2012 ford focus detail

[choijw2]

2012 Ford Focus ES exterior detail.


Wash/ Prep
-Foam cannon pre-soak with mckee's 37 xtreme foam formula
-mckee's 37 xtreme foam formula two bucket method wash
-Sonax full effect wheel wash
-McKeey's tire cleaner
-Iron X
-Tar X
-Nano Skin medium grade wash mitt

Scratch removal / Polish
After couple trials, I went with 1500 grit wet sand and followed by 2000 grit wet sand.
To remove wet sanding, I used RUPES 21es with UHS system to remove sanding mark.
Some deeper area needed to be filled and touched up, but customer was glad to see most of scratches gone.


LSP
-Blackfire wet diamond for paints.
-Carpro wipeless silica for wheels.
-Opti-bond tire dressing.
-Gtechniq C4 for plastic trims.




Before
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m603/Jae_Choi/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4740.jpg (http://s1134.photobucket.com/user/Jae_Choi/media/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4740.jpg.html)

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m603/Jae_Choi/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4742.jpg (http://s1134.photobucket.com/user/Jae_Choi/media/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4742.jpg.html)

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m603/Jae_Choi/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4743.jpg (http://s1134.photobucket.com/user/Jae_Choi/media/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4743.jpg.html)

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m603/Jae_Choi/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4744.jpg (http://s1134.photobucket.com/user/Jae_Choi/media/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4744.jpg.html)

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m603/Jae_Choi/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4745.jpg (http://s1134.photobucket.com/user/Jae_Choi/media/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4745.jpg.html)



After
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m603/Jae_Choi/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4748.jpg (http://s1134.photobucket.com/user/Jae_Choi/media/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4748.jpg.html)

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m603/Jae_Choi/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4751.jpg (http://s1134.photobucket.com/user/Jae_Choi/media/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4751.jpg.html)

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m603/Jae_Choi/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4753.jpg (http://s1134.photobucket.com/user/Jae_Choi/media/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4753.jpg.html)

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m603/Jae_Choi/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4754.jpg (http://s1134.photobucket.com/user/Jae_Choi/media/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4754.jpg.html)

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m603/Jae_Choi/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4755.jpg (http://s1134.photobucket.com/user/Jae_Choi/media/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4755.jpg.html)

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m603/Jae_Choi/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4757.jpg (http://s1134.photobucket.com/user/Jae_Choi/media/autogeek/2014%20ford%20focus%20detail/DSC_4757.jpg.html)

[asap2stacks]

What was the thickness on the paint before you began wet sanding?

[asap2stacks]

Also did you only sand where the scratches where or did you correct the entire vehicle?

[choijw2]

What was the thickness on the paint before you began wet sanding?


Also did you only sand where the scratches where or did you correct the entire vehicle?

I know it sounds bad, but I haven't yet to invested in paint gauge. Couldn't justify the purchase for someone who takes maybe 1-2 cars a month.
Car was 2012, I know what I can do and cant do, so I trusted my gut feeling.

I wet sanded just area with scratches and polished the whole car.

I did test spot with UHS + rupes 21es and about 4 passes on speed 4 with light pressure was gave me great result without shaving too much of clear coat.

I am not a big fan out "full correction" on daily driven.

[custmsprty]

Nice job.

But wet sanding without a paint gauge. Do you have insurance? I hope so. :dblthumb2:

[choijw2]

Nice job.

But wet sanding without a paint gauge. Do you have insurance? I hope so. :dblthumb2:

haha I know, I really need to get a gauge now that Im getting busier and busier.
I tried my best to be careful as much as possible keep checking after couple passes and so on.

Speaking of insurance, would it cover such a damage? What I told is that it wont cover craftsmanship error or w.e it calls, wont be covered.

[asap2stacks]

I know it sounds bad, but I haven't yet to invested in paint gauge. Couldn't justify the purchase for someone who takes maybe 1-2 cars a month.
Car was 2012, I know what I can do and cant do, so I trusted my gut feeling.

I wet sanded just area with scratches and polished the whole car.

I did test spot with UHS + rupes 21es and about 4 passes on speed 4 with light pressure was gave me great result without shaving too much of clear coat.

I am not a big fan out "full correction" on daily driven.

Yea man make sure you get one so you know what your working with, yea it's a 2012 but 4 yrs you never know still... But other then that car looks great how long did it take start to finish?, and how much did you charge?

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

That Focus looks like it drove through a mud hole! Nice clean up.

1500 grit is pretty aggressive for factory paint. I suppose you have invested quite a bit of hands on time in wet sanding to know when to stop without using a PTG?

[choijw2]

Yea man make sure you get one so you know what your working with, yea it's a 2012 but 4 yrs you never know still... But other then that car looks great how long did it take start to finish?, and how much did you charge?

Took me somewhere between 5 and 6 hours and I charged only $100.
It was my good friend who I haven't seen for month and he wanted simple wash and wax, but car hadn't been protected for almost a year according to him, and I could see how it hazed it up.

So I told him I would do one step polish and try to remove some of those scratches without extra charges, because we are friends.
For this kind of work I would normally charge around $180~$220




That Focus looks like it drove through a mud hole! Nice clean up.

1500 grit is pretty aggressive for factory paint. I suppose you have invested quite a bit of hands on time in wet sanding to know when to stop without using a PTG?

Thank you Mike.
I still have much to learn but I did decent amount of experiments on my cars and donor cars (usually beaters that owner didnt care much), removing bird poo makrs, trying different sanding tecniqs with hand and machine, etc etc. But I know, there is still no way that I know how much I shaved off :(

I have refused to work on a car after I saw paint trasfer on my pad after test spot with light polish,
and certainly not going to do major wet sanding project without PTG.

I really should get one soon tho...

[LSNAutoDetailing]

haha I know, I really need to get a gauge now that Im getting busier and busier.
I tried my best to be careful as much as possible keep checking after couple passes and so on.

Speaking of insurance, would it cover such a damage? What I told is that it wont cover craftsmanship error or w.e it calls, wont be covered.

PTG - Tax deduction, business related expense
Insurance - Tax Deduction, business related expense

RE Insurance - Garage Keepers + Liability + per incident per expense per car rider. Remember, you're dealing with paint... so you'll never "total" a car. (unless you're driving them, then depending on your state your own personal auto-insurance may cover that). Worse case is you'll ruin a body panel which will require respray.

Don't know who you spoke with, but if you don't like the answer you got, go to another Ins. Broker.

A policy with few mill of liability (someone slips on your property etc...) plus a per incident of $20K should be about $1500 - $2000 per year. Again, business expense.
Then try to talk your broker into getting his car detailed. I did both of my brokers cars. Lincoln TC and Merc S550 ;-)

Nice work on the focus!

[choijw2]

Don't know who you spoke with, but if you don't like the answer you got, go to another Ins. Broker.

A policy with few mill of liability (someone slips on your property etc...) plus a per incident of $20K should be about $1500 - $2000 per year. Again, business expense.
Then try to talk your broker into getting his car detailed. I did both of my brokers cars. Lincoln TC and Merc S550 ;-)

Nice work on the focus!

hahaha, that is funny!

Well the insurance conversation was on AGO actually and I remember someone saying, insurance isn't necessary if you're home based, weekend etc etc
but his point was that insurance won't cover, lets say, burned paint and such.

btw thank you for your comment.

[LSNAutoDetailing]

hahaha, that is funny!

Well the insurance conversation was on AGO actually and I remember someone saying, insurance isn't necessary if you're home based, weekend etc etc
but his point was that insurance won't cover, lets say, burned paint and such.

btw thank you for your comment.


Oh, in that case it must be true.... I should cancel my insurance then. :-)

[Jomax]

Great job! I do know that my sisters old 2012 focus in tri coat white had ceramic clear. Did this one have it as well? Never compounded that car in fear of going through that THIN topping of ceramic. Never needed it anyways.

Car looks great!

[choijw2]

Oh, in that case it must be true.... I should cancel my insurance then. :-)

Oh please dont do that hahaha,
Im just telling you what I heard from other person xD



Great job! I do know that my sisters old 2012 focus in tri coat white had ceramic clear. Did this one have it as well? Never compounded that car in fear of going through that THIN topping of ceramic. Never needed it anyways.

Car looks great!

Paint was harder than I expected so it is possible, also it did have a lot less swirls than I expected for a black car that hasn't been maintained regulary and been sitting mostly under trees.

[choijw2]

*EDIT*

When I said wet sanding, I meant only the area with medium scratches.

Just realized that I wasn't very clear about this ... oups

D: