Chicago's DAD: 2013 Ford Focus ST (The Definitive Interior and Showroom Engine Detail)

ALBUM

Overview
Here is my work from this last weekend. I am a completely mobile detailer and live in the Chicagoland area. I do not actually open until May but this client reached out to me and I wanted to make sure they were taken care of properly and establish a good relationship.

This detail was a lot of fun. I always enjoy interiors because they are such a huge turn around for not as much work as something like a full-blown paint correction.

The client had brought his car to a bodyshop to have it repainted. Unfortunately, while the windows were removed from the vehicle, they were not covered. This resulted in the work of the body shop making its way into the vehicle and covering it. This vehicle is definitely this client's baby and fun car. He was absolutely devastated and really wanted his vehicle brought back to life so he could once again enjoy something he has put a lot into.

I look forward to potentially working on this vehicle again and helping this owner get his car to any level of perfection he is looking to achieve.

Work Done
The client wanted a Definitive Interior Cleaning as well as a Showroom Engine detail. Services described here
To a great help to me, this client removed the seats and cleaned them all before I even came on site. This allowed me to focus a lot more time on the interior and door jamb areas and the engine. We did not put the seats back into the vehicle as I wanted the fabric coating to fully dry before they were put back in. That is why you will not be seeing any seat pictures. They were just fine.

The interior was vacuumed and then was completely cleaned with Detailer Pro's Total Interior Cleaner. This product is my go-to for interiors. It works flawlessly and it has a great smell that does linger and just smells naturally clean. I use these types of interior clothes for working with that product.

To assist in cleaning some of the interior trim and the vents, a steam cleaner was used. The steam cleaner was very carefully used on the headliner as well. It is very important to not let a headliner get soaked or too wet as the glue is very thin. Doing this can cause headliner sag.

Nothing beats cleaning the interior of a vehicle with this brush. It is absolutely my favorite brush.

All interior hard surfaces were treated with Lexol Premium Protectant.

The entire interior carpet was cleaned utilizing a heated carpet cleaner. The entire interior carpet where feet will be, the two front seats, and all four mats were treated with CarPro Cquartz Fabric Coating.

The pedals were cleaned up with steel wool as much as possible. Lots of plastic on them which made it difficult to polish to the level it could have been.
All door jambs were sealed with Sonax Polymer Net Shield.

The engine was completely cleaned using P21S Total Auto Wash and just general microfiber clothes from a place like AutoZone. The engine was then dressed with Adam's
In&Out Spray to enhance the appearance of all plastic/rubber parts.

Response
Overall the client was very satisfied and could not stop staring at the vehicle.

He stated that it looked like new again and like a completely different car. He definitely seems ecstatic to have his vehicle back to the way it should be.

The client did point out the spots still left on the headliner and was instructed on properly cleaning that overtime to remove them. I expressed no issue/charge to work on the headliner again if I come out for new work.

Reflection and Lessons Learned
Not much for this one. I had a chance to finally clean a headliner that really needed it. It's definitely very difficult to clean something when you can't be that aggressive with and just have to take time and a lot of patience.

I got pictures of the interior beforehand, but not the engine. The engine was worse off than I was planning and without the use of water like normal, it took quite a bit of time. It turned out just fine though. Engines can be cleaned either way.

Total Time: 5 hours on interior, 2 hours on engine

Total Cost: $390

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Looks good. Love the detail put into processes and products used!

 

Nice write up. Thanks for posting. Very nice work!

 

Great turnaround! I'm not surprised that the customer was delighted with the results. Thanks for sharing the detailed write-up and pics.