LegacyGT
New member
- Aug 13, 2010
- 2,090
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I have a Subaru Owners Club meeting tonight, so I spend a few hours last night making sure I can roll in with my usually super shiny Subaru 
I have also been a tad jealous of all the southerner's walking around in t-shirts outside doing full details meanwhile in my garage 90% IPA is starting to turn into a solid :bat:
Being as it was nearing 10 degrees F for the low temp, this was more of a challenge than usual, fortunately with a little prep and a bit of anti-freeze I was good to go.
The anti-freeze that kept me warm
While shopping the other day I decided to pick up some long sleeved dish gloves to help prevent my hands from getting chapped. Normally I just use Nitrile gloves, but they do not have a long enough cuff so I invariably get water in them by dunking my hand too far in the bucket.
Oh, yeah, check out that style:
My first action was to get 1500W worth of halogens going in the garage for about an hour to warm things up, and it ended up doing a pretty good job:
I also had a chance to use the LC grout sponge for my ONR wash, and it was FANTASTIC compared to the Opti-Mit I struggled with last week.
To show how well the grout sponge releases dirt, here is a shot after cleaning one of the lower panels, notice the dirt swoosh on the face:
And here is the same side of the sponge after being rinsed in the fresh water bucket and squeezed out:
As I said, I am really liking this grout sponge, it didn't even require any break in - it was very soft and pliable right out of the package. It also released water right where I needed it, even on the vertical panels. With the Opti-Mit I drained most of my ONR onto the floor doing the vertical panels as it just flowed out the bottom of the mit.
The Grout sponge is a great fit for me, holds plenty of ONR solution, does very well at releasing dirt, and was quite gentle on the paint.
Mmmm Rinse water:
Things are looking pretty good at this point. I decided to hand dry this time since my MB kicked up a lot of dust last time I used it. I went over the entire car with UWW+ after finishing with the ONR to make sure I had a good clean surface.
Then the Flex VRG wanted to come out and play ... it has been feeling neglected since I spend most of my time using the PE-14 lately.
I also got to try out a new wax picked up during the black Friday/Cyber week deals:
Midnight Sun goes on like warm butter, it keeps spreading and spreading and spreading .... and just when you don't think there could possibly be any wax left on your applicator, a blip of pressure and you have covered 2 more panels. It spreads crazy long, longer than Fuzion.
Some finished shots of the Midnight Sun:
Finished:
Pulling my car out so I can get both cars in for the night, I tried to get a reflection shot of some of my Christmas lights, but it was crazy cold so I didn't spend much time getting a shot.
Final impressions of the Midnight Sun: I have yet to see the car in direct sunlight, so I will have to reserve some final impressions until that point. However, I thought application was wonderful, I really liked the WOWO nature of the wax and it was easy to work with. I think MS added quite a bit of depth to the paint, but I do not feel that it added much or anything in terms of gloss under the lighting that I had available to inspect it. Under the sun it could be a different story.
Thanks for reading, questions/comments welcomed
I have also been a tad jealous of all the southerner's walking around in t-shirts outside doing full details meanwhile in my garage 90% IPA is starting to turn into a solid :bat:Being as it was nearing 10 degrees F for the low temp, this was more of a challenge than usual, fortunately with a little prep and a bit of anti-freeze I was good to go.
The anti-freeze that kept me warm
While shopping the other day I decided to pick up some long sleeved dish gloves to help prevent my hands from getting chapped. Normally I just use Nitrile gloves, but they do not have a long enough cuff so I invariably get water in them by dunking my hand too far in the bucket.
Oh, yeah, check out that style:
My first action was to get 1500W worth of halogens going in the garage for about an hour to warm things up, and it ended up doing a pretty good job:
I also had a chance to use the LC grout sponge for my ONR wash, and it was FANTASTIC compared to the Opti-Mit I struggled with last week.
To show how well the grout sponge releases dirt, here is a shot after cleaning one of the lower panels, notice the dirt swoosh on the face:
And here is the same side of the sponge after being rinsed in the fresh water bucket and squeezed out:
As I said, I am really liking this grout sponge, it didn't even require any break in - it was very soft and pliable right out of the package. It also released water right where I needed it, even on the vertical panels. With the Opti-Mit I drained most of my ONR onto the floor doing the vertical panels as it just flowed out the bottom of the mit.
The Grout sponge is a great fit for me, holds plenty of ONR solution, does very well at releasing dirt, and was quite gentle on the paint.
Mmmm Rinse water:
Things are looking pretty good at this point. I decided to hand dry this time since my MB kicked up a lot of dust last time I used it. I went over the entire car with UWW+ after finishing with the ONR to make sure I had a good clean surface.
Then the Flex VRG wanted to come out and play ... it has been feeling neglected since I spend most of my time using the PE-14 lately.
I also got to try out a new wax picked up during the black Friday/Cyber week deals:
Midnight Sun goes on like warm butter, it keeps spreading and spreading and spreading .... and just when you don't think there could possibly be any wax left on your applicator, a blip of pressure and you have covered 2 more panels. It spreads crazy long, longer than Fuzion.
Some finished shots of the Midnight Sun:
Finished:
Pulling my car out so I can get both cars in for the night, I tried to get a reflection shot of some of my Christmas lights, but it was crazy cold so I didn't spend much time getting a shot.
Final impressions of the Midnight Sun: I have yet to see the car in direct sunlight, so I will have to reserve some final impressions until that point. However, I thought application was wonderful, I really liked the WOWO nature of the wax and it was easy to work with. I think MS added quite a bit of depth to the paint, but I do not feel that it added much or anything in terms of gloss under the lighting that I had available to inspect it. Under the sun it could be a different story.
Thanks for reading, questions/comments welcomed
icture:
A very enjoyable read too, thanks for sharing! Midnight Sun is one of the few waxes I don't own. I decided to quit buying them before I had a chance to collect it :dunno: However as often as I hear good things about it; I guess I'll have to break down and add it to my supply 
