My 16 hour detailing project (long post)

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imported_Verinnal

New member
I'm not a good autopian by typical autopian standards. I take my car to the car wash all winter long and it has only been detailed two other times in its 3.5 year lifespan, once by someone else and once by me (boy I really sucked the first time I did it). Well, we've finally had some awesome weather here in Long Island so I set aside a chunk of time to pamper my car and try to fix all of the swirls that have been accumulating over the. If I had only known what that would really mean...



Anyhow, I started by getting up on Saturday morning at 8:30 am. Got ready and started my project: Detailing my Lexus IS300.

I was outside by 10am. I began with a the tires, then a wash, followed by some bug and tar remover on some really nasty black stuff that was all over the sides of my car and on parts of the hood. Then I QDed the spots where I used the bug and tar remover and clayed the entire car. Then I washed one final time.



After drying my car with two pakshak waffle weave towels, I busted out my pc and went to work. First was the 3M Perfect It II Fine Cut, followed by 3M Swirl mark remover, followed by QDing the entire car, then some Vanilla Moosewax by hand, and some s100 by hand. By the time I was waxing the sun had long been gone and I was working by the light of my craftsman 1000w tripod light. I finished up around 9pm. 11 hours!!! :scared Boy was I tired.



I was kind of upset I didn't get around to doing the interior or the glass but I needed some rest so I cleaned up outside and relaxed for the rest of the night.



Sunday morning (today) I got up at 7am and was back outside by 8:30am. I fetched my extremely soft, baby tooth brush and some QD and hit all the nooks and crannys where there was wax or VM residue. Some of the stuff was pretty stubborn but I got 99% of it off. Then I decided it was time to tackle the interior. Vaccumed the mats, carpets, and seats with my new craftsman vaccuum (http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/prod...OL&fromAuto=YES&bidsite=CRAFT&pid=00917768000), then treated the dash and other non-leather stuff with Lexol Vinyl Protectant and hit the seats with Lexol Leather protecant. Now onto the windows....



I used Stoner IG on the windows first, followed by Eimann Fabrik (spelling?) glass cleaner afterwards. I then QDed the entire car, including the windows. I finished up at about 1pm today

Whew.... that was long and tiring.



If anyone could critique my process and give me advice for speeding up the process I'd greatly appreciate it. Am I too anal? It took me over 1 hours just to wash the car the first time and another 40 mins the second time. Claying too FOREVER and I somehow went through and ENTIRE bottle of clay magic lubricant while claying. Well, here are some pics....



left_corner.jpg


right_corner.jpg


side.jpg


rear.jpg


relfections.jpg




Here was my product list

Eagle One A2Z

Meguiar's Soft Gel Car Wash

Clay Magic blue clay kit

3M Perfect It II - I don't like this stuff. Any one have any other good substitutes for this.

3M Swirl Mark Remover

Vanilla Moosewax Hand Glaze

S100

Clearkote Quickshine

Stoner Invisible Glass

Eimann Fabrik Glass Cleaner

Mothers Back to Black Trim Restorer

PakShak Towels



I may have forgotten some products or steps but this is long enough.



Thanks to all the great autopia members that have made this community such a valuable source of information. I've learned a lot from this site and I atrribute my car's new, beautiful glow to you all. :bow
 
The results make it look well worth it. Your procedure looks good.



Some time saving tips:



After rinsing, clay on the wet car using car wash as lube. This will save a little time, and save $$. What else .. how bad was the residue? I don't have experience with VM, but I never have a problem with residue in the nooks and crannies of my car. I spread the product around with the pc turned off.
 
Verinnal your cars looks absolutly perfect , it has that nice glow I love about properly detailed silver vehicles. :D







As far as the amount of time you took to detail the car it really depends on the conditon of the car before starting . A midsize sedan like your usually takes me all of 7-8hrs. It all amounts to how much you want to put into it , I use to only take 4hrs to detail but I also wasn't as picky as I am now. It looks like your end results equals your effort so I say it was time well spent. :xyxthumbs
 
Verinnal, first you have to find a way to 'detail' yourself faster, you take 1:30H since you wake till you go outside :eek:



Second, your car is great and looks great too! :bow



Third, I second eggroll's tip, it'll save you time and money.



Fourth, when one details for fun, not for money, the time spent is a quality time, not a wasted time :wavey
 
I think the finished results are worth it!! :xyxthumbs :xyxthumbs

Now that the car is basicly done (Im sure you will find a few places that need touching up, I know I always do), the next time it will not take nearly as long.

Like anything else practice makes perfect in this case practice makes less time.

GREAT RESULTS no matter how long it took you!!
 
Nice IS! Very wet for silver! :up



Like the other said, clay as you wash. Try Goo Gone or a citrus cleaner on the tar, it usually cuts it pretty fast, then wash down those panels to remove any residue from the cleaner.



I start on the interior first and vacuum and completely clean it, then move on to washing, polishing and waxing, then the windows inside and out and then dress the interior then the exterior. That seems to be the fastest way for me to detail a car.
 
Very Nice Work! Where on LI are you located? I'm out in Shoreham.



Considering your car was pretty abused, a longer detail was necessary. I did a heavily abused Civic hatch the other week (exterior only) and it took me 5 hours, which is relatively long.



Your car should be a piece of cake to wash now. Bugs and other surface contaminents are less prone to stick. Make sure you wash your car at least once a week, especially if its not garaged.



As far as surface correction, the claying techniques above are what I use. For polishes, Meguiar's #83 DACP and #82 SFP are my favorites. For the PC, I believe DACP is the product of choice for many.



Once again, very nice detail!
 
Absolutely beautiful! Detailing is a labor of love - you can't put a limit on the time it takes to achieve the results you got!
 
Beautiful IS! It looks like the time you spent was well worth it! I don't think you spent too much time, considering it takes me quite a while to get it to the point where I'm happy.



Beautiful job! :up
 
Great job. I detailed my car this weekend as well with a PC (first time). I started late Friday afternoon and finished around 5pm on Saturday. I was beat.:up
 
That's what it means to be Autopian man!



I've been known to spend complete weekends detailing my car... I think it's perfectly normal... :nixweiss :D :nixweiss :D
 
I can't believe this but after posting I went to pick up a friend to see Kill Bill 2. On the way there I stopped to check the tire pressure at the gas station. I parked in a normal spot and grabbed my gauge out of my glove compartment. This guy in a rusty old beat up crapmobile pulls up in the spot to the right of my (a handicapped spot). He parks his car about 8 inches away from mine. I immediately think to myself, "there's no way he can get out of his car without hitting mine." As I think that I hear BANG as he slams his car door into mine.



To make a long story short he left a scratch in my paint. I'm not really in the mindset to even think about this since I felt like tearing his face off. But thats the wonderfull thing that happened to me. Isn't that fantastic? :angry :angry :scared :scared :scared :sosad :sosad :sosad :sosad :sosad
 
****! I THINK I WOULD HAVE ****ING FLIPPED!!!!!!!!!! YOU DID GET THE GUY'S INSURANCE **** RIGHT? Make his insurance pay for a repaint.
 
DUDE! That BITES.......:angry Some people can be such dolts!



Well your car looks great and the time you spent is rather normal because it is a labor of love. To help the residue removal just don't leave any:D You do this by waxing just up to the molding, lights and emblems instead of over them or along side them.



Anthony
 
That sucks. I was going to post that your car looks better than new. I have a huge dent in my car where someone must have played bumper cars with my door. I hope the scratch is fixable.
 
Well, after a night's sleep to mellow out a bit I revisted it and the scratch isn't all that bad. It should never have happened but I consider myself a realist and my car is a daily driver and its going to scratched and dinged. The main reason I am/was so upset was because of:



a) The person's lack of consideration for my car because his was a $600 1980something totally ugly brown rusted car with holes in it

b) The fact that he denied there was a scratch at all

c) The fact he seemed like he wasn't sorry in the slightest until I said I was going to call the cops and file a report.

d) I was there when it happened



I'm thinking the scratch will come out but I don't think I'll be able to get it out with a pc. It will most likely require rotary work to get out.



Can anyone tell me what a detailer would charge me to fix up that one spot? Its not very deep.
 
Verinnal said:
I'm thinking the scratch will come out but I don't think I'll be able to get it out with a pc. It will most likely require rotary work to get out.



Can anyone tell me what a detailer would charge me to fix up that one spot? Its not very deep.
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If I were home, I'd help you out. I'll be home like May 8th from school if you can wait that long. PM me if you wanna go more in depth with it. Good Luck.
 
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