LawrenceSA
New member
Its the biggest car I have done so far - the mirrors had probably 10mm each side coming through the entrance to the garage :crazy:
When the owner dropped it off on Friday night he was like
:fear: I felt the same way taking the car out on Saturday morning for the wash and decon and back in again for the rest of the detail. It stayed there until he collected it on Sunday night :grin:
And it was hammered. The car had been used off road and the owner wanted all the bush inflicted scratches out, and there were plenty of them, on the paint and gloss black plastic pillars
Some water spots and a fair amount of swirls.
So I started where I always would - the engine bay.
All the loose sticks and leaves were picked out, the engine bay blown out and HP rinsed. I then used Carchem APC at 1:5 with various brushes to clean, and HP rinsed again. The engine bay was then blown out and left to dry. It would later be dressed with Autofinesse Dressel. The painted portions were cleaned/polished/protected by hand using MF applicator pads and Autofinesse Tripple.
I then moved to the fender wells, tires and wheels.
Before
During
After
Fender Wells: Carchem APC at 1:5
Tires: Valet Pro Billberry at 1:5
Wheel cleaning: Valet Pro Billberry at 1:5
Tar removal: Valet Pro Citrus Tar Remover
Iron removal: Valet Pro Dragon's Breath
Then the wheels were sealed with Gyeon Cure
Next it was time to get everything else clean.
Here you can see a nice deep scratch :fear:
And here you start to see the bush inflicted scratches on the plastic bits
But first time to get cleaning...
A decent HP rinse to remove as much loose dirt as possible then foam the car with Carchem Snowfoam
That was left to dwell then HP rinsed off again. I then sprayed the lower half of the car with Valet Pro Citrus Prewash through a pump sprayer, left it to dwell, then HP rinsed that off. With the 'pre-washing' out the way it was time to do a 2 bucket wash using Carchem Luxury Shampoo. The the door and boot jambs were cleaned [these would be later cleaned/polished/protected using Autofinesse Tripple by hand]. The car was then rinsed and dried.
The lower panels were sprayed with Valet Pro Tar Remover and the dissolved tar wiped off with MF towels. I then used Carchem Revolt to remove the embedded iron contamination from the paint and used Shield Heavy Duty Clay to remove the remaining contamination from the paint and glass.
So it was time to tackle the paint.
Most of the scratches looked like this - some a little deeper, some not quite as deep....
They were everywhere (the tape is covering each one)
I then set about taking a lot of paint readings which ranged from 140µ to 190µ, and got stuck in
Before
After damp sanding with 2500 grit sandpaper [the minimal texture in the OEM paint (probably some of the best I have seen) made it easier to deal with].
After 1 set of Menzerna FG400 on a Lake Country Orange Hybrid Pad
After the paint it was time to tackle all the gloss black plastics.
Before
After 1 set of Menzerna FG400 on a Lake Country Orange Hybrid Pad [and where required a 2nd set] the clarity was restored with Menzerna SF4000 on a Black Lake Country Hybrid pad.
Before
After
Before
After
Then all the dirt trapped in the corners of the badges was cleaned out using Autofinesse Tripple
Before
After
The paint was then wiped down with Menzerna Top Inspection and Protected with Menzerna Powerlock.
I then moved to the interior which was vacuumed out using a Flex Vacuum cleaner.
The leather was then cleaned using Carchem APC at 1:15
Then protected using Collinite #855 Leather and Vinyl Wax.
The plastics were cleaned using Carchem APC at 1:15 then wiped down using Autofinesse Spritz. The door rubbers were cleaned using Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber cleaner and protected using Aerospace 303. The glass was cleaned using Glossworx Glass Cleaner.
I then finished up the outside plastics and rubbers and glass, and polished up the exhaust tips using Meguiars NXT All Metal Polish
When the owner dropped it off on Friday night he was like
:fear: I felt the same way taking the car out on Saturday morning for the wash and decon and back in again for the rest of the detail. It stayed there until he collected it on Sunday night :grin: And it was hammered. The car had been used off road and the owner wanted all the bush inflicted scratches out, and there were plenty of them, on the paint and gloss black plastic pillars
Some water spots and a fair amount of swirls.So I started where I always would - the engine bay.
All the loose sticks and leaves were picked out, the engine bay blown out and HP rinsed. I then used Carchem APC at 1:5 with various brushes to clean, and HP rinsed again. The engine bay was then blown out and left to dry. It would later be dressed with Autofinesse Dressel. The painted portions were cleaned/polished/protected by hand using MF applicator pads and Autofinesse Tripple.
I then moved to the fender wells, tires and wheels.
Before
During
After
Fender Wells: Carchem APC at 1:5
Tires: Valet Pro Billberry at 1:5
Wheel cleaning: Valet Pro Billberry at 1:5
Tar removal: Valet Pro Citrus Tar Remover
Iron removal: Valet Pro Dragon's Breath
Then the wheels were sealed with Gyeon Cure
Next it was time to get everything else clean.
Here you can see a nice deep scratch :fear:
And here you start to see the bush inflicted scratches on the plastic bits
But first time to get cleaning...
A decent HP rinse to remove as much loose dirt as possible then foam the car with Carchem Snowfoam
That was left to dwell then HP rinsed off again. I then sprayed the lower half of the car with Valet Pro Citrus Prewash through a pump sprayer, left it to dwell, then HP rinsed that off. With the 'pre-washing' out the way it was time to do a 2 bucket wash using Carchem Luxury Shampoo. The the door and boot jambs were cleaned [these would be later cleaned/polished/protected using Autofinesse Tripple by hand]. The car was then rinsed and dried.
The lower panels were sprayed with Valet Pro Tar Remover and the dissolved tar wiped off with MF towels. I then used Carchem Revolt to remove the embedded iron contamination from the paint and used Shield Heavy Duty Clay to remove the remaining contamination from the paint and glass.
So it was time to tackle the paint.
Most of the scratches looked like this - some a little deeper, some not quite as deep....
They were everywhere (the tape is covering each one)
I then set about taking a lot of paint readings which ranged from 140µ to 190µ, and got stuck in
Before
After damp sanding with 2500 grit sandpaper [the minimal texture in the OEM paint (probably some of the best I have seen) made it easier to deal with].
After 1 set of Menzerna FG400 on a Lake Country Orange Hybrid Pad
After the paint it was time to tackle all the gloss black plastics.
Before
After 1 set of Menzerna FG400 on a Lake Country Orange Hybrid Pad [and where required a 2nd set] the clarity was restored with Menzerna SF4000 on a Black Lake Country Hybrid pad.
Before
After
Before
After
Then all the dirt trapped in the corners of the badges was cleaned out using Autofinesse Tripple
Before
After
The paint was then wiped down with Menzerna Top Inspection and Protected with Menzerna Powerlock.
I then moved to the interior which was vacuumed out using a Flex Vacuum cleaner.
The leather was then cleaned using Carchem APC at 1:15
Then protected using Collinite #855 Leather and Vinyl Wax.
The plastics were cleaned using Carchem APC at 1:15 then wiped down using Autofinesse Spritz. The door rubbers were cleaned using Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber cleaner and protected using Aerospace 303. The glass was cleaned using Glossworx Glass Cleaner.
I then finished up the outside plastics and rubbers and glass, and polished up the exhaust tips using Meguiars NXT All Metal Polish
