What a vehicle: 2003 Nissan Maxima GLE I can totally see how people get hooked these Maxima, interior wise thy are gorgeous and have some sexy curves on them. I enjoyed my self man handling this vehicle. Oh a bit of history on this vehicle, owner of this vehicle told me that the car had never received a full detail. I’ll let the pictures show that but what’s interesting is that there were a few critters literally living on the car here take a look: Well I’ve seen this before on discovery channel and looks like a spider laid some eggs…bbrrrrr…put two layer of gloves on and went to work :thumb: Okay well on with the show. I started off with the interior. Removed all floor mats and the owner was kind enough to clean out/remove all personal belongings. Here is what I was up against in the interior: Before I got going in the interior I laid the floor mats on a section where they weren’t going to get in the way, gave them a quick rinse: Sprayed the floor mats with some Meg’s APC: Then with my Meg’s wheel brush I scrubbed the floor mats to remove what ever was on them. Once I was done scrubbing I gave hem a good rinse and hung them to dry. Got the vacuum out and vacuumed the entire interior: Once I completed vacuuming the car I got the wipe down water ready. As always I used Meg’s APC diluted 10:1 Here is how the water finished off: Now on to the leather, for the leather I used Lexol PH Leather Cleaner with a bucket of hot water and a microfiber towel: Now what I do I get the microfiber towel wet and ring it off and just have enough moisture, spray the Lexol PH directly on the moist microfiber towel: Then I agitate the leather. This process was done to all leather seats and other leather panels inside the vehicle and here is how the water finished off: The entire interior is now clean and ready to be protected/dressed. For all vinyl and rubber areas I used Optimum Protection Plus: Once all the vinyl and rubber peaces were dressed it was time to work on the leather. Got a 500W light stand to heat up the leather: Once the leather was nice and toasty I sprayed some Lexol Leather Conditioner on my hand: I then massaged the Leather Conditioner on to the leather: I would let it sit on the leather for a bit and then wiped off what was left over: This was done to all leather seats and other panels inside the vehicle. Here is a picture to show the difference the Lexol Leather Conditioner was making: Can you tell which side has received the Lexol Leather Conditioner? Now some before and after for the interior: Before: After: Before: After: Before: Aftet: Before: After: Before: After: Well interior was all done now, moved on to the engine bay. The engine bay was actually not so dirty, quite clean. First protected all areas that needed to be protected and gave the engine bay a quick rinse first: Then applied a generous layer of P21S Total Auto Wash: Then gave the engine bay a good scrub: Once I was satisfied with the scrub I rinsed off the engine bay: Then used the air compressor to dry off the engine bay: Now I dressed the engine bay with Optimum Protection Plus..um…but I forgot to take pictures when it was all done :wall: Now on to the rims, for the wheel wells I used P21S Total Auto Wash: Then sprayed P21S Wheel Gel formula on the rims: Making sure to get all the way inside the rims: Man I love using P21S Wheel Gel, check this out: Moving along, I used Amazing Roll Off for the tires the tires and man this stuff works really good, I just spray it on and instantly it removes what ever is on the tires: I haven’t even used my brushes to agitate anything yet and look at all the products working away. Well I used my long handle brush to agitate the wheel wells (sorry no picture) Then with the help of my EZ brush I agitated the inside of the rims: Making sure to get all the way inside: Then agitated the face of the rims with my Swissvax brush: I gave the tires a good scrub, again I didn’t have to but I like to it anyways: This process was done for all tires, rims and wheel wells. On to the rest of the vehicle. I first gave the entire vehicle a quick rinse with the help of my CR Spotless System, the vehicle had some bugs on the front so I brought out Bug Squash to work it’s magic: Sprayed the entire front of the vehicle: Wile I let the Bug Squash work, I wet to the other end of the vehicle and worked on the exhaust tips. This is was greeted me: Got my P21S Polishing Soap out and went to work: End result: Once the exhaust tips were taken care off got my two buckets with grit guards, Meg’s Gold Class Shampoo and my black ShMITT and went to work on washing the vehicle. Once the entire vehicle was washed I wanted to give that clay that Chris sent me another go (grey Ricardo): The clay did okay but it doesn’t have as good as a bit compared to the red Clay magic and this vehicle needed an aggressive clay bar. Any who, I clayed the entire vehicle with this grey Ricardo clay and it took a bit more effort but it got the job done. Here is how the clay finished off: Clay was done after this car. To dry the vehicle I first used the air compressor: Then what ever water was left on the vehicle I used my Dehydrator: Now to inspect what I was up against: These were some scratches that did not seem that deep and would be able to be removed. As you can see some swirls and scratches but nothing that a good polish combo can’t remove. Once I new what I was up against it was time to gauge the paint, out came my PosiTector 6000. Here are some pictures of the gauging and some surprising readings: The lowest spot was on the roof, a shocking 86microns. This reading was taken from the passenger side of the roof. Now this was even worse, this reading came from the driver side. Well for the most part the vehicle was in reasonable shape and was good to polish minus those areas that had extremely low sections. Now I took my PosiTector 200 out and took some readings on the bumpers and spoilers, I also used the gel that came with this gauge: This is the probe of the PosiTector 200, completely different system compared to the 6000 gauge. The rear bumper was quite consistent. I got curious about the side view mirrors and just took some readings on them. Found out they are quite low. Front bumper got my attention, extremely thin wow. Well now that I knew how much paint I had to play with I went and taped off the vehicle. Now I’ve done a few Nissans and I know they tend to have soft clear coat, so I got my Menzerna 3.02, a Sonus SFX-2 pad and my Makita with the 3M baking plate (M14 pad with adaptor) Did a section to see how well this combo would do and it worked great 50/50 of the hood: Continued on polishing: (I brought the wife with me and she was kind enough to take some pictures wile I polished away) Here are two videos while I was polishing: [/URL][/IMG] Now the reason for the video is to show you how Menzerna was acting up on me, just a bit and only on the hood. Look for some dark spots/clumps on the hood, I continued on polishing and Menzerna corrected it’s self. Second video: [/URL][/IMG] This second video show’s how I polish the clear braw protection. I noticed the head lights needed some work, here is a before: After: Before: After: Before: After: Once all the entire vehicle had been polished time to remove all the dust left from the polishing process, for this I used my Zymol duster: (man this is a wicked duster, absolutely no way to induce any micro marring or scratches during the wipe down) The vehicle needed something that will last as a LSP, so I used Duragloss 105 applied by hand and an applicator: Rims got some 105 as well: I let DG 105 sit till it hazed: Then removed with the help of my Tornado microfiber towels: Here is a section that made me stand back and admire it: To finish the vehicle off I applied a nice coat of Duragloss Aquawax #951. Quite the product, I can see why Sparkie and Al-53 like these products. Tires and wheel wells received Optimum Tire Shine: All glass was cleaned with Stoners Invisible Glass and my Thief Glass Towel. Now for the end results: Oh, I tried to remove the licens plate like I noramly do but it didn’t want to come off? I kept turning the nut but nothing it was as though it was striped Well I hope you enjoyed the detail, as always feed back is always appreciated (good or bad). On a side note, the Duragloss products are quite nice. I’m not a big sealant fan but these products I used today left a really nice gloss to the vehicle, I haven’t tested it out it’s durability but I trust Sparkie and Al-53 word and this is a product worthy to add to my arsenal.
Glad you enjoyed it...sorry for being so long..I had way to much fun with this one hahahahaha. Thanks for the feed back :thumb:
Fantastic turn around, great job! I am sure the owner was pleased. I enjoy reading about your details. opcorn: I like the way you document every step. Continue the great work! DLR Detailing
Wow, nice to be able to detail it in their shop!!! Scary memories of those older maximas, but this one really looks great!! What size pad is that you used? I'm in dire need of pads and it's really time that I order some.
those are the 6" pads from eShine. By the way, Carlos do you need that adapter thingie to make the backing plate fit? Doesn't it get in the way? Great job on the detail!
I really enjoyed how you took us through that detail step by step. The car looks great. The paint is fantastic.
Man great work Nica and once again you did a phenomenal job on the interior, man you are good at those. I really appreciate all the work you put into your write ups and anyone who takes a lot of pics of a detail realizes just how much work that entails and how much time it actually tacks on to the total time of the detail. If you could get you a full time photographer you could cut a lot of time off the detail! Really do appreciate all the detail and info you put into the write ups.
Well I'm not a big sealant fun, you know that...but this Duragloss product is really easy to work with. I need to use them some more to get the feel for them but so far so good, the vehicle had lots of gloss to it when I was done...no depth though and that's what I like about the Wolfgang sealant but this duragloss product is something else :thumb: Thank you DLR for the feed back glad you enjoyed it owner thought that after I clayed the vehicle I was done hahahaha...I told him I was just getting started. This is the second car I detail from the same owner...actually the owner of the vehicle is the owner of the firetruck shop and I detailed his Nissan SUV and he knew what to expect. Glad you didn't find the detail boring :cheers: Yes, it's so nice having so much room to work with..heck even my car fit right inside there lol. What do you mean scary memories? Just wondering. As for the pad it's the Sonus pad 6inch it worked really well...first time I use the pad though but I like how it performed, I'll keep using the Sonus pads and get a better opinion about it. But I like the size :thumb:
nice i gotta be honest... it was a good detail, but not one i enjoyed as some of your others. I guess just because of the color, not as dramatic of difference, not shooting ur skillz, cause I know you got mad. oh yeah... you really need to find some gloves that fit better. worx gloves are awesome!!
gotta know on the paint gauge... what good and bad?? and is there really an advantage of having one??
Thanks, you're a wealth of knowledge as always. Scary memories are because my ex's dad had one. Mormon family, and they were EXTREMELY close with eachother. I went to take her out for a date one night and I ended up going for a 3 hour drive with him talking about "my intentions with his daughter, and what my plans were down the road, how many kids I wanted, was I a family man" ect ect. It was the scariest father meeting experiance of my life....I didn't even get to see his daughter for an hour after all that either!!!!
Top work Carlos, very very impressive!!! That duster looks WICKED! Completely eliminates the need to wash the car after polishing, right?
Yea I know, the detail was missing that something......it was hard getting good pictures of this colour I could barely do that 50/50 shot of the hood...but it turned out great at the end...the colour is one of those that you had to stand in front of it to really appreciated it. As for the gloves, you know what's weird. I got these other gloves that fit just right but I don't like them...then I use the ones I'm currently using and they fit comfortable, water gets int hem because they fit so loose but yet I find them comfortable really strange of me...I think I just need to get used to the other ones. Worx gloves huh...I'll have to look them up, I can't remember the ones I have...but thanks for the tip :thumb: Well the paint gauges, I personally think they are quite good..thing is though they have so many features I need to play with them way more that do some reading on them. What's good, well having the 6000 and the 200 is really handy. The 6000 is very accurate and it came in really handy because the vehicle had some really bad low spots were I did not apply as much pressure as other areas. The 200 gauge I was blown away with, it's accuracy is incredible (I've been testing this one). I mean the rear bumper on this car had really healthy readings but the front bumper was scary low, for the front bumper I literally lowered the rpm on the rotary and made nice smooth passes, not to fast and not to slow...hard to explain, the readings on the front bumper and the side view mirrors mad me glad I had this gauge. Now in the past I have been polishing with out these gauges and in the back of my head I always have the fear of will I burn through the paint this time...see the thing is that if you have that trained eyes that professionals have that have been doing body work/painting vehicles for over 30 years plus. My friend who owns his own body shop has been in the body/painting industry for over 30 years and he even recommend me these gauges as he uses them him self. They can literally tell when the vehicle has poor clear coat coverage just by looking at it :confuse: I don't know how but they can. Any who the other thing is that when you go and heavy compound polish out a vehicle how do you know it's never been polished before? Sometimes the owners know, heck the owners should know but what if it's a used vehicle and the owner just purchased and the used lot had an inexperienced person polish it? Well with these paint gauges I don't need to ever question my process again. I mean if there are scratches that I know should come out and they require that extra aggressiveness I can double check to see how much I have o play with and come up with a good combo to tackle the scratch/imperfections. Wet sanding for example, I do enjoy wet sanding but man it's really easy to go through the clear when wet sanding and if you don't know how much clear/paint you have how do you know when to stop? as for draw backs on these gauges...well for one they require both hands, which is not a big deal but if you want to take quick readings well you know your going to have both hands occupied. The other draw back is even though they have great features, it takes a bit of reading and re-search to truly use these gauges to there potential, well those are the things I've noticed as of now. I've just been testing the gauges, playing around with them on a spare panel I got at home and first thing I tested was to see if they were calibrated properly using the shims it came with. I got a long way to go with them, to truly use there full potential. Well just my :2cents: on them...ask me again after I use them a bit more, I think they are well worth the price but that's just me :2cents: I know Jayplay has the 6000 I'd love to hear some feed back from his as well, what his thoughts are about it.
Ooh and here I was thinking about a bad accident or something like that lol...but yea I've been there with have the "chat" with parents hahahaha..I had to do the same thing with my wife, but her dad is a riat..man he was craking jokes and all hahahahaha....I knew she was a keeper :thumb: Ooh I need to learn her name :whistle: Thank you P1et, glad you enjoyed it. The duster worked wicked, I would say that it can eliminate the need to wash the car but it all depends on what polish you use and how bad it dusts. From the dusting I got from 3.02 it was vey small amount of dusting and the duster took care of them all, first time I used it I tried to get rid of as much as dust as I could...I'm sure I've missed a few spots but even the wife was impressed with it...oh get this. My wife wants meto get here one of these for the house :headbang: I told her it would be her X-mas gift hahahaha..she didn't think it was funny though...hahahaha
Carlos..nice job indeed. It's never quite as rewarding doing a colour that isn't as reflective. The owner always seems to notice though. My :2cents: on DG...I use 601/105 combo which allows you to immediately follow it up with AW. The finish just rocks and the addition of the AW gives it even a little bit more protection and gloss. I was told by the chemist at DG that you can follow up the AW immediately if you use the 601..there was always some debate about that on AG. That is the combo I now use on customers' cars.
Glad you enjoyed it rich. I remember you mentioning the combo and that's kinda what I was going with...this AW product is wicked..I'll give it that it adds to the reflection. I can see how you like this combo/products even my wife was saying how reflective/shiny it looked...even after polishing it out I thought it looked great but the gloss that DG gave it wa something else....I wiped a section to see if I could notice the difference and right off the bat I notcied it. I'll have to keep playing with this line up for sure and like you said bang for your buck it's a great product. If you have more tips on this product feel free to share and I'll keep an eye out for your detail :cheers:
Man I hate spiders lol. I had a spider living in my car door and it was making webs on the driver window. It took me a while to find it but I killed it with my key. And I found a dead bee in the back lol. Thanks for the polishing videos...makes me want to step up to rotary already. The car looks awesome as always
