What did you do detailing wise today?

I cleaned some glass on Sunday. I was using some MFT microfiber edgeless towels -- lots of lint on glass - so back to my waffle weaves for the final dry pass.
 
First, I'd like to say to TacoHerder...Nice "Extreme Makeover"! Excellent work!

Now on to "What did you do detailing wise today?"

Over last weekend I finally found my rear LLoyd Luxe rear floor mat for my truck.
It was buried under a huge pile of junk in my garage. I'd like to blame the wife but...
I was thrilled when I saw the corner of the mat & pulled it out from under the pile of junk.
Then...to my dismay the black mat had huge two foot sections with bright orange stains.
I tried cleaning, shampooing anything I could think of, nothing made a dent in the stains.

For those of you that know, Lloyd Luxe is the top of the line mats & this one wasn't cheap.
So what to do...a friend said "It just goes in the back seat use some black spray paint".
That didn't sound appealing so I started thinking...carpet dye, fabric dye...what can I use?

I wound up going to Wal-Mart looking for carpet dye...no luck...but I found Rit fabric dye.
Wally World had it in powder and liquid form in every color but Black so..."The quest is on!"
I went to my local grocery store & in the laundry soap section I found Black liquid Rit dye.

Now on to the fun stuff...Having the small bottle of black fabric dye in hand I headed home.
The directions stated: Mix the liquid in the washing machine with the hottest water setting.
I thought...Putting this heavy rug in the washing machine with black dye may not be good.
For some reason I could see every load of laundry for the next two weeks coming out black.

I decided to use a saucepan on the stove and bring some water almost to a boiling point.
I poured the hot water and some of the black dye into an empty plastic milk container.
I shook it up to mix it all together. I then took the mat and placed it over my work bench.
I lightly misted the mat with water then used a tire dressing sponge to apply the Rit dye.
When I was done the entire mat was wet with Black Rit dye. I left it on the bench overnight.

It was completely black again!

I turned on a fan and had it blow on it all night long to help get the dye to dry correctly.
The next day I took the mat and bench out into the yard and per directions hosed it off.
I ran water on the mat full blast until all the black water stopped and only clear was left.
Then I took the leaf blower and got down into the mat fiber and blew out all the water.
I left it out in the sun all day to dry and it took hours for the mat to completely dry out.

The good new!

All the bright orange stains are gone! The mat is completely black and the fabric is soft!

Cost $3.59
 
I did a winter prep on a Tundra that I OC'd several months back. My client shot me a text this morning to confirm if I would be coming today, he was concerned it was too cold because the high was 33. I told him I'd see him this afternoon. As the sun dropped below the tree line I was rinsing off the truck, everything froze!

I pulled it inside his garage, did the interior, and finished drying it off afterwards. No problemo.

On a side note, I need to invest in some neoprene gloves for washing when its cold out! Triple bagging latex gloves helps, but my hands still freeze!
 
LOL!!! O man, I bet your hands were frozen stiff. I see detailing vids on youtube from companies in the UK. They use HOT water when washing, of course you're not always around a hot water source.
 
And I still have more cars to do winter preps for over the next few weeks... I hope winter stays away for a little bit yet!
 
Well then stay clear of Wisconsin. :)

I'm actually hoping for snow, then I can cancel all these frigid details and have fun driving sideways!
 
I finally got to wash my truck today.

However, when I went to get the soap I noticed the Optimum Car Wash bottle looked like this.





There are little white slivers but if you spread the soap between your fingers theyt seems to disappear although did not spend much time analyzing since I wanted to get the wash done before it was dark. I have a 3 yr bottle of Optimum wash and it was normal. I did a quick shake and it did not do much.

Oh well. I am sure Chris or David G. can explain it.

I also had a waffle weave that was "dead". It would not absorb anything so grabbed another one it worked fine. I soaked it in some APC and then tossed it in the other mf being washed today.
 


I did get to use the chenille mf mitts yesterday. It was nice. It glides smoothly across the paint.

It is a little bit smaller than other one I used previously so it does not get as heavy (loaded with soap) so easier to use plus it works better in recessed areas like grilles. I was using latex gloves so it did not spin on the hand as easily since it was a snugger fit which is usually a good thing.

:bigups
 
I cleaned my friends PT Cruiser yesterday.... They apparently never wash it. Honestly I was still having a little of a hard time on the rims and I used some Megs APC and CG Diablo Gel. Had to go over them quite a bit since there was so much build up. Used Ultima and a rinsless wash. Took so long I still havent got to polish it out to remove as much scratches as I can. Ill have to finish it up next weekend when we have more time. So these pics are just after a MUCH needed wash and clay session. I did get to polish the hood out just to see what I would be working with. Here are some pics I took.
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Word to the wise, dont work out before washing a dirty dirty car... O well though, after being forced to go to a wedding saturday I was happy to clean my friends car while we hung out...
 
Had the day off yesterday so decided to try for a second time on a rinseless wash. I stopped by the car wash before I left town a couple days earlier and hosed off the major road grime and car had not been driven before the rinseless. Used DPRW&G last time and not sure I liked it so bought some BFRW on the Black Friday special and gave that a try. Being only my second time using rinseless I used 2BM, 2 MF towels one for first pass and the 2nd towel for the 2nd pass rinsing both between panels. Dried each panel as I went and called it a day when I finished. Today I decided to try out the can of Surf City Garage Carnuba paste wax that I picked up at Walmart. I applied but of course being cold here I had to warm the garage up but with the surface temp of the car being cold it just didn't want to haze over very well. It is only 12F here outside and it takes a while to get the garage up to around the 60 mark so it didn't seem to want to fully cure. Stuff left a nice shine and think it would improve with higher temps. I have used SCG this past summer since I had won a sampler of their products, used a little bit of them but gave it away to a woman at work that needed some detailing items for her Mustang. I still am really not sure I like the rinseless wash thing since it seems like it leaves a film behind in places, which is the reason I tried BFRW but got similar results. First time I used 1 MFWW I picked up another and used the 2nd one for final drying pass. Maybe with practice I or it will get better.

Dean. :cool:
 
skibik said:
Had the day off yesterday so decided to try for a second time on a rinseless wash. I stopped by the car wash before I left town a couple days earlier and hosed off the major road grime and car had not been driven before the rinseless. Used DPRW&G last time and not sure I liked it so bought some BFRW on the Black Friday special and gave that a try. Being only my second time using rinseless I used 2BM, 2 MF towels one for first pass and the 2nd towel for the 2nd pass rinsing both between panels. Dried each panel as I went and called it a day when I finished. Today I decided to try out the can of Surf City Garage Carnuba paste wax that I picked up at Walmart. I applied but of course being cold here I had to warm the garage up but with the surface temp of the car being cold it just didn't want to haze over very well. It is only 12F here outside and it takes a while to get the garage up to around the 60 mark so it didn't seem to want to fully cure. Stuff left a nice shine and think it would improve with higher temps. I have used SCG this past summer since I had won a sampler of their products, used a little bit of them but gave it away to a woman at work that needed some detailing items for her Mustang. I still am really not sure I like the rinseless wash thing since it seems like it leaves a film behind in places, which is the reason I tried BFRW but got similar results. First time I used 1 MFWW I picked up another and used the 2nd one for final drying pass. Maybe with practice I or it will get better.

Dean. :cool:
Click to expand...

Have you tried the Garry Dean Method?
 
I tried out a few new products. I tried used Ultima Interior cleaning gel and Interior Guard.

Normally I've used DP interior cleaner and 303 or Meg's QID. I think I like the smell of Ultima gel a little better than DP. It cleaned really well and the interior guard left a nice natural finish. It darkened the black trim a little but it was subtle and not glossy.


Man my truck was dirty
 

First and most important. I did all my Christmas shopping in under 2 hours from when I left till when I was home.... WINNER !!!!



I also managed to do a mini detail on my car.
ONR wash.
Fresh coat of Werkstat AJ
BF Metal sealant on wheels
WG Interior Sealant on all interior
CG Stripper Scent .... Yum !!!


 
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