2002 Toyota Celica. This car is parked regularly at an apartment complex and at the local college so it takes some abuse. It had some scratches, swirls and heavy water spotting from sprinklers (mostly on the front end) and probably isn't washed too regularly. The owner is a teacher at the college and while she was out of town, her parents called me to clean her car (I clean their's about once a year). Typical Toyota non-clearcoated black paint. Fun. I used Optimum Compound and orange Cyclo cutting pads followed with Optimum Polish using green Propel lite cut pads. I sealed it with Optimum Poli-Seal via PC using a blue Propel finishing pad and then Optimum Car Wax by hand.
The pics aren't that great, the car was under a small carport and there wasn't anywhere else for me to move the car. Not having the keys made pushing it back not the best idea.
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1999 Ford F-250. Polished and waxed it in the late spring, just waxed it this time since the finish had held up well and I am now the only one who washes it. I used my 80/20 mix of Meguiars #16 Paste and FK's Pink Wax. Ugly purple color now, but it has a really wet shine.
2002 BMW Z3 3.0 Coupe. Owned by the boyfriend of my brother's mother-in-law, so the car was fresh off a long drive from California. Not too bad of shape, mostly light halo swirls. I was able to get out about 90% of them, but since they didn't show up with the car over at my brother's until nearly 5 PM and sunset is just after 7 PM now, I didn't have a whole lot of time. Luckily, it is a small car so I had just enough time to 3 step it after an ONR wash. I used Optimum Polish and green Propel lite cut Cyclo pads, then a 70/30 mix of Menzerna 106FF/Clearkote RMG again using green Propel pads and finished with the #16/PW mix.
Pics are a touch dark, I finished the car maybe 10 minutes prior to sunset. Reason #548597 I miss summer already!
2004 Hummer H2. Regular weekly wash customer. Last waxed with Optimum Car Wax in late May. Still beading but slickness was down.
This is how it looked:
This is after using Optimum Poli-Seal via PC using a blue Propel finishing pad:
A very definite darkening effect, not to mention more depth.
Full vehicle shots:
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2006 Chevy Corvette Z06. Still just adding wax to this bad boy. 2nd month in a row I have washed it and topped with a 50/50 mix of Optimum Car Wax and Werkstatt's Carnauba Jett. Just seems to get wetter and wetter!
Hey Scott I recently did a 2000 celica and I did a full polish and could have sworn it had a clear-coat. Do you think they changed something? Just wanted your opinion.
Hey Scott I recently did a 2000 celica and I did a full polish and could have sworn it had a clear-coat. Do you think they changed something? Just wanted your opinion.
Was it black? I've seen both clear and single stage on black Toyotas and Lexus. I've done new ('04) white Honda Accords that had single stage paint. Go figure.
Bigpoppa3346-I wash the H2 weekly with ONR, I plan on putting it on a metallic black 750Li tomorrow that I wash conventionally. I am interested in seeing if there is a durability difference. I am also monitoring the cars have the Meguiars #16/Pink Wax blend too. If it turns out well, it'll be a good way to extend my stock of #16.
Thanks! After I finished the Z3, my son looked at it and said "Whoa!". He usually doesn't comment on how cars turn out much, so when he notices something that turned out really well, it usually ended up pretty spectacular. Just the combination of 106FF/RMG topped with the #16/Pink Wax blend that really makes black paint look incredibly deep. I'll be playing around with that combo more to see if was just that particular car or it'll be similarly killer on all black paint.
O4cobra-no, it really doesn't look any better in person. As long as the owner likes it, I guess that is what counts.
dneedsmuscles-the owner really stays on top of his 'Vette's appearance. This time, it was really clean when I got there. He even has his wife help with the wheels since she has smaller hands and can get deeper into the wheel than he can. He is really good about washing it, but really doesn't want to bother with the extra time waxing or detailing.
You always present a wonderful assortment of vehicles.
I was noticing your times - thats pretty quick. If I don't get another car to do soon, what little speed I built up is going to drop off to nothing again.
Mike-I didn't even know you could get the regular Z3 as a coupe, I thought it was only an M option.
Ken-my older boy has been helping me since May. He will probably be going into the Air Force early next year, so I'll have to hire some help to maintain the pace I've been able to set.
