As I was detailing the Celica last week, the neighbor's son came by and asked how much it would be to do his Lexus RX300 SUV. Since his dad is super awesome as a neighbor and is eternally helping us out and doing favors for us (without us even asking) I told him I would do the outside for $100, and the interior at a later date (for some additional money) since he didn't have the time to be without the car for me to do both, and the interior is pretty rough (it will probably take me almost as long to do the inside as it did the outside, which was 6 hours).
Anyways, I used this opportunity to try out the XMT 360 I ordered, and top it with some S100 wax, which was the first "nice" carnauba wax I have used. Prior to this it's all been Zaino synthetic stuff, so I was curious to see how it compared.
Here's the process I used: Wheels:
DP Gel Wheel Cleaner
Agitate with random wheel brushes
Dry and apply DP Wheel Glaze, remove with Cobra MF
Dress Tires with Z16
Wheelwells got Stoner More Shine
Exterior:
Wash with Surf City Garage Pacific Blue Wash and Wax,
California Microfiber Sponge w/2 Bucket Method
Clay with Z18 Claybar (red) and Z7 Diluted as Lube
Wash again to remove clay residue
Dry with Ultimate Guzzler
Apply XMT 360 with PC Speed 6
XMT 3 then XMT 360 on hood (deep scratches and water spots)
Buff with Cobra MF Towel
S100 Paste Wax
Trim and Glass:
Mother's Back to Black
Surf City Garage Killer Chrome Perfect Polish
Stoner's Invisible Glass
I liked the XMT 360, and liked it even more once I realized that it went much faster and corrected much better with the PC on 6 and not 5. I couldn't get the swirls all the way out until I turned it up, and then it broke down nicely and corrected quickly. Unfortunately, I couldn't get 100% correction because some of the scratches and etchings were pretty deep. Even on the hood, when I used XMT 3 and an orange pad, and then went back over it with 360 on an orange pad, some swirling still remained. I didn't have time to do multiple passes with different products on the whole car, but it is probably 90% better than how it started.
The S100 went on very easily, and removed just as easily. I love how easy it was to apply. It made the blue a bit deeper than just the XMT 360 alone, and gave it a nice, mirror shine. Not quite as "wet" as what I am used to, but certainly acceptable. I'll see the car quite a bit since it almost lives next door, so I can judge how well this combo holds up. For $15, you can't beat the S100 (and I bet you could wax 100 cars with that one can).
Now for the pictures.
When I got the car this morning:
The headlights were cloudy on top (I fixed this with some PlastX):
Just washing helped a lot, it had never been waxed:
50/50 on the hood, left side is finished:
Completed hood:
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Linear Mode
