Nth Degree
New member
I have been all but absent from the forum recently for good reason:
On Sept. 4th I welcomed my son to the world.:excited:
Along with that my wife needed a new (to her) vehicle. As hard as I tried I could not convince her that she did not want a mini-van. (I may not be the smartest guy in the world but I know not to argue with a woman who has only slept 2 hours a day for 4 weeks.)
So here is my project for the next month or so:
Sexy it isn't. But if it's going to sit in my driveway you can bet it's going to at least look good. I estimate I will put roughly 30 hours into it when all is said and done.
crazy:I should have my head examined.)
I will be working on it in small blocks as I have a very busy schedule on top of having a baby consuming my time. A minivan can be a daunting task to detail which is probably why so many are often neglected. I figure this is a good opportunity to demonstrate how breaking up the project into small pieces can make it much easier. If you have a neglected mom-mobile at home that needs some love, detail along with me and post your progress.
And so we begin:
The van was bought from someone who flips so it was overall clean. He did a reasonably good job on the interior; about what would be expected from a high volume detail shop. Cracks and crevices were missed but the carpet and seats were clean. The prior owner of the van did not have small children so it hasn't been abused as many are. I will postpone the interior detailing until it has developed a little more dirt.
One of the first things I noticed when I looked at the vehicle the first time was the tire shine.:inspector:
I think more of it was on the mud guard than the tire.:lol2:
The first priority was to wash and decontaminate. As is so common with taller vehicles the top does not get washed thoroughly, if at all. The build up along the roof channels, particularly under the roof rack had heavy build up.
I began with some Optimum Power clean and a soft brush to work on the roof grime, behind the fuel door and the slung tire shine.
I then did a rinseless wash with ONR. Then IronX. Not as fun as it is on white but I think I nicked an artery on the rear.
Once that was rinsed off I clayed it using a Speedy Prep towel with my own mix of ONR and CGMS2.
I was quickly running out of time but didn't want to leave the vehicle with no protection since I would not have any time for a few days to get back to it. I have had a 100ml sample of Hydro2 sitting around waiting to be tried. Since it was drizzling I figured; what better time?
I have heard nothing but good things about Hydro2 and now I see what all the hype is about. Insanely easy to use. You can see from the photo of the roof above that there was absolutely no beading. Here is the beading after Hydro2.
Total time invested so far: ~2 hours.
A few of the issues to be dealt with coming up:
Faded plastic cowl.
Faded hard plastic mirror housings.
Paint transfer from doors & scratches in the door handle alcoves.
Headlights. The car spent several years in Florida before moving to NC and the etching on the front bumper shows it. Only a repaint is going to fix that but I can live with it.
And, of course, miles and miles of dull, faded paint.
I will post updates of the progress.
On Sept. 4th I welcomed my son to the world.:excited:
Along with that my wife needed a new (to her) vehicle. As hard as I tried I could not convince her that she did not want a mini-van. (I may not be the smartest guy in the world but I know not to argue with a woman who has only slept 2 hours a day for 4 weeks.)
So here is my project for the next month or so:
Sexy it isn't. But if it's going to sit in my driveway you can bet it's going to at least look good. I estimate I will put roughly 30 hours into it when all is said and done.
crazy:I should have my head examined.)I will be working on it in small blocks as I have a very busy schedule on top of having a baby consuming my time. A minivan can be a daunting task to detail which is probably why so many are often neglected. I figure this is a good opportunity to demonstrate how breaking up the project into small pieces can make it much easier. If you have a neglected mom-mobile at home that needs some love, detail along with me and post your progress.
And so we begin:
The van was bought from someone who flips so it was overall clean. He did a reasonably good job on the interior; about what would be expected from a high volume detail shop. Cracks and crevices were missed but the carpet and seats were clean. The prior owner of the van did not have small children so it hasn't been abused as many are. I will postpone the interior detailing until it has developed a little more dirt.
One of the first things I noticed when I looked at the vehicle the first time was the tire shine.:inspector:
I think more of it was on the mud guard than the tire.:lol2:
The first priority was to wash and decontaminate. As is so common with taller vehicles the top does not get washed thoroughly, if at all. The build up along the roof channels, particularly under the roof rack had heavy build up.
I began with some Optimum Power clean and a soft brush to work on the roof grime, behind the fuel door and the slung tire shine.
I then did a rinseless wash with ONR. Then IronX. Not as fun as it is on white but I think I nicked an artery on the rear.
Once that was rinsed off I clayed it using a Speedy Prep towel with my own mix of ONR and CGMS2.
I was quickly running out of time but didn't want to leave the vehicle with no protection since I would not have any time for a few days to get back to it. I have had a 100ml sample of Hydro2 sitting around waiting to be tried. Since it was drizzling I figured; what better time?
I have heard nothing but good things about Hydro2 and now I see what all the hype is about. Insanely easy to use. You can see from the photo of the roof above that there was absolutely no beading. Here is the beading after Hydro2.
Total time invested so far: ~2 hours.
A few of the issues to be dealt with coming up:
Faded plastic cowl.
Faded hard plastic mirror housings.
Paint transfer from doors & scratches in the door handle alcoves.
Headlights. The car spent several years in Florida before moving to NC and the etching on the front bumper shows it. Only a repaint is going to fix that but I can live with it.
And, of course, miles and miles of dull, faded paint.
I will post updates of the progress.
