What did you do today, in regards to detailing?

Maintenance wash on the ZR2. In the SUN. LOL. Finished with flex wax as the drying aid Whole new respect for the product.
 
The PolishAngel is still in its infancy (2 weeks) so I couldn't even get my GSF + Green Star to cling to the surface today for a prewash. The water was pouring off of my car the whole day so it was a sun struggle up here at a mile high altitude.

BH said the Auto Wash was totally fine to play around with in a foam cannon and I probably overdid it but between that and the bucket + mitt I made it back inside without any real water spot damage. Gave the Beasley's Paint Hero a try in the drying process - hoping it will repel dust. That's one test I think I can actually monitor with my car that's sitting inside more than on a road. There was a lot of static charge after Paint Hero as I walked around my car... that probably means something but I hate science. I leave that stuff to the professionals.

The tire shine? I needed something to top $25 total on Amazon and get my order here next day this week. That random tire shine achieved that and was pretty user friendly. No complaints but for all I know it could be repackaged run off Chemical Guys product. We'll see how it does as a tire shine.

The PolishAngel stuff is great with crazy gloss. My biggest complaint with it now is I feel bare having not spent more time on the wash today and adding any real topper... it's taking a lot not to go throw some PA Presto on it just because.
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Tried out a DIY ghetto pad washing station I put together.

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Handypail paint roller tray + el cheapo 6” backing plate + Griot’s drill adapter bit + drill (ok, bit driver).

I’m too cheap to buy a pad washer, but have been curious to find an alternative to the hand scrubbing step. Also haven’t been crazy about some of the grids the pad runs on for some pad washers; seem like they’d be sharp to the pad. I know if they wrecked pads we’d have heard about it long ago, but I like the idea of something rounder. The other day in the garage I saw a paint roller tray which got me thinking.

The trays I have are either very paint-y or super flimsy. Found the Handypail one during my search, I think it was like $12. Actually quite sturdy, and another benefit I found when I got it home is they made it to sit securely in a utility sink.

Backing plate was a cheap on I could source locally (sorry AG, I’m impatient when I’ve got an idea to try). $8.

I’ve had the bit adapter for a while now, I use it to run carpet brushes on my drill. $10

Add about 1/2-3/4 gallon of water and detergent (I’m trying rags to riches), and then run with about half the pad in the water. Tray is sturdy enough to squish on to help flush the fluid through. Went through a big backlog of pads I had to clean in waaaay less time than it would take to clean by hand.

Future upgrade: since the backing plate I got is 5.something inches to run 6” pads, I’m going to look into making a disc to put between the backing plate and the outer edge of the pad to: keep the velcro away from the 5.5” pads that overhangs their backing, and to support the outside of the 6.5” pads. I’ve got some lexan at work I’ll see what I can come up with. No damage that I noticed with the stack I did, but figure can’t hurt.
 
So yesterday I finally got in to my buddy's graphics shop for some "tweaks" to the EN. I can honestly say the rearend of the car is done (unless the O.E. Aussie foglight is "reasonable) I had them use medium smoked LaminX for the back-up lights and a sliver of black satin vinyl to seperate the body of the letter i from the dot. Speaking of that dot, it's been treated to some red vinyl. Now if you look over to N logo, it already has red and black in, now things tie in nicely. I can't wait to hear "what's an i30"

So today is a special C&C, not just because it's Father's Day (Happy Father's Day to all you guys BTW) but it's at a different location, which means different cars. It's at a local, higher end grocery store called Mariano's. Apparently someone is a manager at one of the locations and is apart of the Chicago Garage forum. The last show was really cool, looking forward to this one today.

So I got out there early this morning, about 5:15 a.m. I did run the EN through a touch-free yesterday but the trees are still spraying and before I went to bed I could see it, so I knew I had to get after it early.

I started with 4 oz of P&S Pearl and 2 oz of CarPro Restart in my Griot's Garage foam gun and foamed it down, emptied the bottle and let it dwell, it was 50 degrees so I wasn't too worried. I then grabbed the Brake Buster in the IK Foam 9 and took care of the tires & wheels, all brushes used, CLEAN!

I then rinsed everything down, great beading so I added to it. Grabbed my other IK foamer that only has Griot's Garage Poly Gloss in it and foamed down the EN with it and let it dwell. I rinsed it down, then used free flowing water to flush things out.

I dried the EN with a CG's towel I got for Christmas, dried the tires & wheels with 2 designated mf towels and gave the engine bay a little wipedown, clean as you go I say!

I finished up by spraying some Adam's under carriage spray in the wheelwells, applied some Griot's Garage leather scent in the interior and applied a very light coat of TWHS graphene tire dressing and now it's ready to go

Once again, Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there and if your spending the day with your Dad appreciate the time, not all of us are so lucky
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I bucket washed my car last night, and 1st thing this morning applied a fresh layer of Turtle Wax Endura Tire Coating.

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What PA are you using for LSP?


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If that's for me I tried doubling up a couple weeks ago. I put on a Carnuaba Arts (Graphite Gray) and then added High Gloss. Pretty sure it is overkill but I got a little order happy once I joined their mailing list and started receiving the 15% off codes.

And I'll admit, I didn't get into any trouble on the credit card bill other than an explanation that PolishAngel is one word and not a service in Poland.

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So yesterday I finally got in to my buddy's graphics shop for some "tweaks" to the EN. I can honestly say the rearend of the car is done (unless the O.E. Aussie foglight is "reasonable) I had them use medium smoked LaminX for the back-up lights and a sliver of black satin vinyl to seperate the body of the letter i from the dot. Speaking of that dot, it's been treated to some red vinyl. Now if you look over to N logo, it already has red and black in, now things tie in nicely. I can't wait to hear "what's an i30"

So today is a special C&C, not just because it's Father's Day (Happy Father's Day to all you guys BTW) but it's at a different location, which means different cars. It's at a local, higher end grocery store called Mariano's. Apparently someone is a manager at one of the locations and is apart of the Chicago Garage forum. The last show was really cool, looking forward to this one today.

So I got out there early this morning, about 5:15 a.m. I did run the EN through a touch-free yesterday but the trees are still spraying and before I went to bed I could see it, so I knew I had to get after it early.

I started with 4 oz of P&S Pearl and 2 oz of CarPro Restart in my Griot's Garage foam gun and foamed it down, emptied the bottle and let it dwell, it was 50 degrees so I wasn't too worried. I then grabbed the Brake Buster in the IK Foam 9 and took care of the tires & wheels, all brushes used, CLEAN!

I then rinsed everything down, great beading so I added to it. Grabbed my other IK foamer that only has Griot's Garage Poly Gloss in it and foamed down the EN with it and let it dwell. I rinsed it down, then used free flowing water to flush things out.

I dried the EN with a CG's towel I got for Christmas, dried the tires & wheels with 2 designated mf towels and gave the engine bay a little wipedown, clean as you go I say!

I finished up by spraying some Adam's under carriage spray in the wheelwells, applied some Griot's Garage leather scent in the interior and applied a very light coat of TWHS graphene tire dressing and now it's ready to go

Once again, Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there and if your spending the day with your Dad appreciate the time, not all of us are so lucky
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Looks absolutely fantastic but what’s an i30? :)
 
Took advantage of the great weather this weekend to clean up my Tacoma. I applied Optimum Hyper Seal about 6 weeks ago. I used the following today:

Optimum Car Wash
Sonax Ceramic Ultra Slick Detailer
Meguiar's Hyper Dressing (diluted 2:1)

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My sleeping habits make me allergic to sunrises but thanks for the reminder of what they look like. :)
 
Tried out a DIY ghetto pad washing station I put together.

64f404a53c00b8434d404aa9d6205c61.jpg



Handypail paint roller tray + el cheapo 6” backing plate + Griot’s drill adapter bit + drill (ok, bit driver).

I’m too cheap to buy a pad washer, but have been curious to find an alternative to the hand scrubbing step. Also haven’t been crazy about some of the grids the pad runs on for some pad washers; seem like they’d be sharp to the pad. I know if they wrecked pads we’d have heard about it long ago, but I like the idea of something rounder. The other day in the garage I saw a paint roller tray which got me thinking.

The trays I have are either very paint-y or super flimsy. Found the Handypail one during my search, I think it was like $12. Actually quite sturdy, and another benefit I found when I got it home is they made it to sit securely in a utility sink.

Backing plate was a cheap on I could source locally (sorry AG, I’m impatient when I’ve got an idea to try). $8.

I’ve had the bit adapter for a while now, I use it to run carpet brushes on my drill. $10

Add about 1/2-3/4 gallon of water and detergent (I’m trying rags to riches), and then run with about half the pad in the water. Tray is sturdy enough to squish on to help flush the fluid through. Went through a big backlog of pads I had to clean in waaaay less time than it would take to clean by hand.

Future upgrade: since the backing plate I got is 5.something inches to run 6” pads, I’m going to look into making a disc to put between the backing plate and the outer edge of the pad to: keep the velcro away from the 5.5” pads that overhangs their backing, and to support the outside of the 6.5” pads. I’ve got some lexan at work I’ll see what I can come up with. No damage that I noticed with the stack I did, but figure can’t hurt.

That is some Mad Scientist stuff right there, John!! Awesome! :dblthumb2:
 
That is some Mad Scientist stuff right there, John!! Awesome! :dblthumb2:

Oh, nothing too crazy my friend. Just laziness + … thriftiness (cheap sounds so… cheap. :laughing: ) :D

I really like how big the ribs are for scrubbing the pads - I’d say they’re about the thickness of a pen. This setup + Rags to Riches brought 18 pads/applicators (not all pictured) back to fresh and clean.

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Some of them had accidentally gotten tucked away with Blackfire OneStep still in them (I’m afraid to show the before pictures for fear of losing my ‘Geek card…), but they’re all good to go now. I did run them through a pass in the washing machine for good measure.

Just noticed they also sell a plastic paint grid in a similar style that is made to hang in the side of a 5 gallon bucket; not sure it’d be the most ergonomic/convenient for pad washing that way but might be good to have to throw in a utility sink. Less than $10.
 
Oh, nothing too crazy my friend. Just laziness + … thriftiness (cheap sounds so… cheap. :laughing: ) :D

I really like how big the ribs are for scrubbing the pads - I’d say they’re about the thickness of a pen. This setup + Rags to Riches brought 18 pads/applicators (not all pictured) back to fresh and clean.

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Some of them had accidentally gotten tucked away with Blackfire OneStep still in them (I’m afraid to show the before pictures for fear of losing my ‘Geek card…), but they’re all good to go now. I did run them through a pass in the washing machine for good measure.

Just noticed they also sell a plastic paint grid in a similar style that is made to hang in the side of a 5 gallon bucket; not sure it’d be the most ergonomic/convenient for pad washing that way but might be good to have to throw in a utility sink. Less than $10.

I love this. Did you just choose to use the drill+adapter method for the ergonomics?
Any reason just running this method off the polisher machine wouldn't work?
 
I love this. Did you just choose to use the drill+adapter method for the ergonomics?
Any reason just running this method off the polisher machine wouldn't work?

I'm sure you could use the polisher, I just wasn't super excited to run a machine near water plugged into the wall. :o

The adapter works out nice because your drill gets spaced away from the water. In action, that (back center) area of the backing plate didn't really get all that wet which was nice. I was originally thinking I'd need to soak that adapter in WD40 after the wash session, but it was still dry.

Just make sure you get a feel for where the wash-water-sling is gonna go before you really pull some trigger.

Um, I've heard. :laughing:
 
Just make sure you get a feel for where the wash-water-sling is gonna go before you really pull some trigger.

Um, I've heard. :laughing:
Haha, ive experienced that a bit my first time using my lake country 4000 pad washer. I wish it had some sort of shield or something that helped to block the little bit of sling

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I'm sure you could use the polisher, I just wasn't super excited to run a machine near water plugged into the wall. :o

I got a plug-in GFCI to use around my pad washer.
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Haha, ive experienced that a bit my first time using my lake country 4000 pad washer. I wish it had some sort of shield or something that helped to block the little bit of sling

Yeah, I'll be making a shield for at least one side of mine.
 
Yeah, I'll be making a shield for at least one side of mine.

When you fab one up, post it up if ya wouldnt mind. Im curious to see how it will work out

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When you fab one up, post it up if ya wouldnt mind. Im curious to see how it will work out

Sure, but I don't think it'll be anything special. Maybe just some plastic placemats tucked under the bucket handle. It doesn't see that much use to spend a lot of time on it.
 
I haven't done anything today yet, but I have a gallon of Brake Buster that's supposed to show up today along with a wheel brush! This is terribly exciting, as previously I had just been using a bucket of soapy water and an OLD wool mitt to clean my wheels.
 
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