Detailed my daily driver - my first ever detail :-)

[walletless]

I have a lot more details on my blog post (see link in my signature at bottom), so I will keep this post to necessary pics and details. I detailed my 4-month old 2012 Nissan Altima (daily driver) today. I just completed a road trip, so the car is filthy. Once the dealer glaze wore off, I could see tons of scratches and swirls in the car.. the pics below explain it better than any words.



Before Pics:

















































Products Used



Wash & Dry:





Claying:





Compounding:







Polishing:





Sealing/Waxing:







After Pics:





















Laundry for tonight:





What next?

It is best to have two layer of wax or sealant. Some people top the sealant with a Carnauba wax, while some top it of with another sealant. My goal is to get the best durability, which rules out Carnauba. I decided to top off with Collinite 845 – a highly durable hybrid liquid (i.e. sealant + wax mix). FK1000p has a cure time of 3 days for best looks, so I have decided to wait a full week and top off with #845 next weekend. Stay tuned for an update





My blog post has a lot more detail and pics from each step. Follow the link in my signature if you are interested.

Thanks for looking!

[darkonion]

Nice job. That looks great!

[walletless]

Thanks darkonion!

[cptzippy]

Nice work.

[imported_WCD]

Wow! Thank you for the email and for using our towels!



Rob

[Underdawg736GTC]

For your first detail, you did pretty dang good! Looks like you did a helluva lot better job then the dealership did....but then again I have yet to see a dealership car look as good as the majority of the cars on here!!

As for layering sealants and `nuba, I usually lay down 2 coats of sealant and then a layer of `nuba as you will get the protection of the sealant along with the depth and wet look of `nuba! I usually use NXT 2.0 and M26 and that`ll last me at least 3 months before reapplying more coats.

Again your dd looks awesome, keep up the great work!! :2thumbs:

[tom p.]

I detailed my 4-month old 2012 Nissan Altima (daily driver) today.

I`m going to ask the question: how can a nearly brand-new car have that amount of damage?



Very good job with the fotos and recovery. It looks really good :thumb:

[imported_MCA]

Nice job on your first ever detail! Since you have a black car (specifically soft black Nissan paint) that is near perfection, this is where the real work begins :chuckle:

[walletless]

Nice work.

Wow! Thank you for the email and for using our towels!

Rob

Thanks cptzippy & Rob.

The towels were awesome - very soft and plush!

For your first detail, you did pretty dang good! Looks like you did a helluva lot better job then the dealership did....but then again I have yet to see a dealership car look as good as the majority of the cars on here!!

As for layering sealants and `nuba, I usually lay down 2 coats of sealant and then a layer of `nuba as you will get the protection of the sealant along with the depth and wet look of `nuba! I usually use NXT 2.0 and M26 and that`ll last me at least 3 months before reapplying more coats.

Again your dd looks awesome, keep up the great work!! :2thumbs:

Not all the scratches were dealership installed.. After the glaze wore off, I could see lots of swirls and scratches.. and my poor handling added tons more.

I`m going to ask the question: how can a nearly brand-new car have that amount of damage?



Very good job with the fotos and recovery. It looks really good :thumb:

Yes, it was in pretty bad shape.. its tough the maintain the finish when the car is parked outside in direct sunlight and lots of trees around (bird droppings galore) about 10 hours everyday.. My work place does not have covered parking, and to top it, there is lots of construction going on that make things worse :-(

So, what you are looking at is a car that has gone through several road trip in torrential rains, which has been exposed to sunlight, bird dropping, and construction dust everyday 8-10 hours, and neglected by the owner (me) for so long.

Nice job on your first ever detail! Since you have a black car (specifically soft black Nissan paint) that is near perfection, this is where the real work begins :chuckle:

Thanks MCA. Someone told me that black car is like a second job.. I think he was wrong - its like a first job!!

Next week: Collonite 845 :-)

[tom p.]

So, what you are looking at is a car that has gone through several road trip in torrential rains, which has been exposed to sunlight, bird dropping, and construction dust everyday 8-10 hours, and neglected by the owner (me) for so long.

You may be an excellent candidate for something like the "permanent" OptiCoat product. Give it some future consideration.

[Accumulator]

walletless- Hey, that turned out *great* :xyxthumbs



One thing though...do you currently have FK1000P on it? IF so, I would *NOT* top it with 845 (which I also use). I simply can`t see any benefit (not any appearance boost, for instance) to using that instead of a second coat of FK1000P, and the FK is, IME, a lot more durable. It also really *needs* two coats IME.

[walletless]

You may be an excellent candidate for something like the "permanent" OptiCoat product. Give it some future consideration.

Yes.. but I already have lots of sealants and waxes.. Need to get through them before dropping more $ to buy another LSP.





^^ The pic above is missing several paste wax.. I have Megs Ultimate Paste wax, the FK1000p, and one more (don`t remember the name) :-)

[walletless]

walletless- Hey, that turned out *great* :xyxthumbs



One thing though...do you currently have FK1000P on it? IF so, I would *NOT* top it with 845 (which I also use). I simply can`t see any benefit (not any appearance boost, for instance) to using that instead of a second coat of FK1000P, and the FK is, IME, a lot more durable. It also really *needs* two coats IME.

Thanks Accumulator. Thats good advice.. I will try that - top with fk1000p instead of 845. I have read so many great things about 845, I thought it would be a good candidate to top with.

[Scottwax]

Good job fixing the dealer`s hack job!

[walletless]

Good job fixing the dealer`s hack job!

Thanks Scottwax. Hopefully, I will be able to maintain the car better this time around.. following your ONR guidelines :-)