Todays Details, 05 Toureg, 03 W8 Passat

A

a.k.a. Patrick

New member
Well, So Cal has cranked up the heat a little, again. Was probably around 90 or so when Doug and i tackled these two beauts.....

Ive been detailing for these folks for a couple years now, i wish I had more time for pics, but we were there from 9:30am to about 4:30 pm for the two cars, and they were on their way to dinner. So we had to rush the last few items that needed addressing. Once again, Doug did a marvelous job in the inside, especially the Sanoma leather in the Toureg. The Passat took some time from Doug, but he shaped it up superbly. Some of the products he used were, One Grand ERV, and diluted Simple Green. We also mixed up some Smart Dressing to finish up with. He's real handy with his portable steamer as well. The engine bays were very complimentary to Dougs capability. Vanilla Moose to help shine the wheels, after a bath with Duragloss and/or Megs Wheel cleaners. Im sure he'll chime in and add some additional products.

Exteriors received opt NRWS (I was out of traditional soap) but we washed in a traditional manner. Passat got some FS Body Shop Light Compound with a White polishing pad, then sealed with Smart Sealant (1st time ive used it, and I applied by hand for some unknown reason which disturbs me) that was given to me. Came off relatively easy, and the sharp reflections spoke for themselves. Its a keeper in my book. The Toureg got a plethora of treatment, all 3 optimum polishes, Green pad, White pad, and an Orange pad. I finally settled with the orange and HC from Optimum. Sealed up with Optimum Spray Wax, which has always looked and felt good on this VW's white. (Which I found EXTREMELY hard)

Both cars received Mother Reflections Tire care, another sleeper product which doesnt get a lot of recognition here, and truelly deserves some.

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Now Im off to the beach for 3-5 days!! :spot
 
Tried out some new products for me, Megs Wheel Brightner, although it worked great, it should being an acid cleaner, it didn't work any better than the Duragloss All Wheel cleaner on these wheels, both needed agitation. I haven't checked the cost per ounce, but you can buy the Duragloss in Gallons. But Duragloss is cheap to start with. Both are quality products and both didn't stain the drive way which is an added bonus. (Eagle One all wheel cleaner, I think stained a clients driveway once, and it didn't do a great job anyway, so I don't think I will use this product in the future even though I have almost 2 full bottles of this). But for people who are diligent, probably the best wheel cleaner is plain car wash soap with a a good brush.



The mothers reflections (?) tire dressing was nice (smelled really good) and laid really good on the tire. One car I rubbed it in after 15 minutes, and the Tuareg I didn't. I still like the 303 Aerospace Protectant as the best looking product on the engine, (even over Megs Hyper Dressing cut at 2:1).



The white Touareg (SUV) sure had a nice interior with extra nice tan leather seats. I used smart Leather dressing, (even though it is a pain (very slow to apply) because the seats smell very nice and the texture is very supple but not greasy after applying. In fact the owner drove off right after applying and loved the seats.



The Passat was all black, with Vinyl seats, so I didn't use the smart leather, but a mixture of One Grand ERV and Smart Vinyl dressing. Reason for the mixture was the smart mixture was a little too heavy for my taste for time reasons, and I love the One grand product, and I was low on the One Grand supply. The mixture with a little H2O, came to the right consistency, and produced the results I was looking for on both cars on the vinyl, both inside and out. Both products offer UV protection and they were not too shiny or slippery.



One final note. My favorite product whenever I detail with Patrick, is VANILLA MOOSE WAX HAND GLAZE. Instead of a glaze, it is like a heavy paint cleaner, that also leaves the paint and/or wheels sparkling. This product always amazes me, and I don't even have it in MY OWN STASH. I need to buy it soon. I used it this weekend to clean the paint on the engine bay of a white car, and presto the paint looked new, I cleaned door jams where APC cleaner kinda worked, and with a rag with Vanilla Moose and the paint looked new. I also like to do my final wipe down on cast alum or any silver wheels with product, especially Porsche wheels, and the wheels just come alive. Normally, we might use this product on paint where a PC can not reach the paint or you are afraid to use it on, but this is one on my favorite products and I hardly ever seen it mentioned here.



(However, I always see Red Moose mentioned, so of course I bought that when I got my PC, and when I first tried that product on a Pewter truck and a white Lexus, I did not see any NOTICATABLE difference using it. The products I used were Megs 83, 80 than applied red moose, than NXT and did try it with OP polish also. But everyone gets different results, and for everyone that loves Red Moose I would suggest you keep working with products that YOU LIKE).



Patrick, have a good time at the beach. And for everyone else, have a great week.





PS The Passat was bought on EBAY from the East coast and had salt stains on the interior, especially the steering wheel. Looked light flecks of white paint. I tried to get them off, even with a Magic Eraser, but I was afraid I would take off the coating of the surface. Anyone have any experience with salt stains in the inerior. :nixweiss We don't get too much of that in So CAL :chuckle: Tks for any tips in the future.
 
For the carpet, 50/50 water and vinegar and agitation, I don't know for the wheel.



Both look good, I really like the W8 Passast. AWD, W8, and can be had with a manual tranny!
 
Thanks Audiocoupe on the suggestions. (Fortunately the carpets came out spotless, the only problem I had was the steering wheel. I always try to really clean the things the customers see every day, like the door jams they open, and the drivers compartment has to be spotless!)



Mother's Reflection Tire Dressing - First time I used. Working with Patrick on weekends many times has many perks. 1. One he is a hell of a nice guy and it breaks up the boredom of doing a car by myself 2. He has much more experience than I do and I always learn things from him, (and on the other hand he is open to new ideas to things I do, so hopefully it works both ways). 3. He is a retailer, and he gets different products all the time, and I also get to try out different products all the time, some I can mention and some I can not :getdown :nixweiss .



Back to Mother's Reflection- IT SMELLS REALLY NICE- both Pat and I said the same thing when we inhaled it. Both Megs and Mother's seem to smell nice. It also applied to the tires really nice. Personally I have not found the perfect tire dressing yet, it has to be cheap, sold in gallons, easy to apply. I have some truck tires of my own (Costco Michelin) that no tire dressings make really look good so I am really picky. The best so far have been Megs 38. But I think Mother's Reflection would be good, but it is not sold in bulk. How it last, I have no idea. I have used optimum tire dressing and I really like them too, used Meg Hyper dressing, but not a big fan of that, used Armour All, and it's OK. Thinking of trying Duragloss products because so far each of their products I have tried have been good and they come in bulk sizes.



The steamer I use was one bought at Costco for about $100 or less. It is no longer sold there but a similar one is sold. It is the steamfast SF-275. So far very reliable. If it breaks, I can get my $ back from Costco. I use it on Carpets, anything on the interior, door jams, the engine. It's a work horse and gives me great results. I am sure a $700 plus commercial steamer would be better but I can not afford one right now, plus my customers don't really pay extra for interiors right now, they are more concerned about the exteriors. If I lived in area that catered to dirty interiors I might consider an extractor and/or a professional steamer, but I don't think it will gain me any more business right now. The steamer is also great on leather. It just loosens up the grease and stains on everything and makes removal of dirt much easier, plus I feel it sanitizes everything.



Thanks for the complements. Anyone interested in a SUV, the Toureg is a really nice vehicle, inside and out. According to the owner, it's pretty fast with proof from the highway patrol near Las Vegas :eek:
 
Both look good :2thumbs: Even though the pics are a bit washed out, from the sun i guess...



I really like how you both comment on your product observations in such detail, lots of good info. I got some nice ideas for using VMG, which i own but haven't put to much use yet. Except I tried it on my fridge :) which cleaned it up ok. But a bit hard to pull it out in the sun to inspect the finish ;)



So on the Touareg you went from OHC on an orange pad straight to wax? Sure sounds like very hard paint!
 
Zet, I started with a Green pad and Polish, actually Duragloss CCP. I wasnt happy, so i used Polish with the same pad. Not a single difference. Stepped up to White pad w/polish, nothing. Orange with Polish (Which was what I used on the W8). No better. Orange w/Compound, slight improvement. Keep in mind (I should have mentioned this earlier) all I was attempting to accomplish was some slight swirl removal. This client takes both cars to the loal "scratch & dash", so Im leary of going to any depth when I detail these cars. Ibe been detailing his/hers cars for a couple years now. I dont want to end up with minimal clear one day. So all im really trying to do is gain some additional clarity, and take the edges of the swirls. I finally just threw in the orange and Hyper and said that as high as Im going. What this accomplishes is fine with me, its not 100%, not even 90%. more like 65/70%. But I feel confident knowing im not going to have any issues as long as he owns the cars........next time, I'll remove a little more, and again, and again......

On a new note. I just booked a M6!!
 
Wow, just 65-70% removal of light swirls with that combo! Dang, that paint is hard.. Btw, do you work by PC or rotary?



Yeah, I also follow the idea of using the least aggressive product to get the job done.



Nice an M6! Don't see many of those in my country because of the price here, which is... $ 390000 :soscared: We have some serious car taxes... Funny enough there's quite a lot of Toureg's and Cayennes, but only because they are sold in van editions, where the rear seats are pulled out, and they extend the trunk floor all the way up to the front seats :eek: Then they are taxed differently and cost about half as much as with the rear seats :rolleyes:
 
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