ShinyThings
New member
- Nov 13, 2017
- 15
- 0
Took a stab at actual detailing last week. Vehicle is the Mrs. commuter car we are going to sell. Wish I would have taken before pics but didn't since I wasn't planning anything other than getting a car clean and shiny to attract a buyer.
Vehicle is a 2009 Chevy Malibu Hybrid that I am pretty sure was a fleet or rental vehicle before being purchased by the Mrs. a couple years ago. It has never seen indoors, wax, polish, and lived next to sprinklers since she got it. The majority of washing was the local tunnel type.
Anyways like I said earlier I just wanted to clean this thing up and maybe learn something along the way. I figured I couldn't make it any worse (hopefully). Most products were already in my stash of stuff picked up along the way over the years except for my new fancy wannabe Flex that came from harbor freight. I ordered a PC but it wasn't here yet and I wanted somewhat of a comparison starting from the bottom and progressing into better machines down the line.
Plan of attack was....crap there is no plan!!! It's a tuesday and I'm gonna fling some wax n stuff in the garage.
Step 1. Wash the car...well crap it's 44° outside time to hit the local tunnel up the street. (Don't crucify me remember this car is thrashed and not going to get much worse)
Step 2- Bust out the Meg's clay I've had forever and clean the paint. Spray, clay, remold clay repeat, this sucks!!! Wait!! I picked up the Surf City Garage Clayzilla at Wal-Mart a while back. It was much faster and I could feel it working. Thier Zillajuice sprayer was not that awesome so I grabbed some Barrett Jackson Quick Detailer I picked up for $2 at PepBoys last time I was in California. Sprayer was a better pattern and it felt like it lubricated much better.
Step 2- Get out the Harbor Freight DA, attach their orange pad and some Griot's Ultimate Compound. Worked a small area at a time with various lights, looking at various angles etc. it seems to be working pretty good. It looks and feels like things are happening
Step 3- Umm I dunno what to grab from here then I came across an old bottle of Meg's cleaner wax. It's half full looks and smells fine so I slapped a harbor freight medium pad and let it rip. Seems to be doing a good job but I'm also staring at the hazy, water spotted windows and horrid headlights thinking what's the worst that can happen..... I hit all the glass and headlights with the Clayzilla the go over all with my already wet pad skipping the front window since it's getting replaced.
Step 4- Crap it looks good how to I preserve some of this? I don't have any sealant, it's late, cold I'm 4-5 beers into this deal. I go digging and come across some Meg's Paint Protect I also picked up at PepBoy's for $2. I wasn't expecting this to be a super sealant but figured it would probably make the car easier to wash and detail spray quickly if someone comes to take a look.
I think only one pic is right after this little journey while in the garage the rest are outside 2 days later with rain and driving it a little bit in the lovely red lava rock cinders they use for traction. I am more than happy with the results, learned alot and already purchased better pads, products, and look forward to trying the PC on our Denali and boat. I will be sure to document and post along the way.
View attachment 60949View attachment 60950View attachment 60951View attachment 60952
Vehicle is a 2009 Chevy Malibu Hybrid that I am pretty sure was a fleet or rental vehicle before being purchased by the Mrs. a couple years ago. It has never seen indoors, wax, polish, and lived next to sprinklers since she got it. The majority of washing was the local tunnel type.
Anyways like I said earlier I just wanted to clean this thing up and maybe learn something along the way. I figured I couldn't make it any worse (hopefully). Most products were already in my stash of stuff picked up along the way over the years except for my new fancy wannabe Flex that came from harbor freight. I ordered a PC but it wasn't here yet and I wanted somewhat of a comparison starting from the bottom and progressing into better machines down the line.
Plan of attack was....crap there is no plan!!! It's a tuesday and I'm gonna fling some wax n stuff in the garage.
Step 1. Wash the car...well crap it's 44° outside time to hit the local tunnel up the street. (Don't crucify me remember this car is thrashed and not going to get much worse)
Step 2- Bust out the Meg's clay I've had forever and clean the paint. Spray, clay, remold clay repeat, this sucks!!! Wait!! I picked up the Surf City Garage Clayzilla at Wal-Mart a while back. It was much faster and I could feel it working. Thier Zillajuice sprayer was not that awesome so I grabbed some Barrett Jackson Quick Detailer I picked up for $2 at PepBoys last time I was in California. Sprayer was a better pattern and it felt like it lubricated much better.
Step 2- Get out the Harbor Freight DA, attach their orange pad and some Griot's Ultimate Compound. Worked a small area at a time with various lights, looking at various angles etc. it seems to be working pretty good. It looks and feels like things are happening
Step 3- Umm I dunno what to grab from here then I came across an old bottle of Meg's cleaner wax. It's half full looks and smells fine so I slapped a harbor freight medium pad and let it rip. Seems to be doing a good job but I'm also staring at the hazy, water spotted windows and horrid headlights thinking what's the worst that can happen..... I hit all the glass and headlights with the Clayzilla the go over all with my already wet pad skipping the front window since it's getting replaced.
Step 4- Crap it looks good how to I preserve some of this? I don't have any sealant, it's late, cold I'm 4-5 beers into this deal. I go digging and come across some Meg's Paint Protect I also picked up at PepBoy's for $2. I wasn't expecting this to be a super sealant but figured it would probably make the car easier to wash and detail spray quickly if someone comes to take a look.
I think only one pic is right after this little journey while in the garage the rest are outside 2 days later with rain and driving it a little bit in the lovely red lava rock cinders they use for traction. I am more than happy with the results, learned alot and already purchased better pads, products, and look forward to trying the PC on our Denali and boat. I will be sure to document and post along the way.
View attachment 60949View attachment 60950View attachment 60951View attachment 60952
