Weekend Details - v. Scotchbrite Company Car & Beatup Black Altima

G35stilez

Ari Gold
Got a reasonably early start this morning and went right to it.

I started with a 1998 Nissan Maxima that I was doing for one of my fraternity brothers. He bought it this week from his mom and it was in slight need of a detail :scared

Yeah, so this is the Scotchbrite Company Car...unofficially. The reason why I believe so is because it looks like she either used the Red or Green Scour pad to wash it. It's not a ceramic dish :nono ...But anyways...


First to the interior... Upholstery and Mats/Rugs were pretty bad as was the doors and dash...So yeah, pretty bad all the way around on this one :) . My final processes were:

-Oxy Mix on upholstery, mats, and rugs - pretreated with APC+ 10:1 in a sprayer
-APC+ on all plastic, vinyl, rubber
-AA to protect all plastic, vinyl, rubber
-Gliptone Glass Cleaner for the glass


Before
DSC02629.jpg


After
DSC02667.jpg




Onto the exterior. Well, there was pretty much no surface gloss due to the swirls or, shall we say scours? Here's what I was dealing with:

DSC02637.jpg


Thanks to Deanski, I had some abrasive stuff to work with, Menzerna Power Gloss and BOY DID I NEED THIS!! Thank you Dino :bow . Anyways, on the horizontal surfaces, I needed about 3 passes with a rotary @ 1900 rpm and a cutting pad to level it all out. Powergloss is the coolest polish ever! Most compounds I would get crazy marring/hazing with those speeds/pad. However, if I went a little slower on my last pass I would have been able to go to a LSP. This stuff breaks down very fine...All haise Menzerna :bow . Here is half fokked, half polished.

DSC02648.jpg


BTW: That pic is gonna be on my Detailing homepage pretty soon. My final processes were:

-QEW
-Wolfgang Clay
-Mezerna PowerGloss via Rotary @ 1900 rpm with LC Cutting Pad (2-3 passes on horizontal surfaces)
-Menzerna Final Polish via Rotary @ 1500 rpm with LC Polishing Pad
-EX-P by hand

-AA in wells and on tires.


Afters
DSC02664.jpg


DSC02666.jpg


Too bad it needs a repaint on the front bumper/hubcaps, but the car is mechanically sound. Oh, and I saved the owner from getting a paintjob :D


__________________________________________________________________

Next up - 2003? Nissan Altima 2.5 SL

Did this for a good friend of my girlfriend's and mine. She dropped it off around noon and my girlfriend went right to it. She did the entire interior with:

-Oxy Mix pretreated with APC+ 10:1 in sprayer
-Woolite:Water 6:1 on leather, plastic, vinyl, rubber
-Lexol Conditioner on leather, plastic, vinyl, rubber
-Gliptone Glass Cleaner on Glass

I will try to get pics of the interior tomorrow (forgot to take pics), but she did a really nice job.

Then she started on the exterior. I was really impressed with her concentration on getting the job done and listening to my tips. As of now, she can do everything I do except use the rotary. She says shes gonna get a PC :D . Here is a pic of Liz taping everything up for me.

DSC02658.jpg



Final processes on the exterior were:

-QEW
-APC+ 10:1 on tires and in wells
-Wolfgang Clay
-Menzerna IP via Rotary and Meguiar's Polishing Pad @ 1500 rpm
-EX by hand

Car came out verrrrry well. The owner was stunned by the results. :)


Before
DSC02630.jpg


After
DSC02672.jpg


DSC02674.jpg


DSC02679.jpg



Enjoy!
 
So you only used IP and EX on that Altima and it came out like that? Awsome results, my friend has the exact same car, I think I need to clean hers up so it looks like that!
 
Wow nice cleaning! and polishing! Question how much QEW concentrate do you use on those buckets? Just got 4 16oz bottles and I'm wondering if I'm using it correctly
 
Thanks everyone :)


RJ SD: Yeah, just IP and EX...I felt after IP, the gloss was very high and there was no swirling/hazing.

2drtahoez71: It cuts harder than 2.5, but isn't gritty at all. I felt it was a relatively thin liquid (for a compound), probably the thickness of SFP. It cut hard at first, then gradually broke down to a VERY fine polish.

The Woob: I use 1.5 oz QEW: 2 gals water and 1.5 oz of S+W splashed in there for extra lubricity, then 1- 2gal bucket of just water. I have tried different mixtures, but this one has been the most effective for cleaning and non-marring.
 
very nice work hood shot is a great testament to a quality detail job and all this done outside just outstanding
 
Does the QEW solution once you've made 1 swipe look like the dirt is stuck in the water residue? Dunno whether its suppose to go all in your pad or if the dirt is trapped in the QEW water.
 
Thanks all :D


The Woob: It shows on the chenille pad. Then I drop it in the clean water bucket, agitate with my hands, dip back in the QEW bucket and keep going. 2 bucket, 2 mitt regimen BTW.

2drtahoez71: Powergloss is made for rotary use, but it works in for a WHILE (stays wet), so I think you could have nice results with it. I would not use FP via rotary (dries out too quickly), but PG, IP, FPII (MP) work great on PC.
 
As promised, interior shots of the Altima Liz and I detailed. She did the entire interior, so this is all her work 1 day after detailing.

DSC02686.jpg


DSC02688.jpg



Enjoy!
 
Nice work on work in the Altima. Great before and after on the Maxima's interior and exterior. It appears you pulled a lot of dirt out of the Maxima's interior . I need to try some Power Gloss on my car.

Eric
 
Menzerna

Here is the abrasive/gloss level for Menzerna. It's a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is light abrasive/gloss and 5 being the highest abrasive/gloss.

PO85RD and PO106 are used for Ceramiclear type clearcoat.

The PO85RD is close to FP but gives higher gloss. On a scale 1 to 5, it's a 1.5 in cut level and 5.0 in gloss.

FP is cut level 1.5 and 4.0 gloss N/A for sanding. FPII (MicroPolish) 2.0 cut 4.0 gloss and will remove 2,500 grit sanding marks.

IP 3.5 cut and 3.0 gloss and will remove 2,000 grit sanding marks.

The PO106 is cut level of 2.5 and gloss of 5.0 and removes 2,500 grit sanding marks.

Powergloss is 5.0 in cut and 1.5 gloss and removes 1,000 grit sanding marks.

The PO106 will remove 2,500 grit marks and PO5RD wll remove 3.000 grit marks.

Powergloss is very quick and high cut level. Also known as POS34A.

Reminder that Menzerna is to be used via rotary. However, with a little learning curve, you CAN use a PC with some, but don't expect the dramatic results. It WILL take time (more polishing) than with the rotary.

Now you see why I use Menzerna for high-end finishes. You just can't beat the results!

I order Menzerna by the cases and it comes in quarts. Or, you can get gallons as well. I've been giving out 8oz bottles to some of the people on the forum for those who have roatry experience.

They are still trying to reach out to bodyshop jobber houses, so pass the word. 3M has the strangle-hold on all these shops. Once a shop plays with Menzerna, I doubt they will switch back to 3M unless price is the driving factor than quality. No, not knocking 3M as I used it for years.

Enjoy the Quart of Final Polish Sean! :headbang

Regards,
Deanski
 
Re: Menzerna

Deanski said:
...Now you see why I use Menzerna for high-end finishes. You just can't beat the results!...

Second that! If you like the polish line definitly get some of the glaze FTG it's great product!
 
Re: Menzerna

Deanski said:
They are still trying to reach out to bodyshop jobber houses, so pass the word. 3M has the strangle-hold on all these shops. Once a shop plays with Menzerna, I doubt they will switch back to 3M unless price is the driving factor than quality. No, not knocking 3M as I used it for years.Regards,
Deanski

Thanks for the cut and gloss info. Menzerna products are less expensive than 3M products, so I guess it comes down to preference, usability and availability. Both make quality products.

Not to hijack, but funny you should say this about 3M. I spoke to the people at Hi-temp and I used the same word (strangehold) inregards to 3M and Hi-temps said the same thing. One of the local PB&E carried Hi-temp, but stopped because of low sales, compared to 3M.

Eric
 
Back
Top