What did you do today, in regards to detailing?

[Klasse Act]

Oh yeah I forgot to mention that can of slime for the door pull areas, vents and random crevices

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[Wknd Dtlr]

Did a freebie detail for a neighbor. 1997 MB SL500 in Black Opal Metallic. She inherited from relative who passed away. Garage kept with 45k on the clock. She understands, and appreciates detail work. Since she is older I offered to scratch my detailing itch by cleaning it up for her. I wasn't looking for showcar correction, but just couldn't resist bringing this beauty back to life. The paint was in really good shape being that is lived most of it's life in a garage. Mostly drive through car wash swirls.

I wanted to do a one step correction process and then hit it with an LSP. I didn't have a lot of time so I needed to organize the most efficient pad/product combo. I was shooting for 70-80% correction. My original thinking was that I would be using my Flex for the whole car. After a whole grid of test spots, I was surprised that BF One Step with a Uro-fiber pad with a long throw 21 was the champ on this hard MB paint. With this combo I was able to move around the car fairly quick. I did have to go more aggressive on the hood.

This was one of those details where the results actually exceeded my expectations, and in less time than I had budgeted ( rarely the case for me ) The owner was almost in tears when she saw the finished product. It was nice as she had me walk her around the car and tell me how I accomplished various things with the detail. This one felt good.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any before pictures as my goal was just to get after it and get it done. When i did the 50/50 of the pad & product combo I took a pic as I could not believe the results. Unfortunately, my camera skills are lacking so you may not be able to make out the difference, but I assure you it was impressive considering I was using an AIO. I continue to be impressed with this product.

PROCESS

Tires / Rims
- Hi Intensity APC 4:1
- Mothers Back to Black Tire Renew to get tires even cleaner
- APC wheelwells
- Multiple Coats HyperDressing as Tires and wells soaked it up
- Megs Hybrid Ceramic Spray Wax for rims as I had it sitting in my cabinet

Interior was amazingly clean
- vacuum carpet and mats
- Ultima Interior Shampoo Gel on seats and interior
- spot cleaned mats
- will be applying Leather Protection Cream soon

Exterior
- Hyper Wash w Foam Cannon
- Clay
- removed tar and crud with Tarminator
- On hood I used Flex with LC Orange Force Hybrid with Fast Correction Cream as stronger correction needed
- Long throw 21 with Uro-Fiber pads with BlackFire One Step
- GG6 for tight areas using 4" LC orange and white pads and either BlackFire One step or FCC
- LSP was WGDGPS

This pic doesn't come close to doing justice to show how effective Blackfire Onestep and URO-FIBER worked. My feeble attempt at catching late afternoon sun with a 50/50 shot!
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This is an interesting color. Lots of pearl in it. Depending on lighting it takes on different hues
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And, some shots after it was completed.
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Since I'm just an enthusiast it's nice to get a chance to detail a cool older vehicle that's still in good enough shape that you can really transform it with a good detail. And, each time I do one of these I come away with major respect for you guys that do this for a living. At least for me, it takes a toll on my body!

PS - can someone tell me how to make my pics larger? I read the sticky Mike wrote on uploading. I resized all of these to 800 pixels wide, but they still seem small. (EDIT: pics look fine in TapaTalk. Just small on forum using a Windows computer.)

 

[Klasse Act]

^^^^^That paint is deep and wett^^^^^

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[Wknd Dtlr]

^^^^^That paint is deep and wett^^^^^

Thanks. This paint color was enjoyable to revive.

 

[Jayfro]

Little detail therapy over the weekend.
First up we’re the wheels and tires, cleaned up with Megs D143 with a couple brushes for the tires, faces and barrels, finished up with DP Wheel Glaze and DP Tire Gel...two coats ( I like’em slimey wet!)

The wash included DG 901 with ten or eleven MF towels, dried with Griots PFM and blower. The

Since I was losing some beading and sheating, I applied two coats of WGDGPS , one on Saturday and the other on Sunday afternoon...turned out very nice!

I’m trying to decide to top it this evening or sometime this week with Pinnacle Liquid Souveran or 303 Graphene...any thoughts?

I also have a little touch up work with a qtip and doing the fender wells this week.

JF

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[JDGolden]

That Mercedes looks great, and what a nice story of the owners appreciation for the work completed. It will look nice for many years to come, I have a good feeling about that.

And Jayfro, the Acura looks good!

Today I cleaned up my wife’s Flex. It was dirty and dusty from the dirt road. Lots of road film, etc. I also found a few spots that need polished due to the parking garage she uses for work.

Wheels and Tires done with Meguiars D143/Tuff Shine brush/Daytona Speedmaster brushes.

Washed with 3D Pink soap. First time using it, very nice soap.

Dried with Griots PFM and compressed air. That PFM has impressed me yet again.

Tires dressed with DG253.

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[PA DETAILER]

Had the day off. So truck wash time! 50`s and nice out. Used the UNDERWASHER with a pre soak of APC this time. Cleaned my reusable K & N Cabin filter. Went back to my wax shop cherry foam soap in my bucket/foam gun. The GRIOTS ceramic soap protection was still beading just from one use. Finished with TW HS WET WAX. Usual interior clean up/detail

 

[JDGolden]

Did an interior clean on my Jeep.

Vacuumed.
303 protectant on dash, door panels, and console.
Blackfire Leather Complete on seats.
Weathertechs cleaned and their protectant applied.
Pedals wiped down, but not super cleaned.

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[oneheadlite]

Speed round during my lunch break at work - Griot's Foaming Surface Wash via BOSS foam cannon, Quick once over of wheels w/ Foaming Surface Prep just via 10:1 spray bottle, PW rinse. Car hadn't been washed in a MN month, so chased it with a Brilliant Finish Rinseless multi-towel wash. Wiped dry with a grey square PFM. Ran out of time, Will hit it after work with a round of the Ceramic Speed Shine. So far all I've had time to try that on was the air exchange unit in my utility room at home (looks mint. :laughing: ).

Yes, it's safe to say I'm a big Griot's fan. But it sure does work every time...

Pictures after work when I get a chance to finish.

 

[JDGolden]

How did you do that on a lunch break? That’s movin’!

 

[oneheadlite]

How did you do that on a lunch break? That’s movin’!

Oh, it’s definitely my least favorite way to do it, but I was just really tired of looking at my poor salt crusted car.

Thankfully we can take an hour lunch. I think set up to PFM wipe down was about 50 minutes, then inhaled my lunch (sorry digestive system...). Made sure to do a long flooding hose down after the PW rinse to try to flood out all the salt.

 

[Coatingsarecrack]

Did a Frothe waterless and dried using a new twisted loop microfiber (Duplex) from MTM and TW ceramic wet wax.

Was not a fan of their spray coating. Haven’t used but saw 3 week old application and wasn’t fan of the beading.

The wet wax as a drying aid though is great. Boost the shine of 1.5 month old PA CS and makes the towel glide nicely...

The towels worked as well as my pfm. Weird thing is that it’s 520gsm but felt as heavy as the pfm. One 18x30 dried whole car.


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[Klasse Act]

TWHS Wet Wax^^^^^^

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[ntwillie1]

Had a 65 degree day yesterday and the car’s last shower was back in October or November. Work’s been overwhelming lately and so I had to just take a break for a couple of hours. I figured what better way than by washing the car. Foam bath - just what the Doctor ordered .

Last May I coated this car and overall its holding up well. During this wash just had to deal w a few tar spots but overall condition was not bad. This isnt my spring detail of the car, it was just to remove the guilt of no wash for 5 months, lol. I also cleaned the interior but forgot to take pics of that. There were a ton of rocks and salt pebbles in there. Here are some pics.

Dirty wheels always gets me. I try not to look down when I walk towards the car.

5 months of living outside and too many snow storms to count. Held up pretty good I’d say.

My favorite part. At this point the soap had already dwelled for about a minute.

Looking respectable now

A good way to end the day.


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[Klasse Act]

This was the first winter I've been outside 24/7 in 8 yrs and I'm glad I was able to coat my car back in June of 2020. For a car outside all the time a coating is a must IMO, no question about it

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[oneheadlite]

Ok, pictures as promised. Here’s a before shot of what happened in the month since the last wash:

So, as mentioned, did my speed wash routine during my lunch break. After work, tried out the Ceramic Speed Shine, treating it like Frank’s Red Hot Sauce and using that Shhh on everything - windows, grill, moulding, door jambs. Overall, very happy with the experience. Easy to use, no issues with wipe off or anything. I can definitely tell it’s due for a proper decon wash when I have time, but I don’t fault the car/LSP for that as it only got a couple washes this winter.

After:

Not bad for a car about to hit it’s 1/4 million mile anniversary. (Also, if you’re ever debating PPF’ing your headlights - do it! Those lights have probably 135 k on them, spend the whole work day in the sun, and still look like the day I put them in. Had a run in with Bambi’s dad in 2015...)

This morning we got rain. My drive to work started with mist and progressed to a proper full rain. Run off for water off the windshield was at about 50mph, but again I’m sure it could be better if the windshield had been polished first, or didn’t have at least 150k on it. Plus note is once I did use the wipers, no streaks or chatter; also no issues with halos from oncoming headlights in the dark.

For folks who are all about them beads, here’s a shot from the parking lot when I got to work-

Overall, I could very easily see the CSS being my new drying aid.

 

[MisterSnoop]

Not bad for a car about to hit it’s 1/4 million mile anniversary. (Also, if you’re ever debating PPF’ing your headlights - do it! Those lights have probably 135 k on them, spend the whole work day in the sun, and still look like the day I put them in. Had a run in with Bambi’s dad in 2015...)

Did you do the PPF yourself or have it done?

 

[JDGolden]

Ntwillie1: The Mercedes looks great, love the blue!

Oneheadlite: the Audi is in incredible shape for the miles, wow.

 

[oneheadlite]

Did you do the PPF yourself or have it done?

I brought it to a PPF place that we've had do work for our shop in the past. I'll confess, I didn't even ask what they put on! I can dig and see if I've got the receipt on the off chance it's on there.

 

[DFB]

I'm going to get flamed for this but.......

Detailed my phone and phone case today.

Cleaned the phone with CarPro Eraser.

Scrubbed the case with Green Star and a detail brush.

Coated the outer case material with NV Nourish.

Much better! :xyxthumbs: