Today: Mazdaspeed (56k warning)

This car belongs to my investment advisor... I should have gotten some interior pics, alas I didn't... It cleaned up nicely. I only wish I'd gotten some of the muffler... That was pretty dramatic (thanks to Autosol metal polish!).



Right as we were getting started, the mailman showed up with my order from PakShak and my first order of AIO and SG... The twins... So I hit the car with those. Not bad. Easy to use, that's for sure!



The process:

Wash (dawn)

spot clay & spot bug & tar

wheels (heavy bug & tar remover - they were bad)

spot Folex on the mats, general shampoo (mats only)

AIO via DA @ 4-5

SG via hand/MF applicator (free with my order, apparently!)

AIO+SG on the wheels

Castrol APC on the engine

Underhood + Interior w/303

ArmorAll wheel wells

Stoners on the glass

Final buff w/new (freshly washed) PakShak ultraplush

Z6 cleanup (that SG was a little firmly attached in places)



Some photos...

swirls.jpg




engine.jpg




front.jpg




wheel.jpg




FLAKE!

flake.jpg




mirror_flake.jpg




rear.jpg




rear2.jpg




reflections.jpg




Total: 5 hrs.



Dig.
 
thanks! it was a pretty fun car to drive (picked up and dropped off at client's work). It came with all the mazdaspeed parts and a turbo when he bought it from the dealership, apparently. Nice handling and one of the few very nicely designed interiors I've seen on a car.
 
As you can see in my sig, I'm looking for Protege. The ideal situation would be that I find one in that beautiful blue color.



Still drooling...
 
Well, he's looking at maybe turning it in soon (on lease)... If you wanted to come all the way to Maryland to get it :) Only 20k miles, this industrial-strength 3M tint (apparently not specifically automotive - and it's still perfect) and, as you can see, well taken care of (by me!) :)
 
Thanks, tom.



I just noticed the invoice on my pakshak towels reflected an "Autopia Special" and saved me a nice little chunk of change!! And I got 2 instead of 1 promo towel :) Thanks, Raney!
 
Nice work. You got the light swirls out with AIO? Because I don't see any abrasives listed in your process. Nice work!
 
Thanks folks...



Yeah, I was surprised, myself... The car definitely wasn't hit with any sort of abrasives, but it wasn't in TERRIBLE shape to begin with and under the harshest lighting, I'm certain the swirls will still show to an extent.



I wouldn't have thought the green polishing pad would have made that much of a difference, but looking at the hood under the halogens, half the hood done with AIO seemed to be a whole lot better than the other half, so I decided not to go any stronger with pad or compound (my next step would have been 3M SMR). I don't know if it makes a difference that i REALLY worked each area, and at a relatively high speed (considering most folks here said to work it around 3-4 on the DA).



The client was happy and we were a little longer with the car than anticipated (5hrs vs. about 3-4), but I think it worked out well.



Thanks again.
 
here's a look at two spots, before and after AIO on the driver's side, with the halogens... you can see it's not PERFECT, but it's a huge improvement:



swirls2.jpg




*shrug*
 
thanks! i might add that Rich - the guy in the 2nd to last photo - did most of the work on the wheels... I've got a very OCD nature and he's learning to adjust to that, doing a job to my specs. Hope I'm not working him too hard :)
 
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