While we detailers love to rant about people who use the automatic car wash, we don't give enough credit to the people on the other side of the spectrum. Every once in a while, I encounter an owner that is as particular as I am, or sometimes, as was the case in this instance, even more particular than me. As intimidating as this may be, you can be sure of two things when their car comes in for a shave... One, the car will likely be in good nick and two, they will see anything you left behind. Some like it, some don't... I am of the opinion that you don't get better unless challenged and this one was quite enjoyable for me...
Onto the detail, in the Cape, winter is in full swing and the week preceding the detail the rains were quite heavy. So she arrived with a decent amount of surface dirt. Being in the condition that she was in, special care must be taken not to inflict unnecessary damage to the paint that would require a step up in correction compared to what would have been needed so methods become rather important here. The method I use for cleaning in my details is not the most cost efficient nor is it the fastest but it is the safest that I've tested and I always approach cars in this way:
The basic concept is to keep the contact to a minimum while removing as much dirt as possible. This is done by applying a cleaner to a surface, allowing it to dwell before rinsing off as much dirt as possible without any contact at all, then reintroducing the cleaner however this time stubborn dirt is agitated and subsequently (hopefully) washed away. Anything remaining on the surface is clayed off and the applicable surfaces are polished. This is the method I follow with most surfaces and have found that it yields the best results in not only my detailing, but my weekly wash too.
First up, some arrival pics. The car had the usual surface dirt, but one thing caught my eye early was the amount of visible fallout on the car, and with the car being white, getting the surface as free of contaminants as possible goes a long way to getting white looking its best.
Visible contaminants between the surface dirt:
First area to be tackled was the engine bay. The bay itself wasn’t overly dirty and my usual approach of cleaning with APC and water worked well. The lining on the underside of the bonnet was removed, vacuumed and cleaned using Mothers Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner. Paint was cleaned using APC and was then polished and protected using Auto Finesse Tripple. The bay itself was cleaned using APC, water, wet and dry clothes and a number of hog hair brushes. Unfortunately there are no after pics for this phase as I finished up behind schedule on the Sunday evening ( sorry
).Process:
Under Bonnet: Under Bonnet insulator lining cleaned with Mothers Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner and a carpet brush | Paint cleaned with Cyclo CM30 @ 5:1 | Polished using Auto Finesse Tripple on a MF hand applicator pad
Engine Bay: Clean with Cyclo CM30 @5:1 using various brushes | Wipe with wet MF cloth| Dried with MF towels and air | Dressed using Auto Finnesse Dressle
After:
Moving onto the wheels, the arches, tyres and wheels are sprayed down with APC which is left to dwell before being rinsed away with a high pressure washer. Then arches are cleaned using APC and various brushes and are later dressed using AF Dressle.
Tyres are cleaned with Meguiar’s All Wheel & Tire cleaner and a hard bristled tire brush and are later dressed with 2 coats of Gyeon Tire. Wheels are cleaned using ValetPro Bilberry wheel cleaner and various brushes before being rinsed and dried. Chemical decontamination was then carried out using Gyeon Tar and CarPro Iron X before the remaining contaminants were clayed off using CarPro clay. Wheels and callipers were protected using Gyeon Wet Coat.
]Process:[/b]
Arches: Cyclo CM30 @5:1 | HP rinse | Cyclo CM30 @5:1 which was agitated using a Mothers Fender well brush | HP Rinse | Protected (later) using Auto Finesse Dressle
Tyres: Cyclo CM30 @5:1 | HP rinse | Meguiar’s All Wheel and Tire left to dwell then agitated with a Mothers tyre brush | HP rinse | Dressed (later) with Gyeon Tire
Wheels and callipers: Cyclo CM30 @5:1 | HP rinse | ValetPro Bilberry Wheel Cleaner @ 1:5 | HP rinse | ValetPro Bilberry Wheel Cleaner @ 1:5 agitated using Wheel Woollies and other brushes | HP rinse | Dry | Gyeon Tar | Dry | Gyeon Iron | HP rinse | flood rinse | Clay using ONR as lube | Protected with Gyeon Wetcoat | Dried
Before:
During:
After:
Next up wash the wash and decon. ValetPro Citrus pre-wash was applied as a traffic film remover to remove as much of the loose dirt as possible before the vehicle was rinsed and foamed. Foam was left to dwell for a few minutes before rinsing the vehicle again. The vehicle was then washed using the 2 bucket method before being rinsed and dried in preparation for decontamination. Chemical decon was carried out using Gyeon Tar and then CarPro Iron X. As expected there was quite a bit of bonded tar and iron removed by these and the reaction from the Iron X rendered and quite a bit of bleeding, more than I’ve had on any detail before. The surface was still quite rough to the touch after this and I removed the remaining contaminant using heavy duty clay.
Process:
Wash: Pre-wash sprayed onto vehicle using ValetPro Citrus Pre Wash | HP Rinse | Pre-Foam using ValetPro ANSF | | HP Rinse | Foamed using ValetPro ANSF | Panel Gaps, emblems, petrol flap and door jambs brushed using ValetPro Detailing brush | 2 Bucket wash using Gyeon Bathe and Gyeon Smoothie mitt with 2 grit guards per bucket | HP Rinse | Dried using various drying towels and ONR
Decontamination: Gyeon Tar | Wipe with MF towels Gyeon Iron | HP Rinse | Flood rinse | Clayed using Shield Heavy Duty clay and ONR | HP Rinse | Dried using various drying towels and ONR
Pictures:
Paint levels were healthy as expected and after conducting a test spot I settled on Menzerna PF2300 on a Green Rupes pad for correction on this hard-ish VW paint. After the correction step refining was done using CarPro Essence on a Yellow Rupes pad. Paint was protected using Kamikaze Collection’s Infinity wax, which was left to cure for 90 minutes.
1st step: Menzerna PF2300 on a Rupes Green Foam pad
2nd step: CarPro Essence on a Rupes yellow foam pad
Pillars and rear lights: Menzerna PF2300 on a Cyclo green polishing pad | Menzerna SF4000 on LC black finishing pad
Before:
Before and afters:
50/50:
The rest of the outstanding jobs were then carried out:
B Pillars and tail lights were corrected using Menz PF2300 on a green Cyclo Polishing pad before being refined with SF4000 on a black LC finishing pad. The exhaust tip was cleaned earlier using APC and polished and protected with Meguiar’s NXT Metal Polish. Exterior plastics and rubbers were cleaned using Shield Rubber and vinyl cleaner before being protected with Aerospace 303. Lastly, Glass was cleaned using Meguiar’s Perfect Clarity Glass Cleaner and the windshield was treated with Soft99 Glaco hydrophobic coating.
Process:
Paint Protection: Kamikaze Collection Infinity Wax
Exterior gloss trim: Kamikaze Collection Infinity Wax
Rubbers: Cleaned with Shield heavy duty Rubber and Vinyl Cleaner | Protected with Aerospace 303
Glass: Cleaned using Meguiar’s Perfect Clarity Glass Cleaner | Coated with Soft 99 Glaco
Exhaust: Polished and protected with Meguiar’s NXT Metal polish
Unfortunately due to the early sunset time and the fact that I finished late, I only managed to take one after pic, however the owner came back for a wash a few weeks later and I managed to snap a few afters. It was also good to see the amount of gloss left by this wax, I’m continuously impressed by it:
Lone after pic after the detail:
Once again, thanks for reading! Any comments or questions are welcome.
Ex.
