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On Saturday, December 18, our MINI club, c3 (Cooper Club for Charities) held our monthly detailing clinic. Eleven MINI's showed up, most prewashed!
Here are a few waiting to be detailed.
We first did a visual inspection of each car before we actually did any work. We looked at the condition of plastic trim, and looked for areas on the paint that had embedded residue. In some cases we found yellow highway paint, and others tar, as well as unknown particles that wouldn't come off with water or even a liberal soaking of Quik Detailer. In those cases, we knew that Clay was likely the answer. We took into consideration the year of the car, and whether the car was garaged or lived outdoors, and how frequently the car was washed to determine the products we would use. For the 2005's, we washed with Meguiar's NXT Car Wash , then used Meguiar's Clay to remove spot residue, then buffed with the PCDA and NXT Tech Wax as we determined clay wasn't needed, and we were in short supply of clay.
This was the first car we worked on, a 2002 Dark Silver MCS which fortunately needed the most work. While the owner took pretty good care of the car, and even washed it before bringing it to the clinic, there were a lot of issues that were immediately evident.
The black plastic trim around the wheel arches were grey and mottled instead of rich black.
The white plastic mirror caps were scuffed and dirtied with traces of red bug guts.
The surface of the paint was rough to the touch in many areas. We Quik Detailed the entire car first and wiped it down
with microfiber towels.
We claybarred the entire car using QD as a lubricant and used QD to wipe the residue off.
It was certainly a team effort!
Even though most of the people had never held a PCDA before, they all got hands on experience today!
Next using a soft buffing pad, and #83 we buffed and polished out the finish.
Here I am (the host) showing the proper use of the PCDA.
On certain areas like the roof and the mirror caps, I used ScratchX and the buffing pad as well. Then NXT Tech Wax was used, and we finished the car off with a coat of Gold Class Clear Coat Wax . I apologize for not having any decent AFTER pics but I can say that we made the mirror caps white again--the scratches couldn't be seen any longer and the finish that once felt like sandpaper was now smooth as glass!
The owner was super pleased! He had to leave so we moved on to the next car. I only got a few shots of the car before he took off. It turns out he went to shoot these pictures. Look at that shine!!!
The next car up was a 2005 Dark Silver MCS with a black roof. A quick check over revealed the finish didn't need much work. We limited our work to Quik Detailing, plastic trim, clay for removing some foreign particles from the paint, and NXT Tech Wax.
Getting Prepped
Claying the boot (The boot or hatch area is like a dust magnet)
Maren, the owner, is using the PCDA for the first time and she's handling it like a pro!
Spreading the NXT
Not the best lighting. We were pressed for time and space to work. Since we were always working on atleast 2 cars at a time, space to move into the sun was limited.
By this time, after working on two MINI's in the blazing sun, we needed a break so we went inside for some food, socializing, and a surprise birthday party for one of our members!
Check out the fantastic 3d cake made by Jirawan!
After about an hour and half of rest, fun, food, and more food we decided it was time to get back to work.
Our next MINI was a 2003 Pepper White MC
It was immaculate! The owner had to leave, so we just did Quik Detailer on the wheels and body, and cleaned the glass with Stoners glass cleaner.
Toshi is working on the tires
Next up was this 2002 Silk Green MC. We wanted to give all the newcomers priority detailing before we tackled any member cars!
We gave the full treatment to this MINI as well--NXT Wash, Clay Bar, Quik Detailer, NXT Tech Wax, Gold Class.
A blurry picture of me!
Matthew the owner is using the PCDA
I can't wait to use the new brushes!! It would have made our work so much quicker!!
Kinda blurry--the sun was going down.
A late arrival--a 2005 JCW Cabriolet with every mod you could dream of.
My 7-1/2 month old son observing the fun!
As you can see it got dark pretty quickly. I didn't take pix of the remaining MINI's because we were racing the sunlight! These were member cars and we mostly just did Quik Detailer and NXT Tech Wax. I also installed an Ian Cull Auto Up circuit and did a British Male voice mod. All in all, it was a fantastic day, with lots of holiday cheer, and shiny cars everywhere! Several attendees told me that as a direct result of the days hands on experience they were going to go buy a bunch of Meguiar's products!
We love Meguiar's!!!
Here are a few waiting to be detailed.
We first did a visual inspection of each car before we actually did any work. We looked at the condition of plastic trim, and looked for areas on the paint that had embedded residue. In some cases we found yellow highway paint, and others tar, as well as unknown particles that wouldn't come off with water or even a liberal soaking of Quik Detailer. In those cases, we knew that Clay was likely the answer. We took into consideration the year of the car, and whether the car was garaged or lived outdoors, and how frequently the car was washed to determine the products we would use. For the 2005's, we washed with Meguiar's NXT Car Wash , then used Meguiar's Clay to remove spot residue, then buffed with the PCDA and NXT Tech Wax as we determined clay wasn't needed, and we were in short supply of clay.
This was the first car we worked on, a 2002 Dark Silver MCS which fortunately needed the most work. While the owner took pretty good care of the car, and even washed it before bringing it to the clinic, there were a lot of issues that were immediately evident.
The black plastic trim around the wheel arches were grey and mottled instead of rich black.
The white plastic mirror caps were scuffed and dirtied with traces of red bug guts.
The surface of the paint was rough to the touch in many areas. We Quik Detailed the entire car first and wiped it down
with microfiber towels.
We claybarred the entire car using QD as a lubricant and used QD to wipe the residue off.
It was certainly a team effort!
Even though most of the people had never held a PCDA before, they all got hands on experience today!
Next using a soft buffing pad, and #83 we buffed and polished out the finish.
Here I am (the host) showing the proper use of the PCDA.
On certain areas like the roof and the mirror caps, I used ScratchX and the buffing pad as well. Then NXT Tech Wax was used, and we finished the car off with a coat of Gold Class Clear Coat Wax . I apologize for not having any decent AFTER pics but I can say that we made the mirror caps white again--the scratches couldn't be seen any longer and the finish that once felt like sandpaper was now smooth as glass!
The owner was super pleased! He had to leave so we moved on to the next car. I only got a few shots of the car before he took off. It turns out he went to shoot these pictures. Look at that shine!!!
The next car up was a 2005 Dark Silver MCS with a black roof. A quick check over revealed the finish didn't need much work. We limited our work to Quik Detailing, plastic trim, clay for removing some foreign particles from the paint, and NXT Tech Wax.
Getting Prepped
Claying the boot (The boot or hatch area is like a dust magnet)
Maren, the owner, is using the PCDA for the first time and she's handling it like a pro!
Spreading the NXT
Not the best lighting. We were pressed for time and space to work. Since we were always working on atleast 2 cars at a time, space to move into the sun was limited.
By this time, after working on two MINI's in the blazing sun, we needed a break so we went inside for some food, socializing, and a surprise birthday party for one of our members!
Check out the fantastic 3d cake made by Jirawan!
After about an hour and half of rest, fun, food, and more food we decided it was time to get back to work.
Our next MINI was a 2003 Pepper White MC
It was immaculate! The owner had to leave, so we just did Quik Detailer on the wheels and body, and cleaned the glass with Stoners glass cleaner.
Toshi is working on the tires
Next up was this 2002 Silk Green MC. We wanted to give all the newcomers priority detailing before we tackled any member cars!
We gave the full treatment to this MINI as well--NXT Wash, Clay Bar, Quik Detailer, NXT Tech Wax, Gold Class.
A blurry picture of me!
Matthew the owner is using the PCDA
I can't wait to use the new brushes!! It would have made our work so much quicker!!
Kinda blurry--the sun was going down.
A late arrival--a 2005 JCW Cabriolet with every mod you could dream of.
My 7-1/2 month old son observing the fun!
As you can see it got dark pretty quickly. I didn't take pix of the remaining MINI's because we were racing the sunlight! These were member cars and we mostly just did Quik Detailer and NXT Tech Wax. I also installed an Ian Cull Auto Up circuit and did a British Male voice mod. All in all, it was a fantastic day, with lots of holiday cheer, and shiny cars everywhere! Several attendees told me that as a direct result of the days hands on experience they were going to go buy a bunch of Meguiar's products!
We love Meguiar's!!!
My MINI is 2.5 years old and has 53,000 miles on it, and after this session it looked as good as the day I purchased it.
We had a great time!
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