White Kia Sorento - Detailed by Lawrence

[lawrenceSA]

:hi:

So I would like to apologize up front for the limited amount of pics in this write up... this vehicle turned out to be a 'monster' :fear: taking me a total of 23.5 hours of solid work between 18:00 Friday evening and 16:00 Sunday afternoon and so I had limited time to be snapping pics.

This vehicle was dropped off on Friday evening and I got straight to work on cleaning up the interior (leather, plastics and dash etc.) using a combination of Smart Wax Leather Cleaner / Conditioner, APC and Meguiars Ultimate Protectant.

The condition of the interior on arrival - this brown interior is actually grey :crazy:

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1255.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1259.jpg

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1361.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1363.jpg

I then commenced first thing on Sat morning with cleaning up the wheels. I had been given a bottle of the new Turtle Wax wheel cleaner to test out for Crazy Detailer and must say I am impressed with it. As you will see from the pics below, it has great foaming ability, which to me anyway is always important as it allows the product to dwell longer on the rim, allowing the active cleaning ingredients more opportunity to do their thing. These wheels themselves were not in great shape and I doubt they had ever been subjected to a proper cleaning before, let alone having any sort of protection from a wax/sealant....

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1280.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1289.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1293.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1295.jpg

As you can see, the wheels are a LOT cleaner than what they were, and for the most part, this wheel cleaner will meet the needs of the average customer. I then decided however to take it 1 step further to assess how much of the embedded brake dirt remained behind after using the wheel cleaner.

The rim after using the wheel cleaner
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1304.jpg

I then sprayed some ironX on and as you can see, there is still evidence of remaining contaminants.
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1306.jpg

Once I had completed cleaning the wheels they were sealed using Smart Wax Rim Wax and the wheel arches were dressed with Chemical Guys Bare Bones

I then moved on to the engine bay using APC for the cleaning (along with a host of various brushes) and Chemical Guys Bare Bones for the dressing

Before
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1311.jpg

After
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1383.jpg

The car was then foamed to strip off any existing LSP.
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1317.jpg
While the foam was doing its thing, I cleaned out all the door and boot jambs, petrol cap, badges etc

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1318.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1319.jpg

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1272.jpghttp://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1392.jpg

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1274.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1367.jpg

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1262.jpg
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http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1278.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1366.jpg

The entire vehicle was then washed using the 2 bucket method and Meguiars Gold Class shampoo and dried.

All tar deposits were then removed using Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1321.jpg

This was followed with a complete iron removal process. As can be seen in the pic below, the iron remover dissolves any ferrous and caustic compounds and turns purple when doing so. You then simply rinse the iron away.
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1324.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1323.jpg

[lawrenceSA]

The entire vehicle (including all the glass surfaces) was then clayed using Clay Magic blue clay to remove any remaining contaminants.

This then revealed the true condition of the paint :eek: As you can see in the pics below there were so many swirl marks that the paint appeared hazy. Even under the halogens there was no clear reflection of the lights.

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1326.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1329.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1353.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1357.jpg

A test spot was taped off
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1339.jpg

And after various combinations of pads / products, I settled on Menz FG400 on an orange LC CCS pad. This managed to remove most of the swirl marks but obviously some deeper rids did remain.

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1331.jpg

The entire vehicle was then buffed out, and specific focus was given to an area on the right rear door which had sustained some damage.

Before
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1358.jpg
After
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1359.jpg

Once this was done the vehicle was re-washed to remove any polishing dust etc and was dried off. A coat of Chemical Guys Black light was then applied on a LC Green Flat Polishing pad, and this was followed with a coat of Collinte 845 and finally a coat of Chemical Guys V7

All the glass was then cleaned using Autoglym Fast Glass, the tires dressed and final touch ups done.

Some afters (not the best I know :oops: )
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1378.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1379.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1398.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1399.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Kia%20Sorento/IMG_1401.jpg

Thanks for looking
:hi:

[UltimateDetail]

Amazing Job Man, I'm motivated to go tackle the huge task of detailing my Town Car that hasn't been cleaned for 5 months...

I can't believe how nice that white paint came out. That fg400 seems to be a miracle worker. Also, I might have missed it, but did you do a second step?

Btw, how'd the leather turn out? That interior was beat to all hell! And great job on those jambs, They're spotless!:dblthumb2:

[lawrenceSA]

Thank you very much

And no, I did not follow up with a 'refining' polish after the FG400.

Given that this is a white vehicle and a daily driver I was not looking for perfection, so to speak, and was quite happy to move to LSP from the FG400.

To be honest, I struggled with the leather a bit. Interior cleaning has not been my strong point to date as most of my detailing has been focused on exterior work.

I need to do some more research/testing etc with leather cleaners and get some experience under my belt.

Look, there was certainly a dramatic improvement (as there would be when you are starting from such a dirty base) but I was not totally happy with the outcome.... I would have preferred to get them even cleaner that I did.

[hoyt66]

Great turn around. Looks awesome!

[UltimateDetail]

Thank you very much

And no, I did not follow up with a 'refining' polish after the FG400.

Given that this is a white vehicle and a daily driver I was not looking for perfection, so to speak, and was quite happy to move to LSP from the FG400.

To be honest, I struggled with the leather a bit. Interior cleaning has not been my strong point to date as most of my detailing has been focused on exterior work.

I need to do some more research/testing etc with leather cleaners and get some experience under my belt.

Look, there was certainly a dramatic improvement (as there would be when you are starting from such a dirty base) but I was not totally happy with the outcome.... I would have preferred to get them even cleaner that I did.

Yeah that makes sense, but it still finished pretty good! I agree, with white paint, the difference isn't always worth the extra work and time anyway.

Hey I'm in the same boat as you man, I'm still after a few years of detailing not as good as I'd like to be at interiors. And it sucks because it's my favorite part to turn-around. As for the leather though, most of the time it's the right combo of tools and products. Leather can be a pain, but one thing I learned through research is, you gotta understand the different conditions of the leather, and what is and what isn't repairable or restorable. Try not to do what I did and buy ten different types of cleaners though. lol And also I'm sure you did good enough job on them with the apc and conditioners. You did your best though man, and on that interior, you deserve a medal just for going at it! lol Don't worry to much about it though, i've been it the same spot, just do like you said and research it. And the next time it will be better.

P.S. you could try this kit that I found while researching stuff to repair the leather in my car. I heard it's some of the best stuff. There might be some threads about it on here to...

Check it out: Leather Care Pack 3 x 200ml (http://www.colourlockleathercare.co.nz/leather-care-pack)

It's kinda expensive, but it WILL give you dramatic results.

[Marc08EX]

Big and dramatic improvement! You revived this one from the dead. Great job!

[MarkD51]

Nice article, thanks for posting it. Really great job on the clean up, and detailing. I'm sure the owner was thrilled to bits with this "restoration" you did. Your efforts show.

There's no doubt that the amount of work that was needed cannot be done in as little as 5-8 hour's time. Just too much to address.
Mark

[waynvision]

Beautiful correction job and excellent write-up!

[vet]

Great job!

[RhetoricMixes]

Nice job! Looks like that fg400 did a miracle on that thing.