New family vehicle: Mazda CX-9 some detailing related questions

[Inzane]

Hi Everyone,



My wife & I just took delivery on a new vehicle earlier this week: a 2013 Mazda CX-9 GT. It is in Aluminum Metallic Mica, w/ Black leather interior.



I had a few questions.



1) The car will be getting 3M clear bra film installed next week (hood, fasica, mirrors, headlights, etc.). I am eager to do at least some level of detailing on the new vehicle ASAP. Can I go ahead and decontaminate, prep and LSP the paint before I take it in for film? (I did speak to the shop and they said not to worry, they use a strong degreaser type product to strip the paint where they apply the film anyway.) I just wanted another opinion on this.



2) The seats are mainly black leather with black seude inserts. I`ve never had a vehicle with seude material on the seats before. Any tips or product suggestions for maintaining, cleaning and or treating/protecting the seude portion?



3) Unfortunately this vehicle is not fresh off the truck, it`s been on the lot a while and been test driven a couple times, etc. so the "Do Not Wash" option was not really applicable. It does have some signs of "dealer installed swirls", although not toooo bad from what I could tell. (Silver definitely makes it harder to see). What did concern me was a bit of micromarring on the headlight lenses. Any suggestions on what to do there or just leave it alone? I really would`ve liked to have had "perfect" lights before getting film put on, but is it more trouble than it`s worth to try and "polish" the lexan/plastic lense surface? (It`s not that bad.. barely noticeably, yet noticable to us Autopian folk).



4) The vehicle, like a lot of SUV/crossovers in it`s segment, has a lot of that black/charcoal textured plastic around the car. (again, this is unlike any of the vehicles I`ve previously owned) Aside from going out to buy a trim-specific type of sealant product, would you suggest I try Klasse AIO, or Optimum Protectant Plus, or ArmorAll, or 303 Aerospace or something like that? Or heck, just use whatever wax/sealant I was going to use on the paint?



5) For this vehicle (and in silver), I`m debating what LSP product from my arsenal to try. On the one hand, I`ve been really happy with the WG DGPS 3.0 I`ve got on the 335i right now. On the other hand, I`ve got that bottle of Meg`s ultimate liquid wax I bought recently and haven`t even opened yet. (As far as sealants go I also have 4*UPP, EX-P, M20 and NXT 1.0). What would you suggest for this silver vehicle? (I`m betting a few will say go ahead and use the UW....)



Many thanks!

[Inzane]

50 views.... ?



I was hoping I`d at least get an informative reply on # 2 (seude) and # 4 (exterior textured trim). I can manage the rest. :)

[pwaug]

Give it some time -- most of the detailers are pretty busy right now.



Can`t help you with the seude part of the seats, but on the remaining leather and all the vinyl I`ve had great luck with Optimum Leather Protectant (aka Protectant Plus)--really makes the job easy as you use it on everything--nice matte finish--use it 3 or 4 times per year and in between mist the leather with distilled water and let it dry by itself. 7 year old leather in my VW looks like new.



I gave up on the hassle of exterior textured trim specific products-- PIA--started using DG105 sealant (technique suggested by Accumulator) and just touch it up with DG Fast Clean and Shine QD after every couple of washes and it`s worked out great.



I`m not a fan of Megs products but had a sample of ULW and was really impressed--easy on and off, very slick and glossy and didn`t change much for 3 months it was on the paint so longer term durability should be great. If you want a richer/slightly darker look try HD Poxy topped the next day with Chemical Guys V7--surprisingly awesome on lighter colored metallics.

[Inzane]

Thanks for the reply.




but on the remaining leather and all the vinyl I`ve had great luck with Optimum Leather Protectant (aka Protectant Plus



That`s exactly what I use. :)




I gave up on the hassle of exterior textured trim specific products-- PIA--



Which trim products have you tried and what was so PIA about them?

[pwaug]

Which trim products have you tried and what was so PIA about them?



My 07 Passat wagon has a pebble grain black trim all the way around on the rocker panels. The PIA was trying to keep it off the paint and have to just about lay down to to it correctly. Most of the products I tried were black so really had to keep it off the paint. The best of the bunch was HD Trim Guard as it`s a clear almost gel like product but still had to be re-applied every few months. Must admit I haven`t tried any of the more permanent products like the Value Guard ETR (I think that`s what it`s called)--mostly because of cost. So I scrubbed the trim 3 times with a small brush and HD Orange Degreaser (at 4:1) to make sure everything was off and gave it a coat of DG 105 Sealant with FC&S touch ups--that was 6 months ago and it still looks great and I don`t have to worry about getting it on the paint.

[Accumulator]

Inzane- For the exterior plastic, I`d just use a trim-friendly LSP such as KSG or 845 or somesuch. Or even just treat it quickly (say, while drying) with ValuGard`s Fast Finish. I`ll *sometimes* use Ultima`s trim sealant (with good results) but if there`s a lot of it I`d want to just LSP it.

[Inzane]

I`ll *sometimes* use Ultima`s trim sealant (with good results)



I was contemplating trying that one (Ultima Tire & Trim Guard Plus), but a local detail shop convinced me to try Gtechniq C4 Permanent Trim Restore instead. The cost was almost the same, and the manufacturer claims is protection that supposedly lasts up to 2 years. (Heck if I even get half of that I`d be impressed).



This is my first dabbling into the world of these new nano coatings. I haven`t been interested in trying that on paint (at least not yet), but I`ll give it a go on the trim and see. I haven`t used the C4 yet, but will soon enough.





For my paint, I just LSP`d with the Meg`s ULW. I did a "presoak" with my gilmour foam gun and a concentrated solution of CW&G, then a conventional 2-bucket wash with Duragloss 901. Then I gave it an Iron X treatment. Re-rinsed the vehicle, then had to do a little spot-treatment with Tar-X on the lower rockers (signs of a careless testdrive). I decided not to clay this time around. I didn`t feel it was warranted. And I was going to do a base layer of KAIO, which is my usual go-to for sealants but I was pressed for time on the weekend so I decided to apply the ULW to bare paint. Given how new the vehicle was and how thorough I washed and decontaminated I was hoping that would be fine.



I have to say the ULW was a little strange to work with. I applied it with my PC (1.0) at a speed of 3 with a blue pad and spread it as thin as I practically could. But I didn`t notice the normal "dry to a haze" effect like you would expect to see with most LSPs. It was hard to tell where it was appied (maybe the fact the paint color is silver contributed). I had to consciously make sure I covered the entire surface. I let it sit for 45 minutes at least and even after that time some panels still looked like they had nothing on it. When I went to remove it, I again had to just make sure I was thorough and covered ever bit of the panels with my MFs. This stuff is so clear that I could not even tell if/when my MF was getting loaded up during the removal stage.



Initial slickness wasn`t anything special, but by the next morning I definitely noticed slickness had improved. Now on day 2 and I *think* that WG DGPS 3.0 might be slicker, however I did two coats of that on my BMW and it was applied over KAIO, so not necessarily a fair comparison at this point.



Has anyone seen a benefit of adding a 2nd (or more) coats of ULW? (and have you noticed a difference applying on bare paint, vs. prepping a base with something underneath?).

[Accumulator]

Inzane- IMO that "applied so thin you couldn`t see it" was the right way to do it :xyxthumbs



FWIW, I fog the surface with my breath when I buff off the LSPs. Not only makes them buff off easier, but also helps me see what`s going on as well.

[obguam]

I have a Mazda CX-5 with the same "black/charcoal textured plastic" trim on lower bumper covers and all around. I wash weekly with ONRWW (unless a full shampooing is called for), use Opti-Seal for LSP everywhere including lights and trim every 2 months or so, and apply a coat of Opti-Bond tire gel diluted 50/50 to the tires and trim every other wash. Really like OB on textured plastic trim. Makes it slightly darker but almost unnoticeable, definitely not shiny, oily or too glossy like other protectants, and fairly long lasting. Great smell too.

For black leather interior, I wipe down with plain water to clean weekly. If seats get very dirty or greasy I use 1Z Cockpit cleaner and apply 303 everywhere inside for UV protection.