2010 Metallic Black Dodge Challenger (Ext/Int/Engine)

[MusicMan]

Whats up all....been insanely busy (and loving it) the last few weeks but finally had a chance to sit down and do a write up on a recently detailed 2010 Dodge Challenger.



The title of this write up will be Stormy Monday, since it was a Monday when we did the detail and towards the end a nice storm rolled in...and with this black paint on such a wicked looking car...the name is just fitting. At least we finished up before it rained!



Craig wanted us to touch on all bases...full interior, engine detail, and a double pass and wax on the paint...I`ll say this, it was one hell of a long day but it was worth every second in the end. The neighbors kept coming out and saying `You`re still here??` lol...our reply "Yup!" :props:



Was a decent drive out to his house, but we got around rush hour and made it there in decent time...started around 9 a.m and finished up at dark-thrity (bout 6ish?). Long day like i said.



So enough chit-chat, lets take a quick look at the car of the day!



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/front_angle_before1.JPG



Sweet looking ride...and just as sweet of a sound to it. Gotta say we`ve done a couple challengers and a charger recently and they all have some sweet sounding exhaust systems on them.



So as i said above, he wanted us to touch on all three bases...so before the sun got too hot on us we decided to go ahead and wash this bad boy first...get all the grunge work done (tires, rims...ick....claying) and have the paint nice and prepped.



After doing that, i went on ahead and attacked the engine job while my sis started to work her magic on the interior of the car...neither were horrible, but both surely needed love.



We`ll start with the engine bay....it had been hit pretty good by our lovely dust storms out here in Az and dust on black just does NOT look good.



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Engine_center_before2.JPG



Yup yup, nice and dusty. DUST i can deal with...its grease that i hate, but this had very little grease on it...so i was happy :dblthumb2:



Usually I`d go at it with some Meguiars Degreaser first but, with this being just dirt and not grime, i opted out for some Meguiars APC+, along with some Optimum No Rinse clay/detail spray mix for the paint and Meguiars Hyperdressing 2-1 for the dressing. Hit it with some APC first (carefully of course, don`t want it going into the wrong areas)...used different brushes to agitate the dirt and worked all of the little nooks and cranny`s...then used the pressure washer to wash it all down (again, gently and avoiding the sensitive electrical and air intake areas).



I`ve gotta say, it turned out pretty bad ***...take a look:



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Engine_center_finished1.JPG



Now THAT...is clean enough to eat off of people! Can`t beat a nice clean blacked out engine with some colorful highlights here and there.



Here is a closer look before:



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Engine_close_before.JPG



Oooh yeah you can really see the dirt all up in every little crevice there. I do admit i had to twist my hand into some creative positions to get as many areas possible...i think i got them though, what do you think?



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Engine_close_finished.JPG



2:1 Hyperdressing is usually a bit more glossy, but i like to spray it on, let it set...and then wipe it down with a clean microfiber to dampen down the shine a LITTLE...now its more of a semi-gloss...or even a satin...very nice i think.



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Engine_left_before4.JPG



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Engine_left_finished3.JPG





Looks good from all sides!



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Engine_right_before2.JPG



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Engine_right_finished1.JPG





So while i was busy under the hood...my sis was under the roof doin her thing on the inside. The dirt wasn`t bad, but our buddy Craig had a dog...a lab...and labs...they like to shed. So she had a good deal of vacuuming to do, but again..as long as it doesn`t look like a Starbucks EXPLODED on the inside, then shes good lol.



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Driver_side_before2.JPG



Very cool looking interior, but of course what would you expect with a sweet looking exterior? Can`t really see the hair much but got a good amount out...nothing compared to the 88` honda civic we did the week prior. I emptied out a full poodle out of the shop-vac when we were through...no not a mini-poodle..full size....insaneeee amount of fur!



But back to THIS interior, like i said above...she did a full interior. Steam cleaned everything, extracted carpets and mats, deep cleaned leather (and cloth) on seats and steamed them as well, dressed all vinyl, treated all seats......everything. Can`t have a sweet looking exterior and engine and not have the cockpit lookin right!



Here`s how it looked when she was all finished:



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/driver_side_finished1.JPG



I really liked this next picture...i swear she gets the coolest shots of the inside of the car when its finished up:



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Driver_side_finished_2_.JPG



The back was a little more on the dirty side...but hey this is little league stuff compared to some things we`ve done before....



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/back_seat_before_2_.JPG



Hey wait, I can see a hand with the spray bottle in it through the window...I thought i was detailing the engine, who the hell is that!? Guess I was claying while she was doing these photos lol, either that or a mystery person jumped in to help out (hah yeah, like that`ll ever happen!)



Back seat turned out sweet!



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/back_seat_finished.JPG



And of course the view from the passenger side was just as nice of a turn around



Before:



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/passenger_side_before_2_1.JPG



And after...



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/passenger_side_finished3.JPG



:dblthumb2:





Passenger floor before



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/passenger_floor_before4.JPG



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/passenger_floor_finished3.JPG



And of course a couple beauty shots of it all finished up



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/passenger_seat_finished3.JPG

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/dash_finished.JPG

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/driver_door_finished1.JPG



It smelled as good as it looked...it smelled like....leather...mmmm.



Now for what you`ve allllll been waiting for, the paint!



Craig opted for the double pass (compound pass, followed by a finishing polish pass) and then topped with Meguiars #26 paste wax. It was a great choice for such a nice car with such cool paint. A single pass makes a big difference, but i LOVE doing a finishing polish before the wax, just makes things that much clearer and glossier. I won`t lie, this took some time! But my sis finished up the inside around the same time i finished up the engine so we double teamed the paint, and i`ll tell you what...having two people sure makes things go easier.



So first of course, we needed to see what kind of damage and swirls we were dealing with. And with black, it was NOT hard to see the problem here!



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/QP_before.JPG



With some of these to go with em` on the roof



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/QP_before_2_.JPG



Looking a little closer to the quarter panel we saw this



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/QP_before_4_.JPG



Now of course to ME, the swirls were about all i could see at first. Just a complete eye sore, but after pulling myself away from the horror of those things, i started noticing what a beautiful metal flake the paint had in it. Craig said that when he first bought it the metallic look just popped right out at you. Well...if it looked good THEN you can imagine how it looked after some REAL TLC from us.



Continued Below....

[MusicMan]

The hood of course had some real good deep scratches on it:



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Hood_Before6.JPG





So, heres the deal....weather forecasters suck. I say this because it ended up getting cloudy as hell and blocking out ALL chances of full sun shots when we were done....stupid weather man. Was suppose to be sunny. BUT i did happen to get a nice shot of the hood with decent sunlight on it after doing the compound and finishing polish.



You see the nice deep scratches above...heres how it looked after a good polishing:



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Hood_Finished4.JPG



Now that is CLEAR paint...no swirls...and felt super smooth. After we applied the wax the metal flake really popped out. Even in the semi-covered sun you can see the metal flake showing itself some in the picture above. When we put the halogen lights directly on it...it looked like the car was just covered in glitter...it was amazing. We`ll get to that a little later though.



Lets get another look at the front, but this time it was waxed and completely finished. Again, sorry there was no sun, but trust me the paint was nice and clear....you can see the super deep reflections on the hood even though it was very overcast out. You can imagine how it would have looked in the sun (Craig said he`d get some sun pictures when he had the chance, once he does i`ll add them to the post :) )



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Front_Finished_2_4.JPG



Does the paint look wet or does it look wet?



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Back_finished_2_1.JPG



I call this photo "Stormy Monday"



Which side looks better?



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Back_finished1.JPG



Or this?



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Back_Angle_finished2.JPG



Tires were not bad before:



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/tire_before5.JPG



But we made em` a little better



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Tire_Finished3.JPG







And remember how i said the paint looked like glitter in direct light...i wasn`t joking:



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/QP_Finished.JPG



A bit closer...



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/QP_Finished_2_.JPG





And even though the halogens aren`t as good as sunlight to see swirls, you can still tell...this paint has been put back into tip-top shape!



Last but not least, here are a few beauty shots



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/reflection_2_1.JPG



See, aint i beautiful? Hah...joking :-D



Here this is better:



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/reflection_3_1.JPG





I told Craig the car has to be faster now lol. Less air drag!



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Hood_Finished_4_2.JPG









Vroom...



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/Front_Finished3.JPG



Hood up...ready for a show!



http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1299/front_finished_4_1.JPG





We of course dressed all the trim and all the other little goodies that just make it look that much better in person. The neighbor came over towards the end and he ended up standing there just walking around the car gazing at it for about 10 minutes lol...which was pretty cool. Craig came out and I think it`s safe to say he was pleased and he plans to treat his car to a full detail once a year. I love doing cars, but i really love doing them when the owner comes out and is able to really see the full potential of their car. There`s clean and then there is polished, protected and all out detailed. Seeing pictures gives you an idea of the difference, but once you see it in person and your own ride looks THAT good...you just become addicted. At lease thats what has happened to our customers so far :dblthumb2:



I hope everyone enjoyed the write up as much as we enjoyed doing the detail.



Take care all and thanks for reading!

[autoaesthetica]

Thats sick Willis, the paint inside flake shot looks like water was sprinkled on it. No doubt about the faster, scientifically that makes sense. I jokingly tell my track customers their cars are in fact faster because of air drag and weight savings.



How many hours/days logged on this one total?

[MusicMan]

Thats sick Willis, the paint inside flake shot looks like water was sprinkled on it. No doubt about the faster, scientifically that makes sense. I jokingly tell my track customers their cars are in fact faster because of air drag and weight savings.



How many hours/days logged on this one total?



Hey man thanks a lot! Yeah it does kinda look like water is sprinkled on it doesn`t it? I was so set in my head about liking straight black the most...but after seeing this its like...man...i like both lol.



The two of us did this in one day from about 9 a.m to 6 p.m. So say 16 man/woman hours after you take off an hour for unloading, loading, pictures and lunch (lunch being the shortest of them!)



Was seriously a non-stop day...we got there and just started movin`. The two of us know eachother well and know who does what best and about what time frame it will take. So thats why i went after the engine while she did the inside, since im a bit more experienced with engines and shes better at interiors. Then we both hit the paint. I got a bit of a head start compounding while she was just finishing up the interior...so i had enough time to get maybe 1/2 the hood done, then she started following me with 205 and a HT Tangerine pad. After i finished up compounding i took over what she had left to polish and she did the trim dressing and tires. Then we applied the paste wax and while it cured I did little touch up things like windows and she started packing stuff up. So we work like a well oiled machine together really...both of us are almost always doing something. So it saves time and also makes it so there is no RUSHING, we work constantly but don`t rush anything.



I see you have a detail supply store, I swear ive been thinking about starting to offer some sort of supplies to clients. Ive been doing a lot more cars and a lot more upper end cars where the owners want to know how to properly care for their car in between having us come. How`d you get started with your store? Is it a big set up?

[Junebug]

Looks great and I`d love to have someone helping me - hey kids- reading this? daddy would love it if you spent some quality time helping out........I`ll pay ya! You have a great thing going there, keep up the excellant work!

[lostdaytomorrow]

Looks awesome. Great job!

[dschribs]

Great job. That`s a sweet car. Very mean looking...

[MusicMan]

Looks great and I`d love to have someone helping me - hey kids- reading this? daddy would love it if you spent some quality time helping out........I`ll pay ya! You have a great thing going there, keep up the excellant work!



haha, did they hear you? Having 2 people to go at it is really a treat...and trust me she pulls her own weight and then some. Couldn`t do it without her, i`d be dead lol.




Looks awesome. Great job!



Thanks!




Great job. That`s a sweet car. Very mean looking...



Yeah and if you heard it start up it had the sound to accommodate the mean look lol