BMW X5 + Town & Country: Two white haulers get interior resurrections

[MarcHarris]

This client has 3 great kids, but kids + snow = dirty interiors. The goal was to really get the interiors cleaned and protected, and worry about the exteriors in spring.





First, the Town and Country: 2009, fully optioned, beautiful cream leather interior.

Rubber floor mats are a must in Michigan / Northern winters. These are the factory ones with great fit and obviously do a good job:

Interior panels had kick marks:

Door jambs needed to be cleaned, still not bad as the vehicle is fairly new:

Leather shows some soiling and color transfer, especially the suede uppers:

Door panels get beat in multi-function vehicles:

Doggy marks?

The rear of the seats were pretty bad from kicks with dirty boots:

 

[MarcHarris]

Other than that, the interior was in pretty decent shape:

We started by cleaning everything with APC 10:1, like the headliner (which was as bad as the rest of the interior!)

Almost done:

Done! Time for a rest

All the darker areas are still wet from cleaning. But notice how much "Spot" cleaning was required:

After vacuuming as much as possible, we got the APC and brushes to clean out the MANY crevices in this van.

Looking much better already:

Then, we vacuumed again, and again. APC 10:1 was used lightly. All interior plastic was cleaned with APC and followed by steam to rinse out as much APC as possible. We would dress up all plastic with Einzett Cockpit Premium to help protect from UV and, hopefully, markings from dirty boots. In these pictures we still needed to finish up the front seats. They had been treated with Leatherique Penetrating Oil after a vacuum and Woolite wipedown:

Our special vacuum attachments to really get in there:

Second row seats done (Dark areas on lower parts shows slightly damp carpet after extraction):

Third row seats done:

For the fronts, after the Leatherique treatment was done, we used Leather Masters Foam Cleaner. Especially for lighter color suedes, you want to make sure to use as little product as possible of a very good cleaner, or you could get blotches. Once applied and brushes, a microfiber was used to wipe the surfaces carefully:

Once the interior was done, we focused on cleaning up the exterior, and getting all salt off the vehicle. The request was just a quick wash. Starting with the wheels and tires, Chemical Guys Sticky Gel at 3:1 + EZ Detail brush:

Notice runoff from rinsing the wheels:

 

[MarcHarris]

Moar betta:

Jacob scrubbing the floormats...

...as I foamed the exterior with the Foam Gun (for non-pressurized hoses) using Dodo juice Born To Be Mild Shampoo:

"This ain't no foam! I need some DP Extreme Foam Shampoo!"

Hot water in the heated garage, WIN!

Collection of Afters:

Exterior was wiped with Megs Spray Wax to add some protection (and yes, teaser for another write-up in the background).

Finishing touches: Optimum Tire Shine, Meg's Trim Detailer, Megs All Season Dressing for wheel wells:

Next up was the X5:

 

[MarcHarris]

Overall, the paint was in excellent condition, and just needed some decontamination. The vehicle had severe rust specks from brake dust and rail dust, as expected to show easily on a white vehicle. A spring detail will involve removing them through a FK decontamination kit and clay.

Exhaust tips were bad:

Door jambs needed a light cleaning:

The important part was the interior:

Rear cargo area was pretty clean:

We started here with some cleaners and a brush, first the jambs, then the plastics. I got busy with the vacuum in the main cabin area.

..than rinsed and wiped it off, dry:

Special attention was given to the seals. We planned to condition the seals with Einzett Gummi Fledge, so they would have to be spotless to begin.

 

[MarcHarris]

The remaining yellow stuff oozing out of the lower drain hole in the door are a corrosive protection barrier applied to the innards of the doors at the factory. If we had used a stronger solvent, it would have came off and cleaned up more. But that would also involve more rinsing and a followup cleaner and another rinse. time is of the essence. We will get these and seal up the jambs the next time:

I LOVE clean, sparkling, white door jambs!

For the plastics, being in much better shape than the Town and Country, we opted to save some time and go straight to the Einzett Cockpit Premium. But for the carpets, we would have to do a mild extraction. The LGM was frozen or broke today, so it was old-school water-sprayer-and-shop-vac method after a spray and scrub with Amazing Roll Off, all occuring after the initial dry vacuuming.

Einzett GP on seals, 50/50:

D151 was used to hand polish the interior trim (including the garage door opener) and add a layer of protection:

Time to wash. This time we chose to try out the DP Extreme Foam shampoo in the foam gun to see if we could get more sudsing action. The Dodo juice used on the T&C was good, but we wanted longer lasting suds this time. High foaming shampoos may sacrifice some cleaning power or slickness, but certainly serve their purpose and are a great product for specific uses.

After washing and drying, we sprayed with Blackfire Spray Sealant. I think I prefer the Megs Spray Wax for white. It also feels better to the touch than the Blackfire. We imagine the Blackfire might last longer, but will evaluate at the next detail. Tires were dressed with Optimum Tire Shine, wells with Megs All Season Dressing, black plastic trim with CG Fade 2 Black. Of course the windshield and backlight (rear windshield) were treated with Aquapel. All other glass was sealed with Blackfire.

 

[MarcHarris]

Interior afters:

Exterior afters:

In Michigan, this is how our decent winter days look:

Thanks for reading!

 

[trhland]

awesome work!!!! thanks for sharing..

 

[jtford95]

Very nice !! I know the seats fold down in the mini van, but do they come out as well?

Great job!!!

 

[Deep Gloss Auto Salon]

Nice work Fella's!



Was this Rochester?

 

[grungy]

Marc - great job on those interiors..I actually prefer non-rubber mats for snow country.. less slip and slide. We got some Waterhogs from LL Bean that do a great job for both summer and winter.

 

[fcuktion]

Amazing interior turn over!

 

[gmblack3]

Great work on those interiors Marc!

 

[dsms]

That is hard work, excellent turnarounds on some nasty ints!

 

[imported_Sludge1]

Great job on both cars, you really brought them back. I think now the kids need to walk to school (joke).

 

[WAS]

Being as I get interiors like those all the time (actually, usually worse), I enjoy seeing interior befores and afters. Great job !!!!

 

[imported_d00t]

That is simply incredible, guys! I'm bookmarking this for future reference.



Did you notice staining on the aluminum running boards? The white X5 I did had severe staining from taking trips to the snow.. was a bear to clean (had to hand polish in between all the black "treads").



Again, AMAZING turn around!

 

[Alex Boyce]

awesome work on the interior on the T&C, great photos and great write-up!

 

[TLMitchell]

Primo work. A load of kids in the winter will have it undone in no time. Good for business. :xyxthumbs If it was me I'd be hauling 'em around in the trunk of a Checker Marathon until they're 18.



Customer's garage or your space? I'd be interested in hearing anything you could tell me about that epoxy floor, specifically how it holds up against winter's grit and grime.



Didn't see a floor drain. Under the vehicles?



TL

 

[vtec92civic]

damn. keeping pretty busy guys even in the winter time. Very nice work.

 

[Apollo_Auto]

Kick a$$ work on dem dang heathen haulers :spits:!! That first one was a mess... Can't wait to see that Gran Turismo!! Love that car...