Weekend Warrior: 2002 Mazda Tribune

[dublifecrisis]

This tribune is about to sold/traded as down payment. With nearly 90k miles, a CEL, a recent rebuilt tranny and other signs of down right neglect - the least I could do was shine it up a bit. I'm sure the car will go right to wholesale but cleaning it up will give the owner a little peace of mind.

The interior is probably a close tie with some of the worst I've faced. Christmas tree needles, not from this past Christmas but the prior one. Mold, coffee, pieces of candy, coins galore and the absolute WORSE door jambs. The oily film on the inside of the windows also hint as never being cleaned. The exterior, well about the same.

The owner didn't want the exterior perfect, just clean and shiney. PERFECT! because poli-seal does the trick.

Thanks to fellow member and Optimum lover Robbyboats! He helped me shave a couple hours off this job and provided relief when I needed a rest. Rob! Where's my turkey sandwich?

Interior:
Meg's APC+ 10:1
Folex
Woolite (ok, Meg's APC easily outcleans woolite)
Poorboy's Natural Look
Black Magic Protectant
3M spray Adhesive (leather door inserts peeling)
Stoners IG
Duragloss Odor spray
Rigid Vac
several AP MF towels
MF applicators
scrub brush
toothbrush

Wheels/Tires/wells:
Eagle One A2Z
Meg's APC+
AAP Tire Shine Spray
The normal brushes

Exterior:
2 buckets/2 grit gitters
DP RWG
DP ABS
ONR QD
Optimum Instand Detailer
Mother's Clay
Diamond Clay
Surf City GD
S100 TCC
Stoners IG
Meg's UQW
Poorboy's Trim Restorer
PC7424+White 5.5 pads+OPS
Cobra 530's
gray and orange Vroom towels

Jambs:
Meg's APC+ 10:1
OID/ONR QD mixed
MF towels o plenty

Befores:
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8555.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8556.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8554.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8550.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8544.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8546.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8547.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8549.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8545.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8548.jpg

Afters: (good thing this was a 1 step cuz it started drizzling)
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8569.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8561.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8560.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8570.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8568.jpg

Interior (Almost like new except for some worn leather)
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8565.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8562.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8567.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8563.jpg

jambs (came out nice!)
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8564.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/uchessor/IMG_8566.jpg

[SRHTX]

Nice turn around bud.

It's amazing how people give their vehicle no respect/love. People just love to throw away their money. Poor Mazda has been through heck and back.

[dublifecrisis]

Thanks SRHTX. Yeah it always makes me sad. But now the owner will pay the price with the trade in. Even though it looks a lot better, if asked to provide all the service records, not sure they'll have much to show. This car has gone 12-15k miles between oil changes on a regular basis. It's on it's 4 set of tires. why? well because the owner never ever rotated them. Just bought a set then replaced them as the inside or outside tread wore down to nothing. oh well.

[VW-4-Life]

Hey Dublife,
Nice turnaround. Def looks 100% better. I see your in Jax, I am a weekend worrier here as well. Also judging by your username, do you have a VW?
Anyway just thought I'd say Hi since we are in the same town.

[02nissanISR]

nice job man i was looking at the before pics and said to myself "man that car is trashed". But not anymore:dblthumb2:

[dublifecrisis]

Thanks 02nissanISR! There's something pleasing about taking ordinary daily drivers that are nasty as all get out and turning them around. Don't get me wrong, I like working on nice sporty/luxury cars when I get the chance but it is rewarding to really dig in to something like this tribune. My buddy and I tackled the door jambs and it still took a good half hour with each of us taking one side then hatch area.

VW-4-Life - I drive a lightly modded Black 07 GTI and live in the Kernan area.

[LITUNDRA]

WOW that thing was disgusting nice job! It is amazing how the second most expensive thing that a person buys next to a house is a car and the majority of people don't do anything to keep it nice they just get in and expect it to clean and fix itself absolutely amazing, at least he paid you to clean it up haha but again nice work.

[turbos17]

Wow...I am sure selling will be a lot easier now. It still baffles me how people live in their own filth? What a joke! Nice job once again!

BTW, how long did this job take you?

[dublifecrisis]

turbos17. took about 6 hours, with about 3 15 minute breaks (beer, snack etc)

[Shane731]

Looks great! Nice job! :xyxthumbs:

What did the fuel cap area look like? Did you clean under the hood?

[zinc02gt]

Thanks SRHTX. Yeah it always makes me sad. But now the owner will pay the price with the trade in. Even though it looks a lot better, if asked to provide all the service records, not sure they'll have much to show. This car has gone 12-15k miles between oil changes on a regular basis. It's on it's 4 set of tires. why? well because the owner never ever rotated them. Just bought a set then replaced them as the inside or outside tread wore down to nothing. oh well.

Looks good man.


That is the exact reason why you should avoid trade in. Not only do you get like HALF of what the vehicle is truley worth, but stupid crap like that will kill you. If a dealer went by my records he would think that my car hasn't had an oil change is 35k miles, been through 5 sets of tires (only 2 sets both of which had track passes on them), etc.

If somebody is mechanically enclined, apparently they get boned when it comes to trade in.

This is why I refuse to trade my car in and sell it privately where I can still get decent money for it.

[MDetail]

Nice turn around.

[turbos17]

turbos17. took about 6 hours, with about 3 15 minute breaks (beer, snack etc)


Holly hell! Did you have a helper or are you on speed? J/K, because that is one heck of a fast turn around. Maybe I am so anal when I do my car it take forever! :laughing:

[dublifecrisis]

actually I did have help...lol But I did feel like I was on speed which is why I'm glad I had help. Cleaning windows for example, I would stop with like 2 windows to go and would ask Robbyboats to help with the last 2 windows. Windows always wear me out for some reason. This is another reason I can't imagine not having a machine polisher. There are still people that do a full paint polish, paint cleaner and wax ALL by hand!

But typically I can do a full 1 step polish/seal, interior and all the normal stuff in 6 hours. This one would have taken a little longer with the extra grime. The leather seats for example - normally I can clean them up nicely with woolite and water mix. I realized this wasn't cutting it so I had to do a 2nd full scrubbing with the Meguiar's APC+. That did the trick! Everyone should have a gallon of this stuff on hand. I am using it on everything and it works great.