KISS Detail - Extreme Makeover - Toyota Highlander

Mike Phillips · 12-09-2010, 03:08 PM

KISS Detail - Extreme Makeover - Toyota Highlander

A friend of mine who's not really into cars but knows I'm into cars asked me if his paint could be saved and if it could be saved if I could recommend the products he would need to restore the finish. At first I told him a handful of products to get and then I said, heck... why don't you bring it down to the studio and I'll help you to buff it out and I'll use this project to make a point about matching your services to your customer.

In this case, this is a daily driver which is parked outside 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It's an older S.U.V. and but it still runs great but after we polish it out it's still going to be a daily driver that sits out side 24x7. The point is this, match your services to your customer and in this case if a person were to bring you a detailing project like this the right approach would be the simple approach, that is a KISS Detail.

KISS = Keep it Simple Simon

KISS Detail = Keep it Simple - Wash, Clay use a One-Step Cleaner/Wax

The owner, John has NEVER used any kind of machine to buff out car paint. He's heard about the horror stories associated with improper machine buffing but never actually used an electric buffer to buff out a car. After this detailing project he is no longer worried about instilling swirls, burning through the paint or making a mistake when machine polishing.

Without further ado... here's the rig and here's the process...

The paint is chalky and dull with extreme oxidation on the horizontal surfaces. There's absolutely no gloss, slickness or shine left in the paint.

Pinnacle XMT Series 360 is a one-step cleaner wax specifically for machine application and it does a great job of cleaning, polishing and leaving behind a coat of protection in one, easy step.

Note how flat and dull the paint is...

This is the paint near the windshield squirter, it's so oxidized it looks more like white primer than a high gloss auto paint.

The mirrors actually have a texture to them...

Right now in Florida we're going through a cold spell, so instead of washing this rig outside, we opted to use Optimum No Rinse or ONR

After washing and drying the exterior we then clayed the paint using XMT Speed Clay and Pinnacle XMT Speed Clay Lube. John had also never used detailing clay before.

After a little information on how DA Polishers work and how to do a "Section Pass" , I turned John loose on the Driver's side of the hood while I tackled the roof.

We placed some 3M Painter's Tape down the middle of the hood to show the before and after difference in results.

After machine application of the XMT 360 the gloss, shine and slickness have been restored.

The passenger side is still dull, lifeless and rough looking...

From this shot you can really see the difference in gloss and shine between the before and after sides...

Close-up of the overhead florescent lights reflecting off the machine cleaned, polished and waxed side and no reflection at all on the before side.

After we proved our system would work to restore the paint I placed some green 3M painter's tape on the hood to show John how a person would normally divide a panel like the hood up into sections. Buffing out a car by machine is simply a matter of buffing out section by section and after buffing out one section and moving onto new territory, be sure to overlap a little into the previous section for good UMR

UMR = Uniform Material Removal

The tape was just for John's benefit to better visualize how to divide a panel up into smaller sections and after the point was made we removed the tape.

We did about half the Toyota using 5.5" Lake Country Orange Light Cutting Pads and then so he would have a chance to try out a different pad system for experience we also used the 5.5" Lake Country Yellow CCS Cutting Pads for the rest of the Toyota.

John used the Porter Cable 7424XP while I used the Griot's Garage 6" Random Orbital Polisher.
(The same type of polishers, just different brands)

John buffing out his Toyota using the Porter Cable 7424XP

Mike Phillips · 12-09-2010, 03:09 PM

Continued...

While John was working below, I tackled the roof which was just as dull and oxidized as the hood... we poured off some XMT 360 from the XMT 360 which is availabe in larger sizes like a quart bottle into a couple of Autogeek Squeeze Bottles to make it easier to dispense product.

Here you can see the gloss and clarity have been restored...

The lights in the reflection are the overhead florescent lights and now that we've restored a smooth surface the paint will now reflect images again.

As I re-position the camera and take another shot you can see the light reflection completely disappears on the side I have not buffed yet.

There's some plastic black trim surrounding the windows that have oxidized too and some machine polishing with XMT has restored both shine and reflectivity...

The top portion is how the plastic trim looked before polishing...

After buffing out the paint, we removed the oxidation from the headlights using a Flitz Mini Scuffpad and then restored the clarity using some Diamondite Clear Plastic Enhancer and my new Flex PE 14-2 150 Rotary Buffer.

Before

After

Mike Phillips · 12-09-2010, 03:38 PM

Continued...

And here are the results... the paint is clear and smooth and because we've restored smoothness we've restored and even amped up the gloss. Just look at how glossy the paint looks anywhere there's a gloss point.

The mirrors are now smooth and shiny!

The roof is now just as smooth and shiny as the lower portions... you can see the gloss on the gloss points.. (the ribs and any curves)

Before there was zero reflectivity... now you see the Flex logo from the banner on the wall reflecting off the hood with excellent DOI for white paint.

DOI - Distinction of Image

Except for the rock chips, the finish on the Toyota is crisp, shiny, slick and very glossy...

Mike Phillips · 12-09-2010, 03:40 PM

Then entire job took us less than 4 hours working together and this included taking time for one-on-one training and discussion of how products and process work so John will be able to do this on his own in the future and show others how they can do it themselves for their cars.

Each one teach one....

On the Autogeek Store
XMT Speed Clay
Pinnacle XMT Speed Clay Lube
Pinnacle XMT Series 360 16 Ounce Bottle
Optimum No Rinse
3M Painter's Tape
Porter Cable 7424XP
Griot's Garage 6" Random Orbital Polisher
Lake Country Yellow CCS Cutting Pads
5.5" Lake Country Orange Light Cutting Pads
Autogeek Squeeze Bottles
XMT 360 32 Ounces Bottle

**ScubaCougr** · 12-09-2010, 03:47 PM

If it had been a red Toyota, this could have been me.
(and might be me if warmer weather this weekend comes true)

I'm perma-linking this thread as an example of how to get max results without going all Ferrari on a daily driver. Great post!

Mike Phillips · 12-09-2010, 03:49 PM

This detailing project is a good example of matching your detailing services to your customer, in this case we used a one-step cleaner/wax to clean, polish and protect the paint.

See this article,

A few tips on starting a part-time detailing business

It's also a good example of the idea behind taking a car's paint to it's maximum potential....

"Taking your car's paint to it's maximum potential"

**trhland** · 12-09-2010, 04:16 PM

nice job Mike!!!! xmt 360 is a great product

**Shawn T.** · 12-09-2010, 04:17 PM

Holy cow! Amazing turnaround. I was thinking whether the yellow pad would mar the paint but you said he wasn't worried about swirls so it worked amazingly.

Could you comment on the cleaning ability of XMT 360 opposed to M66 Quik Detailer or D151?

**veeko** · 12-09-2010, 04:28 PM

Awesome job. I've only ever used XMT360 with green and white CCS pads. I never thought of using it with orange or yellow.

So did the orange or yellow CCS pads end up swirling or maring the paint?

Mike Phillips · 12-09-2010, 04:48 PM

Originally Posted by veeko

Awesome job. I've only ever used XMT360 with green and white CCS pads. I never thought of using it with orange or yellow.

So did the orange or yellow CCS pads end up swirling or marring the paint?

Don't know... didn't check as even if it did it would be hard to see and this is a daily driver being parked outside all the time... not a show car... Again, match your services to your customer...

Tonight we're doing another extreme makeover and because the paint is a single stage medium blue we'll probably go with the less aggressive orange pad.

Tonight's Extreme Makeover

The owner of this car we're tackling tonight would have never buffed this thing out at all had I not run into him in the parking lot while talking to the owner of this Corvette for an upcoming project.

Looks good from this angle...

Needs a little help from this angle...