What did you do today, in regards to detailing?

UncleDavy said:
Today’s forecast....foam, turning into widely scattered gloss. A high quality soap and foam cannon make a big difference. I finished it with Griots 3 in 1 Ceramic. I like it.

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Griot's Garage 3 in 1 ceramic in a foam cannon...I'm confused

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Speaking of green, this is one of the cars I worked on today! Yes you've seen me post pics of it but it's been a while. I should also mention that while it was in the upper 80's outside the shop a/c kept me cool all morning and into the afternoon, never experienced that before...now it's the gold standard

Anywho, this car was OVERDUE for some attention and I started with the rims. The brakes have this option to give the wheels a matte look quickly, LOL. Because of this I reached for the Griot's Garage HD wheel cleaner and let it dwell. There was some bleeding out but not as much as I expected. Thankfully I brought all my wheel brushes with me and used half of them. The lighting wasn't the best so I then reached for Brake Buster and did them again, rinsed and then applied Meg's HCW @4:1 for some protection, now onto the wash.

I loaded the IK Foam 9 with 303 carwash soap and foamed it up, let dwell and rinsed off. I then did a 2BM using the 303 carwash soap again, very thick and VERY solid product! Once the car was rinsed off it was time for some protection. The owner asked for "a carwash" but this is me we're talking about and he's the owner of the graphic shop I've been dealing with for over 10 years, so no corners cut and besides, he was in Colorado watching his son race/drift cars, so WTH, right! I reached for HS Wet Wax (thanks MadMerc) and this product once again impressed the hell out me..."the gloss, the gloss, the gloss", oh wait, I can't use that one BUTT it was true here, damn impressive!

I was only supposed to do that car as I was on a tight schedule but the cutie who works there, who's Jeep I'm doing next weekend, wanted the same Jeep washed, so I said yes, ofcoarse That was "a carwash" too sans the protection because I'm doing it next weekend. I got both done in under 4 hrs with a Mountain Dew break and a bagel and Mt. Dew brake.

Here are some pics, dirty to clean:
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Btw, this ZL1 makes 750/750 now

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Spent most of yesterday on a great car but one that will serve as a perfect example for new detailers to provide "estimates" and agree to them up-front but also to leave your contract and paperwork open enough language wise to agree to changes. The morning was spent doing a deep clean on the two-tone black and light sandstone interior. Interior wise it wasn't too bad and came out perfect. Exterior wise......

I do a drop off and inspection including all details and conditions including paint thickness measurements while the customer is with me including photos, video and all that jazz. They sign my Terms and Conditions, work order and inspection forms, etc. before they leave and I capture them on photo and text them while they are there further stating the agreed upon scope of work. My second inspection and re-sending of the forms completed, etc AFTER the full wash, clean up and decontamination. This is why.

This 2017, 40k mile G80 came to me in pretty average looking condition and we agreed upon a nice Premium Enhancement Polish package and ceramic coating. In short I can get some stellar results, many time upwards of 90-100% correction depending on the paint, vehicle, condition, etc. you know the drill. Not bad given here's the vehicle and the condition under that layer of dirt and road film didn't look to bad. I did notice and point out the entire front clip was pretty rough and appeared to have had been scrubbed with either a magic eraser or scotch brite pad. Customer acknowledged that and said it was like that when he took delivery as he's not done anything but some tunnel car washes.

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The HOWEVER part revealed itself after the clean up and my putting my "ugly lights" on it. Turns out the ENTIRE lower half of the vehicle was scoured with a scotch bright pad. UGH.....

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In the end, the customer agreed to pay more to have me lean-into it a bit more on the lower half and the results turned out well. Overall, I put about 6 hours into the exterior and achieved a very good 90% correction with the worst being the front bumper but even there, very good for most owners as only us detailers would notice.

More pics coming after of course but for now, here's shot of her awaiting ceramic which I'm about to go apply. Cliff notes are that one never knows what's hiding until the full clean up and decon is completed.

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Klasse Act said:
I saw green in the Foam cannon, my bad

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The green in the foam cannon is the DP foam soap extreme. A good quality foam cannon makes a big difference as well. I previously used a cheap foam cannon from Amazon and it took the entire container to foam the whole truck. I switched over to an MTM Hydro PF22 and it made a world of difference. I was able to do entire truck with only 1/4 of the solution in the cannon. The foam was also thicker and stuck to the surface better.
 
Quality doesn't cost it pays

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Finally washed the dust of the the truck.

The truck isn't my daily driver, I don't drive it in the winter and with the crazy Covid stuff going on I've been WFH since March. So, long story short, I haven't driven the truck since last November. It sits in my workshop where it tends to accumulate a lot of dust. I had it out to rearrange some things in the barn and it was a really nice day, so I decided it was time to finally clean it up a little. Since I already had the pressure washer set up for another task, I decided to go all out. Pressure wash, foam cannon, two bucket wash, dried with Fusion spray wax as drying aid to add a little extra shine.


A little dusty:

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Finally looking presentable again (even upside down):

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DMiglio said:
I’d be bugging Toyota every day to get a new dash! That looks terrible..

Be honest with us, you applied Armor All didn’t you?
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Now that I think about it... You’re right! He’s been applying AA on that dash since the late 1970’s. Friggin AA!
 
Eldorado2k said:
Now that I think about it... You’re right! He’s been applying AA on that dash since the late 1970’s. Friggin AA!
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Hahah, get him a bottle of Megs ultimate interior detailer or something! I mean you said you’re friends after all!

What’s the saying... “Find something you like and use it often.”

Seems he likes AA and uses it often.
 
Yesterday I started at 8:30am started washing, clay bar, compound, polishing, ceramic wax..... finished at 12:30.

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Washed my car this morning, used meg's hyper wash and ethos defy as a drying aid

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