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Daily Driver: 2005 Chrysler Town and Country Touring
This is your prime example of a get around town van with space for the whole family. Remember the mom that called me about her oldest daughter's 2006 Acura TSX that I cleaned not too long ago? Well this is her van. She's had it since brand new and her and her family have trusted me with at least 3 of the 6 cars they own.
Being a daily driver, the owner simply wanted a good generous wash, wax, and a really clean interior. So I decided to try to go one further.
The van was dropped at my location at 9 AM on a rather chilly morning last week. I wasted no time getting started. The van was kinda dirty right off the bat. Having just come back from a recent trip to Houston, TX, it definitely needed a cleaning.
Gotta have the before pictures:
So the story begins. Van gets dropped off, I get a cold Rockstar Energy Cola,
and a water, and get to work!
Exterior Process
Before I even touched the body of the van with water, I started by cleaning the wheels with the proper Hot Rims Wheel Cleaner to clean, and Deep Crystal Car Wash to neutralize each wheel and wash the wheel wells. I then dressed each tire with Gold Class Endurance Tire Gel in 2 coats, and polished and sealed each rim.
With the wheels cleaned, I then broke out the pressure washer and blasted down the whole van to remove most of the dirt. After a complete pressure washing, I filled a bucket with Gold Class Shampoo/ Conditioner and soaped up the whole van from front to back. After exchanging the pressure washer for a regular hose head, I rinsed the van off, and then dried it with my new Water Magnets.
Once I pulled the van into the garage, I got my Clay Bar (Smooth Surface) and Quik Detailer and clayed the entire van (which was a real P.I.T.A. just in itself). After wiping off the remnants of the QD, I got my bottle of UC and a MF applicator and compounded out all of the scratches and slight swirls in the paint. Once satisfied with the compounding, I grabbed my box of good ol' NXT Tech Wax 2.0 and gave the van 2 thin coats (allowing 1 hour in between each coat for a good cure). I also gave the headlights a quick buff just to get the bugs and tar off of them using 1 round of UC, followed by a round of PlastX wax.
Interior Process
The interior of this minivan was the more apparent issue in the entire detail. Remember the 5 year old child who turned the back of his mom's 2006 Acura TSX into a real war zone? Well he'd had his fair share of staining the back of this minivan as well. There were TONS of stains everywhere! Everything from milk stains, to what looked like syrup, then to what I assume was Coke or chocolate milk. You can kind of imagine the scene I was looking at.
Anyways, before I tackled the carpets and seats, I dusted off the dash with a can of Dust-Off and then applied a healthy amount of Supreme Shine Hi-Gloss Protectant for a nice sheen. I then turned to the leather seats. Knowing that I didn't have anything like APCP, APC, or something of that variety, I vaccumed them out, then hit them with GC Leather Cleaner/ Conditioner (lotion) and was somewhat pleased by the results. As for the carpets, again, not having APC, I got my can of Tuff Stuff Carpet Cleaner and a stiff bristled interior brush and to my surprise, the carpets came out very nicely.
After applying some last minute touches, I vacuumed out the entire van and made sure that everything was cleaned the way it should be. I also cleaned the engine, just with water and QD just to give it a little bit of a nicer look.
Well after all that work, this is the result:
Well I hope you guys enjoyed the write up and look forward to more coming soon.
Take Care,
Bobby Johnson
Owner/ Founder: Carchitects Auto Detail
Being a daily driver, the owner simply wanted a good generous wash, wax, and a really clean interior. So I decided to try to go one further.
The van was dropped at my location at 9 AM on a rather chilly morning last week. I wasted no time getting started. The van was kinda dirty right off the bat. Having just come back from a recent trip to Houston, TX, it definitely needed a cleaning.
Gotta have the before pictures:
So the story begins. Van gets dropped off, I get a cold Rockstar Energy Cola,
and a water, and get to work!
Exterior Process
Before I even touched the body of the van with water, I started by cleaning the wheels with the proper Hot Rims Wheel Cleaner to clean, and Deep Crystal Car Wash to neutralize each wheel and wash the wheel wells. I then dressed each tire with Gold Class Endurance Tire Gel in 2 coats, and polished and sealed each rim.
With the wheels cleaned, I then broke out the pressure washer and blasted down the whole van to remove most of the dirt. After a complete pressure washing, I filled a bucket with Gold Class Shampoo/ Conditioner and soaped up the whole van from front to back. After exchanging the pressure washer for a regular hose head, I rinsed the van off, and then dried it with my new Water Magnets.
Once I pulled the van into the garage, I got my Clay Bar (Smooth Surface) and Quik Detailer and clayed the entire van (which was a real P.I.T.A. just in itself). After wiping off the remnants of the QD, I got my bottle of UC and a MF applicator and compounded out all of the scratches and slight swirls in the paint. Once satisfied with the compounding, I grabbed my box of good ol' NXT Tech Wax 2.0 and gave the van 2 thin coats (allowing 1 hour in between each coat for a good cure). I also gave the headlights a quick buff just to get the bugs and tar off of them using 1 round of UC, followed by a round of PlastX wax.
Interior Process
The interior of this minivan was the more apparent issue in the entire detail. Remember the 5 year old child who turned the back of his mom's 2006 Acura TSX into a real war zone? Well he'd had his fair share of staining the back of this minivan as well. There were TONS of stains everywhere! Everything from milk stains, to what looked like syrup, then to what I assume was Coke or chocolate milk. You can kind of imagine the scene I was looking at.
Anyways, before I tackled the carpets and seats, I dusted off the dash with a can of Dust-Off and then applied a healthy amount of Supreme Shine Hi-Gloss Protectant for a nice sheen. I then turned to the leather seats. Knowing that I didn't have anything like APCP, APC, or something of that variety, I vaccumed them out, then hit them with GC Leather Cleaner/ Conditioner (lotion) and was somewhat pleased by the results. As for the carpets, again, not having APC, I got my can of Tuff Stuff Carpet Cleaner and a stiff bristled interior brush and to my surprise, the carpets came out very nicely.
After applying some last minute touches, I vacuumed out the entire van and made sure that everything was cleaned the way it should be. I also cleaned the engine, just with water and QD just to give it a little bit of a nicer look.
Well after all that work, this is the result:
Well I hope you guys enjoyed the write up and look forward to more coming soon.
Take Care,
Bobby Johnson
Owner/ Founder: Carchitects Auto Detail
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