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Today I did some detailing...

randy hickey

We have the "Today I Did Something To My Car" thread out in the main forum, and a lot of the posts on it pertain to detailing.
I thought it would be a good idea to give our various detailing activities a thread in their proper home.

I'll get the ball rolling.

Today ( ahem, last night really!), I snow foamed the car
Wasn't able to follow through and wash it properly as my back went, but couldn't believe how well it looked this morning!
In fairness I have a fair bit of LSP on it, but there was ten days worth of road film and tree sap on it.

Well impressed.

Over to you!

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ianobrien

Well, I used the fine day yesterday to get something done to the Leon.

First thing was to put the car as close to the hedge as possible to take the sun off it. Then it was

Washed with BH Autofoam snowfoam. Trying out the new power washer (Lavor Best 28) meant that all the old concentrations didn't work. It was about 1:8 in the bottle and the foam was good and thick.
The usual 2BM wash with AG Shampoo
Detar with CarPro Tar-X. Two applications were needed mind.
Car rinsed down
BH Korrisol fall out remover applied and allowed to dwell for about 3 minutes. Rinsed off
Clayed with a clay towel using a mixture of home made lube (Washing up liqued in water) and AG Rapid detailer
Car rinsed down
CarPro Eraser applied and the panels wiped down
Car washed again with BH Autofoam
After properly rinsing, the car was sprayed with CarPro Eraser again and wiped to dry with the Dry-me-Crazy

By now, the car was clean..........

I wanted to try CarPro Reload and after plenty of reading (and wanted to avoid the high spots, rainbow, etc) I applied it as follows. One Crazy Pile was dampened (no water could ring from it) and two sprays of Reload applied to the MF. Applied with horizontal and then vertical motions. Immediately buffed with a second clean Crazy Pile. Once the car was done, I went back over it with a third Crazy Pile. I did it in small sections with about 8 sections on the bonnet and 5 on each door for example.

Wheels were as above (washed, detarred, Fallout remover, Clayed) and sealed with Reload (I'd no proper wheel sealer). Tyres were Orchard Tyre Glitz (bottle is almost gone). Door shuts, etc were 1:3 BH Surfix in water and AG Rapid detailer applied. Engine was 1:3 BH Surfix in water and 1:3 CarPro Perl in water. Exterior plastic was 1:3 CarPro Perl in water. Glass was wiped with 70% IPA. Interior was 50Cal interior dressing.

No before pics, but it hadn't been washed in about 3 months I'd say.

20170618_185459.jpg?dl=1

Sitting in the evening sun............

20170618_211051.jpg?dl=1

Bad points

I forgot to detar one spoke of one wheel
Wheel arches etc were not really done outside a spray of BH Surfix, quick agitation and a blast of the power washer. They need a proper clean.
Exhaust needs to be done properly (polish and sandpaper again)
The whole job took about 8 hours, including stops for grub and lunch.
I broke one milk crate (it's my usual combi seat and step for height)

Curran

Thats the job Ian; looks brilliant! And very well in the evening sun!!

And its not easy work in that heat - fair play!

ianobrien

Curran wrote: »

Thats the job Ian; looks brilliant! And very well in the evening sun!!

And its not easy work in that heat - fair play!

Two guesses what I met when I came out from work yesterday...................

Yep, a good bombing run by a bloody bird :mad:

ronnie3585

Nice job Ian, the car looks mighty!

micks_address

ronnie3585 wrote: »

Nice job Ian, the car looks mighty!

Hi folks,
Collecting car next weekend. Dealer applying lifeshine detail to car.. I know the concerns but he's actually pretty good. My main concern in the diamond coat alloys on the car. What's the best way to post post whiteworm on the alloys? The lifeshine probably puts some coating on the alloys but I'm considering maybe something like car pro d lux that Ian from autoclean applied to my current alloys..
Thanks,
Mick

vectra

micks_address wrote: »

Hi folks,
Collecting car next weekend. Dealer applying lifeshine detail to car.. I know the concerns but he's actually pretty good. My main concern in the diamond coat alloys on the car. What's the best way to post post whiteworm on the alloys? The lifeshine probably puts some coating on the alloys but I'm considering maybe something like car pro d lux that Ian from autoclean applied to my current alloys..
Thanks,
Mick

Get ian to strip off anything the dealer applies to the wheels ( Which I doubt they apply anything to them,)
and get him to put Dlux or maybe Revolve ?
I am considering th Revolve this time.

micks_address

vectra wrote: »

Get ian to strip off anything the dealer applies to the wheels ( Which I doubt they apply anything to them,)
and get him to put Dlux or maybe Revolve ?
I am considering th Revolve this time.

Thanks, speaking of Ian have they moved yet?

vectra

micks_address wrote: »

Thanks, speaking of Ian have they moved yet?

I have no idea.
Curran might be able to enlighten you.

On another note
Do not have too much faith in the dealer applying anything on your car.
Just think to yourself. " I wonder will they use a brush or a sponge to wash my lovely new car"

micks_address

vectra wrote: »

I have no idea.
Curran might be able to enlighten you.

On another note
Do not have too much faith in the dealer applying anything on your car.
Just think to yourself. " I wonder will they use a brush or a sponge to wash my lovely new car"

I know the salesman pretty well. He's an ex mechanic and looks after his own cars immaculately. He said he's going to apply it himself so we will see.
I'll know more next weekend
Thanks,
Mick

Lekrub

Ok so have been getting into detailing a bit more from this thread and appreciate the work that goes into it. Over the weekend I had a chance to give the car a detail. It came out alright but I think I got better results last time with different products.

Excluding wheel arch and alloy work, it went like this:
>Washing up liquid 2 bucket wash to remove old wax and polish
>Clay bar with washing up liquid mix (detailing spray for that is too pricey)
>Another Wash
>Meguiar's Ultimate Compound on foam pad on rotary tool around 400rpm
>Meguiar's Ultimate Polish on foam pad on rotary tool around 400rpm
>Meguira's Ultimate Paste Wax by hand on the foam applicator X 2 coats.

Result: The pic below is before the final removal of stray marks bits. Also, that white is a stone chip.

BUT...last time I had just started and feel like I got better results on Auto Glym Super Resin (by hand > Meguiar's Cleaner Wax (Red Can) by hand.

Any thoughts?

Plus...how do embed images here?

micks_address

Anyone else bother with washing before trading in car? Just did mine for old times sake one last time.. Hopefully picking up new car Saturday.. Going from Honda to Skoda metallic silver..

yannakis

micks_address wrote: »

Anyone else bother with washing before trading in car? Just did mine for old times sake one last time.. Hopefully picking up new car Saturday.. Going from Honda to Skoda metallic silver..

As close to literally as possible to taking the extra mile

Cantona's Collars

The 7 seater is getting the once over,the inside resembles a skip.The missus is a bit more leniant than me when it comes to food in the car. Thanks to the bypass work in our area the exterior looks like I'm working on the site.
After 3 hours I'm finally putting manners on the interior with the missus saying I'm spending more time cleaning the car than I would the house.:)

Cantona's Collars

And I jinxed it,halfway through washing off the mud it started to lash rain.At least it's back to it's original colour now.

micks_address

micks_address wrote: »

I know the salesman pretty well. He's an ex mechanic and looks after his own cars immaculately. He said he's going to apply it himself so we will see.
I'll know more next weekend
Thanks,
Mick

In to see the car today. In fairness look great. I also didn't realise I'd be getting a big bag of autoglym products. Never used them to be honest but they are probably OK? I'm assuming he used some on the car and whatever is left is in the bag..

Curran

micks_address wrote: »

Thanks, speaking of Ian have they moved yet?

There's no sign of him moving into the unit next door - havent spoken to him in a few weeks, so not sure of his exact plans!

micks_address

Curran wrote: »

There's no sign of him moving into the unit next door - havent spoken to him in a few weeks, so not sure of his exact plans!

So they still at old location?

eagerv

micks_address wrote: »

Anyone else bother with washing before trading in car? Just did mine for old times sake one last time.. Hopefully picking up new car Saturday.. Going from Honda to Skoda metallic silver..

Yep traded mine in a month ago and left it in showroom condition.

I went from Skoda to Honda...:)

Gotham Knight

eagerv wrote: »

Yep traded mine in a month ago and left it in showroom condition.

I went from Skoda to Honda...:)

Not a 1.5 Civic in brilliant sporty blue metallic by any chance?

Ok, I confess I'm not really psychic but I am a fellow member of civinfo.com and I've seen your posts on there

. I recently acquired the same model as yourself in white orchid pearl. I've been driving various Civics for over 25 years, since I got hooked on Vtec when it first appeared, and this is the best one yet despite the lack of Vtec, as the increased torque and the turbo engine give it good acceleration when you need it (although I really wish we could get an Si model here).

Cheers.

micks_address

eagerv wrote: »

micks_address wrote: »

Anyone else bother with washing before trading in car? Just did mine for old times sake one last time.. Hopefully picking up new car Saturday.. Going from Honda to Skoda metallic silver..

Yep traded mine in a month ago and left it in showroom condition.

What Honda did you get?
I went from Skoda to Honda...:)

eagerv

micks_address wrote: »

Went for the new Civic 1.5 S Gt Spec.
My driving has changed a lot over the last year so petrol makes sense now

micks_address

eagerv wrote: »

micks_address wrote: »

Went for the new Civic 1.5 S Gt Spec.
My driving has changed a lot over the last year so petrol makes sense now

Cool. I'd love to meet sometime to compare cars... I almost went for the civic again

eagerv

micks_address wrote: »

eagerv wrote: »

Cool. I'd love to meet sometime to compare cars... I almost went for the civic again

Thanks, love it so far. And exactly the spec I wanted. Economy is better than expected. First tank brim to brim was 43 MPG which included a lot of short runs.

Also love the driving position, I can get comfortable easily which is not the case for me in many cars.

Miss the room of my Superb, but glad to be back with petrol.

My first decent car was a 1993 Civic with the huge HP of I think 125!
I remember a "Bar" Mechanic telling me to get rid of it before the warranty was up, as a 1.6 L engine couldn't last with that power. AFAIK it's still on the road!

eagerv

Gotham Knight wrote: »

Not a 1.5 Civic in brilliant sporty blue metallic by any chance?

Ok, I confess I'm not really psychic but I am a fellow member of civinfo.com and I've seen your posts on there . I recently acquired the same model as yourself in white orchid pearl. I've been driving various Civics for over 25 years, since I got hooked on Vtec when it first appeared, and this is the best one yet despite the lack of Vtec, as the increased torque and the turbo engine give it good acceleration when you need it (although I really wish we could get an Si model here).

Cheers.

That's me.:D
Also loved my past 1993 VTEC Civic ES.

bbari

Washed using APC - CarPro Tarx - rinsed - BH de iron - rinsed - washed using APC - coat of Fusso.

Edit - Thanks to Detailing Shed guys for their valuable advise

micks_address

Washed new Octavia today. Two weeks old, after trip to France, wasn't to dirty. Auto foam, two bucket wash and dry. Had lifeshine applied in dealer. So far so good. The black decals on side of car have excess wax or whatever lifeshine puts on them. So they not quite black.

Any tips on removing the hardened excess? Tyres dressed with autoglym.. Not sure about it.. Sort of milky substance..

Thanks,
Mick

Curran

bbari wrote: »

Superb bbari -

micks_address wrote: »

Had lifeshine applied in dealer. So far so good. The black decals on side of car have excess wax or whatever lifeshine puts on them. So they not quite black.

Any tips on removing the hardened excess?

This should never have been allowed to happen - if the product is as good as they claim, it would essentially mean that it would be virtually impossible to remove it. Could start with an IPA or similar product.

micks_address

Curran wrote: »

bbari wrote: »

Superb bbari -

micks_address wrote: »

Had lifeshine applied in dealer. So far so good. The black decals on side of car have excess wax or whatever lifeshine puts on them. So they not quite black.

Any tips on removing the hardened excess?

This should never have been allowed to happen - if the product is as good as they claim, it would essentially mean that it would be virtually impossible to remove it. Could start with an IPA or similar product.

Thanks I know you are a big fan of lifeshine

Apart from the decals the paintwork is spot on .. didn't see any imperfections when washing yesterday.. I have IPA from getting a waxy windscreen last year so will try some. Ill probably apply a coat of blt hamber speedwax in a couple of weeks

Curran

What I think of it, doesnt come into the equation - be it superb or average or whatever....a 'lifetime' product should be applied with some degree of care and by someone who knows how to prep the paintwork, apply it, cure it and remove it.

Noccy_Mondy

What's meguiars microfiber wash mitt like?