Tacoma detail, winter prep

budman3

New member
Joined
Mar 3, 2006
Messages
1,744
Reaction score
0
Up to the plate this weekend was the Tacoma and since it was a long, warm weekend, I decided it’d be best to get a head start on winter prep. I last time that I detailed it was in May and all I did then was clay, SSR1, JW AJ and some AW & OCW side by side. This combo lasted very well throughout the summer. There were some random deep swirls here and some very minor water spotting which I wanted to remove this time around. Polish of choice was Menzerna Nano Polish 106ff, with a 5.5” orange lo-profile pad with the UDM on 6. I normally don’t use light cut pads because of their abrasiveness. I knew if I used the 106ff I’d still be able to be LSP ready and I really wanted those random swirls gone. However, they still remained… this is only the 4th time that the truck has been polished in 30 months and I still don’t want to get overly aggressive yet. I’ll live with the random swirl here and there that are left and be happy with the amount of clear left and more importantly the shine.

Process:
Wash- Gold Class, Ulti-Mitt, dried w/ guzzler
Polish- Menzerna Nano 106ff, 5.5” orange pad, UDM, speed 6
LSP- Jeffs Werkstatt Acrylic Jet, UDM finishing pad
- 24 hours later Collinite 845 by hand w/ PB MF applicator

I don’t have any outside before pictures … there wasn’t much to see anyways ….
All taped up:
HPIM1.jpg


Swirl detection w/ Brinkmann w/ lights off:
HPIM2.jpg


Swirl detection with halogens:
HPIM3.jpg


Amount of 106ff used on 2x2 area (no primer):
HPIM4.jpg


2x2 area before (ok, its 20” x 26”):
HPIM5.jpg


106ff spread on the panel, machine off:
HPIM6.jpg


106ff ready to be removed = fully broken down, 2-3 minutes:
HPIM7.jpg


Side by side after:
HPIM8.jpg


Both side polished, note deep swirl:
HPIM9.jpg


And I think the only negative to 106ff:
HPIM10.jpg


I wasn’t planning on doing the full treatment to the Tacoma this weekend so I didn’t wash the tires or wheels when I did the rest of the truck. No big deal. The tires have several coats of Klasse SG so a little Poorboy’s Spray and Wipe and they were clean. The wheel wells also got S&W and then were dressed with Stoner’s Trim Shine. The tires were fairly dirty and I would normally use Poorboy’s Bold and Bright because BnB not only shines and protects the tires, it also cleans it as well. But I figured I’d give SurfCity’s Tire Dressing a shot on these tires. The application of the dressing was a major pain but the results are worth it. IMOSurfCity products are very nice but their tops aren’t that great. The metal polish one leaked even when closed and the tire shine is so liquidy it’s almost impossible to get it on an applicator without making a mess. I tried a trigger sprayer in the bottle and it worked very well, so the tire shine in a trigger form would be a great thing to see from SurfCity. None the less, the results are outdstanding. The tires are not greasy at all, they are clean, they hold a nice shine and are deep deep black.

Before:
HPIM12.jpg


Wheels and wells cleaned, tires dressed:
HPIM13.jpg


Wells w/ Trim Shine:
HPIM14.jpg


The engine wasn’t that bad at all, just a little dusty. I wiped everything down with a terry cloth towel and then applied some CD2 engine detailer, let sit and wiped excess off with a terry towel. Don’t mind the lint from the terry towel in the after pictures … I’m guessing that I shouldn’t have wiped off the excess, but it still looks good.

Before:
HPIM16.jpg


After:
HPIM15.jpg
 
Now that the minor details were done, I applied Poorboy’s Trim Restorer to all plastic pieces and the windows were cleaned with Stoner’s Invisible Glass. The AJ / 845 combo looks great and should last a very long time!

Random afters:
HPIM17.jpg


HPIM18.jpg


HPIM19.jpg


HPIM20.jpg


HPIM21.jpg


HPIM22.jpg


HPIM23.jpg


Roof panel:
HPIM24.jpg


Flake shots:
HPIM25.jpg


HPIM26.jpg


HPIM27.jpg


Silver is pretty hard to make look impressive. This is a new combo for me and I think the Jeffs Werkstatt looks better than Klasse SG. I’m thinking the Tacoma may need a coat or two of Natty’s Red tonight … along with some OCW…

Questions, comments, concerns??
 
Truck looks solid! Nice detail and thanks for the write up.
 
Even though it's really hard to get that wet look on silver or flake, you can get a very clean, crisp finish and you definitely have that. That looks just as impressive!
 
Your Tacoma is certainly winter ready and it looks great too. I've never used any Werkstatt products myself but it sure does look good.
 
Thanks for the comments everyone. For some reason or another I think the Menzerna made the truck look like a lighter color silver. After polishing the truck had a very white look to it, one that I've never seen before... I don't know if it was the lighting or just my mind playing tricks on me :)

Well I just applied some Natty's Red on the passenger fender and passenger side of the hood. I sprayed a light mist of OCW and then rubbed in the Natty', let haze and then removed. I can't comment on the looks because it's in the garage and dark out, but it is noticeably slicker than the Collinite. I've played a little bit with the Red and it seems a touch easier to use than Natty's White and a little bit more easier than the Blue. For some reason Natty's Blue was a tad difficult to get to spread evenly, thus resulting in difficulty to remove. However, I have found that using OCW (or another QD, like S&G) before waxing makes application and removal a lot easier. Plus I have found OCW & a paste mix to add incredible gloss to a vehicle.

Your Tacoma is certainly winter ready and it looks great too. I've never used any Werkstatt products myself but it sure does look good.

I just hope I didn't pull the trigger too early... I don't expect (hope) it to start snowing until December and probably won't get a decent detailing day until mid March ... that's 5 - 6 months from now. I can hopefully expect a few days in between there to do a wash and wax, which will give me a detailing fix :) and some protection.
 
Last edited:
Awesome work with the menzerna there, and over all! Kudos!!

LOOOOVE that silver flake!
Lauren
 
Werkstatt and 845 huh? That's durable winter protection! Looks very nice too...
 
You made that silver look good :) hmm I should copy what you did with 106FF, 4 dots without priming..
 
Looks very good! Good for the winter now ;) If you spray some water on the pad before using 106FF, you will get almost no dusting!
 
Very nice work! Your truck looks great! Nice flake pops!
 
Very nice work and I too love the Surf City Beyond Black. I also decided to put mine in a spray bottle and it works to absolute perfection now.
 
Back
Top