LukeZ34 Posted August 6, 2005 Report Posted August 6, 2005 This was today's job. Took me about 7 hours to complete with the exterior and interior cleaning included. Here's the before pictures. The client washed the car yesterday before he brought it over. Really, the paint was in good shape, but you could tell it needed cleaned badly. - I started out using some Protect All Quick & Easy Wash to give the car a quick bath. http://www.protectall.com/qelg.htm - Then I claybared the entire car with a Mother's Claybar Kit which the client provided. (For the record, I don't like this claybar) - After I clayed the car, I used a 50:50 mixture of 70% Rubbing alcohol and water. Sprayed it on the car in sections, let it set, and then wiped it off with a microfiber. This removes all the remaining wax/oils and anything on the surface, leaving behind naked paint. This is the perfect prepped surface for polishing. - Next I used Menzerna's Intensive Polish and an Orange Propel Cutting pad to remove any fine scratches on the car. - With the scratches removed, I used the Liquid Glass Pre-Cleaner to prep for the LG wax and to remove any stains left on the paint. I used the green cutting pad for this. - Finally I went over the car with the Liquid Glass wax, applying it with the blue polishing pad. - The rims got treated with some 3M Perfect-It III Fine Cut rubbing compound, and then waxed with the LG wax. They turned out pretty good. - The interior was vacuumed, leather seated were treated with the Meguiars leather wipes, and Armorall Protectant on the dash and vinyl. Now, for the after pics. Here is the detailing arsenal that was used. Front Row (L-R)- Propel Pads, Porter Cable 7424 Dual Action Polisher Back Row (L-R)- Mother's Clay Bar Kit, Liquid Glass Kit (LG Wax and Paint Cleaner shown), Many Microfiber towels, Meguiars Leather Wipes, ArmorAll Tire Foam, Menzerna Intensive Polish. The client was estatic with how the car turned out, and trust me, these pictures don't do it any justice. Thankfully it only got up to 88* today, none of that 100*+ crap that we've had the past few weeks. Quote
streetdreams Posted August 6, 2005 Report Posted August 6, 2005 I'm not gonna be negative because the pics turned out shit. the first pics looked like low light gave little detail and the second pics look like the same car but under intense light so its VERY hard to see an improvment. ANYWAYS being an ex detailer and workin on my own shit hell I gotta give you props just for claybar'n a whole damn GP!!! if you did all you said than ya the owner is gonna be ecstatic! I hope he either paid you a HELL of alot for your labour or he's your best friend and you just enjoyed helpin him out for the sake of sun and beer lol either way GREAT JOB man to do all that in one day. for a cars first time in a long time, you did well doin all that extra shit, after this though you shouldnt need all that in my opinion everytime. if its cleaned and waxed REGULARLY than you need not much more every month or so P.S the after shot of the hood you can really see every detail of the clouds! nice quality when you compare to ALL the before pics. Quote
LukeZ34 Posted August 6, 2005 Author Report Posted August 6, 2005 Yea, it's tough to get good pictures in sunlight, especially w/ a white car. Like I said, it wasn't in too bad of shape when I started on it, but it needed clayed badly and there were lots of tiny scratches on the hood and trunk. I haven't been doing this for too long, so I'm still in the learning process. I'm catching on quick though. Quote
sl3196 Posted August 7, 2005 Report Posted August 7, 2005 Luke have you visited http://www.autopia.org yet?? Tons of great detailing info. Now if I could just find the time to get mine done... Quote
LukeZ34 Posted August 7, 2005 Author Report Posted August 7, 2005 Oh yes, that's where I got the inspiration to start detailing. I had already liked it before hand, but once I started reading that place, it sealed the deal. I have learned a lot reading that place. Quote
J Posted August 7, 2005 Report Posted August 7, 2005 wow, i know what to look for since most of my cars have been white, and damn that looks great. You can tell you spent a few minutes (sarcastic) on each wheel! Quote
Euro Posted August 7, 2005 Report Posted August 7, 2005 thats awesome....even with white being a huge problem to try and get it to be super glossy!!! I can tell a difference though! where do you find all that detailing stuff? Quote
1990lumina Posted August 8, 2005 Report Posted August 8, 2005 Nice job man! Looks great. I can appreceiate the time and effort put in, and yeah, taking pictures of white is difficult to do!! Is that the same stuff you put on your TGP??? Either way, looks great ! Quote
slick Posted August 8, 2005 Report Posted August 8, 2005 How much did you make off of doing this? Quote
LukeZ34 Posted August 8, 2005 Author Report Posted August 8, 2005 Since I don't have a formal price sheet created yet, I just threw out a figure and he agreed. It wasn't near enough for the amount of work that was done, but I was happy just to gain the practice for a little bit of cash. With some luck, I can turn this in to a weekend hobby to make some extra cash. I've had many friends and friends of friends say that they would be intrested in having their cars detailed, so we'll see how it goes. Quote
jeremy Posted August 8, 2005 Report Posted August 8, 2005 that is about as nice as I have ever seen a car with factory white paint look... Quote
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