wolfpacker92
New member
- May 8, 2007
- 425
- 0
Well this car belonged to a customer's son. He was down visiting from PA and after seeing his Dad's car wanted me to detail his. I will say that those of you that have to detail cars that are up North all the time, man you have a tough job. The driving environments that the cars go through is rough and it showed on this car. The car's paint was really dull and looked like the road salt had done a number on the front bumper and hood. The hood did not come out perfect but a marked improvement. The car really needed about a day of paint correction but he didn't want to pay for that so I did the best I could. I figured my go to XMT 360 would be put to the challenge and I would use my new Surf City products to help it out!
Wheels: Man this car had hubcaps and the front ones must have been on the front from day 1 and NEVER been cleaned. I honestly did not think I would be able to get them completely clean. I sprayed them down with Surf City Garage Beyond Steel Wheel Cleaner. This stuff worked AMAZING on new wheels so I figured this was a good test. After spraying and scrubbing with a Megs wheel brush there was still a good bit of baked on brake dust
. I really thought that these needed to be sandblasted to get clean. Well I finally had to spray each section of grime with a shot of Beyond Steel and scrub with a very stiff bristle brush that looks like a toothbrush. The Beyond Steel had to work on this one but the results are astounding. Look at the pic and you can see on the right was after initial spray and agitation and left is after individual sprays and stiffer agitation:
I dressed the wheel wells with Stoner's More Shine and dressed the tires with DP Gloss Tire Gel. I finished off the hubcaps with Duragloss #921 QDer.
Wash: I used the Surf City Pacific Blue Wash and Wax in my AG foam gun. I mixed it a little stronger but still did not get great foam. The cleaning power was there though. Man it cleaned up that dead paint really well. And it still smells great, although I still can't figure out which bubble gum it smells like (wife couldn't either). If you like really slick soap you will love this stuff. Dried with leaf blower. All door jambs were done with DG #921 QDer.
Glass: I again used the SC Clearly Better Glass Cleaner and it was hotter and sunnier doing this car than it was doing the Altima and the Surf City did not let me down. On smokin' hot glass it left no streaks:righton: . It is a little more expensive but if you clean cars outside this is the ticket, so drop the extra change and get you some of this.
Engine: Sprayed with Megs APC undiluted, worked in with a soft brush, hosed off and after it dried I sprayed with Stoners More Shine.
Interior: I used DP Total Interior Cleaner followed up by DP Interior Surface Protectant. I vacuumed out with shop vac and shampooed the floor mats with Megs APC diluted 10:1. I used my PC with a green Aqua brush on the mats and they looked new again. Inside was dusty and dirty but I forgot to take after pics. This was the first car that I did the interior last (I usually do it before I polish) simply because I just wanted to change things up a bit and I guess the change in routine led me to forget to take after pics.
Paint: Since the guy didn't want to invest time and $ in complete paint correction I decided this was a job for XMT 360. The 360 did a great job as usual. I used the PC with an Orange LC pad. I usually top the 360 with DP Surface Shield and that gives a great shine. Well I decided to top it with the SC Nano Seal Protective Coat Sealant. I used the PC on speed 3 with a LC Blue Pad. I let it set for about an hour and wiped off with a Cobra MF. Man the shine on this thing was awesome now. I really like the Nano Seal. Goes on easy and off easy and leaves an incredible wet look.
Well second time using the Surf City Garage products and I was just as impressed this time as I was the first (see my original review on the 08 Altima). Customer was astounded at how good his car looked and told me when he comes back in 2 months for another visit he is bringing his 07 Honda Civic for me to do:cheers: . Again to all you guys that detail up North my hats off to you. The driving environment seems to be much harsher up there than down here in NC. Well here are the before and afters:
This last pic is for you alban61. Yeah my garage door is open and you can see my little giant. This may become my signature shot lol! As usual all comments and advice welcome.
Wheels: Man this car had hubcaps and the front ones must have been on the front from day 1 and NEVER been cleaned. I honestly did not think I would be able to get them completely clean. I sprayed them down with Surf City Garage Beyond Steel Wheel Cleaner. This stuff worked AMAZING on new wheels so I figured this was a good test. After spraying and scrubbing with a Megs wheel brush there was still a good bit of baked on brake dust
. I really thought that these needed to be sandblasted to get clean. Well I finally had to spray each section of grime with a shot of Beyond Steel and scrub with a very stiff bristle brush that looks like a toothbrush. The Beyond Steel had to work on this one but the results are astounding. Look at the pic and you can see on the right was after initial spray and agitation and left is after individual sprays and stiffer agitation:
I dressed the wheel wells with Stoner's More Shine and dressed the tires with DP Gloss Tire Gel. I finished off the hubcaps with Duragloss #921 QDer.
Wash: I used the Surf City Pacific Blue Wash and Wax in my AG foam gun. I mixed it a little stronger but still did not get great foam. The cleaning power was there though. Man it cleaned up that dead paint really well. And it still smells great, although I still can't figure out which bubble gum it smells like (wife couldn't either). If you like really slick soap you will love this stuff. Dried with leaf blower. All door jambs were done with DG #921 QDer.
Glass: I again used the SC Clearly Better Glass Cleaner and it was hotter and sunnier doing this car than it was doing the Altima and the Surf City did not let me down. On smokin' hot glass it left no streaks:righton: . It is a little more expensive but if you clean cars outside this is the ticket, so drop the extra change and get you some of this.
Engine: Sprayed with Megs APC undiluted, worked in with a soft brush, hosed off and after it dried I sprayed with Stoners More Shine.
Interior: I used DP Total Interior Cleaner followed up by DP Interior Surface Protectant. I vacuumed out with shop vac and shampooed the floor mats with Megs APC diluted 10:1. I used my PC with a green Aqua brush on the mats and they looked new again. Inside was dusty and dirty but I forgot to take after pics. This was the first car that I did the interior last (I usually do it before I polish) simply because I just wanted to change things up a bit and I guess the change in routine led me to forget to take after pics.
Paint: Since the guy didn't want to invest time and $ in complete paint correction I decided this was a job for XMT 360. The 360 did a great job as usual. I used the PC with an Orange LC pad. I usually top the 360 with DP Surface Shield and that gives a great shine. Well I decided to top it with the SC Nano Seal Protective Coat Sealant. I used the PC on speed 3 with a LC Blue Pad. I let it set for about an hour and wiped off with a Cobra MF. Man the shine on this thing was awesome now. I really like the Nano Seal. Goes on easy and off easy and leaves an incredible wet look.
Well second time using the Surf City Garage products and I was just as impressed this time as I was the first (see my original review on the 08 Altima). Customer was astounded at how good his car looked and told me when he comes back in 2 months for another visit he is bringing his 07 Honda Civic for me to do:cheers: . Again to all you guys that detail up North my hats off to you. The driving environment seems to be much harsher up there than down here in NC. Well here are the before and afters:
This last pic is for you alban61. Yeah my garage door is open and you can see my little giant. This may become my signature shot lol! As usual all comments and advice welcome.
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VERY good job right there 
Love the engine to 
It would be a cool signature shot too! 
