2011 Charger Daily Driver Spring Clean

[lokerola]

I knew I wanted to get my Dodge Charger R/T cleaned up this weekend. Being a black car, daily driver, with no garage, I knew there were swirls that needed to be polished out. It was also in the body shop last fall to replace the front passenger fender due to little fender bender I had. And there are some good buffer trails in the paint surrounding the fender from the body shop.

But...I didn't want to take 2 days to clay, tape, compound, polish, etc. I'm slow - what can I say? :)

I wanted to see how clean I could get the paint, how many swirls I could hide without polishing, and get a great shine and some LSP protection on her, all within 1 afternoon. Let's see what happened!

Let's look at some before shots. It was DIRTY. Hadn't been washed in, oh about a month. And we had taken a trip for spring break that sent us through bad weather. Needless to say - it was dirty city.

Salt and grime

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Wash me!

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Step 1: 2 bucket wash with Megs D111. I finally ran out of D111 this wash and I won't be buying it again. I actually prefer the Megs Gold wash. The D111 is odd - it's sort of "sticky" and doesn't like to rinse off very well. Anyway - it did get the job for me today.

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Body washed. I always save the wheels for last. Opposite of what most people do - but oh well...at least most of the grime is gone.

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Step 2: Klasse AIO on Orange pads with my GG. This really made the paint start to pop. I can't believe how much dirt and grime was pulled off onto the pads.

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Now we're starting to see some reflections!

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Man these things were dirty!

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Step 3: I could have quit after the Klasse. This stuff just rocks. But, my goal was to not only get it shiny, but hide as many swirls as I could. So next step was Poorboy's Black Hole Glaze applied with GG and black 6.5" pads.

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The reflections are getting deeper and swirls are hiding away!

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Step 4: Collinite 915. The final step. This was my first time using 915 and my first time attempting to apply Carnuba wax with a DA and the first time trying to remove wax with a DA polisher. First of all - you can see the wonderful, cool garage I was working in LOL! I was working in direct sunlight on a BIG black car. Although instructions say to only apply in cooler temps, sometimes you just gotta get the job done. I found that the best method with the 915 was to use a smaller 5" flat pad and apply the wax to a small area and immediately wipe it off by hand. I tried switching the 5" pad to another 5" pad that had a bonnet on it - but it was too much of a pain in the rear. By the time I switched the pads out the 915 was solid as a rock. Doing the removal by hand just went a lot faster.

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Wax on, wax off

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Wait - whats' this? More Collinite wax? Yes! 476 for the chrome wheels.

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Some final pics.

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Interior got a quick once over too.

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Even the ground is reflecting the 476 coated chrome wheels!

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Well, that's it. The combo of Klasse, PB's BH Glaze, and the 915 hid a great number of swirls, cleaned up the paint, and made it pop like crazy. Is it perfect? Heck no! When I have 2 days to spare instead of one later this spring I'm going to hit the fender and surrounding areas with M105/M205. But in the meantime, the 1 day spring clean is done! Hope you liked!

[Chris@AutoCleanse]

Great results you achieved, sometime all-in-ones are the way to go on daily drivers. The wheels turned out especially shiny with the wax you selected for your application. Thanks for sharing.

[Pinpoint_Precision]

Nicely done. You can never go the extra mile on your car, specially being black and charger! ;)

[lokerola]

Great results you achieved, sometime all-in-ones are the way to go on daily drivers. The wheels turned out especially shiny with the wax you selected for your application. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks ItalianGuy. I was suprised how nice it turned out. I"ve now used Collinite 845, 915, and 476. I have to say, applying 845 is the easiest, 476 is about in the middle, and 915 the hardest to apply. 845 is just so easy to use - warm it up and go town. 476 is a pretty soft wax; very easy to get out of the tin. But 915 is tough. It's crumbly, almost fragile. I had a tough time getting it out of the jar and getting the pad buttered with it. I was almost always dropping some on the ground. Now 915 does make the black paint pop. But is the harder application worth it versus 845? I don't think so.


Nicely done. You can never go the extra mile on your car, specially being black and charger! ;)

Thanks Francsico! I thought I'd get it all done in 4 hours. 7 hours later I was nursing a sore back and cold beer. LOL Im the MAN

[Boudin]

You can soften the 915 just like you do the 845, put the tin in warm water for a few minutes. Makes it 10x easier to apply thin and removal is therfor easier.

[Fast Eddie]

Very nicely done and great write up. Black car + sun/no shade + wax = fun times eh. Been there done that.

[tapp1]

Nice work. I hear ya with the time factor. At the end of the day its a DD, not a show car.

[cartman57]

Stunning! Collinite 915..........pain to work with but great results.
Sun reflection off the rims is a very cool pic, must be something while driving it too.

[ntwillie1]

Nice work. I'm a big fan of klasse also. Love the stuff.

[jjj]

Very nice! Looks great!

[Sicoupe]

Great job! Black looks so good all detailed up:)

[KillaCam]

That's a lot of layers! Turned out great though.
I am not a fan of shampoo plus either. I feel like it messes up my beads and never rinses all the way off. Is hyper wash any better?

[vet]

Nice work!

[817detailer]

Nice job,

[lokerola]

You can soften the 915 just like you do the 845, put the tin in warm water for a few minutes. Makes it 10x easier to apply thin and removal is therfor easier.

Ah, good idea on the 915, I'll have to try that next time. Thanks!


Very nicely done and great write up. Black car + sun/no shade + wax = fun times eh. Been there done that.

Thanks Fast Eddie.


Nice work. I hear ya with the time factor. At the end of the day its a DD, not a show car.

Thanks. Yea, and it's easy to get sucked in to doing more and more. A little work here and there - next thing you know another couple of hours have flown by.


Stunning! Collinite 915..........pain to work with but great results.
Sun reflection off the rims is a very cool pic, must be something while driving it too.

Thanks!


Nice work. I'm a big fan of klasse also. Love the stuff.

Yea, I was amazed at how much crud came off onto the pads using Klasse. Thanks!


Very nice! Looks great!

Thanks jjj!


Great job! Black looks so good all detailed up:)

Thanks - it's sure to last a day or two before it all the pollen needs to be washed off, LOL!


That's a lot of layers! Turned out great though.
I am not a fan of shampoo plus either. I feel like it messes up my beads and never rinses all the way off. Is hyper wash any better?

Thank you! Yes - that's my experience with the D111 too - it just never washes all the way off. I'd don't know about hyper wash. I'm going back to the Megs Gold Wash. It's pretty cheap and rinses off nicely.


Nice work!

Thanks!


Nice job,

Thanks!