2007 Mini Cooper S

[PerroneFord]

Interesting detail today. A member of my British Car Club asked to have his Mini detailed. I was actually supposed to to the Mini and his wife's MB wagon, but I'll save that for another day. This was a full detail and a bit tricky since the owner had done the stripes AND the roof with the vinyl stickers.


The car needed no paint correction, but was full of small sap spots and general road grime. Notable on the car was that the exhaust exits center of the car. But the soot seems to migrate under the rear hatch. The area by the locking mechanism was FILTHY.


Wash:
Lower areas sprayed with Surf City Grime Destroyer
Pre-Soak with PB SS&S
2BM with PB SS&S & Grit guard in the rinse bucket
Used Pinnacle Bug Sponge to get off some bugs and tar

Clay:
Meguar's Aggressive Clay with DP Rinseless as QD

Wheels:
Griot's Garage Wheel Cleaner
Surf City Grime Destroyer (one wheel done for comparison purposes)
Daytona Speed Master Brush
Various other brushes.
Wheel Wells got Megs APC+ 10:1
Tires dressed with Wolfgang Tire Gel

Jambs:
PB APC 10:1
QD - DP Rinseless
Trim & seals - PB Natural Look

Glass:
Stoner's Invisible Glass

Interior:
Woolite + Water @ 20:1

LSP:
Optimum Poli-Seal
Klasse KSG on the roof
Klasse KSG layers onto the front bumper and other danger areas.

Trunk & Underhood
Megs APC+ 10:1
PB Trim Restore

Trim
PB Trim Restorer


I felt my process was smoother on this detail, but still nowhere near as good as it could or should be. The car was cramped and really hard to maneuver in. Vacuuming in such tight space was a chore.

The car had gotten water etching onto the vinyl stripes that I could not remove. It also had a couple of tough sap spots that I couldn't get off. Other than that, things went easily outside the car.


The wash process was pretty straightforward. The Griots Wheel Cleaner was able to handle the amount of build up on the wheels without too much fuss. I did have to use the Daytona brush because the wheel wells were too small for my normal brush. The Pinnacle Bug Sponge was a joy to use and worked remarkably well. Highly recommended.

I used aggressive clay on this car to try to pull some of the gunk off the paint. Went pretty well. Only a few sap spots remained and a few spots where the bugs had etched the paint on the leading edge of the room.

I then rewashed the car opting for a rinseless wash. I had the owner on hand to see this and he was amazed by the process. He has a classic Austin Healey, and I suggested this method of washing so he didn't have to worry about putting up the top, or doing other work to get the car ready for cleaning.

I chose to go with Optimum Poli-Seal for this car as it was quick to apply, and offers just a bit of cut. It was applied with an Edge blue pad. I did the roof with Klasse KSG because I iddn't want to run an abrasive over the vinyl. I then layered some KSG over the front bumper with a no-cut pad to lay some extra protection down in that sensitive area.

The owner was absolutely thrilled with the car. He said the inside "looked new". This is a 2yr old daily driver so he was surprised at how well it came out. He loved the outside too but was sorry he didn't know of me sooner so we could hae avoided the water and bug etching.


I took a few photos:


Today's subject:




Presoak (back end was a mess




Interior needed some work too







Interior cleaned up nicely







All done




Reflections (love that Poli-Seal)




Thanks for looking. Comments and questions welcome.

[OGauge4Me]

Looks great. The yellow is really stand out shining now.

[Emile]

Very nice work. You need a better digital camera, though.

How is Meg's APC+ 10:1 on wheel wells? I use Meg's Super Degreaser 4:1 on my wheel wells and I'm still not completely satisfied with the results.

[PerroneFord]

Yea, these pics are all taken with my phone. I just don't have the interest at this point to do anything different. Maybe if I start doing more details...

Megs APC+ 10:1 is ok for light work on the wheel wells. If I need something with more juice I'll go to 4:1. And if they are REALLY bad, I go to Surf City Grime Destroyer 3:1. I've never found anything that stuff wouldn't cut through. I'm about to order a 2-liter of it this week. Wish I could get it by the gallon.

[Emile]

Thanks for the response. Does Surf City say you can cut it 3:1 or is it just something you (and perhaps other detailers) like to do?

[PerroneFord]

I don't know that I've ever seen any commentary from Surf City. Someone else said they were cutting it at 3:1 or 5:1 or something and I decided to try it. At 3:1 it's still unbelievable.