Ghetto Detail: Nissan Cefiro

Mad iX

Mad iX

No detail for you!!!
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Well, Ghetto to me anyway. Done a while ago, just posting it up now.

Never used so much Armor All, and it was hard not having any MFs.

Story is, my family is from Brunei. I live and work in Australia, and my Dad lives and works in Egypt with my Mom. So this car's been quite neglected for a year. Doesn't look too bad in the pic though.



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I thought it'd be fun to bring nothing back with me and detail the car only with the stuff I could source locally there.

Top row: Soft99 "polymer" shampoo, Sonax "cockpit cleaner", Carlack68, Soft99 Kizz ClearR.

2nd row: Soft99 "plastic clear" (like Meg's PlastX), Soft99 "liquid compound" (like Meg's ScratchX).

3rd row: 2x Soft99 Clay bars.

All the towels are supposedly 100% terry cotton.





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Mitts must not exist there or something. Ended up using a sponge wrapped with a cotton towel. Not really ideal but didn't seem to have any ill-effects. I made sure to rinse the car really well.



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A far cry from the Meg's brushes I'm used to, but they did the job.



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A closer look of the shampoo, which I must say was rubbish. Suds were extremely poor and lubricity wasn't much better than water despite pouring half the bottle into a 10L bucket. $2 may be peanuts but it was still a waste of money.

Armor All wheel cleaner worked fine on the wheels, wheel wells and whatever parts of the undercarriage I could reach. ~US$5.50 no complaints.

Soft99 clay worked fine. ~US$5.00 for a 150g bar no complaints. Didn't really need it though. All the dirt you see in the pic was from the entire car. The paint surface did not feel rough at all to begin with.



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Some light scratches.



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After Soft99 liquid compound and everything else. Seemed to do a good job for spot removal of scratches like ScratchX, but not as abrasive.



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Wheel before.



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After. Tyres and wells dressed with Armor All. Sprayed on liberally, let dwell for 15 minutes then wiped down.

Carlack68 on wheels.



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After Carlack68, then Kizz Clear R and then Carlack68 again.
 
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IMO, the clearcoat is very nice. I think all I did was clean it up. It naturally gives off a nice wet look.



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Kizz Clear R was quite easy to use. Supposedly some kind of polymer-based glaze with little cleaning and protective ability, more meant to fill in swirls and provide a base for an LSP. Seemed to do a good job at that, but dulled the finish just a touch. Didn't seem to be removed by Carlack68 which was a good thing. ~US$8 no complaints.



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Trim visible at the bottom of this pic was dressed with Armor All. Same for all exterior trim. Spray on cloth, wipe on and wipe off.



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A bit of flake.



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My Dad brushing away at the leather. He was a cheapskate and wouldn't shell out for the Autoglym cleaner and conditioners. Went with Armor All leather cleaner/conditioner instead. The AG combo would've been about US$24 but the AA product was ~US$7.50. The leather ended up having a nice sheen. Not glossy at all and was a little softer. Smell was just a touch more leathery. Not bad, but I haven't really used any other leather products so I'm no expert in that field.



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Engine bay after a good wipe-down. No hose, just sprayed Armor All wheel cleaner diluted 30:1 and wiped off. Dressed with Armor All.



Sorry no interior shots, but I tried Sonax cockpit cleaner on all the trim and it came out quite nice and matt while still removing dirt etc. Nice product but didn't care much for the scent. My father does not like the matt look, and the only other thing we had was Armor All. So I applied it with a damp cloth. Sprayed a few shots of AA onto the cloth and wiped down resulting in a satin finish, slightly more gloss than 303.
 
Great work on a tight budget and with limited choice/availability of products. Really nice detail, you should be proud of yourself. :clap:
 
mdsmithers said:
Process > Products nicely done, good looking car.
Click to expand...



Amen. I was going to say the same thing. Kind of goes to show it's more about experience than how much $ you spend on the latest and greatest wax.
 
Nice work.......I like those "wet" looking pics.



You said your dad did not want to shell out the money for a leather cleaner....have you read on the board about the woolite & water mix that some use to clean leather? I believe the ratio used is 1:6 (1 part woolite to 6 parts water).



Maybe they don't have woolite there but here in the states it's basically a detergent used to soak "fine" washables that shouldn't go in the washing machine. It's a mild detergent. Just an idea.
 
Nice job.

All Made in Japan products you got there young man :D



That Cefiro its like a J30 or I30 Infinity in USofA.
 
Yup, those are Maximas down here too.

Wouldn't say I was on a tight budget but the choices I had were definitely very limited even though there are plenty of auto stores, most stock cheap brands I wasn't too keen to try. There're official Megs and Swissol detailers, but they didn't sell NXT, the best product I saw was ColorX, and the Swissol peeps don't actually sell anything.

I did like Kizz Clear R enough to get the 'dark paint' version and I got a few of their other products as well including Fusso 12 which is supposedly a pure sealant that lasts 12 months, and Authentic Premium which I've seen compared to Souveran. Price wasn't cheap either, about 60% the cost of Souveran itself.



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Awesome job, next time drop me a line , I got some PAC as well as Pakshak mfs for you to use :cooleek: btw where did you get the claybar from? SG or BN?
 
Already got some Pakshak ones. They're nice but I don't find myself using them often for whatever reason. Wouldn't mind trying the new PAC ones, but it'll be a while before I'm back again.

Got the Soft99 clay bar from Hua Ho Yayasan.
 
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