Toyota Highlander wash & seal + interior

8

8ball

New member
After a good Z7 wash this morning, I did the entire car with Meguiar's #9 SMR 2.0. Applied with a PC, using a CMA white foam polishing pad. Worked the #9 until almost dry, then wiped of with MF towel. It came off very clean, and left a nice gloss. The swirl mark removal was good, but not perfect (I'll get to that in the spring).



I didn't bother to wash again, just busted out my new box o' Zaino. After going over everything with Z6 with a MF towel, I mixed one ounce of Z5 and 4 drops of ZFX. Decided to apply it with the PC and the grey finishing pad. It went on like a breeze, and the one ounce did TWO full coats. It goes on really thin with the PC. It came off with minimal wiping with a cotton towel. Of course, I Z6'ed between coats.



The car looks better than it ever has. Bit it will look even better tomorrow. I love this sickness.
 
I hope the QD removed the oils from the Meg #9 or the Z may not properly bond. I would have dawn washed to ensure of a clean and oil/wax free surface for the Z to bond too.



Post some pics of your results.



Good Luck!
 
Good job 8ball. :up The PC sure allows you to get a lot more done in a day huh? Let us check out some pics when you get a chance.
 
Well, today I did a Z6 -- Z5 (no ZFX, but again with the PC) -- Z6.

That's 3 coats of Z5 after the #9.



Swirls? What swirls? Really, the swirls, which weren't bad to begin with, are virtually undetectable. I even had a couple of small scratches on the front left of the hood where I guess I got a little careless with the claybar on a "spot job" experiment.

Couldn't feel them, but they were pretty visible. Now they are only barely visible in the right light at the right angle.



I've been using Z for about 6 months, but I've never had results quite like this. The car simply looks like it has glass poured over it, and it feels like butter.



I don't know if it was the #9, or the ZFX, or the PC, or the CMA pads, all of which I was usiing either for the first time, or the first time on this car.



Man, I wish I had pics. I don't have a digicam, but I almost bought one today just for this reason. I guess I could shoot some 35mm with the Nikon and have the pics put on CD. Scans on the flatbed would not do this justice.



If it doesn't snow this week, I'm going to get on a coat of Z2.



If it does snow, I'm going to cry.
 
Oh, by the way, I am sold on applying the Z with the PC. I never minded doing it by hand, but this is a breeze. I can do the whole car, including doing the spots by hand that I can't get to with the PC, in about 20 minutes. And can you say THIN coats? Better than I could ever do by hand.



After I've applied with the PC, I just pull the pad off, and there is enough residual Z left on the pad to cover everywhere I couldn't get to. It helps get the remaining Z out of the pad, saves product and clean up time too.
 
I never thought about using the PC & grey polishing pad to apply Z! Great idea -- what usually slows me down is trying to get off Zaino that I've applied too thickly. I bet using the PC will help a ton.



FWIW, I often follow up 3M SMR with a few swipes of Z-6 (to get the residue off) and then immediately apply Z-1/Z-2/Z-5 without a Dawn wash. I usually use enough the Z-6 to get the SMRed area squeaky clean. This technique seems to have worked very well for me!
 
<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote' >

<em class='bbc'>Originally posted by 8ball [/i]
<strong class='bbc'>And can you say THIN coats? Better than I could ever do by hand.[/b]</blockquote>I thought the general consensus was that PC's or other machines would waste products like this? I haven't used one, just regurgitating what I've read... :D
 
<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote' >

<em class='bbc'>Originally posted by puterbum [/i]
<strong class='bbc'>
I thought the general consensus was that PC's or other machines would waste products like this? I haven't used one, just regurgitating what I've read... :D [/b]</blockquote>
Well . . . that was my thought too, before I tried it. I just wanted to give it a go (love those power tools, ya know!)

I got two full coats of Z5/ZFX with 1 ounce. Not bad in my book. And it came off soooo easy. I'm sold on it.
 
This Highlander has over 230,000 miles on it and has probably never had a detail done to it. The owner is a good friend of mine and wanted just a wash and wax with more of the effort spent on the interior. The man has helped me out tremendously in the past so I thought I'd give just a little extra for him.

I washed with Meg's Deep Crystal wash and PB chenille wash mitt.

clayed with S.M. Arnold purple medium clay bar, PB S&G as lube.

Single pass with PB PWS on orange LC VC pad and Flex 3401.

Headlights got a quick polish using Optimum Compound 2 then Optimum Polish 2 using G110V2 with 4" S.M. Arnold polishing pads.

Tires, wheels and wells were cleaned with Citra-Plus Citrus cleaner and various brushes then tires got PB B&B.

Interior was cleaned with Citra-Plus citrus cleaner and PRO Short bristle brush.

Here are a few before pics of the exterior.

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here are a few afters of exterior.

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I know that the power of the after photos is created by first viewing the before photos but I seem to have forgotten to take before pics of the interior. the carpet wasn't to bad but the leather seats were 5X worse than this seat.

004-18.jpg


here are a few after pics of the interior. note the mileage.

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118.jpg


Total time invested was 5 hours. Thanks for looking. TD
 
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