New to DC long post,but if you could take the time?? Post # 1 Exterior

[dan708]

I plan to undertake my first real detail,(interior and exterior) over 2 day's as soon as the weather break's here in MI.(more than 2 days without rain)
I purchased everything over the counter from Murray's,Pep Boy's,Autozone. I wanted to make sure I could handle the job,(and enjoyed doing it) before I went online and purchased different ingrediant's.
Now,I've researched as much as I could from this site and also Cadillac Forums.
However,I do have a few question's
This is my plan,


The car;
1987 Coupe Deville,with Continental wheel on back
White exterior,Gray trim
Wire hubcap's locking,OEM
Wheel well's undercoated
Half hardtop,Half vinal
White leather interior.
Window's tinted
Black carpet,dash,instrument cluster.
Other than some swirl's
Car is in great shape,paint and interior.

These are the ingrediant's I chose to undertake the job;

Meguiars Deep Crystal Wash,(leftover from last year)
Clay Magic,with Meg's Quick Detailer, and,or the supplied Clay Lube
Meg's Show Car Glaze
Meg's NXT Wax
Eagle One Wax As You Dry,(for in between waxing's)
Meg's A2Z Wheel & Tire Cleaner,(for the rim's)
Simple Green (for the Wheel Well's,also, diluted for interior cleaning.)
Westley's (for the tires,and white wall's)
Dupont Teflon Tire Shine(to dress the tire's)
Mother's Back to Black,(for all exterior bumper molding and trim)
Meg's Gold Class All Metal Restorer,(for Rim's,Bumper's and,Chrome coated plastic.)
Meg's NXT Tech Protectant for all interior surface's(except leather,and carpet obviously)
Stoner Invisible Glass Cleaner
Lexol Cleaner and Conditioner for the seats
Blue Coral Dri-Clean (leftover from when 1 of the kids blew chunk's in the wife's car) for the carpet.

The weapons' I have chose to undertake this project include;

10 " Orbital
6,10" Foam pad's(3 for Glazing,3 for waxing.
3 pack's of 12,/16"X16" Microfiber Towel's for removing Wax,and Glaze,also for interior,and glass cleaning)
Leaf Blower(for making sure the car has all her nook's and crany's blown out.)
Compressed Air(for blowing out the interior,A/C vent's and the like.)

Now if you guy's were paying attention???
You noticed that I didn't say anything about vinal top product's)
This is where I want to start,(after a detailed wash,and dry)
I have 2 spot's on the back of the vinal top,(where it meet's the trunk lid,) about the size of a hard ball that look's like it could be either ground in dirt or some kind of mold?? (it's black)
Now I have heard that some people use Soft Scrub and brush to clean their vinal top's, and then use Mop N Glo to dress.(supposedly the Mop N Glo doesn't run down the back window when it rain's)
Can anyone confirm or deny this method?
Or should I try and find a strictly Vinal Top and Conditioner.
product?
Also what does eveyone think of washing a car with Dawn Dishwashing soap,(remove's all wax buid up???) Before going ahead and detailing the car??

Next it's the wheel's and wheel well's,
This is a no brainer with the A2Z,DuPont,Meg's Gold Class All Metal Restorer, and Westley's doing their prospective job's.
However,
The undercoating on my wheel well's has turned a grayish color.
My plan is to use the Simple Green (full strength) to clean the wheel well's and then applying some cheap tire dressing I have lying around.
If that doesn't work out to well,I'll have to re-spray the wheel well's with some undercoating.

Next up is the clay bar,(which is pretty self explanitory)
Now,before I glaze and wax I have a couple of question's??
Would you folk's recommend using some kind of tape,(blue painter's tape for example) to mask off the the trim on the side panel's to avoid getting wax and glaze on them?
And,also, do you dress the trim then do the paint or vice verse.
Glaze and Wax.
Another Question,
How do you clean perserve the foam pad's after use.
After the Glaze and wax,(or before) I dress all the trim.

Part II to follow,(interior)
Thank's for(hopefully) taking the time to read this post,
Sorry again it's so long,That's why I decided to make it a 2 post subject.
As I said,I'm a newbie and I just wanted to make sure my first Detail Job was done right and enjoyable.
Also please feel free to make any comment's or suggestion's.
Thank's again for your time.
Dan

 

[treestand]

Re: New to DC long post,but if you could take the time??

Also what does eveyone think of washing a car with Dawn Dishwashing soap,(remove's all wax buid up???) Before going ahead and detailing the car??

Everyone has a different opinion on this... but I would say, dont use the dawn wash. I dont know if it matters if it dries out the paint or not since you will be doing a lot of work to it afterwards... but it will help to dry out everything else. Such as the rubber door seals, it will remove oils from the vinyl top, etc... But do what you think will be good.

Would you folk's recommend using some kind of tape,(blue painter's tape for example) to mask off the the trim on the side panel's to avoid getting wax and glaze on them?

Blue tape is good. You dont necessarly HAVE to use it, just be careful to not get a ton of wax on the trim. If you want to be super careful, then use the blue tape. When waxing my own car, I dont normally use any tape.

And,also, do you dress the trim then do the paint or vice verse.
Glaze and Wax.

I usually dress the trim last. I wouldnt think that the tape would stick to the trim when its freshly dressed. It would be *trying* to stick onto the dressing instead of the trim it self. So it might not work.


It looks like you are on the right track. Keep on reading and you will be the master of this stuff. You should enjoy your detailing experience.

 

[bigron62]

dan that looks like a pretty good product list.. i like to mask off all trim near places im going to buff . i use the blue tape.. also on paint prep i clay, polish , then wax or polymer. i do the tires before i start on the paint so i dont get dressing on my nice paintwork,overspray, i do the trim last because the tape wont stick very good to dressing .as for the wash . i always use a car soap . no special reason i just do it that way and windows are last . if you do them first they always get smudges from touching them . also on glass use a mf towel it works great .. i was horrible at glass until i switched to the 2 towel method . i personally dont like glaze i prefer polish then wax but thats up to you. a good polish makes the whole job in my opinion.. oh a little secret on interiors . 3m makes white scuff pads found only at auto paint supply stores . the are great for scrubbing leather and they will remove scuff marks from your kick panels .. they look like the green scotchbrite pads but are not very abrasive like the green ones .