G35 sedan, turbo PT Cruiser, Tahoe, tweaking my finish

[Scottwax]

2004 Infiniti G35 Sedan. I had a choice to do the car at their house on a weekend where I'd have power or at his wife's office where I'd have to polish by hand. House was 18 miles one way, the office was about 3 and it was only an exterior detail. The owner assured me the finish was in excellent condition so I set the appointment on a weekday at his wife's office. I got there and other than some very minor scuffing from a cardboard box on the passenger side, the car was in excellent condition. I used Meguiars #80 and a microfiber pad on the scuffs and they pretty much completely disappeared-and also on some hazing on the headlights. I then went over the whole car with Pink Moose, my combo of Vanilla Moose and Red Machine Glaze by hand and then sealed with Poorboy's EX w/carnauba.

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2004 Dodge PT Cruiser. 2.4 turbo car. I had to move it from the front parking lot to the side parking lot and had to pull it out on the road to get there. Never even looked at the back end so I just assumed it was the regular PT. I hit the gas lightly to get out onto the road and SUPRISE!, turbo with no lag! Oops! Not even getting on it you can feel it has a lot of low end torque. Pretty cool.



Anyway, it had light to moderate swirls, little tar balls stuck to the sides and back end and bonded contaminents on the horizontal surfaces. I clayed it using Optimum Opti-Clay, then polished it using a 70/30 mix of Optimum Compound and Clearkote's Red Machine Glaze using green Propel lite cut Cyclo pads. Seemed to cut a touch more than Optimum Polish and finished down deep and wet. Completely sun friendly too. I finished it off with Poorboy's EX w/carnauba.

 

[Scottwax]

2003 Chevy Tahoe. I thought I was done at that law firm but they said they had a Tahoe as well...then before we finished the Tahoe, they came out and said they also had a BMW they needed done so I am doing that later this week. That will be 20 total cars at this law firm. Nice to know them laying off my brother a couple years ago (he was their system's analyst) didn't mean they'd no longer call me...and funny enough, they've had to call my brother, who now has his own booming computer service business, out to take care of a few issues and paid him way more than they ever did in salary.



This Tahoe was pretty dirty on the outside, looked like it hadn't been washed in while but the interior was suprisingly clean and the 3rd row seat had been removed so that also saved some time not having to clean that. My son cleaned the interior using Woolite and water and dressed with Optimum Protectant Plus.

Once I got the exterior cleaned and all the bugs off the front end, I could see the swirls were very minimal. Optimum Polish using the green Propel lite cut Cyclo pads did a great job on them and I finished with Poorboy's EX w/carnauba, which seems to have become my go to summer LSP on sunny days. Nice wet shine, decent durability and easy on and off in 100+ degree full sun conditions.

Sun shots:

 

[Scottwax]

I have been playing around with Werkstatt's Acrylic Jett Trigger on my car, even though I prefer carnaubas on black. I just haven't had much time for my own car this summer so I figured I'd go the sealant route until the fall when I'd have more time. I've been pretty happy with the gloss and wetness of AJT and depth is decent for a pure sealant...however, I really missed the carnauba depth. What to do? I've been using Poorboy's EX w/carnauba pretty reguarly on my customer's cars this summer so I decided to go with it on mine since the depth is pretty decent.



This is Acrylic Jett Trigger x 2 (about a week after the 2nd layer) after an Optimum No Rinse Wash:

After a single layer of Poorboy's EX w/carnauba and a 30 minute cure time (as recommended for a better shine):

Made me happy!



Full car shot a few days later:

 

[dmxsoulja3]

man black car no rinse wash and its still swirl free...I still don't understand the concept but once my stuff gets here I'll use my test mule..aka. the girl friends car. Did you no rinse wash all those details in these pics? Everything looks awesome, good job man!

 

[imported_Picus]

That PT is drippy!



Funny on your car - I did the same thing. Went with AJ/AJT because I wanted durability, but as much as I liked it I ended up sneaking down to the garage and putting Souveran on top.

 

[coupe]

Scottwax i gotta know man.

It seems as though you go to the customer to detail their vehicles and it seems the vehicles are always outside. How do you do all that in the sun?



I wanted to send you a PM but dont see anyway to do that. I have a question i would like to ask you.

 

[gav'spurplez]

Scottwax i gotta know man.

It seems as though you go to the customer to detail their vehicles and it seems the vehicles are always outside. How do you do all that in the sun?



I wanted to send you a PM but dont see anyway to do that. I have a question i would like to ask you.

\



ditto,



all cars look great especially yours,

i need to order up some new products

 

[he2nyce]

+1 I I have to turn down a bunch of work on full size SUV's ( excursions, navi's, etc.) because they won't fit in my work space. i know about some of the outside products, but i haven't tried. how do you work in the sun?

 

[coupe]

Also how do you wash them in a parking lot?

 

[awahl63]

He uses Optimum No Rinse for all cars

 

[Driven Auto Detail]

They all look awesome!

 

[qballjr13]

The black on your car is amazing! I cant stop looking at it. I am taking note of that process for future use. :wow: :drool:

 

[tustah]

Excellent job as always Scott!



If/When you detail cars in the parking lot, where do you get your power source from if there's no outlet around? Are you using a generator?

 

[Scottwax]

Scottwax i gotta know man.

It seems as though you go to the customer to detail their vehicles and it seems the vehicles are always outside. How do you do all that in the sun?



I wanted to send you a PM but dont see anyway to do that. I have a question i would like to ask you.

polished it using a 70/30 mix of Optimum Compound and Clearkote's Red Machine Glaze using green Propel lite cut Cyclo pads. Seemed to cut a touch more than Optimum Polish and finished down deep and wet. Completely sun friendly too.....I finished with Poorboy's EX w/carnauba, which seems to have become my go to summer LSP on sunny days. Nice wet shine, decent durability and easy on and off in 100+ degree full sun conditions.

Already answered in the thread.



qballjr13-actually, I think the 35+ hours of polishing over the last two years have more to do with how my paint looks than the LSPs but as a rule, I prefer the depth carnaubas on my own car. Thanks for the compliment though, nice to know my hard work has been noticed!



tustah-in 99% of the situations, there is an available outlet. I haven't found a generator small enough yet to fit in my car and still power my wet/dry vac. I have a 12v vacuum made by Campbell-Hausfeld and a rechargable Shark both of which have rotating head attachments and excellent suction to take care of the interior and for the first 10 years of my business, I did all polishing by hand.



I really don't want to end up getting a truck just for a generator if I don't have to. The way business has been booming though, I may not have a choice other than to purchase a vehicle for work purposes only.

 

[Driven Auto Detail]

Have you ever had run into a situation where you didn't have a water hook-up? I just wonder if it happens much for mobile detailers that don't have their own water source.

 

[gmblack3]

Excellent work on all Scott, yours looks really good.

Have you ever had run into a situation where you didn't have a water hook-up? I just wonder if it happens much for mobile detailers that don't have their own water source.

You can always bring your own water in jugs and use ONR or QEW.

 

[Scottwax]

Have you ever had run into a situation where you didn't have a water hook-up? I just wonder if it happens much for mobile detailers that don't have their own water source.

I don't need a water hook-up with Optimum's No Rinse Wash. I carry about 5 gallons of water with me.