Greetings from the Conch Republic

Cudjoe Bill

Cudjoe Bill

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Hi, my name is Bill and I live on Cudjoe Key in the Florida Keys. I'm soon to be retired, enjoy keeping busy, and want to keep the toys in shape. Detailing is going to be one of my hobbies during retirement.

I just purchased a white 2009 Jeep Liberty to tow a boat that arrives in December, and to also pull behind a 2000 40' diesel Bounder motor coach.

I've been lurking in the shadows trying to find the best methods, products, and techniques to get everything in shape and keep them that way.

Thank you to all the forum members who took the time to post questions and answers; it has really helped. I was doing some things correctly, other stuff not so much!

I'm currently perfecting my washing techniques, and I am getting ready to move onto paint correction.

A friend from work has graciously agreed to donate his 10 yr old black VW Jetta so we can both learn how to correct paint using a DA (Flex).

Our plan is to: wash (dawn to strip), clay, Meg's 105, Meg's 205, carpro eraser, opti seal. We're not sure how long this will take the two of us, but are figuring two full days over a weekend. Does that sound about right, or should we divide up the car?
 
Hi, Bill, and congratulations on your retirement. Sounds like you'll have quite a collection of vehicles. You've got land and sea covered ... No airplane? :-)

Re your listed process ... For the stripping wash, I dislike Dawn because it can dry out some rubber and plastic. I prefer to use one of the Chemical Guys citrus-based car washes (no wax or gloss enhancers, just plain car wash) in the proper concentration for stripping. It's listed on the bottle as paintwork cleansing.

You may want to Iron-X to remove iron/brake dust contamination. Since you're doing all the other work to get the paint pristine, I would at least test-spot a few places with Iron-X and see if you get a reaction. Just look at the pix on here of all the purple stuff bleeding off of peoples' cars. It's stinky, but effective.

Your timing estimate is a safe one, at least in my experience. You'll probably finish faster than 16 hours, but the limiting factor will be only having one DA. You can have two Iron-X (if you do that) and claying sessions going at once, but with only one DA, you're limited there. The first time my brother and I doubled up on his car, we finished in about 8.5 hours, but we had two DA machines going at once.

We found one way to save some time was to do the tires and wheels one evening during the week prior to the work weekend. Not really applicable for the pros, but it was helpful for us.

Good luck, and enjoy retirement.
 
Welcome, Bill and this is from someone slightly north of your current position and anxiously awaiting the friendly invasion by the Conch Republic Army! This whole state needs a little "change in latitude and change in attitude".

Sounds like a good plan for a tester vehicle and feel free to ask away for any advice or help here!
 
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