2015 RAV 4 Polished with McKee's 37 & Coated with Crystal Serum Light & EXO

[FrankS]

I purchased this new Toyota RAV 4 in November of last year (2015).

It was time for a new car and I was looking for a SUV since I do some mobile detailing.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_010_zpsgvri2c7d.jpg

Room to put some of my stuff for mobile detailing.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_001_zpspu1ko8sg.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_006_zpshgrlpsvj.jpg

The wheels have been coated with GTechniq Wheel Armor and the tires coated with Tuf Shine Tire Clearcoat.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_001_zpsb52yifge.jpg

Windshield and exterior glass coated with Pinnacle Black Label Diamond Glass Coating.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_004_zpsovwuvivm.jpg

Headlights coated with Opti-Lens.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_034_zps1lqafnbj.jpg

Plastic trim and wiper cowl coated with Cquartz Dlux.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_018_zpsumdtpd1l.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_032_zpsm3mlreil.jpg

The car had been previously washed, clayed, Iron-X'ed and sealed with CarPro Reload back in December.

It was now time to begin applying the paint coating. My coating of choice was GTechniq Crystal Serum Light topped with EXO.

Some accumulation of dust and dirt - did a rinseless wash using Uber Rinseless Wash.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_011_zpseqd8n5c5.jpg

I was going to be applying the coating on the front clip of the car for now and tackle the rest of the car at a later date.

The hood, front quarter panels and bumper, were clayed again using a Nanoskin Fine Grade Towel with Uber RW as the lube mainly to remove the Reload sealant.

The front clip was Iron-X'ed again to see if there were any iron particles present, there were some.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_031_zpsyvn3cv75.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_030_zpsjx45oguh.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_028_zpsinfwbjmm.jpg

This was a good opportunity to try out the new Mckee's 37 polishes and the CarPro Gloss Pads.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_045_zpsvajxhim8.jpg

Vehicle taped up before polishing.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_041_zpsldhnhj7r.jpg

Compounded first using Flex 3401, White Hybrid pad and McKee's Fast Compound, even though the paint didn't need compounding since there were only very minor swirls and scratches, just wanted to try out the product.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_046_zpspes2miui.jpg

Very little dusting from the compound, long working time and easy wipe off and left a nice finish. This was after compounding.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_058_zpsd2lkdsie.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_056_zpskcuwelms.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_053_zpskbslgoun.jpg

The Griots Garage PFM Towel did a nice job of wiping off the compound residue.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_048_zpslach244r.jpg

Next step was to polish with McKee's Fast Polish and CarPro Gloss Pad. The CarPro pads are very similar in softness to the Rupes White Pads.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_068_zpsnqpk7vps.jpg

Polish residue was wiped off with new Edgeless MF Polishing Cloths.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_051_zpssj7chtfh.jpg

After polishing, the panels were wiped down with GTechniq Panel Wipe to remove any polish residue and prepare the paint for the coating.

Crystal Serum Light and Exo kit.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_071_zpsiumrs0w5.jpg

Contents of the CSL box.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_075_zpsi0lmnwbm.jpg

Letter found inside.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_076_zpsgmpxxa3s.jpg

Contents of the EXO package.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_078_zps9rpihijy.jpg

Conditions at the time of coating.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_083_zps2y6zh0nt.png

Lint brush was used to remove any lint on the towels to be used for coating wipe off. I have to give the credit to forum member Mike@DedicatedPerfection for this idea.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_079_zpsan7ficzw.jpg

Coating being applied to the supplied applicator pad.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_080_zpsrspjmqb3.jpg

Coating being spread/applied.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_081_zpsviunwo8c.jpg

Coating being wiped down after doing a section.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_082_zpsmdp0qewy.jpg

EXO was applied on top of CSL about 45 minutes after applying CSL.

Just a note: I had read a review on applying CSL on another site and it said you could wait a few minutes before the wipe down. I tried to do about 2/3 of the hood at one time but when I went back to wipe the high spots, there were some areas that had streaked and I wasn't able to remove them with the towel. I had to re-polish that section of the hood and try again.

After that incident, I did smaller sections as the instructions indicate and wiped the high spots about 1-2 minutes after beginning a section.

I talked to another professional detailer here in South FL who has been using CSL and he said that they normally begin wiping down immediately after they do a small section.

I found both CSL and EXO to be very easy to apply as long as you stick with the directions.

Here are some after shots.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_089_zpszcvcjvyh.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_091_zpsv0sdighl.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_092_zpskqwwb2n1.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/fosaladrigas/2015%20Toyota%20RAV%204/800_095_zpsxi5kfjr6.jpg

[whavens]

Results look great, thanks for the review.

Walter

[Ebg18t]

Looks great.

[Nick McKees37]

Great work Frank! :dblthumb2:

[Sicoupe]

Looks outstanding Frank!

[Joshwaa]

Very nice. Can't wait till it's my trucks turn!

[10secdream]

I had a similar experience installing Gtechniq CSL on a vehicle that I did on the weekend. For most panels I waited about 4 minutes before removing the excess. I must have lost track of time on the roof and it already cured by the time I went to wipe it off. I ended up having to re-polish the roof.

As with any new product you always need to test flashing times yourself.

[FrankS]

Results look great, thanks for the review.

Walter


Looks great.


Great work Frank! :dblthumb2:


Looks outstanding Frank!

Thanks guys!


Very nice. Can't wait till it's my trucks turn!

Thanks Josh, hopefully we'll being doing yours this week.


I had a similar experience installing Gtechniq CSL on a vehicle that I did on the weekend. For most panels I waited about 4 minutes before removing the excess. I must have lost track of time on the roof and it already cured by the time I went to wipe it off. I ended up having to re-polish the roof.

As with any new product you always need to test flashing times yourself.

True.

[The Guz]

Nice job.

[Angus]

Excellent review! Love all the new products you packed into one detail!!

[Marc08EX]

Amazing work Frank!!!

[GSKR]

Nice job frank.

[FrankS]

Nice job.


Amazing work Frank!!!


Nice job frank.

Thanks guys!


Excellent review! Love all the new products you packed into one detail!!

Thanks! I thought this was a good opportunity to try out different products.

[fly07sti]

Great work Frank. Love seeing the 2 Flex's next to each other.

[FrankS]

Great work Frank. Love seeing the 2 Flex's next to each other.

Thanks Don! I wanted to have one as a back-up and now I can use one for smaller pads and smaller/narrow sections.