Vacation Detailing Project - Take Six

**DFB** · 04-26-2022, 02:14 AM

Ranger Wildtrack Waxing

My quest to maintain this car continues. My old man has probably washed a car twice in his lifetime.

With his car being a mobile office and lunch room, he almost spends as much time in his car than in the office. As such, it tends to get pretty dirty. His previous cars I have basically ignored, there has to be a limit to what I can care about in regards to car maintenance.

The Wildtrack is different. This would be the only time in his life he has chosen the flagship. I guess the mentality of not looking too 'flash' at a jobsite or the fact its only going to get filthy has always meant choosing the basic model. Because of this change, I have taken on the task of keeping this car 'nice'. Monthly details seem to be working, as is applying a proper wax every 6-8 months. And that's what today was all about.

First off, I decided to use Koch Chemie AS in the wheel bucket, along with Brake Buster as a wheel and tire cleaner. Koch AS is not a favorite of mine, it just does not cut it as a foaming wash, as such I'm using it up in my wheel bucket, where the extra alkalinity comes in handy.

After the wheels, I broke my own rules and pressure washed the engine bay, then liberally sprayed with Meguiars Hyper Dressing.

For the decontamination wash, I chose to go with CarPro Descale. I absolutely love this product. The front bumper had a collection of bugs that with a couple of sprays of bug remover and a pre-soak with Descale removed touch free with a pressure rinse. I then re-foamed the car and completed the contact wash.

The car was then sprayed top to bottom with IronX and massaged in with gloved hands. Except for the glass, I chose not to clay the car.

Once blown dry and the door jambs wiped with ONR, I used CarPro Eraser as the 'drying aid' in prep for the application of wax.

The wax of the day was trusty Collinite 845, a brand new bottle no less. I'm getting 7-8 month durability of 845 on this car.

Using the machine to apply to the bulk of the car and a small applicator for the smaller areas, I left this to 'set' while I attended to the interior then used my new wax towels to wipe the residue off.

It was then onto the glass, applying Q2 Quick View to all exterior glass. I still have this product going strong on my own Ranger, 5 months after application.

I then finished off the interior cleaning. The leather trim will see some more attention soon, so I only wiped it over with some ONR today. The exterior glass was also re-cleaned to remove any remaining Quick View residue. Tires dressed with Duragloss 253 and the side steps wiped over with some Bead Maker. 253 is a handy product to use on these bigger, chunkier tires as its easier to spread.