FinalTouchAuto
New member
Detailed a 2000 Plymouth Neon yesterday.
This 2000 neon has NEVER been under cover out of the elements, has NEVER seen a coat of wax and hadn't been washed in at least 3 years.
The car was dropped off to me at 10 and I took about 30 minutes worth of pictures before getting into this mess.
I first let the car soak in a low dilution Chemical Guys Wash and Gloss (applied with a foam gun) while I cleaned the tires with Chemical Guys Grime Reaper and an adjustable wheel brush. I dressed the wheels and wheel-wells with Meguiars Hot Shine Gel.
When I was done with the wheels I refoamed the car and began a SERIOUS washing. I scrubbed all over the car (not caring if I made any small scratches because it COULDN'T get worse, so I just tried to clean it the best I could).
I then Clayed the car with Claymagic Blue Clay
Now was the moment of truth to begin polishing. I alternated different spots with Menzerna SIP and Meguiar's 105 depending on the severity of the area. He was only paying for a single-stage polish so I tried to get it to finish off the best I could. When I was done with polishing (1 complete pass over the car took me just over 3 hours) I did an initial wipe-down with Chemical Guys Acrylic Detailer.
I then applied Chemical Guys EZ-Creme Glaze/Acrylic Sealant by PC on a black pad and let it sit for about 45 minutes before removing it.
After it was completely removed I did a final wipedown with Meguiars Ultimate Quick Wax and called it a day, 6 hours later.
No question about it, this car needed wet-sanding and multiple stages of polishing, but the customer got what he wanted to pay for and it came out much better than he was expecting. I was pleased with the results for the work put in.
The roof had some severe oxidation that I wasn't able to remove here.
Now on to the detail...
Foamed it up first and let it set while I cleaned the wheels and then foamed it up again to clean the car
Clayed half of the hood...
Done washing and claying...drying for polishing now.
Hood section before:
Hood Section After (Keep in mind he was only paying for a single stage polish, so I couldn't spend all the time needed to completely refine it...it got the majority of the major issues though):
The hood LITERALLY changed colors in front of me it was so oxidized...it was great.
Rear Quarter Panel Before:
After 1 stage polish:
Trunk with direct lighting before:
Trunk after 1 stage polish:
In this next picture both the top and bottom of the door looked about the same after washing....guess which portion has been polished at this point (this is my favorite picture I have taken to date, ha ha...my wife loved how drastic it is)
Passenger side 50/50:
Wheels/tires after cleaning and dressing:
Headlight after wash, clay and PlastX applied via PC and 4" orange pad:
All done
It was IMPOSSIBLE to finish the roof down at all. It desperately needed wet sanding, but I did what I could. It regained a lot of clarity and removed a lot of major swirls, but you can only do so much with a single pass.
Thanks for looking. This car was a LOT of work and could still use another 6 hours of labor into it, but the customer was ecstatic with the transformation when he came back after work to pick it up and I was happy to do what I could while staying in the parameters of what I was being paid to do (which is sometimes very difficult when you know it would finish off better with another 2 hours of finishing polish).[/QUOTE]
This 2000 neon has NEVER been under cover out of the elements, has NEVER seen a coat of wax and hadn't been washed in at least 3 years.
The car was dropped off to me at 10 and I took about 30 minutes worth of pictures before getting into this mess.
I first let the car soak in a low dilution Chemical Guys Wash and Gloss (applied with a foam gun) while I cleaned the tires with Chemical Guys Grime Reaper and an adjustable wheel brush. I dressed the wheels and wheel-wells with Meguiars Hot Shine Gel.
When I was done with the wheels I refoamed the car and began a SERIOUS washing. I scrubbed all over the car (not caring if I made any small scratches because it COULDN'T get worse, so I just tried to clean it the best I could).
I then Clayed the car with Claymagic Blue Clay
Now was the moment of truth to begin polishing. I alternated different spots with Menzerna SIP and Meguiar's 105 depending on the severity of the area. He was only paying for a single-stage polish so I tried to get it to finish off the best I could. When I was done with polishing (1 complete pass over the car took me just over 3 hours) I did an initial wipe-down with Chemical Guys Acrylic Detailer.
I then applied Chemical Guys EZ-Creme Glaze/Acrylic Sealant by PC on a black pad and let it sit for about 45 minutes before removing it.
After it was completely removed I did a final wipedown with Meguiars Ultimate Quick Wax and called it a day, 6 hours later.
No question about it, this car needed wet-sanding and multiple stages of polishing, but the customer got what he wanted to pay for and it came out much better than he was expecting. I was pleased with the results for the work put in.
The roof had some severe oxidation that I wasn't able to remove here.
Now on to the detail...
Foamed it up first and let it set while I cleaned the wheels and then foamed it up again to clean the car
Clayed half of the hood...
Done washing and claying...drying for polishing now.
Hood section before:
Hood Section After (Keep in mind he was only paying for a single stage polish, so I couldn't spend all the time needed to completely refine it...it got the majority of the major issues though):
The hood LITERALLY changed colors in front of me it was so oxidized...it was great.
Rear Quarter Panel Before:
After 1 stage polish:
Trunk with direct lighting before:
Trunk after 1 stage polish:
In this next picture both the top and bottom of the door looked about the same after washing....guess which portion has been polished at this point (this is my favorite picture I have taken to date, ha ha...my wife loved how drastic it is)
Passenger side 50/50:
Wheels/tires after cleaning and dressing:
Headlight after wash, clay and PlastX applied via PC and 4" orange pad:
All done
It was IMPOSSIBLE to finish the roof down at all. It desperately needed wet sanding, but I did what I could. It regained a lot of clarity and removed a lot of major swirls, but you can only do so much with a single pass.
Thanks for looking. This car was a LOT of work and could still use another 6 hours of labor into it, but the customer was ecstatic with the transformation when he came back after work to pick it up and I was happy to do what I could while staying in the parameters of what I was being paid to do (which is sometimes very difficult when you know it would finish off better with another 2 hours of finishing polish).[/QUOTE]
