mnehls86
New member
Well I wasn't sure if I should really start this thread yet since I will be working in multiple stages when I have the time but I figured I should get it out there while everything is fresh on my mind. Plus this will probably keep me more motivated. *Warning* This will be a slow thread since I can only work on it weekends. My wife is working 2 jobs during the week and so that puts me on daddy duty (2 year old) once I get home from my regular job.
Vehicle: Black 2007 Nissan Murano. Mission: minor paint correction (swirls and light scratches), glaze, seal and wax. I had always taken basic care of it with a couple clay's and wax's a year but the swirls have really been driving me crazy so now is finally the time to take care of them and not just temporarily with fillers.
Skill level: I guess I will say beginner. I have been detailing my own cars for years and doing close friends, co-workers and family cars starting this year. All those were nothing more than basic wash, clay and wax jobs though. Actually I'm not sure if I can really call that detailing without any paint correction can I? I will most likely be inserting a couple questions throughout the thread if I have any but feel free to chime in with any advice at anytime. Upon starting I realized my lighting is terrible so that will be on the list of soon to come. As of now I only have a few florescent fixtures and a craftsman florescent lamp to try to get a closer look.
TL;DR - Never done a paint correction and my wife's ride is a mess.
I was supposed to start Saturday 8/17 but car needed it's first smog and I wanted to get that knocked out before cleaning up the Murano. Unfortunately the shop didn't open until 8 a.m. and by the time I got home at 9 a.m. the sun was already high in the sky and heating up. So worked on the interior and pushed off exterior till the next day. Even starting at 7 a.m. Sunday it started to heat up fast here in Southern California.
Wheels and tires cleaned first with 3D products orange citrus greaser in 5:1 ratio. Left to dwell for a minute or so it broke up brake dust fairly well but took some serious scrubbing for the inside stuff that has been caked on for a while.
Car was washed using CG Extreme Body Wash and Wax in a Gilmour Foam Master II. No dilution's given on CG directions so I did a rough 10:1 ratio and it seemed to work perfect and only used about a 1/4 of the solution on the 1oz/gal. setting. Two bucket wash method and dried with CG extra large waffle weave.
Some pictures of swirl damage after washing......
Then on to clay bar. Using CG blue fine grade clay and CG clay super lube. Scent of the lube was pretty good but got a little overwhelming after a while with poor ventilation. All good after I brought a fan out. The clay bar itself isn't as pliable as the OTC meguiar's and it was a little too fine for the surface I was working with. First run over the hood with CG blue clay plastic baggie test, failed horribly, second time over the hood with meguiar's clay, better but still failed, third run again with CG blue clay B+ and moved on. With my hand it felt amazing but could still feel a few contaminates under the bag. Finished the rest of the car with one pass Meguiar's clay and a follow up pass with CG clay.
Would iron-x take care of this problem? I have been wanting to try it out but had to pick up some other supplies first.
First time polishing so I didn't want to start with anything too aggressive but I may have been able to a little more. Started with 6.5" Orange Hexlogic on HF 6" Orbital DA. I have applied wax with this machine many times but quickly realized for polishing I really need a 5" backing plate and a 3" polisher to make my work a little easier.
Pad was primed with 4 pea's of HD UNO followed by 3 pea's of UNO and a spritz of CG Extreme Slick Detailer. Cross hatched for a couple passes and wiped clean quick and easy. I repeated this step one more time and didn't get as much cut as I was hoping for. So I'm wondering with the little scratches that are left should I try a MF pad with UNO? More aggressive polish? or fill them with glaze since they aren't very noticeable and lots of progress made?
Also tried out the finish polish. HD Polish on White Hexlogic pad. Twice over on test spot and got some heavy dusting. I think I may have over worked it too though. Work time was almost half as quick than with the UNO. Here is the first test photo's. Like I said though, horrible lighting, bad background and a lot of chips in the hood haha.
Moved on to the roof after that, sorry no pictures and then my wife was kind enough to bring me out a sammich
Best shoes for this job
Even have drain holes for when washing the car and helps them dry out a little quicker
Okay back to work! Was able to finish off the driver side of the vehicle before having to stop early for smoked brisket at the in laws. After pulling the car out into the driveway though there were a couple small areas I wanted to go over again. Here are some full sun reflection shots.
And an area I'm not particularly happy about.....was wiped down a little after the picture since I left a small smudge while examining it.
I know I should have tried to get some better angles. I will work on that next time since there is still a ton of work to do. Thanks for looking and tolerating all my rambling. Again I am open to any suggestions and criticism's. Just don't be too harsh on me!
Matt.
Vehicle: Black 2007 Nissan Murano. Mission: minor paint correction (swirls and light scratches), glaze, seal and wax. I had always taken basic care of it with a couple clay's and wax's a year but the swirls have really been driving me crazy so now is finally the time to take care of them and not just temporarily with fillers.
Skill level: I guess I will say beginner. I have been detailing my own cars for years and doing close friends, co-workers and family cars starting this year. All those were nothing more than basic wash, clay and wax jobs though. Actually I'm not sure if I can really call that detailing without any paint correction can I? I will most likely be inserting a couple questions throughout the thread if I have any but feel free to chime in with any advice at anytime. Upon starting I realized my lighting is terrible so that will be on the list of soon to come. As of now I only have a few florescent fixtures and a craftsman florescent lamp to try to get a closer look.
TL;DR - Never done a paint correction and my wife's ride is a mess.
I was supposed to start Saturday 8/17 but car needed it's first smog and I wanted to get that knocked out before cleaning up the Murano. Unfortunately the shop didn't open until 8 a.m. and by the time I got home at 9 a.m. the sun was already high in the sky and heating up. So worked on the interior and pushed off exterior till the next day. Even starting at 7 a.m. Sunday it started to heat up fast here in Southern California.
Wheels and tires cleaned first with 3D products orange citrus greaser in 5:1 ratio. Left to dwell for a minute or so it broke up brake dust fairly well but took some serious scrubbing for the inside stuff that has been caked on for a while.
Car was washed using CG Extreme Body Wash and Wax in a Gilmour Foam Master II. No dilution's given on CG directions so I did a rough 10:1 ratio and it seemed to work perfect and only used about a 1/4 of the solution on the 1oz/gal. setting. Two bucket wash method and dried with CG extra large waffle weave.
Some pictures of swirl damage after washing......
Then on to clay bar. Using CG blue fine grade clay and CG clay super lube. Scent of the lube was pretty good but got a little overwhelming after a while with poor ventilation. All good after I brought a fan out. The clay bar itself isn't as pliable as the OTC meguiar's and it was a little too fine for the surface I was working with. First run over the hood with CG blue clay plastic baggie test, failed horribly, second time over the hood with meguiar's clay, better but still failed, third run again with CG blue clay B+ and moved on. With my hand it felt amazing but could still feel a few contaminates under the bag. Finished the rest of the car with one pass Meguiar's clay and a follow up pass with CG clay.
Would iron-x take care of this problem? I have been wanting to try it out but had to pick up some other supplies first.
First time polishing so I didn't want to start with anything too aggressive but I may have been able to a little more. Started with 6.5" Orange Hexlogic on HF 6" Orbital DA. I have applied wax with this machine many times but quickly realized for polishing I really need a 5" backing plate and a 3" polisher to make my work a little easier.
Pad was primed with 4 pea's of HD UNO followed by 3 pea's of UNO and a spritz of CG Extreme Slick Detailer. Cross hatched for a couple passes and wiped clean quick and easy. I repeated this step one more time and didn't get as much cut as I was hoping for. So I'm wondering with the little scratches that are left should I try a MF pad with UNO? More aggressive polish? or fill them with glaze since they aren't very noticeable and lots of progress made?
Also tried out the finish polish. HD Polish on White Hexlogic pad. Twice over on test spot and got some heavy dusting. I think I may have over worked it too though. Work time was almost half as quick than with the UNO. Here is the first test photo's. Like I said though, horrible lighting, bad background and a lot of chips in the hood haha.
Moved on to the roof after that, sorry no pictures and then my wife was kind enough to bring me out a sammich
Best shoes for this job
Even have drain holes for when washing the car and helps them dry out a little quicker
Okay back to work! Was able to finish off the driver side of the vehicle before having to stop early for smoked brisket at the in laws. After pulling the car out into the driveway though there were a couple small areas I wanted to go over again. Here are some full sun reflection shots.
And an area I'm not particularly happy about.....was wiped down a little after the picture since I left a small smudge while examining it.
I know I should have tried to get some better angles. I will work on that next time since there is still a ton of work to do. Thanks for looking and tolerating all my rambling. Again I am open to any suggestions and criticism's. Just don't be too harsh on me!
Matt.
I tried to flood him out for a few minutes (worked for me last time) but then decided I needed to get back to work. Pulled the car into the garage and gave it a 30/70 spray down of isopropyl alcohol and distilled water and then got to taping.
