Since this will be a long weekend for me....

B

boywonder

New member
I am planning to detail the Maxima Thrusday Night. Here's the plan of attack:



Dawn Wash (Car already has Souveran on it) including the fuel filler door

Clay

3M SMR x2 w/PC and white foam pad

AIO

SG x4 (also SG on rims again) w/ gray finishing pad

Souveran

Treat Tires with Lexol Vinylex (I have my 3L jug :D)

Clean interior vinyl with Lexol Leather Cleaner and top with 303 Protectant

Clean glass with Stoner's and my sole YoSteve MT

Use steam extractor to get dirt out of carpet

Blow crevices out using air compressor

Plexus on the headlight and taillight lenses as well as the speedo plastic and my clock.



In case you guys are wondering where I am getting my paws on this equipment, I am going to be doing this at a detail shop in my neck of the woods. They are going to be detailing another car at the same time. :D



Tell me what you think.
 
Sounds like a plan, have you ever tried using a shop vac for getting the water outy of the crevices?, it doesn't dispurse the water out onto the paint or require any additional wiping. Sounds like a pretty straight forward plan though, cut and dry.
 
Yo V, I never thought about the vac idea. Sounds good. I am finally getting all the water out of the cracks in my car. There is only one spot that I can't, where the mirrors touch the quater panel, the water is in the crack and nothing will fit in there, expect the vac now as I think of it :)



PrinzII



Dawn Wash (Car already has Souveran on it) including the fuel filler door

Clay

3M SMR x2 w/PC and white foam pad

AIO

SG x4 (also SG on rims again) w/ gray finishing pad



Sounds like my plan:



1.) dawn wash

2.) meg 2.0 or 3m smr if needed (very light swirls) on a white foam pad

3.) klasse aio 2x

4.) klasse glaze, two layers on first day and one per day after that

5.) rims as always, damn things got to be cleaned everyday the car is driven.



If I have time and I'm bored, I'll take the front seats out and try to use some "tuff stuff" on the rest of the carpet (just did the front half to see if the stuff works).



It should be a rewarding weekend.
 
Yo J,

Hey glad to help, I had the same problem with my mirrors but they fold in and that allowed me to get at the water with a vac.
 
how do you avoid the shop vac from sucking itself onto the paint?



My shopvac is the big 16 gallon one and whenever it gets close to anything it tries to suck it so hard it could possibly ding the paint.



Bryan
 
Just put your finger around the end of the hose so if the hose does suck itself to the paint your fingers will hit the paint instead of the end of the vac hose.... It's common sense but make sure your hands are clean too.
 
Just allow a very small surface area of a finger to be between the vac and the paint, a nozzle attachment works good for concentrating the suction in crevice areas.
 
Long weekend? Talk about long weeks...



I've been keeping the car in the garage ever since last week. I was trying to give it a full detail (underbody, wheels, etc.) before it sees the road again. Unfortunately... I've been really busy, so it seems like it'll say in for a bit longer.



At least I bought a new Passat as a daily driver! Tiptronic (no more burnt clutches from my wife ;) ) and grey metallic... no more swirls too!



~bw
 
Have you considered skipping the dawn wash? The SMR should remove any waxes, etc, on the car....



Blue Skies,

Andy
 
Clean interior vinyl with Lexol Leather Cleaner and top with 303 Protectant
Click to expand...
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I thought about using leather cleaner to clean not only leather but also vinyl and it's good to see that other people are doing the same.

Your plan sounds like a winner but I would wait at least 24 hours before topping with Souveran. This way you will be sure that SG cured properly and you can evaluate your results with "cool head" and decide if you need more SG.

Good luck!
 
Actually, I plan to let the SG cure before putting more coats on it. After I put the last coat on it, I'll put the Souveran on it. After that, comes the clear bra. :D
 
F1Crazy said:
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I thought about using leather cleaner to clean not only leather but also vinyl and it's good to see that other people are doing the same.

Your plan sounds like a winner but I would wait at least 24 hours before topping with Souveran. This way you will be sure that SG cured properly and you can evaluate your results with "cool head" and decide if you need more SG.

Good luck!
Click to expand...



For grins, I tried Lexol's leather cleaner on my dash and other vinyl surfaces to clean them. I used a terry applicator and found that it was effective in getting the dirt out.
 
One thing I am going to make a point to do is clean the inside of my fuel filler door because it has a lot of grit in it. This is a known issue with 5th Gen Maximas that I am going to address this Friday.
 
I think letting SG cure longer between coats is actually improving its looks. I did my spring routine earlier this month and since I didn't have time to put multiple layers of SG in one weekend I add one every week and can see a difference compared with the look last fall.

Do you plan to put x-pel or stongard?

I thought that they use water and alcohol to apply it and that your paint needs to be free of waxes?
 
F1Crazy said:
I think letting SG cure longer between coats is actually improving its looks. I did my spring routine earlier this month and since I didn't have time to put multiple layers of SG in one weekend I add one every week and can see a difference compared with the look last fall.

Do you plan to put x-pel or stongard?

I thought that they use water and alcohol to apply it and that your paint needs to be free of waxes?
Click to expand...



X-Pel. It's going to run me $500 for the front end and the mirrors.
 
I used mixture of Dawn and warm water to clean vinyl before and it worked well but Lexol seems like a better plan.

I plan on conditioning my seats only twice a year but I will keep using cleaner more often and following with 303.
 
X-Pel. It's going to run me $500 for the front end and the mirrors
Click to expand...



It is a good investement. It's too late for me, both cars have some chips (I try to fix those on regular basis) and bumpers would have to be repainted.

Are you sure that you can have Klasse and Souveran locked under x-pel? It's ging to stay there for several years. I know that you can use waxes or polymers on top of clear bra as long as you don't use any abrasives.
 
it isn't a very good investment. As an appraiser, I wrote two estimates on vehicles with a clear bra. In both cases, the vehicle owner did NOT want it replaced. They were tired of dust/dirt collecting along the edge and they no longer liked the way it looked. So, instead of replacing the damaged part of the clear bra, we paid to have the rest removed (ended up costing a little less, but the customer was happier).



Also, $500 for a clear bra or about $500 later if you want to have the hood repainted. I'd rather take my chances and save the money. There's a chance that you wouldn't need to have the hood repainted anyway, then you're $500 richer. A clear bra is a $500 insurance policy against damage to the hood (actually, just part of the hood). $500 insurance for what would cost $500 to repair.



Imagine paying $20,000 for an insurance policy on a $20,000 vehicle. Why would you do that?
 
$500 for a hood painting?



I payed about $250 for mine but then again I am friends with the bodyshop guy and I am his only customer who is not a dealer, all of his other work are dealer cars that he does so I am sure he gaveme a good deal.



Bryan
 
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