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My experience detailing in the wild!

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  • My experience detailing in the wild!

    I recently went to a car show down in Savannah, GA; about 5 hours drive from where I live. Before I went, I asked for advice on how to make my car presentable once I got down there. Here are my experiences:

    After a long morning of driving, and getting pulled over once with my friend whom I was following, we stopped an hour outside of Savannah at Roebling Road Raceway to see some of the car show participants track their cars on Friday before the Saturday car show. As I expected, I got out of my car to find it just absolutely SPLATTERED with bugs and road grime. IT LOOKED HORRIBLE! After hanging out on the track, we proceeded on into Savannah for lunch before heading back out of the city to check into our hotel. We ran into some fellow Mustang'ers that warned us that the water at the car wash down the street was leaving milky white water spots on their cars and they suggested we avoid the facilities.

    That evening, after dinner, we returned to our hotel and set upon washing our cars with a hose we found hooked up to the hotel. Luckily I thought to bring my adjustable hose nozzle! I started with a good rinse, blasting off bug bits with a little more pressure from the nozzle. I then proceeded with a two bucket wash. This is where I experienced my first regret! I bought a bottle of Mothers Wash and Wax because it came in a smaller, more easily transported bottle. Plus, (and this is my only gripe with Meguiar's products!) the lids on Meguiar's products ****! The lid on my Meguiar's Wash and Wax broke during my 3rd use and didn't want it falling off and leaking in my vehicle. But my regret is that the Mothers Wash and Wax really didn't feel like it lubricated the body panels as nicely as the Meguisr's stuff does.

    I kept the car wet the whole time I was washing her, and I was in the shadow of the hotel, but it was still really hot out there! This is when I discovered that the water at the hotel was also very horrible and hard. I was getting white waterspots pretty quickly. What was worse was having to dry the car off without the use of my electric leaf blower! LOL I've gotten too used to certain luxuries when taking care of my car! I ended up getting it mostly dry with microfiber clothes, and then panel by panel, I sprayed the car with Ultimate Quick Wax and finished drying it. I also wiped down everything in the engine bay, including a bunch of horrible water spots, and then dried the door jambs and trunk area.

    The next morning, after a drive out to the car show location on Tybee Island, I hit the car carefully with a duster, and then used Ultimate Quick Detailer on various spots that needed attention that I couldn't see as the sun was going down. I also hit my wheels with Quick detailer, and cleaned my tires with a product I love for tires called 303 Aerospace Protectant. The last thing I did was a quick cleanup of the interior with my Dustbuster and a wipedown of the dash.

    For all of my hard work, I received a really nice plaque for a Top 15 award. We then loaded up all of our stuff for a long drive back to Atlanta, and as soon as we got on the interstate back, it opened up with a huge thunderstorm on us! LOL

    Waiting to cross the track at Roebling Road Raceway (My car is the second Mustang)


    Following my buddy around Savannah. I just love his tag!


    And here is my car all prepped up on the show field in the shadow of the Tybee Island Light House.


    Right before hitting the road to get back home at the end of the show...


    Top 15!
    2014 Mustang GT 6-Speed Manual

  • #2
    Re: My experience detailing in the wild!

    Congratulations....beautiful car. I keep a small arsenal in my truck to deal with excess bugs, and the occasional bird bomb. I don't have a show car, so I expect your arsenal is way more complete than mine.

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    • #3
      Re: My experience detailing in the wild!

      Been to Savannah and Tybee (and ATL, and everywhere else in GA) many times. Sounds like you had a good exposure to the overall issues of staying detailed on the trip, and congrats on the award.

      I probably would have bucket-washed and blow-dried before leaving and hoped for the best (checking radar, etc), using UWWA a lot after that. Rest areas and such are a great place to clean up the bugs at several points, making each cleaning along the way that much easier. Early morning and evening are the worst times to avoid bugs, as you know, but then we often have little choice. I probably would have opted for the coin-op washer regardless of the warnings (the spots sound like typical coin-op spots, so good rinse in those final seconds, a squeegee and immediate UWWA/QW wiping, is needed to avoid them), but only if I had no other choice (like having to drive through rain, etc, to get to the site). As it sounds like you avoided any rain or wet roads, UWWA would have been surprisingly effective on the bugs, followed by QW. The extra payoff is you don't have to WW where the water hose is, but where the shade is

      ps. I spotted that high stack of SS towels in one shot
      Non-Garaged Daily Driver, DAMF System + M101, Carnauba Finish Enthusiast
      4-Step | Zen Detailing | Undercarriage | DAMF Upgrade |
      First Correction | Gallery

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      • #4
        Re: My experience detailing in the wild!

        I filled a garbage bag with used yellow towels before I snapped that shot! LOL
        2014 Mustang GT 6-Speed Manual

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