Milan, LS460, Charger

[Scottwax]

Nothing too extreme this time, all three were in reasonably good condition to start.



2007 Mercury Milan (5 speed!), belongs to a receptionist at my doctor`s (and customer) office. Pretty good shape overall, but took a while to vacuum the pet hair out of the super grabby cloth interior. Needed a lot of claying on the horizontal surfaces too. The medical center is right in line with the flight path of DFW which is about 5-6 miles to the north. I`ve noticed cars in this area tend to need claying more often. Otherwise the paint was pretty swirl free, the owner or her son hand wash it a few times a month and appear to do a decent job.



I went over it with Clearkote`s Moose Wax (the cleaner wax) with my G110 and a yellow Meguiars polishing pad which really cleaned up the finish. Even though the paint looked really good before polishing the cleaners in Moose Wax pulled a bunch of stuff off as evidenced by how black the pad got. I then followed with Optimum car Wax.



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Mercury_MIlan_front1.jpg



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Mercury_MIlan_frontend1.jpg



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Mercury_MIlan_rear1.jpg



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Mercury_MIlan_side1.jpg



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Mercury_MIlan_backend1.jpg



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Mercury_MIlan_rear2.jpg



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



2007 Lexus LS460. Regular customer, but it had been about a year since I`d seen his LS. Between him traveling, the weather being crappy and the car getting the rear bumper and right rear fender repainted (and not very well), kind of hard to get together and take care of the car. The owner had the car at the dealer to get the rear bumper ONLY repainted, yet for some reason they repainted the right rear fender as well. As many of you know, Lexus does do some wetsanding on the LS models to reduce the orange peel. However, the dealer didn`t make any attempt to replicate the quality factory paint and instead left behind a lot of orange peel and rotary swirls.



Anyway, the owner is looking to buy a new LS and probably selling this one to his brother (who isn`t nearly as particular about car care) so the goal was to remove the rotary swirls and knock out as much of the drying induced marring (thanks for that as well, Mr. car dealer) and spider swirls as possible in one day.



While giving the car an ONR wash, I noticed a ton of little white specs all over the top half of the car, so it took some pretty aggressive claying with Opti-Clay to remove them. Finally I got the car cleaned and clayed and started on the polishing. I used my Dewalt 849 and a yellow Meguiars polishing pad along with #205 at 1000-1400 rpms on the rotary swirls the dealer left behind and on the hood. Made a very noticeable improvement. I then went over the whole car with my G110 and a 5.5" orange Erasure cutting pad and #205, which did a pretty good job.



Here you can see the drying streaks and marring (fender already polished):



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Lexus_LS460_before.jpg



Results of G110, #205 and a 5.5" cutting pad:



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Lexus_LS460_after.jpg



Since I knew by the time I finished the driveway would be in the shade, I took these after completely polishing the paint with the above method.



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Lexus_LS460_after_205_1.jpg



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Lexus_LS460_after_205_2.jpg



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Lexus_LS460_after_205_3.jpg



The owner prefers I use Zaino on his cars since he has a lot of Zaino products and keeping within the system makes it easier for him to maintain the finish. I forgot to bring my Z5 with me so I had to use his Z2. I first washed the car with ONR after finishing polishing and then went over it with Z6 (the spray detailer). I then applied two coats of ZFX`ed Z2, with another application of Z-6 in between. The paint was very reflective but lacking the depth and darkness Z5 would have had, so I finished the car off with a coat of Optimum Opti-Seal which added depth and wetness to the finish, bringing the look to what Z5 + z8 would have looked like.



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Lexus_LS460_front1.jpg



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Lexus_LS460_frontend1.jpg



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Lexus_LS460_rear1.jpg



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Lexus_LS460_side1.jpg



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Lexus_LS460_front2.jpg



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Lexus_LS460_frontend2.jpg



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



2006 Dodge Charger. Yes, it has a hemi. Just a simple ONR wash and wax with OCW. Nice to have an easy one!



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532006_Dodge_Charger_front1.jpg



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532006_Dodge_Charger_frontend1.jpg



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532006_Dodge_Charger_rear1.jpg



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532006_Dodge_Charger_side1.jpg



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532006_Dodge_Charger_frontend2.jpg

[Tuck91]

Nice work.



Where can I get that Clearkotes Moose Wax, its a cleaner wax, right? Is it expensive?



Thanks.

[Scottwax]

Nice work.



Where can I get that Clearkotes Moose Wax, its a cleaner wax, right? Is it expensive?



Thanks.



Not sure who all carries Clearkote products but you can get it right from the source at ClearKote ©2009-2010 - Premium Quality Detailing Products and Accessories (http://www.clearkote.com)



Really nice cleaner wax. Don`t expect much correction, but it really cleans the paint up nicely.

[foxbody]

I just polished my truck yesterday and applied moose wax that I`ve had for some time. Anyway was very pleased w/ the slickness and wet look I got.

[Accumulator]

Scottwax- That`s pretty cool that the Milan`s female owner a) got a manual and b) hand-washes it with help from her son.



Interesting about the fallout from being in the flight path, huh?

[Scottwax]

Scottwax- That`s pretty cool that the Milan`s female owner a) got a manual and b) hand-washes it with help from her son.



About my age and single too. Couldn`t deal with the dog in the car though, that`s a deal killer! :rofl




Interesting about the fallout from being in the flight path, huh?



I had heard that is an issue from others, just didn`t know it could be an issue 5-6 miles out.

[Thomas Dekany]

All 3 look superb Scott. :bow:bow:bow



Must be the Charger you were working on when I called you. :D

[WAS]

I had heard that is an issue from others, just didn`t know it could be an issue 5-6 miles out.

More concerning would be the overall air quality and contaminents that those folks would be breathing in everyday. If the vehicle`s paint looks like that, I wonder what the average person`s lungs look like :nervous2:

[imported_d00t]

Looks great, Scott!

[Accumulator]

About my age and single too. Couldn`t deal with the dog in the car though, that`s a deal killer!



Aw, and here I thought the dog was a feature :chuckle:

[Concourswanna b]

Well, that Lex seemed like something I wouldn`t really want to tackle. Repainted panels, heavy duty claying needed... trying to fix some good old dealership lack of skill issues... looks great though. That`s why some guys are called `pros.`

[Scottwax]

More concerning would be the overall air quality and contaminents that those folks would be breathing in everyday. If the vehicle`s paint looks like that, I wonder what the average person`s lungs look like :nervous2:



Well, it wasn`t like contaminants were horribly caked on the finish, but generally we don`t have a huge problem with fallout from heavy industry in the Dallas area. I can go 18 months in between claying my own car for example. However, in that particular area (Highway 360 for those familiar with the DFW metroplex), I have noticed I need to clay cars more frequently.



Accumulator-I like other people`s dogs, but I don`t like being in a car with them and typically, anyone who regularly has a dog in their car has a dog regularly in their house. That means dog hair and dog smell everywhere. :grinno:

[Accumulator]

Accumulator-I like other people`s dogs, but I don`t like being in a car with them and typically, anyone who regularly has a dog in their car has a dog regularly in their house. That means dog hair and dog smell everywhere. :grinno:



Well, she just needs educatin` ;)



Hey, if I can keep my house and dog-haulers clean and odor-free then so can anybody. See.. as a dog-guy I just won`t give up on this one :chuckle: