The vehicle: 2004 Ford Explorer (I think it’s a 2004 but I could be mistaken) Now first inspection I knew I had my work cut out, here is what I was up against: Well this truck had lots of goodies for me to work on. Now I started the detail in my garage but the temperature lately have been around the -20C and I was able to finish the interior and for the wash and polishing of the vehicle I was quite fortunate that Mr. Bill (owner of the fire truck business) was kind enough to let me use his bay, thank you Mr. Bill. Okay on with the show, so I first started with the interior. I removed all that was inside the vehicle. Removed the floor mats and all that was left was the true state of the vehicle here take a look as to what greeted me: Well got my vacuum out, put some gloves on and went to work. I gave the entire interior a good vacuum making sure to remove as much as possible. Once the vacuum was done, the floor of this truck was not carpet (thank goodness) it has a rubber floor, so I gave the floor a good spray with Meguiar’s All Purpose Cleaner: I let the All Purpose sit there and work it’s magic, mean wile I went off with giving the vehicle a full wipe down. For the wipe down I once again used Meguiar’s all Purpose Cleaner diluted (4:1 I need it to be strong): As always I use my Swissvax brush for the vents and all those hard to reach areas. Once the wipe down was done it was time to go back to the floor of the truck and with the same water used for the wipe down I scrubbed the floor and wiped clean. Once the floor was done the interior was looking presentable and it was time to dress the interior vinyl and rubber. I went with Meguiar’s #40 for the interior: Here are a few before and after pictures to better illustrate the difference, oh on the after pictures the light was quite poor so I had to use the flash on the camera and it made it look all shiny but for those that have used Meguiar’s #40 you know how it would look with out the flash): Before: After: Before: Sorry for the blurry picture After: Before: After: Before: After: Before: After: Before: After: Before: After: Well that took care of the interior. Now it was time for the rest of the vehicle, for the rest I was in a very nice worm and cousy place, it was quite nice outside it was -20C (no joke) and inside must have been at least 24C because I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt (like I did all summer when detailing and the way it should be). Well first up was the engine bay, for the engine bay I used my favorite product, P21S Total Auto Wash, agitated with my long handle brush and my other Swissvax brush: Applying a good coat of P21S Total Auto Wash Scrubbing action Gave the engine a good rinse and it was looking quite nice, I dressed the engine bay with: Some before and after pictures (on the before pictures again, not great lighting so sorry for the dark pictures): Before: After: Before: After: Before: & After: Engine bay turned out quite nice but I missed a spot and I just saw it, here take a look: Darn (snaps fingers) Well on to the rims, tools utilized for the rims: First up, P21S Total Auto Wash on the wheel wells: Then P21S Wheel Gel on the entire rim: With the help of my long handle brush I agitated the P21S on the wheel wells: With the help of my EZ wheel brush, I took care of the inner part of the rims: I used my Swissvax brush to agitate the Gel and get the face of the rims nice and clean: Now for the tires, I used my Meguiar’s tire brush to give the tires a good scrub: This is what it all looks like at the end prior to the rinse: Rinsed off the all the components and watched the mud come off, oh but this is an ever better image, P21S Wheel Gel doing it’s thing: Man I love this stuff Okay back to the detail, all the rims, wheel wells and tires were done with this method. All the rims, tires and wheel wells had been taken care off on to the main event, washing the rest of the truck. To wash the truck here are the tools I used: Black ShMITT, Meguiar’s Gold Class Shampoo and the two bucket method. As I went around the truck washing all it’s panels, I’ve noticed that the truck had huge and I mean huge chunks of tar. Now the unfortunate part is that I had very little Tarminator left, so that little that I had left over I left for those really stubborn spots. I’ve tried various products and the best so far is Tarminator. Well I brought some stuff that “supposedly” is meant to remove tar, picked it up over the counter locally (actually picked it up at Canadian Tire). Well here it is: I sprayed this stuff directly on the vehicle Well I let this Goo Gone stuff sit for a bit, wile I went and started claying other part off the truck, most of the lower panels were covered with tar but the upper panels I could start claying. For the clay I got one of my go to clay bars: I used Pinnacle Clay lube, I’m quite pleased with this clay lube works quite well. The red Clay Magic, well what can I say it works wicked. Well I clayed the roof and the driver side with this peace and the Red Clay Magic bar was doing quite well against the tar, but it was getting covered with contamination. Some of you may remember that Chris sent me a sample of an aggressive clay bar that is within the family of Ricardo. Well perfect time to use it: See what I mean about the Red Clay not being able to take any more, nasty. Well continued on with the gray clay from Chris, now this clay had a nice bite but not as strong as the Red Clay Magic one. I would say it’s just as strong as the Ricardo Clay bar, but it still did okay, so now I had the Red Clay Magic on my right hand and the grey Ricardo clay bar on my left and that’s how I clayed the rest of the truck. Here is how both clay bars finished off: Well claying this truck too some time, two hours to be exact. Oh there were some really stubborn spots that the clay bars couldn’t take care off and I had to use what I had left of Tarminator, man this stuff works wicked here is an example of the power of this product: Now in this picture, I had just sprayed the stubborn spots and Tarminator was already hard at work. I’m blown away by this stuff. Well once all the tar was removed from the vehicle I gave the areas where I sprayed the Tarminator a quick wash again and it was all done. Now to try the vehicle, oh I forgot to mention I couldn’t use my CR system this time because the water in side froze from sitting in my garage. Hopefully no damage but I had to replace the resins anyways, but stay toned. Having said that I needed to dry the vehicle as soon as possible to avoid water spots. With the help of a Dehydrator microfiber towel I dried the entire vehicle: The vehicle was starting to look much better, it still not quite done. Now it was time to take some paint depth readings with the PosiTector 6000. The vehicle had a nice healthy coat of paint on it, average of 208microns. Some spots were high: The lowers reading I found was 206: Once I was satisfied with all the readings I took I was ready to polish the vehicle. The vehicle had some severe scratches on it, so severe that not even wet sanding would have been able to help. Here is an example: Hopefully you can see it, I found it a bit difficult to get dissent pictures. Well for the polish I used my reliable Menzerna 3.02 with a Sonus SFX-2 Polishing Pad and I was pleased with the results I was getting, some areas required two passes to completely correct but for the most part one pass took care of it. Now unfortunately majority of the pictures I took turned out all blurry and on those 50/50 pictures I had a tough time taking the pictures. This is the only picture that actually turned out reasonable: This picture is actually supposed to be a 50/50 picture of the hood. You have to look really close but the far left light shows some swirls and the far right light shows none. Again sorry for not being able to show you the pictures. Well on with the show. Once all the paint corrections were done it was time to finish off the truck. This is a daily driver and since I hadn’t used my DG products I thought this would be the perfect time. Final products used were these: 105, 601 and 951. Now I’m fairly new to these products so all products were applied by hand. You guys are going to have to give me some tips as to what is the best method to apply these. Well on to the finished product: Not as many pictures as I’m used to, I really need to start learning on how to take better pictures under the lighting conditions I’m in. Well hope you guys enjoyed the detail and sorry for the poor quality pictures. As always feed back is always welcome. Oh and if you got any tips for the DG products please let me know.
haha no matter what your pics are still better than mine! That truck looks nassssssssssttttyyyy. Interior and exterior. Thanks for the pics of the 6000. It is very interesting... Next time you use M40 spray it onto an applicator pad. Less chance of getting it on the windows, as well as you have more control over the shine. Great job on the detail. I need to get me one of those garage heaters. 24C! I will verify that it was -20 out. I now see why it took you so long hhaha.
My god nica, that truck was NASTY! excellent job all around. I cant believe you like tarminator so much, I have a can and I thought it was pretty weak. Its weird because your pics show results, yet this stuff could barely take care of anything for me. I know for one it didnt do squat on stuck on rubber on my fender lips, and a big black smudge from rubbing up against a highway cone in a parking lot. Anyway, good job on de-griming this thing. Good thing you used the DG, this thing is gonna need some durability, it doesnt appear the owner takes care of it...ever...
Well I don't know usually I'm okay with pictures but this one I found really tough, I've noticed it's the interior pictures that I'm really bad at. Even in my garage I still get soem blury pictures I need to purchase the camera I'm after and get one of those lenses that reduce...um...shakyness (if that's even a word lol). Oh as for the Meg's #40, yea it's a bad habit I got to apply it directly on the panels..as for the windows I don't mind I usually give the glass a good cleaning as well but I now what you mean about the shine. Oh man when I was gong to disconnect the houses from the CR system I was shoked :gasp: just shocked that the water froze..that's it next year I'm installing a gas heater in my garage screw it. Tha's what I should have done from the get go...oh well. Oh and Mr. Bill was kind enough to actually give me one of his bays to do my details :headbang: I got a few vheicles lined up so this will come in handy I just need to adjust my self and take better pictures becuase the lighting is not going to get any better...well maybe I'll just bring two tripod lights :whistle: Oh and sneek, I'll do a review on the gauges I got but I need to play with them a bit more to get my self familiar with them...can't wait to use the PosiTector 200 :headbang: Really Tarminator didn't do nothing for you...man this stuff is the only stuff that I've found that is really good on tar, here in town there are new roads being built constantly. So most vehicles have tar on them but Tarminator works wicked...definetly should be used on a well ventilated area because in my garage I have to leave the garage to catch my breath when I use it...but I love it...some times it requires a couple of applications but it gets the job done. It's funny you say it didn't help stuck on rubber becuase Chris uses Tarminator for this exact application..mmm...interesting. Well glad you enjoyed the detail and thank you for the feed back. Oh and yes the vehicle probably had never been detailed...but that's okay, always look forward to a good challenge :chest:
wow the interior on that was sick, how could someone live with that. It looks great both inside and outnow. stunning work
Man beautiful work... :acry2::worship::worship::worship::worship::worship::worship::worship::worship::worship::worship::worship::worship::worship::worship::worship:
That interior was just nasty!! I can't believe you were able to bring it back to looking brand new. Thank God there was no carpet lining and just rubber . Everything looks awesome, and that wheel well is damn clean. That silver is reflecting pretty damn good.
Very nice work Carlos the interior was BAD, I can understand you used gloves Love the results very nice. But I would love a picture of the whole car!
Nica, that is one of the BEST interior turnaround I have EVER seen! If someone would approach me with a project like that, I would tell them to get their wallet out!!! GREAT GREAT WORK!!!
Damn Nica you are the absolute KING of interiors and my hero. I swear my jaw dropped when I say the before and afters. I thought the only thing you could do for the mats was chuck em, but man you made them look fantastic! Man I wish I could turn interiors around like you! :worship: The entire detail was first class as always bro! What did you use for tire dressing and wheel well dressing?
I still cann'ot belive that SUV was so dirty! Those floor mats, eeeeeeeewwwwwwwww.... Better get all season rubber mats next time... That ugly interior, that engine...and even the whole body was so contaminated, it looked rusty to me... Awesomw work, Nica! Good choice of product too. Duragloss #105 will last you though a harsh winter. Great job. One question, do you cover engine sensitive parts (intake, spark plugs/engine coils, belts, altenator) before degreasing???
oh, have you got your mytee yet? Short of that, i can't see much having made such great work of the mats
Oh come on now I've seen your work and you do some kick ass details too, but thank you for the compliment and glad you enjoyed it. Yea I hear you, thing is the owner has two kids (I think it's two kids) and very busy family with business/work. So I can kinda understand lol...besides I need more people like this..called detail security hahahahaha just teasing. I don't know I don't mind a good mess, just adds to the end results :chest: Thank you Takumi, glad you enjoyed it...but no need to worship my friend I'm just another detaile trying to make a name for my self that's all. No difference then all the other wicked details I've seen from you :thumb: But I do appreciate the compliment :cheers: Oh dude if it had carpet I would have done this :wall: hahaha but I'm so glad it didn't. Glad you enjoyed it Kuls oh and yea the wheel wells turned out wicked :wicked: I was pelased with everything but the wheel wells were just wicked :headbang: Thank you pirex for the compliment, very much appreciated my friend. Yea I use gloves for everything now, I didn't used to use gloves but I like it now. Not only for the protection but when your washing the vehicle or claying it really helps to get a feel of how bad the contamination is on the surface of the vehicle. As for the pictures man I did a lousy job on the pictures on this one...lost of pictures were blury or to dark or to light...I need a new camera oh and I need a tripod. First detail that the pictures were really bad, I was a bit disapointed at my self or the poor quality pictures but sometimes you need to take a step back to take two steps forward...next purchase a good quality camara and most importantly learn how to use it :thumb: Thank you P1et, for the kind words, means a lot to me. As for the interior yea it needed some work but to be honest the thing that really helps me is that when I deatil a vehicle I usually have the car for at least 2 to 3 days. I take my time I do one thing at a time...exmaple this truck. I spend all of Saturday just in the interior, made sure to get every corner, vent...everthing as best as I could. Then spent all of Sunday making sure to remove all the contamination from the surface of the vehicle, rims, wheel wells and engine bay and then Monday and Tuesday was paint correction....oh the owners were gone on holidays for about 14days so they left me the vehicle to play with :headbang: Oh I don't even know how long this truck took to be honest but it took some time...but time is not a big deal it's all about the results :gidiup: Thank you for the compliment Wolf, very much appreciated. The floor mats needed lots of Meg's APC and lots of scrubbing. I literaly soked the floor mats with Meg's APC for oh I can't remember how many days lol but at the end they turned out quite good. As for the tires I used Optimum Tire shine, I like this stuff works really good oh and I used Optimum Protection Plus on the wheel wells too :thumb: Sorry I forgot to say that on the lenghty detail :booboo: Thank you for the compliment supercharged, glad you enjoyed it and didn't find it borring :thumb: I'm pleased with the Duragloss products but I need to use them more to get confortable with them..heck I don't even know if I got the order right, I remember what richy, Sparkie and Al-53 told me that I'm following there foot steps :headbang: after all they are the DG Kinds :chest: As for the engine bay, to be honest on this one I didn't cover anything. Not beucase I didn't want to I forgot to bring my bags that I use to cover the areas...so I was very catious with the water but went very heavy on the P21S Total Auto Wash. I'm happy to say the truck started up with no problems. But I normaly protect all sensative areas in the engine bay...just to be safe that's all. No I'm still waiting for it, it should be in soon though. Can't wait to get it. On floor mats what I normaly do is I literaly hose them down with Meg's APC and scrub the life out of them then since them off and then extract them with my little green machine...but when I get my Mytee things are going to change :chest: Oh by the way I went with the HP-60, it' sthe exact same thing as the HP-100...motor is the same, power..ect..ect..all the same the only difference is how much it can hold. The reason I went with the HP-60 is because I know the wife is going to want for me to shampoo the carpet in the house and I imagined my self haling that HP-100 up and down the stairs and just the thought of that made me feel old :chris: hahahaha oh and yea I got the wond attachment for the carpet. But if I get vehicles as bad as this one and they are carpet instead of ruber I'll just gigle and get my HP-60 out :beerbang:
lol...yea I know...but if people take there time to respond/provide feed back I think it's only fair that I respond to there feed back that's all :whistle:
I agree, dont get m wrong. Im just saying that is a long post lol :coffee: I need a coffee just to prepare myself to rad it
Just get an expreso instead :rollinglaugh: :rollinglaugh: Oh and don't forget the opcorn: and some :chips: hahahaha
