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wolfpacker92
08-18-2007, 09:37 PM
Hey guys if you saw my S&S on the Toyota Camry that my co-workers daughter was trading in well this is the car she traded in for. This is a really cool car with a lot of pep. Well she got the car on Monday and when she picked it up it really did not look clean at all. The before pics are after only 3 full days on the road so you can tell the dealership didn't do much for it. In fact she was so preturbed with the dealership that the first thing she asked me was "Can you please take their sticker off the back" (which I did). She brought it over Friday after lunch and before I could start my Surf City Garage products arrived, so I thought what a perfect time to try them out.

The Surf City Garage products I used were: Pacific Blue Wash and Wax, Beyond Steel Wheel Cleaner, Nano Seal Protective Coat and Clearly Better Glass Cleaner. I'll talk about each in detail in the steps below. One thing that I really liked is that non-spray bottles have a cap plug in them to prevent spilling. I really like this idea and wonder why more don't use it. You see I'm kind of anal or have a small case of OCD when it comes to taking off the little paper covers most bottles come with. I can not put the top back on until every single solitary sliver of paper is off the rim....I know, I know sounds stupid but just a hang up I have. So the Surf City products helped alleviate this. Here's what it looks like:
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/08%20Altima%20Coupe/11.jpg

Well here is what I did:

Wheels: The wheels already had some road grime on them and I decided to use the Beyond Steel Wheel cleaner. It is not a gel and tends to run off pretty easily but with its cleaning power I guess it doesn't have to sit on there for a long time. The directions say you can just spray on and rinse off. Well I'll tell you I always put my wheel schmitt on wheels and a brush to get the back side of the wheel but thought well I'll try just the spray and rinse to see if it works well if you look at the next pics you will see that it did:
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/08%20Altima%20Coupe/7.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/08%20Altima%20Coupe/8.jpg
Well I still went back and put the schmitt on it but it really didn't need it. This stuff is really safe because after I sprayed the last wheel my cell rang and I answered it and after the conversation I forgot to rinse the wheel. About 15 minutes later I realized I had not rinsed it and immediately rinsed and it came clean and looked as good as the other 3. Needless to say I really liked this product and will be ordering more. I used Meg's APC undiluted on wheel wells. I dressed the tires with DP Gloss Tire Gel and sprayed the front two wells with Stoner's More Shine. The back wells have a type of felt material, I don't know why maybe for road noise suppression:confused: .

Wash: I used the Pacific Blue Wash and Wax in my AG foam gun and a rinse bucket. Well I think this is designed to be used in a bucket because it didn't foam real well in the gun. I smells like one of the bubble gums my kids like with a slight hint of Juicy Fruit chewing gum. Although it didn't foam real well in the gun it cleaned like a champ. Before I start every wash I clean the bugs with PB Bug Squash and Pinnacle Safe Scrub but with only about 100 miles on the vehicle I didn't want to do anything but wash it so I figured I would be scrubbing vigorously with the Schmitt and my soap....WRONG! This soaps cleaning ability is great. I was able to wipe the bugs right off and the soap has great lubricity, very very slick. This stuff worked great but it was a new car, however I will be posting a S&S of a neglected 01 Honda Accord that resides in PA that I did with the Surf City products and it worked great on that neglected paint as well.

Glass: I will preface this with any glass product I use will be compared to Stoner's IG because for me that is the benchmark in glass care. SIG is my all-time favorite glass cleaner so everything else is up against that. Well the Clearly Better Glass Cleaner performed everybit as well as SIG but it is a little more expensive. There is one area that it did out perform SIG and that was in the sun and heat. Anytime I use SIG I have to be in the garage or turn the AC on in the car to cool the windows down or I get streaking from the glass being so hot. Well I used Clearly Better Glass in the heat and sun just as a test and it cleaned with no streaks. Is it worth the extra $ well if you have to clean glass in the sun I would say yes. Glass was every bit as clear with Clearly Better as with SIG (and she already had some dog snot on the passenger window).

Paint: I was just going to use a paint sealer since it was new but whoever had washed the car before looked like they just let it air dry and there were water spots throughout. So I started with my trusty Pinnacle Paint Cleansing Lotion with a LC white pad. After polishing with the Pinnacle I proceeded to the Nano Seal Protective Coat with a LC blue pad. This stuff smelled like bannans to me and was a yellowish tan color. It went on very easy and came off just as easy. The directions say that 90% of the pores are sealed in 20 minutes and all will be in 24 hours if you can wait that long to remove it. Well I didn't have 24 hours so I waited about 1 hour and wiped it off with a Cobra Indigo MF. My best description of the paint was WET! I was really pleased with the look. Now as of now of course I don't know about the durability of it but since I work with her father and I did his camry with DP Surface shield he can keep me updated as to its durability compared to his camry. So I'll keep you updated on that. One other thing I liked about it was that it comes in an 8 oz bottle which fits well in the pocket of the shorts I wear while detailing, therefore I always had it right at my finger tips while sealing. I know the little things really impress me:p .

I didn't have to do anything to the interior except vacuum and protect with DP Interior Surface Protectant. I can safely say I have added a few mainstays to my aresenal (I have the Killer Chrome Perfect Polish but have not had the chance to use it yet). I was so impressed with these products that I will be ordering other products off of this line soon. Well here are the before and after pics:
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/08%20Altima%20Coupe/1.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/08%20Altima%20Coupe/2-1.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/08%20Altima%20Coupe/3.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/08%20Altima%20Coupe/4.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/08%20Altima%20Coupe/5.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/08%20Altima%20Coupe/6.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/08%20Altima%20Coupe/9.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/08%20Altima%20Coupe/10.jpg

Tonya
08-18-2007, 09:47 PM
Great write up! Thanks for sharing!!
Love the car, great job! :D

Reddwarf
08-18-2007, 11:00 PM
Great review. Tell me more about the Wash and Wax. What is the idea behind it? Is it to wash and leave a wax on the car? I would assume that after you put the Pinnacle paint cleanser on the car any wax from the soap would be gone.

pawpaw
08-18-2007, 11:16 PM
Nice review. I also got some wash & wax and was very impressed with it. I used with two bucket method and was very impressed with suds. My review and photos are listed here as well. I was also impressed with cap plugs. I did not receive the Nano Seal and since I really like the wet look will be looking at this.

07ImpalaSS
08-19-2007, 01:25 AM
Thanks for the review, looks good.

Rey05
08-19-2007, 02:07 AM
Awesome review AND results! I REALLY like the Alty coupes.

klumzypinoy
08-19-2007, 03:33 AM
Wow that Altima is looking great. Thanks for the review on the products, I was eyeing the soap (I am sort of a soap loving person :p and you said it smells good, that gets me too Lol, Sparkie knows) So did it foam a lot in the bucket? What can you compare the foaming to? I know it's not important but it helps me in a way. The sealer sounds like a good one!

dengood1
08-19-2007, 06:52 AM
Man, you really brought out that red. It went from soft and fuzzy to sharp and wet! Looks like Surf City Garage stuff works!!

mixxer
08-19-2007, 07:11 AM
that was a great review thanks!

alban61
08-19-2007, 07:13 AM
Thanks for the great review/write-up and pics! I agree with dengood1.....that red looks sharp and wet! Nano Seal looks great, but didn't know you had to wait for 24 hrs before buffing. I thought it just needed that long to cure. Don't think I could wait 24 hrs either, with my vehicles parked outdoors!
Love how the paint looks on this full side shot. I'm going to tell you something that I've never told another guy before..............your garage door is open, and I see your Little Giant! :D
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/08%20Altima%20Coupe/2-1.jpg

Gary Sword
08-19-2007, 08:07 AM
Nice job looks like new! ;)

joe.p
08-19-2007, 08:22 AM
the red paint is poping..

great job on the review

wolfpacker92
08-19-2007, 08:52 AM
Thanks for the great review/write-up and pics! I agree with dengood1.....that red looks sharp and wet! Nano Seal looks great, but didn't know you had to wait for 24 hrs before buffing. I thought it just needed that long to cure. Don't think I could wait 24 hrs either, with my vehicles parked outdoors!
Love how the paint looks on this full side shot. I'm going to tell you something that I've never told another guy before..............your garage door is open, and I see your Little Giant! :D


Alban61 - Now that was funny. You know when I first read the description for Nano Seal here at AG and read the description on the back of the bottle I was a little confused about the cure time as well. From the descriptions it appears that you just have to wait 24 hours after removal for it to cure. But the instructions say after putting the sealer on (which is step 3), "4. Relax, for excellent sealing (90% of maximum), let sealer sit on surface for at least 20 minutes. But it's worth the wait for 100% sealing, which takes 24 hours."
So I assume that means it has to sit 24 hours for complete sealing. However if the paint gets any better with 100% sealing I'm not sure if I could stand it, because you should have seen the difference in person if you think the pics look good.

Reddwarf- Yes the Pinnacle should have taken whatever wax was on the car from the wash off. I will probably use this soap more on cars that will not need polishing.

klumsypinoy- The soap would be a good investment, not only did it smell good but I really love its cleaning abilities. And pawpaw said in his review that it did suds up in the 2 bucket method.

dengood1- Yes the car came out great I just hate that I didn't get to see her reaction to it because her dad came and picked it up. However when I handed him the keys (I take that back, the remote fob because it has no key ~ pushbutton start which was really cool) he said "So are you going to do my truck next week?" She loved the way her Toyota turned out so I have to believe she loved this.

Thanks everybody for the kind words but the Surf City stuff made it easy. This stuff is really good and I'm really looking forward to using the metal polish as I have tried a few and neither really satisfied me. And like I said I will be buying more from this line.

DantheMan
08-19-2007, 08:55 AM
Awesome review, and thats a cool little car..

First one I've seen. The wife was telling me she wants one. Really cool little cars.

Great work!

bill walsh
08-19-2007, 10:33 AM
thanks for great reviews