Oneheadlite
New member
Hey gang. Got this posted on the sister site, thought it might be worth throwing up here too.
Well, after just shy of 9 years and nearly 200,000 miles on the road together (nearly 300k on the odometer), I’ve decided it’s time to move onto a new daily driver.
As is tradition, it was time for one last shine before we part ways.
This was a 2 part’r, the interior done Saturday with the exterior saved for Sunday. It was a very Griot’s weekend, as it’s what I tend to reach for when I just want things to work.
Interior was done with Interior Detailer, Leather 3 and 1 Spray for the seats. Wood trim was chased with Rinseless Wash and Wax.
As mentioned when I put it in the “What have you been doing detailing related”, despite being a dog hauler, commuter, and ride service for my 8yo daughter, I didn’t need to reach for anything deeper reaching for most surface cleaning. I did step it up to Multi Surface Citrus cleaner for some tar spots on the driver’s dead pedal, and Interior Cleaner for the pedals.
The all weather mats got hit with a pass of Interior Cleaner (scrubbed with a soft tipped bench brush), rinsed, and chased with Interior Detailer. Quick wipe with a microfiber after and they’re clean but not slick.
Full confession - the carpet only got a thorough vacuum (yes, that’s salt crust you see in the drivers footwell…). A friend is buying the car, and for what he’s paying for it I’ll let him close out the relay race. It’s nice to know he’s the type to pull seats to really do carpet right, so it’s going to a good home…
For the exterior, it was a solid hand wash with Duragloss car wash (just what I had on hand). Clayed with soapy water from the bucket with a boost of N914.
Wheels hit with one of Sonax’s heavier cleaners (I forget which one). In case he wants to take the wheels the rest of the way, I just chased them with Sonax BSD to not leave them naked. Tires I used Mike Phillips trick of Pinnacle Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner/Conditioner on a drill brush.
Door jams/fuel filler done with Ech20.
Paint correction /protection done with Griot’s Ceramic All in One Wax and Orange pads, GG9 and G8. They say not to use it on rubber, so I cheated and hit some areas with Blackfire One Step since I haven’t had trouble with it in those areas.
Blackfire One Step for the glass.
Grills and lower trim hit with Optimum OptiSeal.
By the time I was done, wasn’t the best lighting for dramatic final product photos, but here’s what I got.
Through the years, the car treated me exceptionally well, helping me financially with a couple insurance payouts.
One was a deer strike to the RF that crossed over to the drivers side, bending the RF fender and hood, breaking the headlights, blew off the drivers side mirror, put a little crease in the drivers a pillar. Only cracked the bumper and front grill. “Totaled” the car.
Junkyard (same paint color) hood, pulled the fender back up, new headlights, junkyard mirror (if you look close, only the driver’s mirror is black).
Another incident that left bigger scars was the morning I got to meet a 19yo on my way to work one morning. Turns out while traffic was stopping, she was looking over her shoulder to change lanes, blasting my LR corner. Did my best to leave them room for braking/get out of their way (as well as flashing my rear fog lights to alert to the slowdown), but she got me anyway. Folded my LR muffler out until it made contact with my LR tire, for the first time rendering my unstoppably reliable car immobilized.
Brought the car to a frame shop for inspection after hanging new exhaust on it to make sure it was still safe to have my daughter in. After his blessing, it got a new bumper reinforcement and all 4 taillights (only 2 got blown up, but this way they matched). Got lucky, and force didn’t transfer into the LR quarter.
I spent a good while searching for a replacement bumper cover that matched, but to be honest I needed the money more than the appearances bothered me.
Side note, I’m also a little superstitious about replacing rear bumpers after going through something similar with my wife’s last car. Hers had rear bumper repair done before she bought it, and the bumper condition always bugged us. Searched around and found a really nice black bumper cover. Got it cleaned up and installed, and 3 weeks later she got tagged in the back by someone not paying attention at an intersection. I was then convinced if I found the unicorn matching color rear bumper cover for my avant (not a lot of wagons in the states…), it was going to be a target on my backside.
And so, she spent some time on the road like this:
Anywho. Thanks for reading this far, I don’t often have a chance to sit down and do write ups.
Time for this one to go off into the sunset, soon I’ll do a post when I get my new Daily up to Autopian snuff.
Well, after just shy of 9 years and nearly 200,000 miles on the road together (nearly 300k on the odometer), I’ve decided it’s time to move onto a new daily driver.
As is tradition, it was time for one last shine before we part ways.
This was a 2 part’r, the interior done Saturday with the exterior saved for Sunday. It was a very Griot’s weekend, as it’s what I tend to reach for when I just want things to work.
Interior was done with Interior Detailer, Leather 3 and 1 Spray for the seats. Wood trim was chased with Rinseless Wash and Wax.
As mentioned when I put it in the “What have you been doing detailing related”, despite being a dog hauler, commuter, and ride service for my 8yo daughter, I didn’t need to reach for anything deeper reaching for most surface cleaning. I did step it up to Multi Surface Citrus cleaner for some tar spots on the driver’s dead pedal, and Interior Cleaner for the pedals.
The all weather mats got hit with a pass of Interior Cleaner (scrubbed with a soft tipped bench brush), rinsed, and chased with Interior Detailer. Quick wipe with a microfiber after and they’re clean but not slick.
Full confession - the carpet only got a thorough vacuum (yes, that’s salt crust you see in the drivers footwell…). A friend is buying the car, and for what he’s paying for it I’ll let him close out the relay race. It’s nice to know he’s the type to pull seats to really do carpet right, so it’s going to a good home…
For the exterior, it was a solid hand wash with Duragloss car wash (just what I had on hand). Clayed with soapy water from the bucket with a boost of N914.
Wheels hit with one of Sonax’s heavier cleaners (I forget which one). In case he wants to take the wheels the rest of the way, I just chased them with Sonax BSD to not leave them naked. Tires I used Mike Phillips trick of Pinnacle Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner/Conditioner on a drill brush.
Door jams/fuel filler done with Ech20.
Paint correction /protection done with Griot’s Ceramic All in One Wax and Orange pads, GG9 and G8. They say not to use it on rubber, so I cheated and hit some areas with Blackfire One Step since I haven’t had trouble with it in those areas.
Blackfire One Step for the glass.
Grills and lower trim hit with Optimum OptiSeal.
By the time I was done, wasn’t the best lighting for dramatic final product photos, but here’s what I got.
Through the years, the car treated me exceptionally well, helping me financially with a couple insurance payouts.
One was a deer strike to the RF that crossed over to the drivers side, bending the RF fender and hood, breaking the headlights, blew off the drivers side mirror, put a little crease in the drivers a pillar. Only cracked the bumper and front grill. “Totaled” the car.
Junkyard (same paint color) hood, pulled the fender back up, new headlights, junkyard mirror (if you look close, only the driver’s mirror is black).
Another incident that left bigger scars was the morning I got to meet a 19yo on my way to work one morning. Turns out while traffic was stopping, she was looking over her shoulder to change lanes, blasting my LR corner. Did my best to leave them room for braking/get out of their way (as well as flashing my rear fog lights to alert to the slowdown), but she got me anyway. Folded my LR muffler out until it made contact with my LR tire, for the first time rendering my unstoppably reliable car immobilized.
Brought the car to a frame shop for inspection after hanging new exhaust on it to make sure it was still safe to have my daughter in. After his blessing, it got a new bumper reinforcement and all 4 taillights (only 2 got blown up, but this way they matched). Got lucky, and force didn’t transfer into the LR quarter.
I spent a good while searching for a replacement bumper cover that matched, but to be honest I needed the money more than the appearances bothered me.
Side note, I’m also a little superstitious about replacing rear bumpers after going through something similar with my wife’s last car. Hers had rear bumper repair done before she bought it, and the bumper condition always bugged us. Searched around and found a really nice black bumper cover. Got it cleaned up and installed, and 3 weeks later she got tagged in the back by someone not paying attention at an intersection. I was then convinced if I found the unicorn matching color rear bumper cover for my avant (not a lot of wagons in the states…), it was going to be a target on my backside.
And so, she spent some time on the road like this:
Anywho. Thanks for reading this far, I don’t often have a chance to sit down and do write ups.
Time for this one to go off into the sunset, soon I’ll do a post when I get my new Daily up to Autopian snuff.