phens82
New member
- Nov 20, 2013
- 107
- 0
Hi All,
Brief background: I parked on the street in a busy Washington, D.C. neighborhood for 3.5 years with very limited access to any kind of car washing setup before I moved to Northern Virginia this year. Now that I have a garage and driveway, I took advantage of the relatively warm (62*) weather we had yesterday and did a quick wash/clay/polish on my personal vehicle.
I began with a high-pressure wash in the driveway using Dodo Juice: Born to be mild; a sheepskin wash mitt; and a 5 gal bucket with grit guard. I used Flash Brown Royal on the wheels, but did not spend any additional time drying the wheels.
I dried it using the California Jelly blade (worked especially great on sunroof and all glass - also worked well on the large flat panels), then finished up with the guzzler.
Pulled it into the garage and then began clay barring using Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay and Pinnacle Clay Lubricant. My first time ever using clay on a vehicle, and wow is it slow! Using the clay allowed me to see that the large flat body panels are in worse shape than I thought. The panels felt really rough even after washing, and the clay needed to be re-shaped often. That said, I'd never used clay before yesterday, so I'm not positive I was doing everything just right.
After claying, I applied some Klasse All-In-One. The car now feels about 1,000% smoother to the touch, and shines a lot better in all conditions. In the attached photos, you can really tell on the front wheel fender flare especially.
I know these threads usually have a LOT more pictures than a single before / after. But I tackled the exterior detail kind of unexpectedly yesterday and didn't spend time capturing the steps / progress or take any more detailed shots. The paint still needs a fair amount of work, too.
Thoughts on tools used / suggestions for the future? Thanks!
Brief background: I parked on the street in a busy Washington, D.C. neighborhood for 3.5 years with very limited access to any kind of car washing setup before I moved to Northern Virginia this year. Now that I have a garage and driveway, I took advantage of the relatively warm (62*) weather we had yesterday and did a quick wash/clay/polish on my personal vehicle.
I began with a high-pressure wash in the driveway using Dodo Juice: Born to be mild; a sheepskin wash mitt; and a 5 gal bucket with grit guard. I used Flash Brown Royal on the wheels, but did not spend any additional time drying the wheels.
I dried it using the California Jelly blade (worked especially great on sunroof and all glass - also worked well on the large flat panels), then finished up with the guzzler.
Pulled it into the garage and then began clay barring using Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay and Pinnacle Clay Lubricant. My first time ever using clay on a vehicle, and wow is it slow! Using the clay allowed me to see that the large flat body panels are in worse shape than I thought. The panels felt really rough even after washing, and the clay needed to be re-shaped often. That said, I'd never used clay before yesterday, so I'm not positive I was doing everything just right.
After claying, I applied some Klasse All-In-One. The car now feels about 1,000% smoother to the touch, and shines a lot better in all conditions. In the attached photos, you can really tell on the front wheel fender flare especially.
I know these threads usually have a LOT more pictures than a single before / after. But I tackled the exterior detail kind of unexpectedly yesterday and didn't spend time capturing the steps / progress or take any more detailed shots. The paint still needs a fair amount of work, too.
Thoughts on tools used / suggestions for the future? Thanks!
