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My sister is getting married on Memorial Day weekend and I wanted my car to look its best when I arrived at the event. So a weekend's worth of detailing it was, some $100 or so worth of new Meguiar's product to buy and practice on for the first time on May 22 and 23.
May 22 was spent buying the tools, vacuuming the interior, wiping the trim with Quik Interior Detailer, and washing the car. I'm almost out of Deep Crystal Car Wash but it's been a good product before I plan on switching to Gold Class. And I used Aluminum Wheel Cleaner for my rims as well. I don't have photographs of this process since I'm pretty well versed about it and it's the next 4 steps where I hope by documenting it people can chime in and post their comments and suggestions on how I can do things better next time. Because I will concede that this was not as great a job as I would have wanted it. Despite spending over 18 hours on the car on May 23, it felt partly rushed.
10:30am
Got everything out to the garage. First, I did the easy part of shining the tires with Gold Class Endurance Tire Gel. I wanted it to be quick and not too glossy since the bulk of the detailing would be after.
Opened the Smooth Surface Clay Kit and took one of the clay bars and divided it in half - a little trick I read here so that you don't lose an entire clay bar if/when you drop it to the ground. Then I used painter's tape and covered the edges of the headlights (for some reason) and drew a line down the middle of the hood to inspect and feel the difference afterwards. I kneaded the clay to a size about the palm of my hand (shown below) and after a little hesitation and worry of irreparably damaging my car after this, I sprayed on the Quik Detailer and got to work.
As expected, the clay would feel initially difficult to glide over, but after a few passes, it became smooth. Sometimes it would just get stuck as I moved it, but I think that was because I didn't properly lubricate the surface of wherever it was I was claying. In the end, I was able to feel a substantial improvement in the feel of the paint surface. But the whole process was a little disconcerting and time-consuming. Each time I lifted the clay up to inspect it, it was brown and it was black (and on the roof, it was worse). I got the impression that this car I bought used had not been detailed since it left the factory. As such, there were years upon years of above-surface contaminants to remove, far too much to do in one go, I think, since even after 3-4 times over the same area, there was still a hint of yellow. What I had hoped to be a 30 minute job turned to 3 hours and I had used about 3/4 of the provided Quik Detailer bottle to do it.
But people were right: it works and it's smooth afterwards. Clay the glass windows and windshield too and you'd be surprised what's also stuck there as well.
2:00pm
It was time for the below-surface fixing, and I had a bottle of Ultimate Compound to do it. Here is where I think I made the most mistakes. I got to thinking that I had to wipe the entire car with UC (just like claying) so I started taping the cracks of the car at this step and worked it all throughout my car like a polish or wax.
Problems that occurred included UC being very hard to remove after more than a minute of application (especially after applying it over a large surface area), UC seeping into the cracks and drying, and UC getting under the painter's tape and leaving lines of dried UC when I was done waxing and removed the tape. The latter I had to use Quik Detailer and a microfiber cloth and wipe the entire car off after the whole waxing process was complete. But now I know not to use tape during the cleaning process anymore and apply UC only on specific blemishes, not for the square feet of area around them.
4:00pm
It was halfway through the UC that I realized that, in order to apply the polish and wax after cleaning, I'm going to have to do the headlights first. And I would have to tape the paint surface around the headlights in order to do that. So I switched to my Headlight Restoration Kit, got the electric drill out, attached the buffing pad on it, and applied a nickel-sized amount of PlastX on the tool and got to work.
I feel I applied a good enough pressure on the buffing pad. I mean, the fabric was literally coming off of it as it spun. I don't know if I was supposed to squirt a small size of PlastX each time or literally soak the headlights with the product as I worked on it. In the end, I saw a good improvement on the left headlight that needed the most work, but it was only about a 60% improvement. I got to wondering if the sandpaper would've been more effective or if the yellowing was happening on the other side of the plastic, inside the headlight. I will give it another go in the future, but right now, this is my last satisfied product.
I also used the pad on the taillights and applied PlastX on the indicator lights by hand for good measure.
4:30pm
Still under the guise of having to tape up the car before applying UC, I taped the entire car's cracks with painter's tape. I felt I was being a bit over-diligent about it. Nevertheless, I continued to apply UC across the other half of the car until the sun went down.
12:00am
I thought polish and wax couldn't be applied at night. I was wrong. So after learning that after dinner and a break, I got back to my car. For Deep Crystal Polish, I vowed not to make the same mistake I made with UC and applied it on a smaller surface area with a foam applicator pad and wiped it off immediately.
2:00am
I finally got around to the wax, and with NXT Generation Tech Wax 2.0, I applied it everywhere except on the glass and wheels. Using circular motions on everywhere except the small , linear, or hard-to-reach areas, I thought I was applying a thin enough coat of wax. Well, the pictures speak for themselves.
4:00am
After letting the wax dry for about 30 minutes and performing the swipe test multiple times, it was time to wipe the residue off. It was easy for the most part, and I didn't think the wax amount was that heavy because of it. I wiped it away, panel by panel, in the same order as I applied the wax from the top down.
5:00am
I removed the tape and applied Quik Detailer on the edges of the tape traped dried UC underneath, adding an extra hour to my workload (see 2:00pm).
6:00am
Finally, with the wax left to dry, it was time for a shower and bed.
The End Result
I want to say first and foremost that detailing is harder than it looks or how it appears on these forums. Both my hands were sore in the endand I could barely raise my left shoulder. And I wasn't feeling too good from the amount of detailing product I must have inhaled during those 18 hours of work. But I will also confess that, being my first time, I'm sure I got some technique wrong, applied a product too heavily, and did some unnecessary steps - especially with the tape.
So I woke up Monday morning having learned something new and new ways to cut my detailing time by a few hours hopefully next time I get around to applying a new coat of wax. Am I happy with the look of the car right now? You betcha! The car is blacker than it's ever been and some of the blemishes have faded. It's glassy surface is smooth to feel and even my friends tell me it's shinier than before. Little things like these make it all worth it.
But some things I will definitely do next time:
- Apply Ultimate Compound multiple times to tough blemishes and not use tape. Lots of scratches have yet to be removed, partly because I didn't scrub hard with the foam applicator pad with it and I didn't go over it more than once. Also, I think some UC still remained on the car in places I did not wipe properly because it was dark.
- Be less diligent over taping cracks. A lot of places around the car didn't need the level of protection I gave it like the gas lid and skid skirts.
- Lubricate the headlights with more PlastX. I will use more product and more muscle with the buff pad in cleaning the yellowing on the left headlight, even if it means more fabric is going to end up flying off from the pad. If it doesn't work a second time, I will consider sandpaper instead.
- Apply a thinner coat of wax next time. Obviously.
I had some hesitation detailing this car since the paint was chipped throughout much of the front hood (and in some pictures, some of the paint is missing altogether). The wax inside the doors had melted from sitting in the sun too long from the previous owner and as a result, there's residue on the side skirt that could not be removed. And there's even a big rust spot on the right side skirt. But even with all these imperfections, I thought it was important to protect the rest of the car and get myself some practice with detailing my future cars, so I continued and persevered.
Your comments and suggestions welcome.
May 22 was spent buying the tools, vacuuming the interior, wiping the trim with Quik Interior Detailer, and washing the car. I'm almost out of Deep Crystal Car Wash but it's been a good product before I plan on switching to Gold Class. And I used Aluminum Wheel Cleaner for my rims as well. I don't have photographs of this process since I'm pretty well versed about it and it's the next 4 steps where I hope by documenting it people can chime in and post their comments and suggestions on how I can do things better next time. Because I will concede that this was not as great a job as I would have wanted it. Despite spending over 18 hours on the car on May 23, it felt partly rushed.
10:30am
Got everything out to the garage. First, I did the easy part of shining the tires with Gold Class Endurance Tire Gel. I wanted it to be quick and not too glossy since the bulk of the detailing would be after.
Opened the Smooth Surface Clay Kit and took one of the clay bars and divided it in half - a little trick I read here so that you don't lose an entire clay bar if/when you drop it to the ground. Then I used painter's tape and covered the edges of the headlights (for some reason) and drew a line down the middle of the hood to inspect and feel the difference afterwards. I kneaded the clay to a size about the palm of my hand (shown below) and after a little hesitation and worry of irreparably damaging my car after this, I sprayed on the Quik Detailer and got to work.
As expected, the clay would feel initially difficult to glide over, but after a few passes, it became smooth. Sometimes it would just get stuck as I moved it, but I think that was because I didn't properly lubricate the surface of wherever it was I was claying. In the end, I was able to feel a substantial improvement in the feel of the paint surface. But the whole process was a little disconcerting and time-consuming. Each time I lifted the clay up to inspect it, it was brown and it was black (and on the roof, it was worse). I got the impression that this car I bought used had not been detailed since it left the factory. As such, there were years upon years of above-surface contaminants to remove, far too much to do in one go, I think, since even after 3-4 times over the same area, there was still a hint of yellow. What I had hoped to be a 30 minute job turned to 3 hours and I had used about 3/4 of the provided Quik Detailer bottle to do it.
But people were right: it works and it's smooth afterwards. Clay the glass windows and windshield too and you'd be surprised what's also stuck there as well.
2:00pm
It was time for the below-surface fixing, and I had a bottle of Ultimate Compound to do it. Here is where I think I made the most mistakes. I got to thinking that I had to wipe the entire car with UC (just like claying) so I started taping the cracks of the car at this step and worked it all throughout my car like a polish or wax.
Problems that occurred included UC being very hard to remove after more than a minute of application (especially after applying it over a large surface area), UC seeping into the cracks and drying, and UC getting under the painter's tape and leaving lines of dried UC when I was done waxing and removed the tape. The latter I had to use Quik Detailer and a microfiber cloth and wipe the entire car off after the whole waxing process was complete. But now I know not to use tape during the cleaning process anymore and apply UC only on specific blemishes, not for the square feet of area around them.
4:00pm
It was halfway through the UC that I realized that, in order to apply the polish and wax after cleaning, I'm going to have to do the headlights first. And I would have to tape the paint surface around the headlights in order to do that. So I switched to my Headlight Restoration Kit, got the electric drill out, attached the buffing pad on it, and applied a nickel-sized amount of PlastX on the tool and got to work.
I feel I applied a good enough pressure on the buffing pad. I mean, the fabric was literally coming off of it as it spun. I don't know if I was supposed to squirt a small size of PlastX each time or literally soak the headlights with the product as I worked on it. In the end, I saw a good improvement on the left headlight that needed the most work, but it was only about a 60% improvement. I got to wondering if the sandpaper would've been more effective or if the yellowing was happening on the other side of the plastic, inside the headlight. I will give it another go in the future, but right now, this is my last satisfied product.
I also used the pad on the taillights and applied PlastX on the indicator lights by hand for good measure.
4:30pm
Still under the guise of having to tape up the car before applying UC, I taped the entire car's cracks with painter's tape. I felt I was being a bit over-diligent about it. Nevertheless, I continued to apply UC across the other half of the car until the sun went down.
12:00am
I thought polish and wax couldn't be applied at night. I was wrong. So after learning that after dinner and a break, I got back to my car. For Deep Crystal Polish, I vowed not to make the same mistake I made with UC and applied it on a smaller surface area with a foam applicator pad and wiped it off immediately.
2:00am
I finally got around to the wax, and with NXT Generation Tech Wax 2.0, I applied it everywhere except on the glass and wheels. Using circular motions on everywhere except the small , linear, or hard-to-reach areas, I thought I was applying a thin enough coat of wax. Well, the pictures speak for themselves.
4:00am
After letting the wax dry for about 30 minutes and performing the swipe test multiple times, it was time to wipe the residue off. It was easy for the most part, and I didn't think the wax amount was that heavy because of it. I wiped it away, panel by panel, in the same order as I applied the wax from the top down.
5:00am
I removed the tape and applied Quik Detailer on the edges of the tape traped dried UC underneath, adding an extra hour to my workload (see 2:00pm).
6:00am
Finally, with the wax left to dry, it was time for a shower and bed.
The End Result
I want to say first and foremost that detailing is harder than it looks or how it appears on these forums. Both my hands were sore in the endand I could barely raise my left shoulder. And I wasn't feeling too good from the amount of detailing product I must have inhaled during those 18 hours of work. But I will also confess that, being my first time, I'm sure I got some technique wrong, applied a product too heavily, and did some unnecessary steps - especially with the tape.
So I woke up Monday morning having learned something new and new ways to cut my detailing time by a few hours hopefully next time I get around to applying a new coat of wax. Am I happy with the look of the car right now? You betcha! The car is blacker than it's ever been and some of the blemishes have faded. It's glassy surface is smooth to feel and even my friends tell me it's shinier than before. Little things like these make it all worth it.
But some things I will definitely do next time:
- Apply Ultimate Compound multiple times to tough blemishes and not use tape. Lots of scratches have yet to be removed, partly because I didn't scrub hard with the foam applicator pad with it and I didn't go over it more than once. Also, I think some UC still remained on the car in places I did not wipe properly because it was dark.
- Be less diligent over taping cracks. A lot of places around the car didn't need the level of protection I gave it like the gas lid and skid skirts.
- Lubricate the headlights with more PlastX. I will use more product and more muscle with the buff pad in cleaning the yellowing on the left headlight, even if it means more fabric is going to end up flying off from the pad. If it doesn't work a second time, I will consider sandpaper instead.
- Apply a thinner coat of wax next time. Obviously.
I had some hesitation detailing this car since the paint was chipped throughout much of the front hood (and in some pictures, some of the paint is missing altogether). The wax inside the doors had melted from sitting in the sun too long from the previous owner and as a result, there's residue on the side skirt that could not be removed. And there's even a big rust spot on the right side skirt. But even with all these imperfections, I thought it was important to protect the rest of the car and get myself some practice with detailing my future cars, so I continued and persevered.
Your comments and suggestions welcome.
Good luck with the swirls on your car. It'll look better than my mine in the end, I'm sure. My hood is so full of holes because the paint is so thin and the wax protection ran out. Wax (I'm told) helps prevent the paint from chipping from debris on the road. So I say protect it sooner rather than later.
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