2007 Sonata **Not for the faint of heart**

Labster

New member
ewind about three weeks ago and I get a phone call from a Texas number asking me if they have the correct number, is this Jake with Mirror Image Detailing? I'm still a little confused, wondering how I'm getting a call from someone in Texas about detailing but hey, it's the cell phone age and I have friends who have lived in Florida for 6 years and never changed their Ohio numbers. Turns out that Scott had given the gentleman a referral and he was taking care of his brother's estate who had just recently suffered a stroke and his lease on his 2007 Sonata was due to be returned and was in need of a cleanup. Key word "clean up". I said no problem and where the car was happened to be within my area of service. After playing phone tag for a few days with a neighbor who was helping coordinate the detail because his brother had to return to Texas we settled on a day. I have to say that I'm really happy that I kept a dust mask and my nitrile gloves in my kit from a previous job.



Here is what awaited me:



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Notice the little brown dots? Those would be mouse droppings. The car had been sitting in the owners drive way for 3 months without being used and mice had found their way in. More on that later.

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Yep, and here's what they were eating

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Seat staining anyone?

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The Paint wasn't in any better shape

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Some leaves, no big deal...

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Then again maybe I was wrong...

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Coffee staining anyone?

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These befores were after 2 full bags of trash were removed from the car.



This detail was a first for Mirror Image, I had to use my shop vac to remove a bulk of the leaves from the drain channels in the trunk and under the hood. WOW!



After vacuuming out said leaves

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After Power Clean, various brushes and my misc MF towels topped with Poorboys Trim Restorer

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On to the Afters



Nothing all intensive for the paint. This was a lease return so making it look good yet still saying within budget (most of it being used on the interior) was a priority. So I went with Optimum Poliseal and got really good results.

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Time for the big afters. Once again because of the mouse droppings the odor inside this car was ridiculous. Very musty, and a dust mask was a must!



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These stains were a bit too much. Who knows how long they've been there. Definite improvement but not 100% unfortunately.

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The owner also drove his dog around quite a bit and the filter on my shop vac needed a definite cleaning after this job!



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Not bad for 5.5 hrs aye?
 
Jake-thanks for doing such a good job on my Uncle's car and I am sure my Dad will be pleased with the job you did as well. :)



When my Dad called to see if I knew someone in his brother's area that could clean the car up, I was glad to find it was you.
 
gtpaul said:
Ouch, great turn around. Were those maggots?



No, looked like grain actually or rice to be honest.



Scottwax said:
Jake-thanks for doing such a good job on my Uncle's car and I am sure my Dad will be pleased with the job you did as well. :)



When my Dad called to see if I knew someone in his brother's area that could clean the car up, I was glad to find it was you.



Thanks Scott, I was really surprised about how well a lot of the stains came out, Gloria was as well.
 
Scottwax said:
I sent my Dad the link and he was really impressed with the job you did.



I'm really glad he was happy with the outcome. After all, that's what it's all about.
 
tdekany said:
Wow! 5.5 hours? Amazing!



Yea, I was really haulin. The weather didn't look like it wanted to cooperate so I was trying to avoid getting rained on and I was getting my engagement pics done that night so being late to those would have put me in the dog house with my fiance haha
 
yeah weve all been there before getting last minute calls or small cleanups on cars, when in fact they need a complete full detailing overhaul and are utterly trashed.....



after doing many trashed cars i dont know if i would even want to work on that car LOL ...... i would definitely charge alot more for my base interior shampoo detail for this car ... might even charge around $100 alone for the interior !
 
a_guerrajr said:
SO can you break down what you did for the spots on seats and carpet a bit in more detail?



Thanks



I apologize. Spots were pretreated with Optimum Power clean at 5:1 and then agitated with a PC with brush attachment and then followed up with 303 Spot Remover on the more stubborn stains and re-agitated with the PC and brush attachment. It was then wiped with water via MF and then extracted with my wet/dry vac.
 
RyansAutoDetail said:
yeah weve all been there before getting last minute calls or small cleanups on cars, when in fact they need a complete full detailing overhaul and are utterly trashed.....



after doing many trashed cars i dont know if i would even want to work on that car LOL ...... i would definitely charge alot more for my base interior shampoo detail for this car ... might even charge around $100 alone for the interior !



That wouldn't even come close to covering my hourly...
 
I'm down for such a challenge. I work with one of Bravo's Top Chefs, and I've seen the turmoil he must filter through in order to emmulate greateness. Us auto enthusiats are no different. Except we're not feeding bellies,

we're feeding egos fuelled by gasoline and motorsports...thank you.
 
Awesome work. That's like night & day!!! I can't fathom how people allow their cars to get so trashed. Maybe there should be a show like "Hoarders" which goes around showcasing just how badly people trash their cars. Of course, someone would do a full detail, and then they follow up a few weeks later to see just how long the owner can maintain the car. I'd watch that show! They could call it "My Dirty Driver." :heelclick
 
wow, great job.



Just want to say that it is actually a 2009 Sonata, not 2007, but with the way it looked you would hope it was older!
 
Labster said:
Time for the big afters. Once again because of the mouse droppings the odor inside this car was ridiculous. Very musty, and a dust mask was a must!



So are you saying you did or didn't get the odor out? BTW, the odor is probably more from the urine than the droppings.
 
AWESOME job ! Looks like an interior that I would see, minus the mice problems of course.
 
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