My First Production Freebie Detail - 2007 Jeep Rubicon

[Wknd Dtlr]

Since I love to detail as a hobby and also as stress relief from running a business, I occasionally will clean up and detail a family or friend’s car. I only do a few of these a year and these are done for free and only as a gift to people who appreciate what goes into my details. For those of you who have this bug, you know the feeling of that urge to detail every vehicle you see that needs paint correction!

The problem for me is this takes a lot of time and energy – both of which are not in huge supply for me after meeting my other obligations. After many years of lurking on this forum and improving my skills (and spending way too much money on products! ) I decided to try an experiment to see if I could do a “production” detail that, while not up to my normal levels, would still provide the “wow” factor in a reasonable amount of time. Could it be that maybe not every job needs to have the LED lights come out and get to 95% paint correction for me to enjoy it??

The test subject--- 2007 Jeep Rubicon in dire need of attention! 10 year vehicle with high miles


This is my neighbor’s daughter’s vehicle. They know I’m the clean car freak on our street and I happened to be talking to them one day about the “dreaded black plastic fade” on Jeeps. They asked my opinion and I told them it was quite a challenge and would require something like Solution Finish to bring it back ( blank stare from them..oops, used detailing lingo!) . They then told me they bought some Wipe New to see if it would work. I told them I didn’t think TV products would work but if they used it the key would be to prep the plastic.

The next thing you know I offered to give the jeep a “quick wash” and prep the plastic and apply the Wipe New. I should have known better as by now I was sucked in to bringing the jeep back to life! However, I vowed to approach this somewhere between a production job and full out correction project to see how good I could get this without going “way deep” like my usual details. No paint correction, no endless hours chasing perfection.

The bottom line is this project came out very nice. The Wipe New surpassed my expectations ( for now anyway) and I caught myself from getting too caught up in paint correction. I am glad I was able to pound out a freebie that (a) satisfied my OCD and detailing bug (b) produced stunning results (c) did something nice for a neighbor and (d) did not leave me crippled for two days after a grueling session

Also did interior but forgot to take pics. It was nasty as the hardtop had been off for a while and we had a dust storm this week. (lots of leaves and dust )

PROCESS:
pressure wash wheels, wheel wells, tires, bumpers and hard top
Wheels cleaned with WB. various brushes including large daytona and mothers wheel brush. Sealed with a product not sold on this site ( used for aircraft and had it left over )
Tires cleaned with Mothers Tire Renew and Tuff Shine Brush. One application. this stuff works! Two applications of Hyperdressing 3:1. Soaked it up like a sponge
Aggressive wash method.
Clay towel paint and windows
Paint work - HD Speed. Flex with orange Uro-cell. GG6 with 4" tangering hydrotech. Hood hit with Adapt. Spot worked scratches with M100 with GG6 with cyan 4" pad
Black Plastic Fender Flares and Bumpers - Wipe New ( As seen on TV!!!) Please do not flame me on this. Neighbor gave it to me and asked me to use it. Required multiple applications
Hardtop - Wipe New
Wheel wells and parts of undercarriage. - Hyperdressing 3:1
Interior. LOTS and LOTS of compressed air to blow out interior. Vacuumed carpet. Cleaned dash and other plastics with combo of OPC 3:1, M40 and Ultima Interior Shampoo Gel
Glass - OPC, clay, Sprayway with glass MF's
Total time - longer than planned, but way less than my usual projects.

Jeep as I received it. Side view







Notice faded fender flares and nasty wheels





Wheels cleaned up. Plastic fender flares were treated with Wipe New





After shots. Front and rear bumpers as well as hard top were treated with Wipe New. Neighbor was blown away and VERY APPRECIATIVE!





Thanks for reading this write-up. Hope you enjoyed looking at it as much as I enjoyed doing this project. I now know I can get satisfaction on a lower level detail!!

[CanadianBacon]

Nicely done! Wiper-New does work for a bit. Not terrible for a product anyone can apply.

[Sharply Dressed]

Great job. I use freebies around holidays and in the Spring to promote biz.

[Wknd Dtlr]

Nicely done! Wiper-New does work for a bit. Not terrible for a product anyone can apply.

thanks. Since they already had I figured I had nothing to lose. We'll see how it holds up in the hot AZ summer!

[Wknd Dtlr]

Great job. I use freebies around holidays and in the Spring to promote biz.

Thank you. I use freebies to scratch my detailing itch! Only can do it a few times a year as these details kick my butt. Don't know how you guys keep this up on a professional level!

[lane5515]

Wow, that thing was a mess! Looks like a totally different vehicle now. Great job!!

[JRP]

Very nice for a weekender......I have no doubt the neighbor family was very pleased with this freebie.

[Sizzle Chest]

Very nice work. Came out great!

[Britsdaddy]

They've been making those 4 door Jeeps for 10 years now?

[Marc08EX]

Great job Wknd Dtlr! How long did the entire process take you? How about your typical full blown paint corrections?

i also have lots of detailing itch but my energy levels are always depleted lol.