Apart from my car and my boyfriend's cars, this is the first client's car that I've done at my apartment, it's a Ford Focus (no idea on the year). Fortunately I live in the unit right by the back door, so my 100 ft. extension cord is more than enough to get me power out to the parking lot. This car is owned by one of my co-workers, who is sadly leaving as she has four other jobs. As some of these jobs involve nannying, I was expecting the worst with this car. The reason I was called to detail it was because my co-worker spilled coffee in the driver's floorboard, so she wanted that extracted. I went ahead and extracted all the carpets and the bottoms of the front seats, because they were pretty nasty. Other than that the car just got a good wipe down, vacuum, and had the windows cleaned. Total time was about 2.5 hours, and that was rushing it because I had to get the car back to her before she got off work. Products used: OPC 3:1 Stoner Invisible Glass (Short list but that's all I really needed) Materials used: Costco Microfibers Various brushes Bissel LGM All in all it was a simple interior detail (exterior not touched) and it really proved the capability of the LGM, even as a small inexpensive extractor it worked very well. In addition, I found a way to keep from having to run inside all the time for more hot water for the tank of the LGM. I just kept a 5-gallon bucket of hot water outside with me. I can't believe I didn't think of it before. The only complication is it was about 45 degrees outside and drizzling--not exactly optimum detailing conditions. Anyway, onto some pictures. Sorry for the quality, all I've got in the means of a camera right now is my iPhone. Before Hand gunk...yum. These lovely looking spots were cigarette burns from a previous owner, it looks like someone filled the holes from the burns with some sort of glue or epoxy. They were all over the car, and there was really nothing that I could do about these. More gunk... Interesting note about this car, the owner informed me that the only way to get it to start was, once the key was in the ignition, to beat it with the glasses case you see in this picture to get the tumblers to fall in place. She wasn't joking Backseat wasn't too bad, just needed a quick cleaning. My set-up, this awning only set me back $12, a bunch of friends and I chipped in to buy it for a music festival; no one wanted it so I got to keep it. It's been quite useful. After: After the first pass on the driver's floor with the LGM: 50/50 of the driver's seat: Finished, not 100% perfect but for as abused as the seats were they came out pretty good. The black spots on the floor are more cigarette burns that I could do nothing about. The whitish spots are where the interior faded from the sun, not any sort of residue. I know this car didn't turn out 100%, but the main point was to get the carpet cleaned as best as possible and do the same for the rest of the interior. I was also limited by time, I had to give the owner instructions on how to finish drying out her seats and carpets after the car was returned as I didn't have the time to do so myself. However, she was very very happy with the results and given the time and what I was paid for the detail, I am happy with it too. I know it's not a luxury car or anything, but it's the sorta thing that helps me keep my gas tank full and to keep up with the rent. Thanks for reading, Clark
Goes too show you........... You can get some incredible results with minimal products, and resources. Outstanding work.
Nice, what steps do you do to help make sure the car dries out after the LGM? I used it on my mom's floormats, then spent awhile trying to back over my shop vac...but it seemed it didn't do much at all...luckily since it's mom's car I just put them inside the house for a day. I'm honestly terrified about doing the actual carpets in a car now. or edit...what instructions did you give...now that I reread the last of your post
Nice job Clark! Don't worry, we don't all work on exotics hehehe Detailing is detailing, paint is paint Keep at it Clark! To bigdre: you can use an air mover to help the drying, not sure if you've ever noticed, but in the winter with the snow and slush, the shopping malls put them near the entrance doors to help dry out the carpets
Smart, thanks for the tip. Guess I'll have to practice placement in the vehicle for optimal air distribution.
I read this somewhere on the forum, and I can't recall where or I'd give credit to who posted it. But what I do is start the car, and crack all the windows a little bit to let the moisture out. Then I crank up the heat and fan full blast, on the floor vent setting. I let it run for ~20 minutes or so, or until everything is nice and dry. (Note: this can also be used to dry shoes and socks on the go). And wow, thanks everyone! I haven't been able to detail much in the past year, so it's really nice to hear these compliments When I get my camera back from my parents' house I've got some pics of a pretty nasty Camry that I did over the summer, and I'll do a write-up on it.
I appreciate the advice, as Dad's equinox interior is getting nasty again. He may have me do it soon. Thank you.
