Due to several circumstances I was not able to line up the vehicle I was planning on detailing for AGO’s Extreme Detail contest. It was going to be a 90’s Mercedes, dark blue that was very bad. Maybe things will pan out in the future, keep your eyes peeled. Anyways this is a detail that I did awhile ago but is worthy of this contest. It was in the worst condition that I have ever worked on at that point in time and probably even to this day. At that point I didn’t have too much experience with a rotary polisher but the Optimum polishes really saved me. They are so easy to use, don’t dust and have a very long working time. Just be careful not to use too much product, as the pads can gum up and cause buffer hop. Using a small amount of product and a cleaned pad works the best. The OHC cut through the swirls like butter and OP restored some shine and easily glided over the paint so I could create a hologram free finish.
Thankfully this was only a 1996 Toyota Corolla and not a Suburban or big SUV. The car was trashed and abused during its life of 184,000 miles. The detail was spread out over two days with several hours each day. I put less than 6 hours into the car and the results were very dramatic. I surely could have spent another 6 hours sanding and polishing but sadly the owner wouldn’t notice and the car would probably return to the condition it was in before.
Exterior Process:
Wash
Clay
Optimum Hyper Compound, rotary @ 1200-1500 RPMs, LC 7.5” orange light cut pad
Optimum Polish, rotary @ 1200-1500, LC 7.5” white polishing pad
Wolfgang Sealant, PC @ speed 3, LC 7.5” blue finishing pad
Before, not so bad right?
Wrong!
Heavy marring and deep scratches on the trunk:
Poor paint blending:
After the full sun inspection it was time for the halogens. For once a vehicle looked worse under the halogens than it did in the full sun! There was no shine to the vehicle and it was hard to tell what color it actually was. I knew that using a rotary polisher was the only way to restore this vehicle. This would have been a great candidate for wet sanding but unfortunately the car wasn’t worthy (to the owner):
Out came the Optimum Hyper Compound (original), a Lake Country 7.5” pad and a HF rotary. After one pass here were the results:
Some of the deeper RIDS remained since only wet sanding would have removed them, which wouldn’t have been worth it for this vehicle (184,000 miles … ):
You can even see the metal flake
:
And some side by side before and after shots:
And finally, the fender, wheel well, wheels and tires. The wheels (I mean hub caps) were a major PITA. The brake dust was embedded into the plastic and was virtually impossible to remove. I tried Eagle One Wheel and Tire cleaner but that only put a dent in it. Next I tried clay and KAIO to limited progress. Finally I used Poorboy’s ProPolish and a terry cloth towel and was finally, slowly removing the brake dust. The wheel wells were scrubbed and dressed with NoTouch tire dressing.
Linear Mode
