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ScubaStevo
07-13-2005, 02:14 PM
Well this is my first 2 day job. I spent close to 12 hours on this car, and I must say, I now hate it. The customer dropped it off at 5 PM yesterday, I worked on it till 11 pm when I went to sleep. Work up at 6 am today and went at it again. Finished around 12-1 o`clock, but was doing small trims ect till around 2:30. To give you a idea about the weather, lets just say one of my bads melted to the backing plate. I had to throw both out. +32oC with 100% humidity reading about 43 oC with the humidex. How fun.



The car: 2000 Chevy Malibu, from the rich side of town. Now, even though its from the rich side of town, it hasn`t been washed in 3 years explains the owner. Interiors only been vacuumed once a year.



Swirls were the worst I`ve seen, and the pictures just don`t show how bad they really were. I said in my head, "fine, I can handle a bad exterior, I`ve done similar jobs before". Well I kicked myself hard for the $150 price quote over the phone once I opened the door and hood. (Note to self, don`t give quotes over the phone). :sadpace:



The interior may not look like a complete mess, but I had removed most of the big junk as to not compleletly embarrese the owner.



Engine bay was one of the worst I`ve ever seen. How can such a new car, look so bad?



I did the interior first, then went to go and move it up the driveway to wash it and put it away for the night. Well lucky me, the thing wouldn`t start. It cranked over, revved up and then fell well below idle and stalled. I wondered what was going on, but didn`t call the owner. I finally got it going and pulled it up to wash it. Ya, today it started no problem, so I dont` know what happend there.



Interior processes were:



Remove junk and owners possesions

Take pictures

Vacuum carpets

Steam clean with "little green bug"

Scrub the carpets for about 2 hours with high concentrate carpet cleaning solution.

Extract waste water

Clean vinyl with "spot remover, NOW FOR FABRIC!"

Removed gumbo with house hold degreaser

Dress with Poorboys Natural Shine

Apply carpet scent



Exterior processes:



Wash

Attempted to dry, but the cloth just snagged on all the junk on the car

Attemped to clay, but it seemed to take over 2 claybars. I had to resort to driving to the store to buy two more. :nixweiss



**the next morning**

Began polishing with SSR 2.5 on spot cutting pad. x5 later, the car looked representable.

Worked out what ever was left with SSR 2 on a polishing pad. x1

Cleaned the surface to check for any other defects with alchohol

Found some buffer trails, so polished those out.

Cleaned everything once again with Klasse AIO.

Topped with NXT



Tires got Diamler Chysler tire dressing

Wheel wells wouldn`t come clean, but I dressed them with Armor all anyways

Trim and mudflaps got Poorboys Trim Restorer

Glass got some RainX

Plastic lenses were polished with SSR 2.5 and sealed with the rest of the vehicle



Engine bay:



Washed down engine with misted water

Engine wouldn`t start

Left engine over night

Started good. (Damn that scared me)

Began degreasing with HotRims and a toothbrush

Didn`t risk misting the engine again, so I just dressed everything with Armor All and tire shine.

(The marks you`ll see in the pictures were not removable, due to no maintenence.)



Ok, now for the twenty some pictures, by now they should have loaded up. :)



Befores:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu028.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu030.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu035.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu032.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu039.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu044.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu046.jpg

ScubaStevo
07-13-2005, 02:19 PM
Befores:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu050.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu052.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu054.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu061.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu063.jpg



After the 5 passes of SSR 2.5:



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu065.jpg



Glass before and after:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu081.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu083.jpg

ScubaStevo
07-13-2005, 02:23 PM
Afters:



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu115.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu116.jpg



Interior Afters:



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu085.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu089.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu096.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu109.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu118.jpg



I thought this was a nice touch: (Don`t mind the little gravel. I vaccuumed it up before he came)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu121.jpg

ScubaStevo
07-13-2005, 02:26 PM
Exteriors afters:



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu101.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu105.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu102.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu104.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu103.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu099.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu098.jpg

ScubaStevo
07-13-2005, 02:28 PM
More exterior afters:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu100.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu076.jpg



Products:



I used a whole thing of this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu112.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu111.jpg



I had a couple casualties, this pad being one of them:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu114.jpg



Thats it folks, thanks for looking, I know it was a long read.

JasonD
07-13-2005, 02:34 PM
Anymore before pics of the whole car, after washing? This would help members see how bad the swirls are and stuff. Great job by the way, looks much better.



What kind of pad is that in the last picture? It has certainly seen better days! :eek:

ScubaStevo
07-13-2005, 02:44 PM
Anymore before pics of the whole car, after washing? This would help members see how bad the swirls are and stuff. Great job by the way, looks much better.



What kind of pad is that in the last picture? It has certainly seen better days! :eek:



Its a pad from 3M. Its in the trash now, along with 3 other pads.



I am uploading some half half pictures right now:



This one is in the middle. The before side had received SSR2.5 x1 on them already when I realized that what I was doing. (Early morning)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu067.jpg



Here is one more, which was before washing, at night time, with the flash. I was hoping it would bring out the swirls more, but I had a very hard time gettin them to show. I started too early this morning to get any good full sun shots:



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu033.jpg

imported_guapsnaman
07-13-2005, 03:16 PM
Great Job. Looks like the freaking bra on that crap came with the delivery of the car and was never removed. I respect that you can take that many pics while detailing.

imported_becks
07-13-2005, 03:31 PM
Good job Steve, but you really need to start charging more then $150

Scottwax
07-13-2005, 04:37 PM
Good job Steve, but you really need to start charging more then $150





Waaaaaay more!



Outstanding work! I agree it is stunning how bad people let their cars get. Sad thing is, in a few months, it will probably look pretty rough again. Job security, I guess. :nixweiss

ScubaStevo
07-13-2005, 05:32 PM
Waaaaaay more!



Outstanding work! I agree it is stunning how bad people let their cars get. Sad thing is, in a few months, it will probably look pretty rough again. Job security, I guess. :nixweiss



Thats how I look at it. As long as there are cars, there will be work for me.

imported_becks
07-13-2005, 06:05 PM
Thats how I look at it. As long as there are cars, there will be work for me.



Ya but you should be making more coin, that detail should start at $300cdn

Spilchy
07-13-2005, 06:20 PM
Nice job Steve! I think you help to prove those wrong that say you can`t do much surface correction with a PC (although it takes longer)



Luckily the engine turned over in the morning!



Looks the like the young guns here are giving others a run for their money in this category. Last month it was Maxy and now Steve is looking good!



Great work!

steck
07-13-2005, 06:24 PM
good ol canadian BLACK FLIES!!!



you must know buickguy,,



real good work and nice detail on a POS car!!

stilez
07-13-2005, 06:27 PM
Everything looks 100x better except the doorjams :(.



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Zach4u2c/Malibu/malibu096.jpg



What happened there?





I`m not saying this maliciously, but to further help you out in your ventures. I`ve been nailed on this before too, early on in the biz. Mix up a 6:1 APC mix and use a cheap MF to degrease everything, then hit everything with QD after washing the car. It will look brand new.



Other than that, amazing comeback!