2013 Camaro - Rupes Production Detailing - by Mike Phillips

Mike Phillips · 02-09-2015, 03:11 PM

2013 Camaro - Rupes Production Detailing - by Mike Phillips

This is a daily driver 2013 Camaro that is parked outside a portion of each day. The owner has a garage but doesn't park the car in the garage every night so this car sits outside while they're at work and most of the time when it's at home. She's purchased this car new from the dealership and has owned it for about a year and a half.

The good news is at the time she purchased this Camaro I strongly recommended to the owner to NOT take it to any of the local automatic car washes that uses brushes, swinging mops or even the local hand car washes. I told her if you cannot wash the car yourself and need it cleaned then take it to a touchless wash. As such there's only light swirls in the paint so it's really not that bad in the swirl department.

That said it has a lot of water spot imprint rings built-up on the clearcoat. Knowing the owner and the way the car is used, parked and stored, this car is a perfect candidate for a one-step cleaner/wax or AIO.

In my detailing boot camp classes I start the class teaching that for anyone that details for money, either part time, full time or just for family, friends and co-workers to

Match your services to your customer

That is, for daily drivers try to stick with using either a one-step or two-step process of doing high quality production detailing and leave the show car detailing for cars that receive regular care and are parked inside at least a portion of each day.

Here she is before washing....

Here's the swirl level in the paint...

This is the same area as shown above only I've zoomed in around where the sun is reflecting to show the very light amount of swirls and scratches in the paint.

The rest of the pictures show the build-up of water spotting...

Mike Phillips · 02-09-2015, 03:21 PM

Step by step production detailing using Rupes Bigfoot Orbital Polishers

Step 1 - Wash wheels and tires
I always start at the bottom wash the wheels and tires of a car first. I teach this in my classes, share it in my how-to books along with the reasons why and practice it myself when I wash a car.

First I wash a single wheel and there's a reason to start with the wheel first instead of the tire and then wash and scrub the tires.

To clean the wheel I'm using Rupes C701 Wheel Fast Cleaner and a Wheel Woolies Black Boar's Hair Wheel Brush.

For the tires, because I'm going to apply the DP Tire Coating I'm using DP Tire Cleaner & Conditioner with a Carrand Deluxe Tire & Bumper Brush.

Luckily, it looks like either no dressing has ever been applied to these tires or whatever was applied has long since wore off.

These wheels are not super dirt and there no heavy build-up of road film or brake dust. You can see the bleeding effect which is iron particles dissolving off the wheel finish.

This wheel and tire is ready for rinsing....

Mike Phillips · 02-09-2015, 03:32 PM

Step 2 - Wash the car starting at the top and working down
After the wheels and tires are knocked out it's time to start washing the car. For this I'm going to use one of my favorite tools the Auotgeek Foam Gun with some DP Xtreme Foam Formula Auto Shampoo.

For a wash mitt I like to keep it simple but effective so I'm using a Microfiber Chenille Wash Mitt. You can find cheap versions of these wash mitts just about anywhere and they fall apart fast. The version Autogeek offers is a high quality version that will hold up for many car washes as well as washing in a washing machine and drying in a clothes dryer. The cheap ones fall apart when you wash them by machine.

Here's a tip....
Since I'm using the foam gun and thus I'm not using a wash bucket I always place my clean, dry wash mitt on the car and then get it wet with foam from the gun. Without a traditional bucket full of soapy water you need to use your foam gun to wet the mitt otherwise it's dry when first starting out.

Mike Phillips · 02-09-2015, 03:44 PM

Step 3 - Coat Tires and wheels

For the tire I'm using DP Tire Coating. It's my favorite tire coating. The key to great results stars with cleaning the tire surface exceedingly well and the companion product for the coating is the DP Tire Coating Cleaner & Rejuvenator.

I applied 3 coats to each tire and forced dried each coating using the Metro-Vac Sidekick to speed up the process. You don't have to speed dry the coating but tell you what... not only does it do a great job of reducing time to apply a total of 12 coats of tire coating, (3 coats on 4 tires), it also does a great job of blowing the coating into all the groove and around all the large and small lettering found on a tire sidewall. On of my favorite tools.

After applying the coating to the tires I applied the Pinnacle Black Label Diamond Wheel Coating to the rims to make them sparkle like new and help prevent the build-up of brake dust into the future plus it makes getting them clean faster and easier.

Deep, dark black finish that's dry to the touch and lasts and lasts...
Not only does the DP Tire Coating look great and last a long time but it leaves behind a dry-to-the-touch finish that's non-greasy so it won't attract dirt or dust and it won't stain wash mitts, brush or your clothes if you accidentally bump into the tires.

Mike Phillips · 02-09-2015, 03:51 PM

Cover and protect wheels and tires

Because of the time and labor invested in coating the tires and wheels the last thing I want to do is wipe any compound, polish or wax splatter off them in case I sling any product while machine buffing the paint.

So to save time and anquish I like to cover wheels and tires with Wheel Maskers. Not only does it protect the wheels and tires after all my hard work to get them looking great but from a marketing point of view it paints a very clear message to your customer that you do high quality work.

Mike Phillips · 02-09-2015, 03:59 PM

Step 4 - Inspect the paint visually and with your sense of touch

First I inspect the paint visually. Now that the car has been washed and dried I can really get an accurate look at the finish. After washing the dirt off the car all that's remaining are the imprint rings showing where water pools and then dries over and over again. Luckily in most cases, imprint rings are easy to remove with a light polishing.

The Baggie Test
Next I inspect the paint using the Baggie Test to inspect for above surface bonded contaminants and I'm not surprised the paint feels like #40 grit sandpaper.

Mike Phillips · 02-09-2015, 04:06 PM

Step 5 - Mechanically decontaminate the paint using detailing clay

For this step I used the DP Universal Detailing Clay, which is a medium grade clay. I used this with the DP Universal Clay Lubricant.

I like white detailing clay because It's easier to see the color of the contaminants coming off the paint. This can help when trying to identify the offending contaminants.

After claying I re-inspect using the baggie test to make sure the paint is smooth and clean.

Mike Phillips · 02-09-2015, 04:48 PM

Step 6 - Machine apply Wolfgang Uber All In One

Uber All in One is a one-step cleaner sealant as the protection ingredients are synthetic. So instead being or calling it a cleaner/wax it's a cleaner/sealant.

To apply this product I'm going to use the Rupes Duetto 12mm Orbital Polisher. You can use any of the Rupes tools to apply a one-step cleaner/wax but I like the Duetto because of the compact design plus it's lightweight so it's easy to use even on vertical panels.

The Secret to doing high quality production detailing...
The secret to using one-step products on scratch-sensitive clearcoats paints is to use the softest pad you can get away with with a high quality one-step AIO.

In this case I'm using the Rupes ultra soft white polishing pad. The majority of the cleaning and polishing work is provided primarily from the cleaning agents and micro-fine abrasives in the Uber All-in-One.

By hand or machine
You can apply Wolfgang Uber All In One by hand or machine and you'll get great results either way but for the best results as well as the fastest way to go from start to finish then machine application is a lot more efficient.

Rupes Duetto 12
The Rupes Duetto has a 122 orbit stroke length, that's about 4mm more than other dual action polishers. Couple the long orbit stroke with a high quality one-step product like Uber AIO and a soft foam pad and you can restore that factory beautiful shine in no time. Plus the Rupes tools are the smoothest polishers on the market with virtually zero vibration even at the highest speed settings.

Panel by panel
When using Wolfgang Uber All In One it's best to work panel by panel, that is apply to a single panel and then remove before moving onto the next panel.

Microfiber Towel Techniques
Always fold your microfiber towels 4-ways when removing a wax or sealant as this will give you 8 sides to wipe with and provide plenty of cushion to spread out the pressure from your hand.

Save time - lots of time!
Using quality tools, pads and products you can do high quality production detailing while cutting hours of time out of the process.

Ready for presentation....
Here's she is with all the wax removed... next it's time to remove the wheel maskers and take a few beauty shots of the final results....