rms64
New member
- Dec 18, 2012
- 1,122
- 0
Hey folks,
This weekend I had the opportunity to detail a co-worker's 2012 Maxima (thanks Alexis!). I've had the car since Friday evening and will "deliver" it to work tomorrow morning.
First, giant kudos to those of you who do this everyday. I had a blast doing this, but I'm sore in places I've forgotten about, and the humidity in Florida made this a sweaty, stinky job. But enough about me. Ok..
For those of you who may be wondering, this was a "freebie" since I'd consider my "customer" a friend, and really I'm hoping for some word of mouth that could lead to maybe one or two details a month since I'm just a weekend guy anyway.
Total time spent was right around 18 hours. The car was in very good shape, although I underestimated the effort needed for the interior. Silver metallic in color, this thing had very few swirls / issues and was fun to work with. Much harder paint than my BMW as far as I could tell.
A few before shots:
Trying to capture some minor swirls on the hood:
Mandatory love bugs (hate these things) on the bumper:
I started with Amazing Roll Off on the fender wells and tires. Then, Sonax FE on the wheels.
After a good wash with my foam gun, 2BM using Honeydew, it was apparent that there was some areas around the exhaust that needed attention. Hard to see - sorry:
Scuff around the passenger side rear wheel well:
After the wash, it was time for IronX - here it is doing its thing on the hood:
After the entire car was IronX'd, I gave it a good rinse and dried. Next up was to clay the car - I was a little surpised at the amount of gunk that came off.
Clay after about 1/2 the hood:
Time to tape it off and do a test spot:
I ended up going with Menzerna SF4000 on a LC Black pad on my DA for most of the polishing step:
There were maybe 8 - 10 spots on the car where there were scratches or minor swirls, which I corrected with my trusty FG400 (thanks again Smack!) on a LC orange pad:
Example scratch before:
GONE after 3 passes with FG400:
Quick timeout to check on my Red Wings!
Driver side wheel well issue corrected:
After the main correction / polishing steps I decided to go a little nuts and go the extra mile hit the car with SF4500 on a LC gold jeweling pad at slow speed on my DA (really like these pads!):
Did this step make a difference? I dunno :dunno: but I really wanted to try to bring up the shine so no regrets.
When that was done, I used Blacklight and then Menzerna Colorlock as my LSP to hopefully add some love bug defense.
Finally, some after shots:
A few interior shots - used Megs leather cleaner and conditioner, Chemical Guys APC citrus and Megs natural shine protecant. Also Megs NXT glass cleaner on the windows.
Sorry no before pics - I guess I panicked:
Since I was on a roll, I went ahead and did the engine compartment too:
All in all, I'm very happy with the result. Thanks for looking!! :buffing:
This weekend I had the opportunity to detail a co-worker's 2012 Maxima (thanks Alexis!). I've had the car since Friday evening and will "deliver" it to work tomorrow morning.
First, giant kudos to those of you who do this everyday. I had a blast doing this, but I'm sore in places I've forgotten about, and the humidity in Florida made this a sweaty, stinky job. But enough about me. Ok..
For those of you who may be wondering, this was a "freebie" since I'd consider my "customer" a friend, and really I'm hoping for some word of mouth that could lead to maybe one or two details a month since I'm just a weekend guy anyway.
Total time spent was right around 18 hours. The car was in very good shape, although I underestimated the effort needed for the interior. Silver metallic in color, this thing had very few swirls / issues and was fun to work with. Much harder paint than my BMW as far as I could tell.
A few before shots:
Trying to capture some minor swirls on the hood:
Mandatory love bugs (hate these things) on the bumper:
I started with Amazing Roll Off on the fender wells and tires. Then, Sonax FE on the wheels.
After a good wash with my foam gun, 2BM using Honeydew, it was apparent that there was some areas around the exhaust that needed attention. Hard to see - sorry:
Scuff around the passenger side rear wheel well:
After the wash, it was time for IronX - here it is doing its thing on the hood:
After the entire car was IronX'd, I gave it a good rinse and dried. Next up was to clay the car - I was a little surpised at the amount of gunk that came off.
Clay after about 1/2 the hood:
Time to tape it off and do a test spot:
I ended up going with Menzerna SF4000 on a LC Black pad on my DA for most of the polishing step:
There were maybe 8 - 10 spots on the car where there were scratches or minor swirls, which I corrected with my trusty FG400 (thanks again Smack!) on a LC orange pad:
Example scratch before:
GONE after 3 passes with FG400:
Quick timeout to check on my Red Wings!
Driver side wheel well issue corrected:
After the main correction / polishing steps I decided to go a little nuts and go the extra mile hit the car with SF4500 on a LC gold jeweling pad at slow speed on my DA (really like these pads!):
Did this step make a difference? I dunno :dunno: but I really wanted to try to bring up the shine so no regrets.
When that was done, I used Blacklight and then Menzerna Colorlock as my LSP to hopefully add some love bug defense.
Finally, some after shots:
A few interior shots - used Megs leather cleaner and conditioner, Chemical Guys APC citrus and Megs natural shine protecant. Also Megs NXT glass cleaner on the windows.
Sorry no before pics - I guess I panicked:
Since I was on a roll, I went ahead and did the engine compartment too:
All in all, I'm very happy with the result. Thanks for looking!! :buffing:
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