1999 Nissan Pathfinder: First write up on Autopia

**Uber Auto Conditioning** · 06-26-2012, 09:59 PM

Well this is my first write up so i`ll keep it short and brief to start with. This Nissan owner is a repeat customer of mine but I haven`t seen him in at least a year, so there was a bit of work that needed to be done. He was scheduled for both an interior and exterior cleaning with one step polishing on the paint, my basic and most popular detail package.

Before Pictures:

Not terrible just your average dirt built up over a year. Interior was cleaned with einszett cockpit premium, MF towels, various brushes, and compressed air. He has some dogs that ride in the car on the seats so dirt build up on those was substantial and made for some good 50/50 shots.

On to the exterior, which had the typical swirl marks found on dark paint, nothing too major though and since I did it last year nothing was very deep.

Engine bay and jambs had some grime build up and was handled with Optimum Power Clean and various brushes.

The wheels and tires were fairly clean but due to a slight sheen and browning I could tell that the tires had old dressing on them that needed to be removed.

P21S Wheel Gel was used on the wheels with various brushes.

Tires were hit with Optimum Power Clean that was used at full strength. It is rare that I see this much dirt coming off of tires like this. When I clean tires I let the product sit for a minute or two, scrub, rinse, and repeat. I repeat this process until there is little to no "brown suds" or dirt coming off anymore. On these tires it took 3-4 scrubbing sessions to get there.

And a much cleaner tire producing way less mud during agitation with the brush.

The wash process was poorly documented but contained a foaming with CGCW/OPC with a dwell time of 2-3 minutes. Washed with CGCW and clear using the 2 bucket method and micro fiber wash mitt. Vehicle was dried using a Master Blaster and micro fiber waffel weave towels. Surface preparation was done with Pinacle Ultra Poly clay with ONR as a lubricant. The truck was then taped and masked for polishing.

This particular vehicle has a lot of rubber seals and trim that could be sensitive to being in contact with a polishing pad so a little bit extra time was taken with the taping. Polishing was done with a Flex 3401VRG with a 5.5 inch Lake country flat white pad and Meguiars 205. Followed up with an IPA wipedown to insure all polishing oils, lubricants, and carriers were removed prior to LSP application. BWFD was used as an LSP.

I was a little pressed for time on this one so my pics aren`t as plentiful as I would like but the vehicle turned out great for a basic one step and I was able to correct a majority of the fine swirls. Here are a few finished shots.