Walk the Walk ... Versus Just Talking the Talk

[ScottB]

Well I am rather lucky in that I keep my cars (Vette, SRX) in top shape and it truly is much easier to detail a well detailed car. That said during my vacation this week I made a promise to my father to detail his car. Now the car is an 06 Buick, so it could be in worse condition. but it is black .....

A little background on the car. My father was a GM of a Buick franchise and been there for around 25 years. The family decided to sell the franchise this past winter to three Pontiac dealers locally, and the family decided to concentrate on their Nissan franchise. Being that my father stayed on as a SM he was none to thrilled about driving a foreign car (previously he had a new demo like clockwork every 3 months). So he leased his first car in more than 30 years. Basic transportation is all he wanted and got a one pay lease at a price that would make us cry ... but he decided on black with black interior!! (WHY oh WHY)

The car sits on a car-lot near the ocean more than 70 hours weekly. It is garaged at night, and is washed weekly by a porter at the dealer (can you say swirls, dirty towels, and buckets of dirty water). I only wish I could show you pics from last night when I started. The car had a minor accident in the front, and the panel was replaced and repainted also. So my task was at hand :

Interior :
Glass -- Stoners Invisible Glass
Dash --- Sonus Cockpit Detailer (no gloss, but UV protection)
Leather --- Pinnacles Leather Conditioner

Exterior:
Wheel Cleaning --- DP Gel Wheel Cleaner
Wash --- Poorboys Suds and Foam Gun
Dry --- Leave Blower, and Guzzler
Polish --- Menzerna P085, White Pad, PC on 6
Sealant --- 1 coat Rejex (last night) , 2 coats UPP (today)
Qd --- Quikshine (used in all doorjambs also)
Wheels Protection --- DP Wheel Glaze, Quikshine
Tires --- DP Wheel Protectant (nice and glossy)

My idea was to provide durability and protection from the elements. Car will only see washing for the next 3 months and garage at night. Sorry if sun bleached out any pics but its already full tilt at 1130am.

Exterior

Chrome Wheels

Interior (see no gloss)

Reflection

No Swirls -- Reflection II

 

[Surfer]

Nice work, not a Buick guy lol (though we did own an 87' GNX), but it's nice to see Buick cleaned up the interiors of their cars. And nice in general to see GM applying that concept to their other makes finally. About the porters at dealers, I make it known when I bring in my truck to not have them wash/dry it, saw him do it one time and the towel they were using looked like a filthy waffle weave. Usually they still end up spraying it with a hose or whatever, but right before he gets out to detail I say "that's alright man, I'm gonna wash it at home anyway"

 

[Meghan]

Nice work, not a Buick guy lol (though we did own an 87' GNX), but it's nice to see Buick cleaned up the interiors of their cars. And nice in general to see GM applying that concept to their other makes finally.

Surfer you are cooler than I thought (87' GNX!) :righton:
Killer nice job, glad you got some rest on vacation!

 

[Surfer]

Surfer you are cooler than I thought (87' GNX!) :righton:
Killer nice job, glad you got some rest on vacation!

The fact that your a girl and you know what a GNX is, let alone a Grand National, gives you big props in my book:applause:

 

[Neothin]

Those pictures really go to show the one attribute of UPP that I love the most, the reflections. wetness is eh, slickness is great, but those reflections *drool*

the buick didn't have much orange peel eh?

 

[FloridaNative]

Ay Killer!! I love the hood shots!! Awesome job man! :applause:

 

[ScottB]

Ay Killer!! I love the hood shots!! Awesome job man! :applause:

Although the pics are hard to evaluate due to the sun, every panel looks like that. It all reflects. So much so that when I dropped it off, my father says you missed something white on the front tire. I said .... NO ... thats the sun reflecting off the tire gel.

 

[Kelso]

good job man! foreign cars are where its at but whatever... i doubt he needs anything more than what he has so it doesnt matter

 

[joe.p]

Killer those reflection shots are awsome. You southern folks are lucky
to have such beautiful trees. Was your Dad impressed with the car after
it was complete.

 

[BlackRocks]

Looks great and the reflections are stunning.

Since I am rather new, please let me in on what "UPP" is guys?

Todd

 

[ScottB]

Looks great and the reflections are stunning.

Since I am rather new, please let me in on what "UPP" is guys?

Todd

Its a touchy subject .... Its Four Starr Ultimate Paint Protectant. It was a sealant we recently stopped carrying at AG. That said, some of us found it to be brilliance in a bottle.

 

[BlackRocks]

Its a touchy subject .... Its Four Starr Ultimate Paint Protectant. It was a sealant we recently stopped carrying at AG. That said, some of us found it to be brilliance in a bottle.

I have seen several posts now with UPP listed and the reflection are very nice. There is a comment in this thread about UPP producing incredible reflections. With that said, is it a sealant that is better at actually protecting the paint than say the Wolfgang sealant? I supposed that is a loaded question, but I figured I would ask. When I park my black vehicles by any building that has extensive window frame-work, the reflections in the WG sealant/Souveran liquid combination I am using is actually incredible. I think the wax is 'mellowing' the black a tad, but the depth when looking directly into the paint is incredible.

Todd

 

[ScottB]

I have found most sealants to have very similar durability, and they include Blackfire, FMJ, Wolfgang, UPP, and EXP. To date only Klasse SG and Zaino have exceeded the durability claims over the competitors.