The car was a mess as you can see. Bugs all over, tar, bird droppings, etc... The interior was just the same! Nasty!
Started with the wheels, boy they were nasty. The water was running off them a dark brown. Probably took me 5mins a wheel.
I used my pressure washer on the car. Running it about half power, guessing it was around 700psi. I then did a dawn wash of the car. Had a problem getting the bugs off the front but it was nothing that a little lighter fluid couldn't handle. I was a little upset though because the front of her car is covered with rock chips
nothing I could do for her there. I did get the dirt out of them by using the pressure washer so they looked a lot better.
I now started the clay part. I was using one of my Eagle One Clay bars. Yes, they still streak like hell. I'm surprised at the quality of paint on this car. Most of the damage to the finish was caused by lack of attention and not from lack of paint quality. For the most part the paint was incredibly smooth. I only had to clay the front bumper, hood, rear bumper, and trunk. The rest of the paint I just needed to hit a few parts. Smooth as Glass!
After claying the paint, it still had a lot of staining on it. The hood, trunk, and roof had streaks of a yellow/brown discoloration on it. Very nasty. I had to pull out the Pinnacle Paint Cleansing Lotion (PPCL). I just have to say this stuff is amazing! It was pulling off the discoloration with total ease. I went over the whole car with this stuff and it took everything off. Amazing stuff, left the paint a bright white.
I then pulled out my good ole Rotary! My Makita 9227C. Because I started late, I was running out of daylight. I couldn't do a polish and then wax it. I had to use a one step wax to save time so it was a good thing that I had picked up some Meguiars #6 Cleaner wax. To apply this wax I used my rotary set for around 1000rpms. I was using a Lake Country Mfg. DuroFoam Finishing pad. (It is the same foam that is on the Black Foam finishing pad sold through CMA for the PC)
First thing I did was tape off all trim on the car. I hate having to clean wax off black trim. I then went over the car with the buffer. I applied the wax directly to the pad and then smeared it over the car. I then made about three passes over the area with the buffer and then if the wax wasn't even, I made another pass to even out the wax. I went around the whole car doing this leaving the residue on the car to haze. I then came back and buffed all the residue off with cotton towels. OMG the car was looking great!
Now for the interior. Now this was a task. I grabbed a box and a trash can. Loaded the stuff to save into the box and then threw everything else away. I think the back seat of this car was used as a garbage can. Under the seats were packed full of papers. I then vaccumed it all out with my new Ridgid Wet/Dry Vac. It really sucks, litterally. The floor mats were really stained so I had to pull them out and scrub them. I used Prestone Carpet/Upholstery Cleaner. You just spray it on, scrub it with the brush, let it sit, wipe down with wet towels, let floor mats dry, vaccum and then stick them back in the car. I say that it really cleaned them well but left a strong cleaner type smell on them. Really stank up the car.
Now, the dash I think had more dust on it than the top of my hot water heater. I didn't know that much dust could collect on the dash of a car. I washed all the vinyl with warm water with a little Eagle One Car Soap in it. After it dried I applied 303 Aerospace Protectant. I then cleaned all the windows with TurtleWax ClearVue and some Black and White Newspaper to polish.
Ok, here is the exterior of the car freshly polished/waxed.
and the interior... Ahhh, Now I'll sit in the car.
So I had to do the detail for free. This was done sunday and is my easter present to her. See I'm a nice guy.
(image of person holding up big baggy pants would go here)
but the PC will do for now. 