Well I was headed back down to the Charlotte area this past weekend for a detail. If you recall I went down there in November and did 2 BMWs for a girl that FMINUS reccommeded me to. Well she had her sister down from Chicago and after seeing the BMWs, the sister wanted me to detail her Audi A4 convertible. Well the A4 was in about the same shape as her Aunt's Z3 was back in November. It wasn't quite as bad but not far behind it either. Well I had my wife's uncle to help me out, thank goodness as the interior was not in good shape at all. It really helps having a great interior guy to take care of all that and I can concentrate on the exterior. The exterior was in rough shape as well and looked like it a couple of rounds with a white post of some sort! This wasn't a true paint correction but I did a lot to help it out. Anyway here's what I did: Tires/Wheels/Wells: The wheels got Megs Wheel Brightener and a variety of brushes. I used a lug nut brush, green foam finger pocket, Black Magic wheel brush bent to 90 degrees for getting behind the spokes, HD brushes for the tires and wheel wells, Auto Zone wheel brush and EZ Detail brush. I used the AZ one for the areas behind the calipers because the clearance was so small. These brushes are not the most durable brushes but for less than $6 you can afford to go through several and not be out a lot. For the tires and wells they got the ol' standby Majestic Solutions Super Green Stuff at 3:1 in a Solo 418 handheld pressurized sprayer, and some of the brushes I got from Home Depot. The tires were first dressed with Megs Hyper Dressing @ 3:1 with a MSs tire applicator. I then dressed them with the same method with a TW tire applicator and my new Tropi-Care tire dressing. As I've said it looks almost identical to Swissvax Pneu. I bought a gallon of the stuff and so glad I did. Now I'm only using this combo for all the cars I do. All other tire dressings are no longer in my cabinet, well except for the bottle of SV Pneu that I already had. Everything else that I had is just inferior in looks from what I get with the Tropi-Care. I'll tell you the stuff is very durable as well. The tires on my BMW have seen a week and a half of driving (one day in the rain all day) and one washing and the tires did not need to be redressed as they still looked as good as they did the day I did them! Wells were dressed with my combo of MS Mr. Natural/Megs ASD. I then coated the wheels with MS Enviro Shield. Her wheels will be 100x easier to clean from now on. The MS ES is a product that I am 100% sold on and will never be without. The results on glass and wheels is so phenomenal and its brain dead stupid easy to use. Mix 3 oz. of MS ES with a gallon of water and spray on the wheels, glass, and even paint if you want. Once you have sprayed everything you want and have it all coated well go back and rinse it off. Once rinsed just dry and voila it's done! Makes wheels a cinch to clean up next time too. I can clean the wheels on my cars without agitation, just rinse spray with a wheel cleaner and re-rinse. Phil at Majestics told me I could expect about 6 weeks of durability out of one application. Engine: I gave the engine a quick rinse, and sprayed it down with MS SGS. There was a lot of dirt and dust in just about every crevice there was so I agitated it and re-rinsed. I dried most of the water with a leaf blower and then sprayed the engine bay down with Megs HD @ 3:1 in a Solo 418 handheld sprayer. I cranked the engine and let it run for about 20 minutes and it looked brand new. Exhaust: The exhaust got Megs WB and #0000 Steel wool. Then they were polished with Autosol and buffed off with an Obessesive Detail MF. Convertible Top: I sprayed the top down with 303 Convertible top cleaner and agitated it with a stiff brush. I left the agitated 303 on there and then foamed the top with the rest of the car and washed it with my wash for the car. It was treated with 303 protectant. I have used this method on every convertible top I've done and it hasn't let me down yet. Wash: I really didn't think there was any LSP to speak of but to be sure I went with an LSP stripping formula in the foam cannon of 2 oz of CGs Citrus Wash Clear and 1 oz of MSs Power Prep. Power Prep is like Super Green Stuff's Daddy. It is a stronger cleaner and Phil at MSs said I could accomplish a sure strip of LSP by adding an ounce to my foam cannon. This allows me to save my CGs Strong Wash for bugs, tar and road grime. As good as this combo cleans I knew nothing was going to be left behind. Put that in my foam cannon with the Karcher. I used the 2 bucket method with Tropi Care Premium Car Wash in my Griots bucket with grit gaurd and rinse water in the other bucket with grit gaurd. As a side note, one of the casters broke on the bucket and I emailed Griots about it. Well they sent me 4 new casters to replace mine with and now the bucket is as good as new again. I washed with my boar's hair brush. The brush just really glided over the paint thanks to the Tropi Care Car wash. No bugs since this car had been in Chicago so a step was saved there. I didn't use the CR Spotless this time as the last time I took my CR down to Charlotte I had to replace the resins shortly after my return. The water quality isn't that good and I didn't want to have to change out my resins when I returned. The car was then dried with the leaf blower, and a Vroom drying MF. Clay: Well my mainstay for clay has become and always will be the Bilt Hamber and this detail was going to be no different. This is the best clay I have ever used and the only one I use now. Of course as always the lube was water. Glass: Glass inside and out got Sprayway Glass Cleaner. I used a MS blue huck window towel to apply and a Walmart WW to buff off. The outside of the glass was treated with MS ES. Interior: Well the interior was a wreck. The interior was completely dusted down with the Megs slide lock brush and was vacuumed with the Shop Vac. Then everything was cleaned with Majestic Solutions Leather and Plastic Cleaner diluted at 1:1 with about an ounce of MSs Lemon deodorizer put in with it. Wife's uncle was really impressed with this stuff and kept calling it magic. After cleaning everything the vinyl and plastic was protected with Vinylex and the leather was conditioned with Tropi Care Leather Conditioner. I really liked the TC Leather Conditioner. Spots and general grime in the carpet and mats were cleaned with MSs Extraction Plus in a spray bottle at 10:1. This stuff as krshultz says is simply "witchcraft in a bottle". He used a damp MF with it and the dirt, grime and spots just disappeared. I can't wait to use this in my extractor. Wife's uncle liked it so much he kept my bottle I had made up!:yikes: He cleaned the door jambs with a mixture of MS SGS and CGs Total Green Clean in a pressurized sprayer while washing. He used a Swissvax brush and I rinsed with the pressure washer. Paint: Well to start with it did look like the driver's side had decided to tangle with a white post of some sort. I didn't know it looked like this before hand and the owner wasn't planning on telling me because she didn't think anything could be done about it and didn't expect me to try. Well I certainly couldn't pass up a challenge so I gave it a whirl. I first cleaned as much of the paint off with Malco Cosmoline Remover and a MF. It got some of it but not near as much as I had hoped. Next up I went with Scholl Concepts S03+ and a SC blue pad (like an LC orange pad as far as cut goes). This really cleaned everything up with the exception of the really deep scratches. I then did the car with the Scholl Concepts S30. Damn this stuff is the best! I used a 3M white pad and all buffing was done with the Metabo and a Scholl Concepts backing plate with a M14 to 5/8ths adapter. Here's a before and after of the horrible scratches and paint transfer: I then went with the DG 501 to really clean the paint and did that with the Cyclo and 4" white LC CCS pads. The metal pillars and area surrounding the windshield was polished with Autosol. LSP: The paint wasn't perfect but she wasn't paying for perfect so I decided to go with the Bilt Hamber Auto Balm. I decided this for a couple of reasons. First it is so durable and I know she still has a lot of winter weather to endure up in Chicago and second, it would hide some of the defects still there. Well this product continues to impress me and its been on my Jeep for over 5 months and its holding up as well as the day after I did it. There's a trick to application but the results are stunning. The trick is to just do a 2x2 area and then buff it off. Don't let it dry and it goes on and off easily. If you let it dry even a minute or so it becomes a bear to get off. I am so glad Ben at Rubbish Boys talked me into this. Well the owner was on her way back from a trip to Hawaii and would be arriving a few hours after I finished. I had backed the car out and parked it parallel to the road because of the position of the sun and I wanted some good pics. Well the sister that owns the BMW told me to leave it there so when she rode by she would see it. She couldn't believe I had improved the scratches so much and assured me her sister would be floored! Well here are the before and afters: Before and Afters: Some random reflection shots:
Nice work JL, I can't believe how much of that rear fender you were able to clear up. You perform miracles on every car you touch my man!!!!:worship2:
Thanks! Thanks bro and you should have already had that truck posted! Thanks Corey it surprised me too how much I got out. The S03+ from Scholl handled it like it was nothing. Thanks Nica. Only wish I could have seen the owners face when she saw it. Thanks Brendan much appreciated.
JL...man that is impressive!! You had to be nervous about how much paint you were dealing with in that area..it had to be thin! You really brought out the richness of the colour..congrats!!:applause2:
Looks fantastic as usual mate! I got my gallon of Tropi-Care tire dressing in as well and was shocked at how incredibly milky it was! But I'm loving it, looks fantastic!
Wow JL this is some great work...i always enjoy your writeups as well, a lot of background...now i have to go add enviroshield too :doh:
Man that's some outstanding work, especially on that fender she banged up! She's going to be thrilled with it. And, you've sold me on Auto Balm finally. Next time I order from Ben, I'll add some to the order. I know, right? The first time I used the stuff, I was like..."um, where did the dirt go?!?" Might be my favorite product from MS, and that's quite a statement. Just to clarify for the others, the mix is 10 parts water. I know that when I first read the label, I thought, no way. And then I used it, and it almost seemed impossible. Great work as always JL. If you hear back, let us know how thrilled she is with her Audi. Pretty car too.
Nice recovery on removing the white paint. So did you use 303 fabric protectant or just 303 protectant on the top? Car looked awesome after.
I know, I just found out my buddies wife has cancer and I have been over there, she is only in her early 30's and it is stage 3. If I am not at his house tonight I will. Thanks again for the camera help-lol.
Lovely work JL, well done indeed ! Great to see the Scholl in action, can't wait to try them out for myself
Thanks richy and yeah I was a little nervous and just took it slow and worked small areas at a time. I had forgotten my paint gauge and that made it worse for me. You won't be disappointed in the Enviro Shield I assure you. I was very skeptical when Phil at MS told me about it but after using it I'm sold. Thanks Piet. I told you the TC tire dressing was the bomb. The stuff is the best I have used bar none. Thanks Jordan much appreciated and glad you like the write up. Like I told Denzil you will not be disappointed in the Enviro Shield, works great and so easy to use. Thanks Karl you made a terrific call talking me into the Extraction Plus. And quit waiting go order some of that Auto Balm! Thanks Erik glad you enjoyed it. A lot of credit has to go to you too Pirex for getting me hooked on and supplying me with the Scholl Concepts Polishes. They do a magnificent job. I just used the 303 protectant but have heard of folks using the 303 fabric protectant too. I might just have to try that out. Thanks for the props. Thanks! Yes they do! I have not been impressed with their waxes, polishes or sealants but everything else I've used from them has been some of the best in the business. Their cleaners, protectants, and dressings are all top notch. I can't wait for you to try them too. I look forward to hearing your opinion on them once you give them a whirl.
