Right well as promised here's the write up on the Porsche that I detailed yesterday. It's a 2001 Carrera 4, but it's got a bit of a story behind it that makes this car special to me. The car was originally owned by a man named Bob, he worked with my dad but was several years older. Bob was...a character to say the least. He liked yellow, for instance. He like yellow so much that naturally there was no other color for his Porsche. Or his Hummer H2. Or his Ford F-150 pickup truck. Yup, he owned three yellow cars at once. (His wife broke the mold with her green Acura.) Bob also loved his guns, he had three huge gun safes in his basement packed with guns...my dad bought me my first gun from him, a little .22 pistol. He was just a character...I remember he used to like these big cigars haha. Well...the Porsche. He didn't drive it much, and it only has 10,000 miles on it now. 2,000 of those were probably put on it by my dad...he'd let my dad and I take it for drives occasionally and we always had a great time. He'd let my dad drive it when they were on trips for work and such as well. Bob was a great guy...heck I remember when I got my Beetle he gave me my socket set. Unfortunately, Bob got cancer. He had ordered a brand-new BMW motorcycle (unfortunately they would not paint it yellow for him) but by the time he got it he was confined to a wheelchair due to the chemo. He was on oxygen as well. I remember one night my dad and I got in the Beetle and drove to see him and his wife...we had a nice little chat in the living room. The following morning we got the call that Bob had passed away. I was in 6th grade then (Good Lord it's been 6 years already?) so my parents didn't take me to the funeral. Anyway his wife is a really sweet lady. Since she lives right up the street I would always watch her cats when she was out of town, and she'd give my dad the keys to the Porsche so he could drive it and he'd take me out too Eventually she sold the Hummer, the 4-wheeler, the canoe, the motorcycle, most of the guns, the truck...but she always kept the Porsche. When she learned that I was doing car detailing, she requested that I detail her Porsche--especially since she is finally moving up to Seattle to be close to her family. Naturally I was honored to detail this car, it's always been special to me and my family. My dad always said that if she ever decided to sell the Porsche that he would buy it, but she has decided to keep it. She said it was mostly her (grown) kids that wanted her to keep it So, now that you’ve heard the story…on to the detailing stuff! All photos taken with my dying Kodak digital camera or my iPhone. Products Zep Citrus Megs Gold Class car wash soap Optimum No Rinse Chemical Guys Diablo Stoner Invisible Glass Stoner Tarminator 303 Aerospace Protectant Duragloss 221 leather conditioner P21S polishing soap Menzerna Powerlock Duragloss Aquawax Various brushes Various microfibers DI sheepskin mitt Grit guard DI fine clay Blackfire Concourse applicator pad Eagle 1 foam dressing applicators Microfiber dressing applicators Shopvac whose brand always escapes me Procedure Well here’s the car as it arrived. The owner had just taken the car to Porsche for an oil change and their “detailers” had already washed it and done a quick vacuum on the interior. One thing the Porsche detailers obviously never got was how to clean wheel barrels. CB Radio, more on this later. First I started with wheel, tire, and wheel well cleaning. The wheels got CG Diablo 3:1 and were agitated with a Raceglaze brush and the EZ detail brush…I really need something stronger but I didn’t want to go to WB ‘cos I wasn’t sure of the finish on some parts of the wheels. I’ll be ordering some AG wheel cleaner soon, I think. Anyway the wheel wells and tires got Zep Citrus 3:1 and were agitated with various brushes. I wish I could have pulled the wheels off and been able to spend some time really cleaning the barrels and wells as they were both quite dirty. Here I am, cleaning the rear wheel barrels… What better way to start the day than detailing a Porsche and my new favorite song Back to that CB radio, the owner requested me remove the antenna that was attached to the rear window. The piece stuck to the inner part of the window pulled right off and the residue was removed with Zep Citrus 3:1. The outer part was held on with double stick tape and required a bit more persuasion—I used Stoner Tarminator and a piece of insulated electrical wire to cut through the double stick tape holding it on. Tarminator used to remove the sticky residue from the outside of the window. VICTORY!!! Had to get this shot…know your roots! (Beetle currently incapacitated due to failed master cylinder) Next I proceeded to the wash. I noticed mild beading on the car—even though the last time this car was waxed was by my dad and I…many years ago! In my dad’s typical fashion of the time he used great quantities of Megs Gold Class wax and it was in ALL the crevices. What do you guys use to remove it? I got some of it with IPA diluted 1:1 but that was all that put a dent in it. Anyway I would have washed the car outside but temperatures were already rising and my driveway was already in the sun, and due to our exceptionally hard water I opted for an ONR wash in the garage. Bad photo, but the wax build-up: Next, I moved onto the claying stage. I used ONR at clay lube dilution and DI fine clay. No photos but very little contamination was picked up, except for on the rear and lowers of the car. Tailpipes polished with P21S polishing soap. After that I applied Menzerna Powerlock with the Blackfire applicator pad and let that cure while I proceeded to the interior. Bob smoked cigars but fortunately any remnants of those were long gone before I got to this car. First the vehicle was vacuumed, and then all interior surfaces were wiped down with Zep Citrus 10:1. (Hopefully I can upgrade to Optimum PC soon). Vents and other crevices naturally dusted at this point. Interior dressed with 303 Aerospace Protectant and leather conditioned with Duragloss 221 (I think it’s 221 anyway) leather conditioner. Windows cleaned with Stoner Invisible Glass. Leather conditioning! Also while vacuuming the trunk I got a kick outta the spare tire… After the interior I proceeded to buff off the Powerlock. Though I did not apply a second coat of wax I did use Duragloss Aquawax to bring out a bit of extra gloss. Tires dressed with 303 Aerospace Protectant…although I think I’m gonna buy a different type of tire dressing as I’m looking for a bit more gloss. Buffing the Aquawax: Finally…some afters! My camera really sucks so the paint doesn’t look very glossy and the interior looks overly shiny in some shots but it looked better in person. Had to get this shot…lots of German cars Ten years of baked on brake dust ended up etching the wheel barrels, so they did not look as good as I would want them to. Like I said the interior really wasn’t this shiny, it was my camera. And while I had the Porsche…I had to line it up with my German car too. Attempts at being artistic most likely failed but I was having fun Somehow I neglected to get any after shots of the tailpipes. And that’s all I got folks, hopefully you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed working on this car. It was a nice change of pace for me and it was truly a pleasure to work on. As always any comments/critiques/suggestions for and about my methods and products and such are always welcome. Thanks for reading! Clark
It's great you got to detail a car that is so special to several people, nice job cleaning it up! I'm sure she was thrilled.
Thanks for sharing your story with us. I would have been honored too. You did a great job of cleaning up her car.
Very nice work Clark. It's always interesting to get the story behind the detail and this was heartfelt. Thanks for sharing with us.
Great work and thanks for sharing the story behind this Carrera 4, it must have been a fun doing this detail
Clark ! Wow, what a great story and outstanding detail ! You are a hard working guy - I am so proud of you ! Glad that your family was close to these people,, and helped them out. There is nothing more honorable than being there for your neighbors. Sorry that this man passed away, but glad that his legacy and memories of what he was like, and did, live on. If you want to, please tell this nice lady, that when she moves to Seattle, if she ever needs help, I would be glad to help her. I am located in Bellevue,WA, just a few miles from Downtown Seattle, and depending on where she is going to live, we might even be neighbors ! I have a website at - Home - Dan's Auto Detailing It has all my info and contact info as well. Thanks so much, Clark, for sharing this story and the pictures of your hard work. Dan F
Excellent job my friend. Car looked amazing in the before shots, but the in afters it looks brand new.
Thanks for all the compliments guys I had a lot of fun doing this...now back to the monotony of detailing vans again. I might be doing the owner's Acura as well, she is considering selling it and might want the exterior done. I'll just have to see.
