This vehicle belongs to the wife of a previous client, whose car I also did a write-up on last year. The client lives about a half hour away and I picked up the car and drove it back, and I was surprised at how nicely it drove...it's quick and has a sporty feeling ride for a small SUV. If only the weather had cooperated for this detail, it rained off and on the entire time I had the car and of course had to rain when I drove the vehicle back to drop it off. Anyway, onto the write-up. Products/materials used: Raceglaze brush set EZ Detail brush Various other brushes Cheap fertilizer sprayer DI wash mitt Grit guard Shopvac whose brand name escapes me Costco microfiber towels Chemical Guys orange microfiber towels Vroom drying towels Clay from Megs clay kit Zymol applicator pad Vroom dressing applicator DI microfiber dressing applicator Off brand microfiber dressing applicator Bissell LGM Megs Gold Class car wash soap Zep Citrus Westley's Bleche-White Meguiar's Wheel Brightener Optimum No Rinse (clay lube) Meguiar's APC Chemical Guys leather conditioner 303 Aerospace protectant Stoner Invisible Glass Procedure: Exterior: The vehicle was wet when I received it, which partially masked how dirty it actually was. There were a couple nasty spots of bird crap that had really baked into the paint as well. I started off the wash with the wheels and wheel wells. Tires got Westley's Bleche-White, and were agitated with a brush. Wheels and barrels got Megs Wheel Brightener 4:1 and were agitated with Raceglaze, EZ Detail, and other assorted brushes. Wheel wells got blasted out with a hose (the passenger rear one dropped some nasty stuff), sprayed with Zep Citrus 10:1, and agitated with a long handled brush. Next the lower panels of the vehicle were pre-treated with Zep Citrus 10:1, as I knew there was a thick accumulation of salt and road grime that would be tough to remove otherwise. Next it was foamed with Zep Citrus through a cheap hose-end fertilizer sprayer. After the vehicle was rinsed, it was washed via the two-bucket method with a mixture of Megs Gold Class soap and Zep Citrus with the DI sheepskin mitt. Door jambs cleaned with Zep Citrus 10:1, Raceglaze brushes, and sacrificial Costco microfiber towels. Next was to clay the vehicle. I used the clay from the Meguiar's clay kit (I assume it's a medium clay) and ONR for clay lube. The vehicle was also dried at this point with Vroom drying towels. The roof and rear of the car felt like sandpaper, and it was at this point I wondered how many miles were on the vehicle...it seemed overly contaminated for only being a couple years old. Turns out it has 85,000 miles on it :yikes: Which explained that and the state of the interior. Finally I went to wax it. I decided on Collinite 845, which I applied with a blue Zymol applicator pad. The Zymol pad seemed to work well with the Collinite. Wax allowed to cure for a half hour or so and then buffed off with the orange CG microfiber towels. Tires were dressed with 303 Aerospace Protectant via a Vroom dressing applicator and at that point I called it a night. Interior: The only thing on the interior the first day was vacuum the carpet floormats and then extract them using the Bissell LGM. It did a fantastic job and the mats turned out looking very nice. This morning I started out by dusting everything, and then vacuuming. Which took forever, the carpet used in the car seems to be like Velcro, holding dog hair and specks of dirt encapsulated in it. It took a long time with me brushing, vacuuming, and then repeating that over and over until it finally came clean. Worst of all was the trunk area, along with the rear shelf. After vacuuming I went to clean the leather seats. For that I used (yet again) Zep Citrus 10:1, after doing a test spot to insure it wouldn't spot the leather. After the seats were cleaned all interior surfaces were cleaned with various brushes, Costco microfibers, and Megs APC 10:1. Next I went to condition the seats. For that I used CG Leather Conditioner, applied via an off-brand microfiber applicator. It was a bit too shiny for my taste (can't wait for my Duragloss leather conditioner to come in!) but since the leather on that vehicle seemed to have a natural sheen it looked nice when it was finished. I buffed it down a bit with a microfiber towel so it wasn't too greasy or shiny. Then I dressed all interior plastics with 303 Aerospace Protectant, applied via a DI microfiber applicator. Lastly, I cleaned the glass with Stoner Invisible Glass and more Costco microfibers. On to pictures! Before: Nasty bird crap...this took several hits of Zep Citrus 4:1 and eventually clay to fully remove. Trying to show how filthy it was... lol, the first car to welcome me. It was very dusty... There wasn't a ton of pet hair, just enough to irritate me and make vacuuming a pain. Clay after half the roof. It was worse than this after the rear bumper though... Afters: The rain let up enough for me to get some outside shots... No more bird crap! After one mat: This has nothing to do with detailing, but I went out to get gas in my car while I was taking a break from detailing last night and I came across this cat and for some reason I feel like I should post it. This took a bit longer than I wanted to, I had hoped to spend about 7.5 hours on this and I ended up spending around 8.5 on it...the pet hair and heavy contamination on the paint slowed me down. This is one of the nicer vehicles I've detailed for a client so far...hopefully that'll change with some cars I've got coming up As always, thanks for reading and any suggestions/critiques of my methodology are always welcomed! Clark
Good job it looks really good. I've been told from this forum that the Meguairs clay bar that comes with the kit is considered to be "ultra-fine". I ended up buying some "fine" clay bars since ultrafine doesn't take off as much grime. It's nice to see all the various applications of Zep Citrus. I'm glad it didn't stain the paint or damage it. There is a thread around here where some members have some horror stories about Zep Citrus doing more harm than good on paint.
I read about people having issues with it on paint...it seemed like they were having issues with it on stuff like chrome trim and single stage paint. On regular clear-coated paint I don't see why it would cause any problems, especially diluted at 10:1. I will most certainly be careful with it around paint though...
its amazing how dirty that was, but more amazing how scratched up the interior was.......... Awesome work
Great job on the whole car but have a question. I happen to have a Bissel cleaner like yours (as I can tell by the bucket in the photo) and wanted to know how much success you're having with that compared to the higher priced stuff out there? Looking to keep startup costs down, I'm contemplating making 1 good investment into a steamer vs buy this cheap, then step up, then step up, then pay the big bucks on top of the previous toys. On another note, what cleaner are you using in the Bissel? Any one of them better than the other? Mike
To answer your questions, I really like the LGM. As I am really just starting out, it was the only extractor that I could really afford so I unfortunately have no experience with more expensive machines. But it does a good job, my only complaint so far is that the tanks are too small and go empty rather quickly. As for cleaners, I have only been using hot water in the machine itself, after some research I found that people were having issues with cleaners messing up the sprayer. I pre-treat areas that need it with Zep Citrus 3:1 (But I may look into something that doesn't foam as much) agitate, and then extract. I've had good luck with that so far. Hope that helped.
