Below Reality
Polisher of Shiny Things
Ever have one of those details that just takes FOREVER to complete?
This one took me just under 12 hours to complete, and honestly, I would have liked to keep going.
The owners were going to sell this 95 Pontiac Montana and wanted it cleaned up, so I set out to work.
Before:
This thing was BAD!
It was driven on gravel frequently, used for typical family (kids) activities, and everything in between. The outside was caked with mud, full of scratches, swirls, and paint chips. The inside was also caked in dirt, severely stained, and excessively worn. This vehicle was also smoked in regularly.
I went to work on things with an estimated completion time of 4-5 hours. Little did I know that the carpet cleaning/extraction would take that long alone. I began by using Woolite and a carpet brush to break things loose. Hot water extraction with Oxi-Clean followed, and then a pure clean water extraction.
I can't stress how bad this carpet was, as I could see small improvements, but not the kind of results I was looking for. Thus, I continued to go at it. This time adding in some Diluted Carbrite Purple APC for the big problem areas. Slowly and surely it kept improving. 5 hours later- the carpet still did not look how I wanted it, but I was no longer pulling any dirt from the carpet or able to wipe any away- in short, I was no longer making progress.
The carpet was as good as it could get, and in my mind, that wasn't saying much. (I'd personally choose carpet replacement in place of cleaning in this case, but the customer did not want to invest that kind of cash.)
I proceded to wipe down the dash/trim with Poorboys S&W and it came out clean, then was dressed with Automagic #65 diluted 2:3.
Time for more pics: The After's!
Lot's better! I did have more after pics, but unfortunately my camera decided to declare war on it's stored images, thus the rest did not turn out too well at all.
As I said before, the outside was scratched, swirled, chipped, etc.
Here's how it went:
Meg's Deep Crystal Wash
Meg's Mirror Glaze Fine Grade Clay
3M Super Duty Compound #05954 - with aWool Pad by Rotary
Meg's Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner - with aSynth Wool Pad by Rotary
Poorboys SSR 2.5 - with a green light cut pad by PC
Klasse AIO - with a blue finishing pad by PC
Meg's NXT x 2 - 1 with a white finish pad & PC , 1 by hand
Poorboys S&G
Wheel wells, wheels, tires, all cleaned with SG, and dressed with AutoMagic #65.
Glass - Stoners Invisible Glass
I would have liked more from the interior, however, a carpet swap was out of the question for the customer.
Needless to say, the customer was incredibly happy with the work, and couldn't believe that it was the same vehicle. I even had them doing the double take "stop and look back and the shiny car" thing.
Even recieved a $40 tip on top of my price, so all in all - Yeah, it may have taken a lot longer than I wanted or expected, but the customer was very happy, and the van was 100% better than it was when I started. So it was all worth it!
This one took me just under 12 hours to complete, and honestly, I would have liked to keep going.
The owners were going to sell this 95 Pontiac Montana and wanted it cleaned up, so I set out to work.
Before:
This thing was BAD!
It was driven on gravel frequently, used for typical family (kids) activities, and everything in between. The outside was caked with mud, full of scratches, swirls, and paint chips. The inside was also caked in dirt, severely stained, and excessively worn. This vehicle was also smoked in regularly.
I went to work on things with an estimated completion time of 4-5 hours. Little did I know that the carpet cleaning/extraction would take that long alone. I began by using Woolite and a carpet brush to break things loose. Hot water extraction with Oxi-Clean followed, and then a pure clean water extraction.
I can't stress how bad this carpet was, as I could see small improvements, but not the kind of results I was looking for. Thus, I continued to go at it. This time adding in some Diluted Carbrite Purple APC for the big problem areas. Slowly and surely it kept improving. 5 hours later- the carpet still did not look how I wanted it, but I was no longer pulling any dirt from the carpet or able to wipe any away- in short, I was no longer making progress.
The carpet was as good as it could get, and in my mind, that wasn't saying much. (I'd personally choose carpet replacement in place of cleaning in this case, but the customer did not want to invest that kind of cash.)
I proceded to wipe down the dash/trim with Poorboys S&W and it came out clean, then was dressed with Automagic #65 diluted 2:3.
Time for more pics: The After's!
Lot's better! I did have more after pics, but unfortunately my camera decided to declare war on it's stored images, thus the rest did not turn out too well at all.
As I said before, the outside was scratched, swirled, chipped, etc.
Here's how it went:
Meg's Deep Crystal Wash
Meg's Mirror Glaze Fine Grade Clay
3M Super Duty Compound #05954 - with aWool Pad by Rotary
Meg's Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner - with aSynth Wool Pad by Rotary
Poorboys SSR 2.5 - with a green light cut pad by PC
Klasse AIO - with a blue finishing pad by PC
Meg's NXT x 2 - 1 with a white finish pad & PC , 1 by hand
Poorboys S&G
Wheel wells, wheels, tires, all cleaned with SG, and dressed with AutoMagic #65.
Glass - Stoners Invisible Glass
I would have liked more from the interior, however, a carpet swap was out of the question for the customer.
Needless to say, the customer was incredibly happy with the work, and couldn't believe that it was the same vehicle. I even had them doing the double take "stop and look back and the shiny car" thing.
Even recieved a $40 tip on top of my price, so all in all - Yeah, it may have taken a lot longer than I wanted or expected, but the customer was very happy, and the van was 100% better than it was when I started. So it was all worth it!
