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Gang,
This is my Sergeant's 2002 Ford Explorer (I think '02). Actually it's his wife's car but don't tell him that
. The finish was heavily oxidized and needed some help. I told him my price and he accepted and I took it home for 12 hours (two days) of massaging with the below process:
First I bought this: Almost used the whole bottle too!
Exterior:
Wash Gold Class - 2 bucket system.
Clay Smooth Surface Clay system.
M02-8006 pad: 2 passes (on worst stuff) followed by:
M80-8006 pad: 2 passes (on not so worst stuff, I'll explain
).
NXT 2.0 wax.
M21 on license plates (hey, I was in the shop and it was there after scrubbing them).
Meguiars Hot Rims All Wheel Cleaner on wheels.
Eagle One All wheel/tire cleaner on tires.
Meguiars Gold Class Trim Detailer on....trim
Meguiars #40 on engine bay and wheel wells (I really need some HD or ASD)
Meguiars Hot Rims Hot Shine on tires.
Meguiars Color X on roof (it was in rough shape)
Meguiars PlastX on plastics and headlights/taillights
Interior:
Meguiars Quik Out on floor mats, then washed in washer and extracted. (yes I told my wife what I did)
Meguiars Quik Interior Detailer as a duster.
Meguiars Natural Shine for interior plastics.
Meguiars hair remover brush on interior as needed.
Now for the pix.
This is what I started with, dull finish on this puppy. I learned later there is a sprinkler that hits the car and they have hard water where they live.
Front end is mostly plastic trim to which I broke out the GCTD
The hood was really oxidized and thus can't see the swirls if there were any. It took me 1 1/2 to 2 hours of massaging patiently to get this back. I am always cautious as it's easier to remove stuff than repaint the car
The back end is plastic and treated same as the front. The back end is fiberglass and different paint and took more to remove the swirls out of the back. I had to break out my rotary and hit it with a couple of passes of M02. The Chicago Tools rotary has been holding up so far.
Wheels were heavily dirty and that plastic trim needed some GCTD too!
These plastic pieces are hard to keep clean. I polished them with PlastX and threw a coat of wax on them and LSP of UQD just prior to delivering.
The headlights were covered with bugs and a little frosty in color, PlastX to the rescue!
View of the front passenger wheel trim and wheel. They really needed a good scrubbing and they got it!
The door handles are the textured/pebbled plastic and really faded. GCTD to the rescue once again. I also taped them when polishing as I didn't want to clean off those puppies.
This scratch is on the rear driver quarter panel, can't quite feel with the fingernail but it is deep. I ended using a ton of elbow grease (or...Passion) with several passes of M02 and ScratchX and a pass or two of M80, pix is later
Pretty much same area same process.
Bugs! A little more of the GCTD life ring!!!
Okay, now the claying: This is just part of the hood!
The hood is very dull! A lot of work. I used M02/M83/M80 combo to get this back in shape. I did a test spot to see what each product would do so I could finish it.
Dull, but can see swirls rearing it's ugly face
Side view, not as oxidized as the hood and front driver fender, the sprinkler incident was not kind to this paint, but alas, kept me busy on my days off. The not so oxidized parts took one pass of M02 followed by two passes of M80. The hood and drivers front fender and door were the worst.
This is the worst the claying got, this was on the back tail gate.
Okay, this was my test area, the hood, you can see what I came up with and what I started with (new right arrow, old left arrow) I ended up using M02/80 2 passes each. I tried M83 and I was quite low and not enough to do the car and I would have probably used M83 then M80 for the whole car. I thought I had more than I did 
But I learned to use M02 in the past and I like it. Can't wait to try M105.
Pretty much done, I had troubles on the windshield portion of the hood but Got 'er Done!
You may be able to see what I am talking about..... hood part closest to windshield.
I knew this was going to be a two dayer. So I had to finish one thing..... The engine bay had 111,000 miles plus of grime and ick on it. Sorry no before as I blasted it at a coin op and DID NOT wash the rest of the car.
Okay, next day early start process, M02 two passes followed by M80 two passes (was 1 pass of M80). I liked the results but after working on the rest of the car, rechecked it and ran M80 on it again and liked it better. This door and fender were the worst. I've said it before, different body panels need different things. I don't know how you pro's do it. My hats off.
I love reflections.
Hmmm, remember the scratch????? above????? Process as mentioned, M02 by hand a few times followed by ScratchX with a lot of PASSION. The rest received one pass of M02 and two passes of M80, 8006 pads on PC.
Okay..... Can't even see it anymore.
I think it's the rear quarter, I used the sun as my swirl finder..... This picture doesn't do it justice. No swirls!
This is after polishing, I washed it again as it was driven and wanted a clean surface prior to waxing (I did QD as I polished) and want to make sure I got off all the polish.
Other side:
Now for the interior: Back was worst, they have dogs and this is the cleanest interior, considering dogs rode with them. Stay tuned!
Not too horrid:
Looking good:
My secret weapon, this is by far the best brush, my wife got it for me and I tried others and they left "brush crumbs" as I went, this brush has been abused.
Works like a charm, the rest of the car was not as bad.
The back end done!
Passenger side: Quik Out/Washer machine on floor mats, IQD/Natural Shine on dash and plastics. The mats were almost black!
Drivers side, same process, oh, forgot M40 on rubber seals.
Some more random shots. GCTD, the metal flake looks good.
Side shot, just before tire dressing.
GCTD on mirrors, love this stuff.
PlastX/Wax/UQD to spiffy them up just prior to delivering.
I used UQD on glass after washing and used GCTD on all plastic trim. I learned that member Kevin Brown uses Terry Cloths on glass, I tried it and it makes those windows so much easier to wash. I have plenty of Terry Cloths and I used a new cloth for each two windows and used a cloth each on front and rear windows. Also, the rear hatch needed some aggressive work with a rotary. 2 passes of M02-8006-Rotary, followed by M80 on PC. Very tough swirls, no oxidation, just swirls that just kept on smiling. Wish I hadn't run out of M83 but it worked and the Chicago Tools Rotary just kept on humming along (for those thinking about it).
HOT SHINE!!
PlastX is great stuff, remember how bad this was?
All done, just prior to delivering back to the owner!
My Sarges wife was very pleased with the results and says she wants me to do the car on a as needed basis. I told her to give me a call, she knows where I work (with her hubby, poor guy to have to supervise me!!! )
Anyways.
The pictures don't really do it justice. It really looks good. It's better than when I did my Neon or Yukon. We are kinda hazy with the fires so, the pix don't show the true shine, hopefully you can tell by the couple of reflection shots. It turned a shade darker with the work done on it. Her co-workers liked it as well.
The Chicago Tools (harbor freight) Rotary worked great, it's kinda cumbersome but the speeds seemed consistant and I just turned it to the speed I thought would work and whatta ya know, worked fine.
I used my PC with 9006 pad to put on the NXT 2.0 wax and let it cure to the swipe test and wiped her down. I did the work the best I could out of the sun (had to move the car depending on part of day). I did a final wipe with a fresh Microfiber towel to make sure I got everything about an hour or so from waxing. I gave my Sarge some UQD and some MF towels so he can UQD time to time as needed or...just have me do it
I put 12 hours total into the beast and I am happy with my work.
Thanks for looking.
Aaron
This is my Sergeant's 2002 Ford Explorer (I think '02). Actually it's his wife's car but don't tell him that
. The finish was heavily oxidized and needed some help. I told him my price and he accepted and I took it home for 12 hours (two days) of massaging with the below process:First I bought this: Almost used the whole bottle too!
Exterior:
Wash Gold Class - 2 bucket system.
Clay Smooth Surface Clay system.
M02-8006 pad: 2 passes (on worst stuff) followed by:
M80-8006 pad: 2 passes (on not so worst stuff, I'll explain
).NXT 2.0 wax.
M21 on license plates (hey, I was in the shop and it was there after scrubbing them).
Meguiars Hot Rims All Wheel Cleaner on wheels.
Eagle One All wheel/tire cleaner on tires.
Meguiars Gold Class Trim Detailer on....trim
Meguiars #40 on engine bay and wheel wells (I really need some HD or ASD)
Meguiars Hot Rims Hot Shine on tires.
Meguiars Color X on roof (it was in rough shape)
Meguiars PlastX on plastics and headlights/taillights
Interior:
Meguiars Quik Out on floor mats, then washed in washer and extracted. (yes I told my wife what I did
)Meguiars Quik Interior Detailer as a duster.
Meguiars Natural Shine for interior plastics.
Meguiars hair remover brush on interior as needed.
Now for the pix.
This is what I started with, dull finish on this puppy. I learned later there is a sprinkler that hits the car and they have hard water where they live.
Front end is mostly plastic trim to which I broke out the GCTD
The hood was really oxidized and thus can't see the swirls if there were any. It took me 1 1/2 to 2 hours of massaging patiently to get this back. I am always cautious as it's easier to remove stuff than repaint the car
The back end is plastic and treated same as the front. The back end is fiberglass and different paint and took more to remove the swirls out of the back. I had to break out my rotary and hit it with a couple of passes of M02. The Chicago Tools rotary has been holding up so far.
Wheels were heavily dirty and that plastic trim needed some GCTD too!
These plastic pieces are hard to keep clean. I polished them with PlastX and threw a coat of wax on them and LSP of UQD just prior to delivering.
The headlights were covered with bugs and a little frosty in color, PlastX to the rescue!
View of the front passenger wheel trim and wheel. They really needed a good scrubbing and they got it!
The door handles are the textured/pebbled plastic and really faded. GCTD to the rescue once again. I also taped them when polishing as I didn't want to clean off those puppies
.This scratch is on the rear driver quarter panel, can't quite feel with the fingernail but it is deep. I ended using a ton of elbow grease (or...Passion) with several passes of M02 and ScratchX and a pass or two of M80, pix is later
Pretty much same area same process.
Bugs! A little more of the GCTD life ring!!!
Okay, now the claying: This is just part of the hood!
The hood is very dull! A lot of work. I used M02/M83/M80 combo to get this back in shape. I did a test spot to see what each product would do so I could finish it.
Dull, but can see swirls rearing it's ugly face
Side view, not as oxidized as the hood and front driver fender, the sprinkler incident was not kind to this paint, but alas, kept me busy on my days off
. The not so oxidized parts took one pass of M02 followed by two passes of M80. The hood and drivers front fender and door were the worst.This is the worst the claying got, this was on the back tail gate.
Okay, this was my test area, the hood, you can see what I came up with and what I started with (new right arrow, old left arrow
) I ended up using M02/80 2 passes each. I tried M83 and I was quite low and not enough to do the car and I would have probably used M83 then M80 for the whole car. I thought I had more than I did But I learned to use M02 in the past and I like it. Can't wait to try M105.Pretty much done, I had troubles on the windshield portion of the hood but Got 'er Done!
You may be able to see what I am talking about..... hood part closest to windshield.
I knew this was going to be a two dayer. So I had to finish one thing..... The engine bay had 111,000 miles plus of grime and ick on it. Sorry no before as I blasted it at a coin op and DID NOT wash the rest of the car.
Okay, next day early start process, M02 two passes followed by M80 two passes (was 1 pass of M80). I liked the results but after working on the rest of the car, rechecked it and ran M80 on it again and liked it better. This door and fender were the worst. I've said it before, different body panels need different things. I don't know how you pro's do it. My hats off.
I love reflections.
Hmmm, remember the scratch????? above????? Process as mentioned, M02 by hand a few times followed by ScratchX with a lot of PASSION. The rest received one pass of M02 and two passes of M80, 8006 pads on PC.
Okay..... Can't even see it anymore.
I think it's the rear quarter, I used the sun as my swirl finder..... This picture doesn't do it justice. No swirls!
This is after polishing, I washed it again as it was driven and wanted a clean surface prior to waxing (I did QD as I polished) and want to make sure I got off all the polish.
Other side:
Now for the interior: Back was worst, they have dogs and this is the cleanest interior, considering dogs rode with them. Stay tuned!
Not too horrid:
Looking good:
My secret weapon, this is by far the best brush, my wife got it for me and I tried others and they left "brush crumbs" as I went, this brush has been abused.
Works like a charm, the rest of the car was not as bad.
The back end done!
Passenger side: Quik Out/Washer machine on floor mats, IQD/Natural Shine on dash and plastics. The mats were almost black!
Drivers side, same process, oh, forgot M40 on rubber seals.
Some more random shots. GCTD, the metal flake looks good.
Side shot, just before tire dressing.
GCTD on mirrors, love this stuff.
PlastX/Wax/UQD to spiffy them up just prior to delivering.
I used UQD on glass after washing and used GCTD on all plastic trim. I learned that member Kevin Brown uses Terry Cloths on glass, I tried it and it makes those windows so much easier to wash. I have plenty of Terry Cloths and I used a new cloth for each two windows and used a cloth each on front and rear windows. Also, the rear hatch needed some aggressive work with a rotary. 2 passes of M02-8006-Rotary, followed by M80 on PC. Very tough swirls, no oxidation, just swirls that just kept on smiling. Wish I hadn't run out of M83
but it worked and the Chicago Tools Rotary just kept on humming along (for those thinking about it).HOT SHINE!!
PlastX is great stuff, remember how bad this was?
All done, just prior to delivering back to the owner!
My Sarges wife was very pleased with the results and says she wants me to do the car on a as needed basis. I told her to give me a call, she knows where I work (with her hubby, poor guy to have to supervise me!!!
)Anyways.
The pictures don't really do it justice. It really looks good. It's better than when I did my Neon or Yukon. We are kinda hazy with the fires so, the pix don't show the true shine, hopefully you can tell by the couple of reflection shots. It turned a shade darker with the work done on it. Her co-workers liked it as well.
The Chicago Tools (harbor freight) Rotary worked great, it's kinda cumbersome but the speeds seemed consistant and I just turned it to the speed I thought would work and whatta ya know, worked fine.
I used my PC with 9006 pad to put on the NXT 2.0 wax and let it cure to the swipe test and wiped her down. I did the work the best I could out of the sun (had to move the car depending on part of day). I did a final wipe with a fresh Microfiber towel to make sure I got everything about an hour or so from waxing. I gave my Sarge some UQD and some MF towels so he can UQD time to time as needed or...just have me do it
I put 12 hours total into the beast and I am happy with my work.
Thanks for looking.
Aaron
for you
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