Don
06-15-2021, 07:14 AM
So just over a week ago, the wife picked up a 2013, Ruby Red Ford Escape. It has just 59,000 miles and has almost every option except AWD. The only "bad" part of the car is the interior, which is filthy, but the dealer is going to send it out to a shop to steam the seats etc. I said go for it (let them do the heavy lifting, besides, I HATE interiors and don`t have the equipment to do it right anyway). I just told them DO NOT touch the exterior...no washing/waxing/or anything else, because *I* am a detailer and *I* will take care of the paint.
I had intended to polish it out and wax it last week, but between work and rainy days off, I couldn`t do anything until yesterday. Staring with Meguiar`s Ultimate Wheel Cleaner on the rims and Purple Power on the tires, I did an intense wash with a stronger than normal amount of Meg`s Hyper Wash on the body (door and hatch jams included). The water was DEAD FLAT on all of the panels, so I know that the dealership hadn`t had time to put any of their garbage on the finish.
Once dried, I broke out the Porter Cable and some Meg`s thin foam cutting pads (I started out with the cutting pads because it was obvious that the car had seen nothing but swirl-o-matic tunnel washes and had swirls galore). I used Turtle Wax HS Polish & Wax for the `cutting/polishing` stage, 1) Because it`s what I have on hand and 2) I like how it works. In hindsight, I could have gone more aggressive, but I was still able to remove about 70 - 75% of the swirls and ALL of the oxidation on the roof (more on the roof later) with only a few passes.
The HS Polish and Wax worked great and since I worked it really well, single-towel removal was a breeze. With all the paintwork polished, I turned my attention to the rims, which have some light brown staining that wouldn`t come off with the wash. After a few test spots, I`ve decided that I`m going to use Meg`s Ultimate Compound and a MF cloth to clean up the baked on crud that`s still on them...but by then I was beat and decided to wait for another day to hand polish the rims.
Now about the roof. No swirling or scratches at all, but there WAS a lot of built up dirt in the edges - yet another sign that this car has never gotten proper attention. You couldn`t immediately see how bad the oxidation was - UNTIL I did 1/2 of the roof and went to the other side. Sorry my phone camera doesn`t show just how bad it was before. In person it was a glaring difference, but in the pic (bottom before / top after) you can see that it looks like there was a gray film over the paint.
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/500/tn_Escape_50_50.jpg
Here is an overall `before` pic of the car, I will get some `after` pics of it this afternoon after I apply the sealant (TW HS Ceramic Spray Coating - again, it`s the best I have on hand and it worked really well on the Camaro and my MIL`s Edge - which is a similar color to the wife`s Escape, so why not)?
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/500/tn_Ford_1.jpg
I had intended to polish it out and wax it last week, but between work and rainy days off, I couldn`t do anything until yesterday. Staring with Meguiar`s Ultimate Wheel Cleaner on the rims and Purple Power on the tires, I did an intense wash with a stronger than normal amount of Meg`s Hyper Wash on the body (door and hatch jams included). The water was DEAD FLAT on all of the panels, so I know that the dealership hadn`t had time to put any of their garbage on the finish.
Once dried, I broke out the Porter Cable and some Meg`s thin foam cutting pads (I started out with the cutting pads because it was obvious that the car had seen nothing but swirl-o-matic tunnel washes and had swirls galore). I used Turtle Wax HS Polish & Wax for the `cutting/polishing` stage, 1) Because it`s what I have on hand and 2) I like how it works. In hindsight, I could have gone more aggressive, but I was still able to remove about 70 - 75% of the swirls and ALL of the oxidation on the roof (more on the roof later) with only a few passes.
The HS Polish and Wax worked great and since I worked it really well, single-towel removal was a breeze. With all the paintwork polished, I turned my attention to the rims, which have some light brown staining that wouldn`t come off with the wash. After a few test spots, I`ve decided that I`m going to use Meg`s Ultimate Compound and a MF cloth to clean up the baked on crud that`s still on them...but by then I was beat and decided to wait for another day to hand polish the rims.
Now about the roof. No swirling or scratches at all, but there WAS a lot of built up dirt in the edges - yet another sign that this car has never gotten proper attention. You couldn`t immediately see how bad the oxidation was - UNTIL I did 1/2 of the roof and went to the other side. Sorry my phone camera doesn`t show just how bad it was before. In person it was a glaring difference, but in the pic (bottom before / top after) you can see that it looks like there was a gray film over the paint.
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/500/tn_Escape_50_50.jpg
Here is an overall `before` pic of the car, I will get some `after` pics of it this afternoon after I apply the sealant (TW HS Ceramic Spray Coating - again, it`s the best I have on hand and it worked really well on the Camaro and my MIL`s Edge - which is a similar color to the wife`s Escape, so why not)?
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/500/tn_Ford_1.jpg