Holiday Project Four - Decontamination, Polishing & Coating the Wildtrack Part 2
A relaxed start to today's proceedings and I have been blessed with lovely mild weather for this job.
I began with a wipe down using Carpro Eraser. The car was largely covered overnight, so this step is about ensuring a clean surface for coating. Even though I used a primer polish that leaves something behind, Carpro and Gyeon still recommend a wipe down with their prep spray.
Towel of choice is my regular polishing towel, the TRC Creature Edgeless. I love this towel for its versatility, it also does service as my softer interior towel and door jamb drying towel and is decent value for money.
I had two choices for the coating, having just enough Gyeon Pure EVO remaining from last week and plenty of Gyeon Can Coat EVO. Ultimately, I wanted to have both coatings running side by side in terms of observing their qualities and characteristics. In a technical sense, this Ranger should probably have been coated in the more durable Pure, and the Jag in Can Coat. However, it will be interesting to see how Can Coat performs in conditions other than garage queen statis.
Can Coat is also simpler to apply than traditional ceramic coatings, being a spray, wipe and buff application. Some would argue that it's not a real coating, and I can appreciate that sentiment. The water behavior that Can Coat exhibits would beg to differ.
Now, the Gyeon recommended application is to use a folded towel to work the product into the panel, I personally prefer to apply the product with a microfiber brick. The initial application involves 4 -5 sprays to prime the brick, from then onwards 2 - 3 sprays is all that is needed per panel. Never apply the product directly to the car, also never spray the applicator close to the vehicle. I had my cart set up away from the car, returning to the cart after each panel to reapply. The product is wiped on, then wiped off immediately with a low pile towel.
Again, such a big vehicle takes a while to get around. The hooded rear sailplane that shades the rear window was a pain throughout the detail, necessitating a need to climb in and out of the tub to deal with the top and underside of this part, as well as dealing with the glass.
After the paint and trim was coated, I coated the glass with my go-to glass sealant, Gyeon Quick View. Same as last week, CanCoat could have been used here instead, but I just really like using Quick View.
From here on, the rest of the detail focused on more regular tasks. Due to focusing on the exterior decontamination, I forgot to wash the rubber floor mats, so this was the first step in regard to the interior.
Finishing off the mats, I applied Koch Chemie GUF to add some luster back to them without inducing slipperiness.
As mentioned in the last post, this car has been used full up for a couple of road trips, so it needed just a little more than usual. After a vacuum, I started by cleaning the leather. Typically, all I need here is an all-in-one type product, Bowden's Leather Love being my go-to. Today, I used Koch Chemie Pol Star at 5:1 with a VLB brush.
Pol Star is a pH neutral textile cleaner that can be adjusted to suit cleaning needs. I like how this foams up under agitation and then wipes away to a clean, matte finish. For big interiors, it's also very good value for money.
Finishing off the leather, I used NV Nourish, again a product I like for it's low sheen finish.
Normally I would then wipe the interior plastics down with something like Carpro InnerQD or Koch Chemie ASC. Again, I felt several areas needed a proper clean today, P&S Express was used here aided by a brush where required. I love the smell of Express!
I then followed that with a wipe down with Meguiar's Quick Interior Detailer, I like this over a dressing because a) it's quicker and b) that is leaves a matte finish. QID also leaves behind a small amount of UV protection.
The exterior glass was dealt with after removing the Quick View residue, the interior I teamed with a microfiber brick. This method I find great for dirtier interior glass as it allows for more even pressure when dealing with a buildup of film and fingerprints. Which leads me to ask why the hell you would be touching the glass with your fingers? :rulez: Again, not my car so I keep my mouth shut.
With the mats reinstalled, the interior was done. Returning to the exterior, I opened the hood and gave the engine bay a very quick wipe to level down any high spots from the application of Hyper Dressing yesterday. This step is so satisfying, minimal effort resulting in brilliant results.
The final step was to the dress the tyres, in this case using a new product in the form of Carpro Darkside.
I have seen reviews of Darkside where the supplied pump action trigger would not lift and dispense the product. I bypassed that entirely and simply fitted a pop-top lid I had in stock.
Applied with a foam applicator, Darkside is a tyre dressing you have to work for! This is not the silky-smooth application that products like Carpro Perl or NV Onyx exhibit, Darkside really needs to me worked into the rubber, most likely exaggerated by these particular tyres. Carpro claim Darkside can last up to 3 months, it will be interesting to see if this pans out.
Overall, the finish created by Darkside is very pleasing, producing a uniformly dark, rich finish.
And that concludes this project.
The vehicle is three years old this March and sports a few parking indiscretions and still has not been repaired after some meth-head kicked the rear quarter panel in last year. But it still presents very well, especially after an intense two-day detail.
The big question is, will the Old-Man even notice?
c7424::autowash::cruisin:
