First PC detail on 98 Corolla

**ALTANertive** · 02-18-2007, 01:54 AM

I did this a couple of months ago. Just got my PC and wanted a "practice" car, so I detailed my girlfriend`s Corolla. Severe oxidation and paint defects were everywhere. I wasn`t expecting any miracles, just improved looks. Here`s what I used/did:

Engine Wash

-Gunk Foaming Degreaser

-P21S Total Body Wash

-CD/2 Engine Detailer

Wash

-ABC Decontamination kit

-Eagle One Car wash

-Clay

Compound polish

-OHC w/ yellow pad

-OC w/ orange pad

-OP w/ white pad

Finishing

-RMG w/ grey pad

-JW Prime w/ grey pad

-JW AJ by hand

Headlights

-Meg`s Plastx w/ yellow pad

-Plexus plastic polish

The initial wash, this car would not bead at all. The water would just sheet on and it was nearly impossible to dry. Now it beads and its a lot easier to wash.

Before:

After:

**Nuke33** · 02-18-2007, 01:57 AM

Great improvement!

**Scottwax** · 02-18-2007, 02:19 AM

Definitely better, the sides look great! Too bad about the clearcoat failure though, there is no detailing solution for that.

**imported_Nimble** · 02-18-2007, 02:27 AM

looks much better! and i gotta say, you sure did a TON of polishing/glazing steps, that must`ve taken a long time.

**deathlok** · 02-18-2007, 06:12 AM

good job. Your girlfriend should thank you!

**gmblack3** · 02-18-2007, 10:33 AM

Great results!!!

Shame about the CC, but what can you do?

Do you think the RMG was needed as the prime might have removed it anyway?

**ALTANertive** · 02-18-2007, 02:49 PM

Thanks for the compliments. Yes, this little endeavor took me 4 days to complete.

Someone else suggested that I skip the RMG as Prime was going to remove it. But I had already ordered the product so I thought I might as well use it anyways.

**thesacrifice** · 02-18-2007, 03:17 PM

why the two products on the headlights? Asking because I haven`t needed to polish headlights yet.

**ALTANertive** · 02-19-2007, 12:00 AM

Originally Posted by thesacrifice

why the two products on the headlights? Asking because I haven`t needed to polish headlights yet.

There was some hazing/oxidation (I`m not sure what you call when the headlights look hazed up). The best solution would be wetsanding. But taking sandpaper to anything is still not out of my range of fears. So I used the Plastx to get rid of some of the oxidation and fill in the scatches, and then the Plexus to seal it up a bit.