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View Full Version : My First Detail On A Car Other Than My Own


Puckywuckums
07-15-2012, 09:04 PM
First let me apologize for the lack of pics. The threat of thunderstorms had me rushing to get the car in the garage (with bad lighting) and all I had was my iPhone.

My friend owns this Mazda3. She has never.....I repeat...NEVER washed it in the year that she has owned it! So as a favour and as some practice on a car unlike mine, which is treated very well, I did a freebie detail on the exterior. I went with the KISS method. I had some Griot's polish but didn't wanna get too aggressive.

Materials used were:

PC 7424 XP with Lake Country CCS orange pad
Riccardo Yellow clay bar
DP clay lube
Optimum Poli-Seal
Mother's Gold Class Wax
Stoner's Invisible Glass
Megs Hot Shine tire foam


The amount of fallout spots were insane. Clay didn't put a dent in them. They didn't vanish till I took the PC and the Poli-Seal to them.

Again sorry for the pic quality:

Before:

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/8461/photo1jyd.jpg


After:

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/6629/photo2iwf.jpg

Completed:

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/4424/photo12l.jpg

Wax was applied by hand.

Took 5 hours, and the sweat was dripping off me. Was close to 100 degrees! 4 bottles of water and a Blue Jay's victory on the radio kept me going.

Dead bugs were extremely bad, to the point that I had to give up or pass out. Did my best. Other than being very dirty, the car is in excellent shape.

Anyway, that's it for now. Your applause or criticism is welcome!
DaveT435
07-15-2012, 09:26 PM
She looks great. Nice shine. Never washed in a year??? I'm curious did you use a 3 inch plate and pads?? That car seems to be on of those that has a lot of narrow curving areas..
rustytruck
07-15-2012, 09:26 PM
Nice job. The first lesson I learned when I started detailing for money was that not everyone keeps their car as clean as mine.

So do you think your ready to do someone else's. This time for money.
dwlinc23
07-15-2012, 10:07 PM
Nice job. The first lesson I learned when I started detailing for money was that not everyone keeps their car as clean as mine.

So do you think your ready to do someone else's. This time for money.

Ha, I was in for rude awakening when I did my first detail for a stranger. Could not believe how dirty the inside was. You learn on each one.
Puckywuckums
07-16-2012, 04:21 AM
She looks great. Nice shine. Never washed in a year??? I'm curious did you use a 3 inch plate and pads?? That car seems to be on of those that has a lot of narrow curving areas..

Yep. A year. She's a country girl.

The rear and difficult lower door areas were done by hand. Was impressed with how well the Poli-seal worked by hand.




So do you think your ready to do someone else's. This time for money.

As long as it's not a classic E-type Jag, I think so. :)
BobbyG
07-16-2012, 05:44 AM
Detailing is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. It's a lot of hard work and once you complete a full detail you've had quite a workout so you needn't head to the gym...

CarPro IronX works well at loosening or dissolving those embedded contaminates.

I think the car came out great and your friend must have been shocked as to how nice it came out....:props:
Puckywuckums
07-16-2012, 05:58 AM
Detailing is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. It's a lot of hard work and once you complete a full detail you've had quite a workout so you needn't head to the gym...

CarPro IronX works well at loosening or dissolving those embedded contaminates.

I think the car came out great and your friend must have been shocked as to how nice it came out....:props:

Thanks for the tip Bobby!

Yes, I think I heard about 20 "Oh my God" utterances. The poor girl works very hard and she deserved it.

This morning I have sore arms, sore legs and sore glutes. Other than that I'm fine ;)
vet
07-16-2012, 07:18 AM
Good job! Not all jobs pay money, but sometimes the good feeling after is ample pay.
craz0boy
07-16-2012, 08:06 AM
Good job! Not all jobs pay money, but sometimes the good feeling after is ample pay.

+1
Mike Phillips
07-16-2012, 08:09 AM
My friend owns this Mazda3. She has never.....I repeat...NEVER washed it in the year that she has owned it! So as a favour and as some practice on a car unlike mine, which is treated very well, I did a freebie detail on the exterior.

I went with the KISS method.

Completed:

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/4424/photo12l.jpg




Nice work and very nice of you to do this for a friend...

Let's hope with a little guidance from you she maintains your hard work.


:dblthumb2: