the door jambs, or the windows. All of which I intended to do before I got this horrible news.
The silver lining: Santa Clause is bringing me a PC and some Optimum polish. I have the day after christmas off from work so hopefully I can pull myself together and get motivated to fix this situation by then.
I`ve posted a pic below. Someone please tell me that I couldn`t have done all of this with one ONR wash. Also, please tell me it should come out with the OP and an orange pad. I plan to hit it with the OP on an orange pad, AIO on a white pad, KSG on a white pad (maybe 2 coats), then top it with some souveran.
The pic is kind of blurry, and sorry for the long post. I just had to get those feelings out
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o270/Ghaleon0721/PC160002.jpg
It was still early and I was pretty pumped up after having such great success on the interior. So I decided that I should go after the exterior. Its too cold to wash outside but I figured that this was as good a time as any to get used to ONR. I had used it once before and it did an ok job. I figured that with some more reading on autopia and some practice I could really refine my technique. I soaked one panel at a time with a pesticide sprayer. 1oz/gal ratio. Then I soaked my wash mitt in a bucket mixed with the same 1oz/gal ratio (note this is double the recipe given on the bottle). I washed one panel at a time, using no pressure other than the weight of the mitt. After about two panels, it was apparent that my mitt wasn`t going to make it. It was getting really dirty. So I pulled out my bin full of MF towels. I used a fresh MF on each panel. Working top to bottom and drying with two Megs WW water magnets, the car was looking pretty good in about 45 minutes.
The only thing I will say, is that I got some pretty bad streaking. Probably because I doubled the recipe, or maybe because the water was hot. Who knows, further experimentation should answer those questions. Besides the streaking wasn`t anything a QD couldn`t take care of. By the way, I tried using some Black Magic Spray Detailer that I bought before I knew better, and the streaking was unacceptable. The bottle immediately hit the trash. I finished with some Mother`s Showtime instant detailer. That stuff is the berries!
Now the moment of truth. I put the halogen on the drivers side door. I almost died. My will was broken. Swirls, marring, cobwebbing, call it whatever you want but it was everywhere. This was my first time looking at the car under a halogen so I`m not sure how much was there previously. I`ve only had the car for two and half months. I know that the dealer probably did a number on it before I picked it up but I don`t think that they could have done this much. Maybe they did, who knows. But I can`t help thinking that I did it with the ONR. The car was pretty well covered in road grime and salt. I probably should have taken it to the touchless first.
I tried using some AIO by hand and that seemed to help a little, but not much. I tried some NXT, and that seemed to help a little too, but again, not much.
At that point I felt like I didn`t want to detail ever again. I thought that I had learned enough to keep the car looking good and fix any imperfections that I found. I was starting with a new car so all I had to do was maintain. And now here I am, the finish is horrible and I am not motivated to fix it at all. I didn`t even finish QD`ing the entire car. I didn`t clean the wheels, the door jambs, or the windows. All of which I intended to do before I got this horrible news.
The silver lining: Santa Clause is bringing me a PC and some Optimum polish. I have the day after christmas off from work so hopefully I can pull myself together and get motivated to fix this situation by then.
I`ve posted a pic below. Someone please tell me that I couldn`t have done all of this with one ONR wash. Also, please tell me it should come out with the OP and an orange pad. I plan to hit it with the OP on an orange pad, AIO on a white pad, KSG on a white pad (maybe 2 coats), then top it with some souveran.
The pic is kind of blurry, and sorry for the long post. I just had to get those feelings out
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o270/Ghaleon0721/PC160002.jpg