Spring Cleanup On Five Year Old Car

[heebzman]

I recently aquired (long story) a 2000 Toyota Corrolla with apprx. 5000 miles on it. It had been parked outside for 4 years, and washed only about 5 times...all by me. I got the car back in January, but due to the harsh Wisconsin winters, it was only run through touchless car washes, and on nicer days NXT washed by me.
Last weekend, with the wife and kids out of town, I got to finally clean 'er up. Of course I didn't have the foresight to take before pictures, but trust me they were bad. When I scrubbed the car clean, it was a horrible mess of swirls, spiderwebs, and micro AND macro-marring. Well....about 7 hours later it finally looks like a car with 5000 miles SHOULD look like...but it still has a little ways to go till it's perfect....in my book at least.

Here's my rundown:

NXT Wash...about 3 times the normal amount of wash.
Clay everything including windows
#83 worked for what seemed like an eternity with a PC
Swirl-Remover 2.0 to take out the micro-marring
2 coats NXT Wax
2 coats of UPP..I love this stuff.

My wife had the camera with her, so today...4 days later...is the first time I got to photograph the Toyota. I have used NXT Speed Detailer everyday since Sunday to keep 'er lookin "just detailed".
Here's some picts scaled down a little:


This is the ceiling of my garage in the hood of the Toyota. I guess I have a light out...



This is my reflection in the sun again in the trunk lid. Hey-Corrolla's aren't exactly the world most exciting car. I though I would just share a few of the better looking photo's.



If this turns out good...a good picture of the metal flake in the teal-blue paint. Damn NXT makes this look good !



Reflections in the hood.




The more I used NXT on my cars...and other's cars..the more I really like it. Next up is my van..in serious need of a polish. Then I will probably go back and buff out the last of the swirls on this car. Hey..it's only April.....

Matt

[Mike Phillips]

Looks like a brand new car Matt!

[Chris Nemlich]

Great results!

Your hard work has definitely paid off! Nice pics!



Chris

[Rockpick]

Thanks for sharing your work with us! Excellent job!!

RP

[Teak]

Looking good.

Eric

[EdT]

Hey-Corrolla's aren't exactly the world most exciting car.

By exciting do you mean the visual styling ? the 2000 Corolla has the WVTI engine which is more powerful than the Honda Civics regular 115hp or its SOHC 127hp VTEC. I like understatment !!!

Heres my dad's '98 Mystique Blue Corolla I detailed last summer:

[heebzman]

Thats exactly how I mean. I get kidded at work about my "grandma" car...but hey, I have a car with about 7000 miles on it. But there are some drawbacks to a car sitting most of it's life.
-I am not getting anywhere near the gas mileage I should be getting. On the few longer trips I've taken I am getting about 27-30 mpg. This should be closer to 37-40 mpg. I will say it is getting better the more miles that get put on it.

-The check engine light is on. I've had it code tested and I have some emissions issues with it. (purge valve on charcoal cannister, etc) I think this maybe covered by the warrenty. I think it's because the car had less than a 1000 miles put on it for more than four years. Still looking into this one. Just irritates me that a car with 7000 miles has ANYTHING like this wrong with it.

-the WVTi, although with it's 125 hp engine, drives like it's only got about 85 hp. I know 125 isn't anything....but it should have a little more "pep" than it does...but again it is getting better with the more miles I log in it.

I have nothing against Toyota's. But I once heard them referred to as "soulless". I think thats a very good description of them..IMHO

Matt

[heebzman]

Oh...another thing I noticed about this car.....
What is up with the clearcoat ??? It must be soft as butter. My friend and I were talking in the garage the next day after I took the pictures. He was leaning against the front fender, and when he left I noticed scratches on the curve in the exact pattern of denim material. I couldn't believe it. Also went to clean 'er up with a little NXT Speed Detailer, and I noticed in a sunlight reflection that I was leaving micro-marring on certain area's from my microfiber.

I can tell already that this car is gonna be a challenge to keep it looking the way I like my vehicles to look.


Matt

[f1guy68]

Very Nice Job!

It doesn't look used anymore.

[toyotaowner]

Very good! That thing has only that much miles on it? Wow.

Toyota's paint pretty much ***** especially the clearcoat. My Camry from 1995 in OEM clearcoat has swirls all over it and it's really hard to get rid of it.

This is the best I could get it to look.



Here is the Sienna in a light blue metallic clearcoat. It swirls very easily so care must be taken.