2007 Ford Focus - First Solo Detail

[FocusGuy]

So I spent all of last summer with Andrew working on various cars, learned a lot and started to aquire the required products and tools. The Camry that he (we) did a few weeks ago was the first attempt at using my equipment. Since then I added a few more products and a lot more sweat.

So this is my car, it had some major paint work done a month ago. Entire left side of the car was repainted due to someone keying it on two seperate occasions. Both time they chose the left front fender and the left rear door. Also had the rear bumper cover replaced because I accidently backed it over a piece of rebar in my sisters yard while helping her move into her new place. It put a whole in the bottom of the cover and 2 nice scratches across the face. Also had a small scratch above the right tail-light cluster.
When I took it in I asked them when they removed the "Focus SE" badges for paint to leave them off, I think it looks much cleaner.
But back to the task at hand; when they painted it the buffed it with a rotary. When I took delivery of the car I didn't notice that they had in fact given me buffer burn on the entire side, thus the need for polishing it after the month they told me I had to wait before I could wax it.

Exterior Process

Wash with GG car wash
Claybar entire car with GG Detailing clay and GG speed shine as lubricant
Polish with GG #3 polish on drivers side/trunk face/hood/roof (applied with GG random orbital)
Polish with GG #2 polish on select spot of hood
Megs #21 synthetic sealent (applied by hand) cured for 40 minutes
Megs NXT Generation Tech Wax paste (applied by hand foam applicator) cured for 1 hour

Wheels/Tires/Engine

Engine bay soaked with Megs APC 4:1 and scrubbed by hand
Dressed with Stoner Trim Shine
Wheels washed with GG Wheel Cleaner during wash process
Wheels then sprayed with GG Wheel Cleaner and hand scrubbed
Tires dressed with GG Long Lasting Tire Dressing
Exaust tip scrubbed with GG Speed Shine

Interior Process

Vaccumed with Rigid Shop-Vac
Rubber floormats cleaned with Megs APC 4:1 and hosed off
Carpet floormats cleaned with Megs Quick Out carpet spot remover
GG interior cleaner used on Dashboard, Instrument Cluster, Center Console and Front door panels
Windows cleaned inside and out with GG Window Cleaner

Total Time: 7 Hours

and now the pics

Before

Wheels weren't to bad, took it through touchless car wash about a week ago

couldn't really capture the burn, otherwise paint was pristine on all panels

Exaust tip

think these flecks were from the repaint, found on interior of all panels involved

floormats were cleaned and put away for the summer

Interior was mostly just dusty from winter/spring months of no time for deep cleaning and way too much fast food

Work in Progress

all taped up and ready for the real work to begin

Megs Sealent Curing

And yes I did get that spot I missed after I took the picture

Tech Wax, I think I may have used more than was needed

 

[FocusGuy]

And After

Engine Bay really shined up nicely

Wheels look great on the car I think

Paint depth is difficult to see in these pics, It was cloudy all day except for when the Wax was curing on the car

I swear this thing had wax poping up from almost every spot i had gotten two or three times. All the wax seen in pics has since been removed from the car.
And it was a good thing i got it done when I did because about 15 minutes after i got done it started pouring rain outside.

Thanks for looking

 

[tmacsad]

Nice job my man :bigups

 

[OCDinPDX]

Looks good! :bigups

 

[Jeremy]

Why did you tape the pillars between the windows?Did you polish the glass?

 

[black bart]

Looks good but you sure used too much tech wax.

 

[Ronkh]

Nice job

 

[atkinsonair]

That looks good. The lighting different makes the car look red then maroon, thats cool.

 

[njcarting1]

Looks Great :bigups Interior looks good and the exterior looks great also.Nice to see the wheelwells completed and dressed...

:winner::10:

 

[FocusGuy]

Thanks everyone

Why did you tape the pillars between the windows?Did you polish the glass?

I had intended on doing some work on the windows, but after I washed it I saw that the windows weren't too bad, Guess i just taped them to be extra careful.

Looks good but you sure used too much tech wax.

Yeah, first time using the tech wax. Learned real fast that a little of the goes a long way. Still finding a few spots with wax residue left over. Although the shine and depth that it has is amazing.

 

[sal329]

Looks great. I would second the use too much product, also a M21 and NXT are the same, they are sealants. I would just use one or the other, a nice thin coat, buff off and apply a second coat only to make sure you covered every inch of the car. If you choose to top a sealant with a carnauba wax you generally have to wait 12-24 hours but like everything else there are exceptions to the rule. I hope you do not take offense to the post. Once again the car really does look great

 

[RTexasF]

I agree with others that it does look nice but the product was way overapplied. You will be digging that stuff out of cracks & crevices for weeks. Some photos also show that the car is badly in need of a machine polish so there is your next step up. Good show overall but you can advance from here.

 

[FocusGuy]

Looks great. I would second the use too much product, also a M21 and NXT are the same, they are sealants. I would just use one or the other, a nice thin coat, buff off and apply a second coat only to make sure you covered every inch of the car. If you choose to top a sealant with a carnauba wax you generally have to wait 12-24 hours but like everything else there are exceptions to the rule. I hope you do not take offense to the post. Once again the car really does look great

Good advice, thanks. Partly the reason I posted it here was to learn better ways of doing it, so no offense taken. I didn't realize that the NXT was a sealant, I had actually intended to put a coat of the Meguiars carnuba wax on top of it all but my shoulder was so tanked after doing what I had already done that I figure I'll do it when I get back from vacation.

I agree with others that it does look nice but the product was way overapplied. You will be digging that stuff out of cracks & crevices for weeks. Some photos also show that the car is badly in need of a machine polish so there is your next step up. Good show overall but you can advance from here.

yeah, still digging out that stuff, some of it I'm not sure I'll ever get out; gotta love pressure washers. Also the pics do show some spots on the passenger side that need to be polished but when I started the project i was greeted by this on the right front fender (all the way through):

So understandably my motivation was totally killed given that the similar ones on the other side of the car was what got me into this spot in the first place.

 

[atkinsonair]

That sucks, who did u piss off? sorry man.

 

[Ronkh]

So understandably my motivation was totally killed given that the similar ones on the other side of the car was what got me into this spot in the first place.

Sorry. I know how something like that can take the wind out of your sails

 

[sal329]

I use Fk 1000p a lot, it looks great, easy to use, last a long time, great price and my fav is as soon as you buff it off you can layer it or top it with a carnauba. If you use a sealant that requires a 12+ hour cure time I would wait till the next wash to add the carnauba unless you have time 12-24 hrs after to do it then of course. ONR is especially great for this, clean the car in no time and not have to worry bout taking out the hose.