My eXtreme Garage Makeover plus some detailing work

[Tato]

Dear Friends,

It's been a while since my last show'n'shine but at any moment of my detailing routine I've forgot about any of your lessons and shared enthusiasm to this craft / art / etc.

Also I cannot help but say I'm truly (eternally) grateful to many people here who helped me SO much (AGO Staff and Members) in a very professional and friendly manner. More than detailing, here I've learned important aspects of being a (much) Better Human being. Thanks for giving the example.


Sure!,

Lonnnng Story short, here's a recent picture of my Garage (workplace) front entry condition:


This is happening because someone decided to put a building next door.


Honestly, I'm not against modernization but how unlucky can be a detailer to face such situation next door?

The worst part (dust raising) was more than an year ago, luckily their routine is not disturbing mine in any manner nowadays, but other colateral damage left / building related were boring me a lot.

Here's what happened to my garage floor due to building:


Aw! Man! Although I was working normally (but bored), it was agreed someday they would repair it (at their own cost). The day finally arrived.

All that bad brought GOOD improvements to my workplace as follow.

Old flooring was fully removed


And they started everything from scratch.




Taking advantage of the makeover project, I decided to improve my roof too, in order to improve cleanness and clarity even more.

Here's how it looked:


Here's how it looks:


But there was still something bothering me even though a lot of improvement was going on.

Can you see it? Try. You'll realize bellow:


NOT yet?


Ok, this is it:


The building engineers were very gentle and friendly providing an easy and fast way to take off both pillars from my garage turning it into an ample and unobstructed work area.




I've then soldered screws to the new sustentation bar to reinstall my lighting


Then came the new floor tiles


Almost ready, I just need to work on to beautify the electrical installation but I'll only do it when I found enough time to do it properly.


In the Meanwhile

I took my time to rest a little bit and rearrange things here but I also got a lot of great detailing experiences like going mobile or traveling for detailing while all this was happening.

On a episode I did a 2010 Land Rover Freelander with very low mileage together with a great friend at his detailing business, ~100km from my place.

Few cell pics, but we did it 'Like a Boss' (Claude ),


And my test spot, (shock (or not!)), Flex 3401, white LC hybrid pad, SF4000 and IPA wipedown.

Left side, unpolished:


Right side, polished.


I found time to airbrush my work ladder in silver and clearcoat it - hard to see but my friend manufactured skate wheels into '4 small foots' to my ladder (in red), very durable and wont slip.


I could meet detailers in my area, and work on some cars with them, including this BMW 118i






This paint was unnecessarily hard for the finishing potential it was offering, but I could work it out using SHC300 and SF4000, coated with PBL surface coating and topped (24h later) with BlackFire BlackIce!




One advantage I can cite working outside is the easiness for inspection and 'Free' full lighting provided




Ended up really nice


Back to home, Be all Welcome to my new home.


I could already perform some work and I must say I'm very happy with the outcome. I've selected some pictures of white and black Peugeots that I'll share now, but I really want to keep on pace and restart sharing car by car after each work (and I have some exciting work coming).

Here's is whitey (208 model) ready to delivery


It's a white car, nothing too exciting but look how it arrived:




And how it left after the 'whole detailing thing':


Creamy. FF3000, white pad - basically one step.

Hood before:


Afters:










Side Panel:
Before (ambient lighting)


Before (swirl finder lighting)


After (right side done)


More on afters:





And the black one (308 model), ready to go:


Many polishing hours were invested on this one, FG400 & SF4000 duo, orange and white hybrid pads respectively.

This car was very neglected and showing (apart from terrible rids) terribly polishing attempts



Always relying on various light sources

[Tato]

Afters:




Front end, passenger's side


Ugly staining (won't come off )


Rinsed the dirty (touchless) to uncover the real state of the paint:


After (went the safe route and unfortunately had to leave the RIDS after some improvement)


Those stains had already damaged the clearcoat


Overall, it was enough improvement




Bad scratches and haze at front end / passenger's side


Before:


After:


Holograms wherever you focus


Had to recompound and polish to achieve an improvement:


See the overall aspect of the hood:


Ugly, uhn?














Done:




















Side Panels:

Driver's Side
Before:


After:


Passenger's side
Before:


Afters (Ouch, there's a lint on my pic!)




Pillars
Before:


Only the strongest will survive


Rear Side
Before:


Afters:




Trunk Lid (wth!):




Working out:








Well!, that's it folks.

--------------------

I really hope you enjoy watching as I've enjoyed doing all this,

you're all welcome to comment, criticize, suggest, ask questions, I'd like to read your opinion,

Thank you very (VERY) much for watching,

Sincerely,

Kind Regards from Brazil.

Count on me AGO!

[rms64]

Wow, Tato!

The new workplace looks amazing - hopefully worth all of the trouble over the last year or so.

Beautiful work as always - loved the writeup and always enjoy seeing your results. Well done!

[North26]

Incredible detailing studio, being mobile I would kill for a place that looked that nice!

My girlfriend is Brazilian she's going down to Brazilia this summer to visit some family, I will try to convince to stop by you and pick your brain!

Anyways awesome pictures and great job on the work!!!

[DetailedByPrecision]

That is one awesome workspace you got there!

[g35_coupe]

Some great correction shots you got there. Nice work!

[Angus]

Very nice!! I love the transformation of your workspace, and wow so many lights! I'm envious. That beam would have also driven me nuts. I'm glad you had an opportunity it remove it. Excellent paint correction work too, Tato!

[AZ Mike]

The garage is looking good. Nice to have the posts gone. Hopefully you can get back to a normal routine now. Thank you for sharing.

[custmsprty]

Great post, exceptional work!

[lawrenceSA]

What a wonderful transformation to your work space Rafael - I am super happy for you.

Really nice work on the detailing too, as always.

Thanks for sharing