Joshs2013MSAltimaSL
Wax-a-holic
Hello everyone!
My sister-in-law is in town from Jacksonville this weekend and I had a chance to give her call a quick detail. I was able to do the correcting work while a good friend of mine followed behind me with the final polish.
A bit of history on this car and what it's been through; it was bought brand new in 2008 and spent most of its life up in Illinois where it's been through hot summers and brutally cold winters. It's made multiple trips between Tampa/Jacksonville and Illinois since 2008 (89k miles on the odometer). Although it was garage kept when it was in Illinois, the snow and salt of their winters did their toll. Now, it's kept outside (in the hot Florida sun) full time on UNF's campus in Jacksonville, and we all know how abused a car can get on a college campus these days.
The aim wasn't to go after every defect...but more so to correct some of the light stuff and bring back some of the gloss. Unfortunately there were RIDS that wouldn't come out with the process I used and would require heavier compounding or wetsanding. In addition to this (as you'll see in the pictures), there are many rock chips covering the hood and the front bumper is in need of a respray. A total of about 12 hours went into this detail.
Due to time...I didn't take any before or during pictures...but it was the typical RIDS and swirls coupled with dull paint to begin with.
Process:
Wheels and tires scrubbed and cleaned with Dawn. Various wheel and tire brushes used.
Car was washed and foamed with Dawn and a Lowe's grout sponge was used to clean the body.
Clayed with Meg's White clay and ONR as lube.
Compounded with M105 and an Orange CCS pad via Dewalt rotary at 1500rpms; 2-3 passes per section.
Final polish with M205 and a White CCS pad via Porter Cable XP.
Tires dressed with Optimum Opti-Bond.
LSP was Autoglym HD for it's look with metallic paint...but mostly because of its durability.
Windows cleaned with Stoner's IG and interior was given a wipe down and vacuum.
Here are some overall pictures of the car after everything was completed:
Now for some of the shots that we all enjoy; sun shots. As you can see...there are just some defects that did not come out even with the decently aggressive combo of M105 and an Orange CCS pad.
And then finally a couple reflection shots:
Overall...I am happy with the turn around of this car. More importantly, my sister-in-law is extremely happy with the way her car looks now and doesn't even want to drive it lol.
Thanks for looking!!
My sister-in-law is in town from Jacksonville this weekend and I had a chance to give her call a quick detail. I was able to do the correcting work while a good friend of mine followed behind me with the final polish.
A bit of history on this car and what it's been through; it was bought brand new in 2008 and spent most of its life up in Illinois where it's been through hot summers and brutally cold winters. It's made multiple trips between Tampa/Jacksonville and Illinois since 2008 (89k miles on the odometer). Although it was garage kept when it was in Illinois, the snow and salt of their winters did their toll. Now, it's kept outside (in the hot Florida sun) full time on UNF's campus in Jacksonville, and we all know how abused a car can get on a college campus these days.
The aim wasn't to go after every defect...but more so to correct some of the light stuff and bring back some of the gloss. Unfortunately there were RIDS that wouldn't come out with the process I used and would require heavier compounding or wetsanding. In addition to this (as you'll see in the pictures), there are many rock chips covering the hood and the front bumper is in need of a respray. A total of about 12 hours went into this detail.
Due to time...I didn't take any before or during pictures...but it was the typical RIDS and swirls coupled with dull paint to begin with.
Process:
Wheels and tires scrubbed and cleaned with Dawn. Various wheel and tire brushes used.
Car was washed and foamed with Dawn and a Lowe's grout sponge was used to clean the body.
Clayed with Meg's White clay and ONR as lube.
Compounded with M105 and an Orange CCS pad via Dewalt rotary at 1500rpms; 2-3 passes per section.
Final polish with M205 and a White CCS pad via Porter Cable XP.
Tires dressed with Optimum Opti-Bond.
LSP was Autoglym HD for it's look with metallic paint...but mostly because of its durability.
Windows cleaned with Stoner's IG and interior was given a wipe down and vacuum.
Here are some overall pictures of the car after everything was completed:
Now for some of the shots that we all enjoy; sun shots. As you can see...there are just some defects that did not come out even with the decently aggressive combo of M105 and an Orange CCS pad.
And then finally a couple reflection shots:
Overall...I am happy with the turn around of this car. More importantly, my sister-in-law is extremely happy with the way her car looks now and doesn't even want to drive it lol.
Thanks for looking!!
