Let me preface this detail and the others I will be posting with a little background info on myself. I work as a Control Room Operator in a power plant on a 12 hour rotating shift schedule. With this schedule I only work 14 out of a 28 day cycle so with the other 14 days off (7 of which are in a row) I am able to do some details on the side. It has always been a passion of mine with my vehicles and I had never done anyone elses. A lot of the guys at work kept after me to detail their vehicles since they loved the way mine vehicles shined. Finally I gave in and did one. I had a blast doing it plus I got paid ~ this was awesome. The guy was ecstatic and I did another and another and another. Well word spread and now I have as many cars as I want to do and I'm having a ball doing them thanks to so many things I have learned here. On my last 7 day break I did 9 vehicles! Well enough about me and on to the detail.
My Father in Law wanted his Eddie Bauer Explorer done and he said he wanted the paint to look "wet" when it was done. I told him that a lot of the forum members were raving about paint sealants and I had recently purchased some DP Surface Shield on a recommendation from Meghan. I said if he was willing to put it in the garage for 12 hours so it could cure properly then I would do it, plus I was dying to try it out on a vehicle since my Stealth had just 3 weeks prior had a detail with Sauveran and I didn't want to take that off if the sealant wouldn't look better. I have always been a wax man and wasn't sure about sealants.
Well I went and got the car and it had a lot of swirls and water spots from poor washing technique over the years (I have since instructed him how to prevent this and have ordered some GOOD products for him from none other than AUTOGEEK!) I began the detail as follows:
Tires: Cleaned tires and wheels with DP Gel Wheel cleaner. Cleaned the wheel wells with Megs APC. Glazed wheels with DP wheel glaze and dressed tires with DP Tire gloss gel. Dressed the wheel wells with Stoners More Shine.
Wash: Cleaned off bugs with Poorboy's Bug Squash. Washed with DP Xtreme Foam auto shampoo and foam gun and white/yellow schmitt. Dried with Cobra guzzler and leaf blower.
Interior: Cleaned with DP Total Interior Cleaner and protected with DP Interior Surface Protectant. Cleaned carpets and mats with Megs APC @ 10:1 and vacuumed. Cleaned all door jambs with DP Waterless Car Wash. Leather cleaned with DP Total Int. Cleaner and conditioned with Wolfgangs Leather Conditioner.
Headlights: Cleaned and polished with Plexus and WW MF.
Glass: Cleaned with Stoners Invisible Glass and WW MF.
Paint: Used my PC with an Orange LC pad and XMT 3 to get all the scratches and swirls out and removed with a Cobra MF. Then came the moment I had been waiting for. I applied the DP Surface Shield with PC/blue pad. I waited about an hour and removed with Cobra indigo MF. All I can say is WOW! I was absolutely amazed at the shine and wetness the paint had now. You guys that have been talking up paint sealants were right (like I should have ever doubted), this was incredible shine. I was so excited at the outcome that I took it to his work to show him before I took it to his house and put it in his garage. Needless to say he was floored. His boss came out to see and said "That looks better than the day you drove it home from the dealership. Oh and when can you do my 05 Mustang for me?" (That post will be up a little later
).
I was so sold on the shine that I went back home and redid my Stealth with the DP surface shield (and the next day I put another coat of Sauveran on
). I have also done the wife's Suburban and my Dodge Dakota Quad Cab, not to mention several customer's cars that were able to let the sealant cure like it should. Well enough here are the before and afters( I was so excited about the paint that I forgot to take interior shots):
Linear Mode
