330ci, Escalade, Charger

S

Scottwax

New member
2006 BMW 330ci, the last of the un-Bangled 3's. Regular customer, hit it with Prime and Acrylic Jett when it was about a week old in December. I've been washing it once or twice a month since, used Zaino Z8 after a couple of the washes. Still pretty slick and looked great. Just added another coat of Acrylic Jett.



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2006 Dodge Charger. I used to wash this one regularly when he and his wife were still married. He is now out chasing girls half his age so I only clean his car every month or two. He just wanted the interior detailed and the car waxed this time. Both he and I were pretty limited on time today so after detailing the interior (really wasn't bad-no pics, the bright sun was casting all sorts of shadows on the interior, that tends to ruin pictures), I just put on a couple coats of Optimum Car Wax.



The car really does need some polishing as you can see by this shot:



2006_Dodge_Charger_metallic.jpg




Not horrible but you can see some light swirling in the paint. Besides the time factor, the other reason I didn't polish the car is because he had the hood repainted and the body shop left a bunch of holograms in the hood. He is going to take it back and tell them they need to remove them (I told him to tell them not to just use a glaze to fill them in but to properly polish them out) or reimburse him for me to remove them. If they can't handle it, I know I can. I'll make sure to get some real good before shots too.



Anyway, a few more pics. As usual, the bright sun throws off the exposure, even using matrix light metering. I was very pleased, however, with how rich and wet looking OCW left the paint. Not bad for two trips around the car with a spray wax and 15 minutes of time!



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2005 Cadillac Escalade. Just under 10,000 miles, filled with debris, mostly those Goldfish crackers. No major stains though. Leather was somewhat dirty too. Cleaned with Woolite/water mixture, dress the vinyl with Meguiars Interior QD and the leather with Leather Master's Leather Protection Creme. Really does a great job on the leather, leaves it real soft. Smell isn't great though, kind of chemical smelling. Disapates quickly though, the Escalade smelled like an Escalade when I finished. Werkstatt's Prime on the wood.



Flash washed out the light colored leather, so here are the no flash pics:



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Fenderwells need love too, gave them plenty. ;)



Armor All on tires and fenderwells, Prime on the chrome wheels.



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The paint was in excellent condition, just some minor tar along the bottom of the rear fenders that came off when washing. Use Prime with a blue Propel pad and Acrylic Jett by hand. I'm kind of disappointed how the pics turned out, the paint looks super clear and wet in person. Finishing so close to sundown probably doesn't help. Anyway....



2005_Cadillac_Escalade_AJ_side2.jpg




2005_Cadillac_Escalade_AJ_rear1.jpg




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2005_Cadillac_Escalade_AJ_front1.jpg
 
Very nice Scott...



In your experience, will Prime remove hazing from compunding the paint?



Thanks
 
Im guessing this is the Pearl White Escalade you referred to in my thread...and it does look amazing! It really does finish off the car nicely when you have such blacked-out wheel wells and properly dressed trim. Love to look at your click and brag - It's where I pick up a lot of tips...So thank you!
 
I like the metallic on that Charger...really is about 1/2 as sensative as solid black...but is pretty close in looks, IMO.



I love the Escalade...just don't care much for detailing them. I've done a couple black ones...and the orange peel is horrendous on them...so they never look "good." I almost bought a black one for my wife...and I can guarentee I would have knocked the edge off that orange peel with some 3000 grit...even if it would shorten the lifespan on the clear...I just couldn't live with it.
 
UnsanePyro said:
The Armor All doesn't sling? Or do you go back over and buff off the excess with a towel?
Click to expand...



I apply it with an applicator and early in the detail. Since I use ONR to wash cars, I do the wheels and fenderwells first, then dress them. That way, any overspray is removed when washing the rest of the vehicle and the dressing on the tires has a few hours to dry during the rest of the detail.



RAG-that Charger has a really good factory paint job. As you can tell by the sharpness of the reflections, the orange peel is minimal. I can hardly wait to cut loose on it and polish it out properly. Probably stick with OCW x 2 for the LSP as it looks absolutely killer on that car. I need to find a way for my camera to not overexpose the sunlit areas when shooting dark cars in the sun, been playing with exposure settings for a long time and haven't come up with a solution. The car looks better in person.



Most of the Escalades I have done do have moderate orange peel, real shame. They are otherwise really nice SUVs.



Joshua-I pick up a lot of tips in this forum too!
 
Do a double exposure. Meter so that the high light areas are exposed correctly, then take a photo, then take another photo and expose for the rest of the car, then combine the two images and mask the affected areas in photoshop so you have a completely properly exposed pic!
 
metal said:
Do a double exposure. Meter so that the high light areas are exposed correctly, then take a photo, then take another photo and expose for the rest of the car, then combine the two images and mask the affected areas in photoshop so you have a completely properly exposed pic!
Click to expand...



Yeah but then I would be accused of doctoring the pics by some of the people here.



I am still trying to figure out the manual mode on my camera. Never had an automatic one before this one. If I can get the manual mode working right, I can average the exposure between the background and subject and get a more even exposure.
 
Awesome work as usual, your C&B's are always a high point of the forum. Is that BMW 330Ci a ZHP? Looks like it, nice upgrade on the car gives it 245hp (I think) plus some of the M touches.
 
LightngSVT said:
Awesome work as usual, your C&B's are always a high point of the forum. Is that BMW 330Ci a ZHP? Looks like it, nice upgrade on the car gives it 245hp (I think) plus some of the M touches.
Click to expand...



Yes, and she (the owner) knows it and that is alluded to on her personalized plates.
 
Nice (wet) looking work again Scott.



I've tried the armour all (orginal) on my personal tires (Michellin costco tires) that never seem to look good with any product, and they seemed to look great the first day with just a minor coating of Armour all. However, the next day they looked a little blouchy, but they have been that way with other products too. How much armour all do you put on the tires. When I put it on I just put a little bit on an apllicator and the tire still had a little water on it. The intial appearance was awesome. But the next day, was not as good . I am guessing a little more product on a dryer tire may do the ticket. I don't like Meg's Hyper dressing so far, but Meg's 38 is pretty good for other cars I have experimented with.



The silver BMW looks great on film and I bet the white Escale looke great in person. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.



Doug
 
Very nice! I like the reflectiveness on the charger.



Do you give the same paint treatment to the entire roof of the SUV(s) as you do everywhere else? And did you do anything to the carpet of the SUV besides vaccumming it?

I'll be detailing an Escalade (mom's) and I'm hoping for similar results. It has water spots from the sprinkler on the chrome trim and paint.
 
What type of armor all are you guys using?



OTC here we can get the AA Tire Foam...



Or is it better to look into a 5gallon pail of Bulk Tire Shine for $87.00US (through my work)
 
Doug-I wipe the tires dry before applying any dressing. Since I wash with Optimum's No Rinse, I clean and dress the wheels and fenderwells before washing so any overspray on windy days gets washed off. After I finish the car, I back it up a couple of feet and redress the tires to make sure I have even coverage.



blkbolt-I polish the roof just like the rest of the car. Sometimes though, I have to polish it less since no one actually gets up there with towels to dry it so there are less paint defects caused by poor drying techniques.



I clean the carpeting with the Woolite/water mixture (do a search, should turn up a lot).



Paul-I use the 'orginal shine' formula.
 
Nice flake capture in that Charger Scott. New Dodges seem to have a very good metalflake added.....Man I love those new Dodge products.......

Nice work as usual Scott!
 
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