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A very kind gentlemen was very keen in getting his newly acquired car, properly detailed. When we met, the car looks glossy indeed and what seems to be a simple exterior detail became quite a challenge for me.
The work on this car endured for 3 days (at least 35hours) to complete the overall work.
A very nice car here and he managed to get his hands on an awesome 2.0 version.
Odo was still at 5K kilometers and even the inside plastic coverings were still on.
Some pictures at arrival (taken at random hours):
Every nook and cranny had residue on them. How the heck could they do this?
Residue were found at almost all the edges, rubber trimmings, door seals, seams, etc. Gonna take me a long time to fully remove all of them.
Here were some defects I managed to take during early inspection:
Buffer trails
Sanding marks, holograms, all them yummy stuff !
Looked like someone sand a tad too much.
Nasty looking thingy
I started off by doing a general cleanup of the interior.
There were dressings applied on the leather and other plastic components inside the vehicle which were very hard to remove. It was very oily to touch - seems like the previous technician put tire dressing on them.
Process:
Afters:
Matte looking leather - that is how leather should look like
Pedals cleaned
residue on seat is from sweat on my hands. Re wiped after picture taken.
After the interior was done - the engine was next on line.
An overview of the engine compartment before any cleanup was done.
Dirt buildup on the towers
Dirty a/c pipes, grease on the strut towers and near the engine mounting.
Gunk on the A/c pipes and near the engine mounting
Motor oil residue on the valve covers.
Dust and more dust.
Wax residue
Water spots everywhere
General work outlay on the engine (minor detail work):
Here are the results:
Looking refreshed after all the dust, dirt, grease, etc are removed.
Moved on to the exterior side.
Here's some shots taken during the exterior work.
Wheels were cleaned using pH neutral wheel cleaner.
Deep scratches
By the way the exterior wash washed via:
I was curious regarding the sanding and also heavy compounding marks. So as always a thorough check on the paint's thickness was done to understand more on the condition of the car as a whole.
Average reading 90-100 microns
All four doors showed high 120 microns. Hmmm...
Clay managed to pick up all the embedded dirt, tar spots, minor overspray, etc.
Driver's door
Test spot - 50/50
Looked like the combo worked. Yet to finish with a finishing polish.
After finishing with Meguiars M205. Clear reflections.
No more sanding marks - no more holograms.
Another test spot on the front hood.
After the polishing session.
Under Metal halide light
LED and camera flash
No more swirls, water spots, holograms. Combo worked. Copied to other panels.
There was a group of scratches on the front hood. Quite deep. Required rotary+wool pad+m105 for faster results.
Compounding marks
Finished with the unbeatable Meguairs M205.
Not hologram. Reflection of the ceiling
Continued to replicate combo to rest of panels.
ROOF
5050 shot on the roof
A closeup look at the 5050
Rear bonnet
Test spot - 5050
Goodbye watermarks and swirls.
Side Mirror Before :
After
Driver's Fender Before:
After : Deeper Scratches were left to be. Tried to maintain minimal clear coat loss.
C pillar before:
After:
Rear lights before :
After:
Very mild polishing on the rear lights - enough to remove light swirls.
General outlay of the process & tools:
After all the hard work, here are the sun shots.
Wokeup around 6am to take this shot. *LOL*
Thanks for reading. Comments, question, suggestions are welcomed.
Cheers, Tim
p/s sorry for the huge number of pictures - just sharing my enthusiasm working on this car.
The work on this car endured for 3 days (at least 35hours) to complete the overall work.
A very nice car here and he managed to get his hands on an awesome 2.0 version.
Odo was still at 5K kilometers and even the inside plastic coverings were still on.
Some pictures at arrival (taken at random hours):
Every nook and cranny had residue on them. How the heck could they do this?
Residue were found at almost all the edges, rubber trimmings, door seals, seams, etc. Gonna take me a long time to fully remove all of them.
Here were some defects I managed to take during early inspection:
Buffer trails
Sanding marks, holograms, all them yummy stuff !
Looked like someone sand a tad too much.
Nasty looking thingy
I started off by doing a general cleanup of the interior.
There were dressings applied on the leather and other plastic components inside the vehicle which were very hard to remove. It was very oily to touch - seems like the previous technician put tire dressing on them.
Process:
- Thorough vac on the interior
- APC for spot treatment
- Meguairs Quik Interior Detailer on all surface - great stuff! No sheen! No oily residue!
- Removed all plastic coverings (as per instruction of owner)
- Pedals clean with APC. Followed by Meguiars QID.
- Interior Glass cleaned with Meguairs Glass Cleaner Concentrate
Afters:
Matte looking leather - that is how leather should look like
Pedals cleaned
residue on seat is from sweat on my hands. Re wiped after picture taken.
After the interior was done - the engine was next on line.
An overview of the engine compartment before any cleanup was done.
Dirt buildup on the towers
Dirty a/c pipes, grease on the strut towers and near the engine mounting.
Gunk on the A/c pipes and near the engine mounting
Motor oil residue on the valve covers.
Dust and more dust.
Wax residue
Water spots everywhere
General work outlay on the engine (minor detail work):
- Power washed to rinse loose dirt
- De-greased with Meguiars Super Degreaser
- APC and scrubbed with myriad of brushes
- Rinse and dried with leaf blower
- Body Solvent to remove heavier/stubborn grease stains
- Painted areas polished with D151 Reconditioning Cream
- Sealed with Optimum Spray wax
- Rubber seals were treated with M40 and plastic components with Meguairs Hyperdressing.
Here are the results:
Looking refreshed after all the dust, dirt, grease, etc are removed.
Moved on to the exterior side.
Here's some shots taken during the exterior work.
Wheels were cleaned using pH neutral wheel cleaner.
Deep scratches
By the way the exterior wash washed via:
- Foamed with Osren Nano Wash
- Rinsed and rewashed with Meguiars Hyperwash (2BM) coupled with Meguairs MF mitt
- Meguiars APC+ for spot treatment
- Tires degreased with Meguiars Super Degreaser
- Wheels cleaned with Sonax Full Effect
- Wheel wells with Meguiars APC+
- Wax residue removed with APC+ and/or Body solvent coupled with soft bristled brush.
- Wipedown with IPA x 3
I was curious regarding the sanding and also heavy compounding marks. So as always a thorough check on the paint's thickness was done to understand more on the condition of the car as a whole.
Average reading 90-100 microns
All four doors showed high 120 microns. Hmmm...
Clay managed to pick up all the embedded dirt, tar spots, minor overspray, etc.
Driver's door
Test spot - 50/50
Looked like the combo worked. Yet to finish with a finishing polish.
After finishing with Meguiars M205. Clear reflections.
No more sanding marks - no more holograms. Another test spot on the front hood.
After the polishing session.
Under Metal halide light
LED and camera flash
No more swirls, water spots, holograms. Combo worked. Copied to other panels.
There was a group of scratches on the front hood. Quite deep. Required rotary+wool pad+m105 for faster results.
Compounding marks
Finished with the unbeatable Meguairs M205.
Not hologram. Reflection of the ceiling
Continued to replicate combo to rest of panels.
ROOF
5050 shot on the roof
A closeup look at the 5050
Rear bonnet
Test spot - 5050
Goodbye watermarks and swirls.
Side Mirror Before :
After
Driver's Fender Before:
After : Deeper Scratches were left to be. Tried to maintain minimal clear coat loss.
C pillar before:
After:
Rear lights before :
After:
Very mild polishing on the rear lights - enough to remove light swirls.
General outlay of the process & tools:
- Meguiars G220
- Hitachi Rotary Polisher
- Meguairs 6.5" & 7" pads
- Lake Country Wool pads and 5.5 flat pads.
- M105 for spot work
- M205 for finishing
- IPA wipedown
- LSP: Supposed to be glass coated to increase resistant towards scratches but it rained heavily at the proposed application time. Switched to Meguiars M21 2.0 - forgot how easy to use this product. Love it!
- Glass treated with RainX
- Wheels with M16 x 2 coats
- Tires with Endurance
After all the hard work, here are the sun shots.
Wokeup around 6am to take this shot. *LOL*
Thanks for reading. Comments, question, suggestions are welcomed.
Cheers, Tim
p/s sorry for the huge number of pictures - just sharing my enthusiasm working on this car.
j/k. 
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