So this morning I began my detailing job. I went to Home Depot and picked up one of these for later in my garage as the sun sets. When I got back, I cleaned the garage floor (push-broomed everything out to get it as clean as possible without washing it) and started on my wheels, so I can seal them before driving the wife to the airport in a bit.

http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/300/be/be94fe1a-1c2f-4310-8439-656c2e41f954_300.jpg


For the rim detailing, I sprayed them one at a time with Purple Power and agitated the dirt with a wheel brush. Since I just did this last weekend before the Kaizen Tuning open house event in Acton, MA, there was relatively little brake dust buildup. However, I wanted to make sure I got off as much crap as possible before sealing the wheels.

As I cleaned them, you can see in the contours a lot of stuck-on brake dust. No amount of mild claying took this off. I don't mind too much - this will eventually become my set of Winter rims once I place an order for a Summer set in black, where these spots will be a lot harder to see.

When cleaning the rims I didn't forget to scrub the tires as well, since I'll be applying tire dressing later. I did notice one of the rims has chipped paint. Breaks my heart!!

I'm letting the wheels dry now before I apply Poorboy's World Wheel sealant and Meguiars Gold Class High Endurance Tire Gel. This stuff tends to last a decent amount of time, you just have to be careful when applying it to wipe off excess so it doesn't sling onto your paint. I'm not TOO concerned with all the excess as once I get home from driving to the airport, I'll let the car cool down and then wash it and park it in the garage for overnight claying. I'll post pictures of the tire and wheel dressing in a bit.

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Pardon the poor quality photos from my blackberry, the digital camera batteries are still charging, I forgot to charge them overnight. I'll take better pictures of the paint as I clay and polish using the better camera.

Nice socks!! lol sorry.

http://www.evoxforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13852&stc=1&d=1273169500

I have THE best wheel cleaner on the market... It is so good that I barely have to do anything!

My wife :D She cleaned them last weekend. I have EmperorX as proof he witnessed.

Haha :) Special detailing socks.

Nice! Does she wash the car as well? Man, if my wife ever decided to clean, I'd be ecstatic. :)

She does a better job then me! She gets all anal (Giggity) when she cleans cars.

She drives a 2010 WRX sedan

After scrubbing down the rims I let them dry and decided to seal them with Poorboy's. It's very very pink. Before I started, I made sure to wipe down all the wheels with a clean dry rag to make sure:

The wheels are all dry; and
There's no grime/residue from cleaning left on themThe second item is obvious - there might be some leftover muck on the rims. I buffed them down while drying them and took off a lot of practically invisible dirt. When the wheels are dry and dirt-free (as best as they'll get) they should feel pretty slick. Making sure all the water is out of the crevices will ensure your sealant doesn't mix with it making for a messy time.

I popped open my sealant and got a clean red foam pad. Foam is good because it will absorb the product inside the pad and let you put on a very fine coat of it. If you see a little pink when applying, that's OK. However, try not to slather it on like buttering a piece of bread. It's like applying wax - a very very very thin coat is enough. I was a little messy on the first couple of wheels as I learned how the foam pad absorbed it, but then got a lot better. In all, I probably used 1.5 tablespoons of the stuff when I was done.

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Now, one thing to watch out for is when you apply the product to your spokes, the foam pad may "drag" on the back edge of the spoke and some of the product will squeeze out behind the wheel spoke or on the edge. Be sure to wipe this off when you buff out the product, otherwise you might sling it onto your car. You can see where big globs came out here.

http://www.evoxforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13864&stc=1&d=1273199192

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When the Poorboy's wheel sealer turns hazy and dry, it's time to wipe off. It wipes off very easily and looks/feels caked like wax. There might be a couple small spots where you applied too much sealer and you have gobs of pink -- this will still be wet to the touch. I wiped off the excess after applying so I had a nice thin layer, and then let it dry to a haze and buffed it out.

After buffing all four wheels (quick - about 5 minutes per wheel) with a normal terry cloth, I did a quick wipe-down of each wheel with a clean microfiber to get off any residue I may have missed. When all was said and done, I applied Meguiar's High Endurance Tire Gel with a cotton applicator pad to the tires, and wiped off the excess.

I went for a quick drive to the airport and when I came back, naturally, driving an Evo with stock brake pads, there's already brake dust on my rims. It came off very, VERY easily with a damp rag after letting it sit for a few hours to make sure the wheels were cool to the touch. The rims still feel pretty slick, I might apply another coat of sealant if I have time later!

Some finished wheel pics.

http://www.evoxforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13866&stc=1&d=1273199724

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wow. those look pretty good. I have never done any of that before

I have THE best wheel cleaner on the market... It is so good that I barely have to do anything!


Brand please.

As for the pink stuff, it does what exactly, just makes them easier to clean in the future?

I garaged the vehicle around 8pm after a full wash and started claying. It took me about 90 minutes to do one half of the vehicle. Surprisingly not as much stuck-on crap as I imagined. The work light I picked up at Home Depot really helps in making sure I get everything. Sure it's like 1000 watts giving me a fantastic suntan but it's worth it, and it only cost me about $30.

Below are some shots of the progress I've made. The full rear bumper is done as well as the wing. I worked my way around the driver's side and stopped halfway across the hood. The roof is also half done.

http://www.evoxforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13871&stc=1&d=1273200668

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Taking a quick beer/arak break and going back down in a few minutes.

wow. those look pretty good. I have never done any of that before

Thanks. There's still a lot of crap stuck to the wheels, you can see it in some of the pics. Ah well. Good enough for now without taking each one off - once I buy and swap to the summer set I'll detail these one at a time before putting them away.

Brand please.

As for the pink stuff, it does what exactly, just makes them easier to clean in the future?

The pink Poorboy's sealant will seal the wheels to give them a little protection from contamination. It also makes removal of brake dust a lot easier, since the dust will stick to the sealant and not the wheel. It also shines the wheels up to a nice glossiness, and makes them pretty smooth to the touch (minus any contaminants you couldn't get off before applying, like really really stuck-on brake dust).

Really easy to apply and if you scrub your wheels regularly I would recommend following up with this stuff or something similar. It has the consistency of mayo, it's not thick like wax, so you can imagine how easy it goes on.

12:30AM EST the claying is finished. About 3 hours for the whole car. I'll wash it once more at the crack of dawn, then dry it off, clean the doorjambs and start polishing.

love the progress!

And now we begin...the polishing step.

Wish me luck :) Might need a new coat of paint by the end of the day - haha

First half of my driver's side door is polished. I taped it off to get some before/after comparisons. I have to say this is my first time using a power orbital and after half of one panel my arms feel like jelly. ;) However, the results are SO worth it. I'm taking a few minutes break before going back down. I still have a couple of very minor scratches in the paint on this half of the door. I'll keep that in mind when I do the other half, and work on a smaller work area as well. I think doing half the door at once was too large. This is a learning experience, for sure. I'll be doing down to an 18"x18" work area on the other half. Here are some before/after shots. I love the comparison with the painter's tape - you can see swirlies on one side, and none on the other (or maybe one..hehe)

Before (these were hard to capture with my digital camera to show the swirlies)

http://www.evoxforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13878&stc=1&d=1273248670

http://www.evoxforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13879&stc=1&d=1273248670

After Comparisons - so nice :)

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That artifact to the right of the light is the little metal cage thing that protects the light surface, not an artifact in the paint. I made sure as it worried me a little when I saw the pics.

One more reflection shot for posterity. I angled the lights to get a nice view of the wall. Later on I'll open the garage door and get some natural light reflections as I apply wax.

So far it's looking fantastic. The photos really do it no justice.



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sickkk man! i gotta see it one more time in person before i leave, id love to do a full detail like this!

Two doors done. I learned the hard way why you never take the pad off the work surface if the machine is in motion. Trying to power (pun intended?) though polishing before it gets dark, so the neighbors don't complain about the noise. Taking pics as I go and I'll post some in a little bit once the polishing stage is done.

Still a few microscratches you can see if you're very, very close but if you're any more than 1 foot away all you see is reflection.

Looks real good. The weather's been pretty nice here for the last few weeks, but the weekly rain storms are driving me nuts. I make myself settle for one wash per week. If I ever end up with a car that isn't black, it will be like a vacation.

My poor back... 4:10PM EDT - hood and roof done, driver's side done. All that's left really is passenger side and trunk area, then it's time to wax.

I didn't use the PO85RD on the roof, it looks fine without it, and to be honest, my back can't support the orbital at that angle for a second pass. The hood got a second pass of course and it came out wonderful. Still a couple of deeper scratches, but unless I go over it all again they will have to stay.

keep the pictures coming!!!

I wish I had my own garage...

looks great man!

Thanks!

I figured if I kept stopping to post I would never get done. I finished up the roof, hood, all side panels by 8:30PM EDT. Since it was getting late I decided to not keep running the orbital as it sounded like I was running a table saw in my garage - I'd like to remain on nice terms with my neighbors (especially the dude with the lambo).

The only two things left to do are front bumper and rear bumper and trunk lid. Not very much, but my garage doesn't have a lot of front/back space so I didn't want to squeeze in and be uncomfortable.

I took the painter's tape off and wiped everything down (a lot of polishing dust/cake) with a clean microfiber and then promptly tossed that in the "wash me!" bucket. I opened up my Pinnacle Souveran. My GOD - this stuff smells like candy bananas. It's amazing. It goes on very very easy and comes off just as easy (apply wet, buff wet) and the shine is fantastic. No waiting for it to dry! For almost a hundred bucks you'd think it would be more complicated. It did come in a beautiful golden silk baggie and had a "congratulations!" letter inside on faux parchment paper. Haha - I feel better already.

http://www.evoxforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13914&stc=1&d=1273284353

I waxed everything but the front bumper and rear bumper and trunk since those haven't been polished yet. Depending on my available time tomorrow and how my body feels (it's amazing I made it this far) I might just wax them in the morning and polish them another day since I have to be somewhere Saturday morning.

The only other thing I need to do is clean the windows. There's a lot of polish cake debris that needs to be gently wiped off.

As far as the polish job goes, I got rid of ALL the swirlies but there are still a few deeper little surface scratches that I couldn't get out without spending more time. However, just having all the swirl marks gone is amazing. No more spiderweb patterns, no more random lines! Just a few long deeper ones I just don't have the polish or pads to get out this time around. But you can't see them unless you're absolutely looking for them. My boss stopped by on the way home from work and I pointed out a couple of the ones that bugged me, and he couldn't spot them so I feel somewhat accomplished. ;)

A couple of Before/After (Right/Left) shots showing the magic disappearing swirls!

http://www.evoxforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13915&stc=1&d=1273284389

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Some reflection shots of the side panels. Mmmmm like a mirror.

One shot of me working the polish in. Action shot!!

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Reflection shots!

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One shot of the hood after a coat of Souveran wax:

http://www.evoxforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13925&stc=1&d=1273284921

One more shot for the night. I had the garage door open for some fresh cool air and decided to take a quick shot with some natural lighting. I'll take more tomorrow.

This photo makes me weak in the knees. Oh no, wait, that's because I've been bending over for two days. Wait, that came out wrong...sigh

http://www.evoxforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13926&stc=1&d=1273285005

great work! its a labor of love!

damn nice work. I so wish I had a garage to fix my paint properly in, working under trees willl make you insane.

Great work. Car looks great. What pad did you use on the orbital for polishing/waxing?

For pads and polishes, I had some very good suggestions that worked out well for my Rally Red. It didn't get a few of the deeper marks out so that's a lesson learned for next time - have more pads handy. I only had what I thought I needed so I couldn't do much more.

Stage 1 - Menzerna Power Finish PO203S on a Lake Country Orange pad
Stage 2 - Menzerna P085RD on a Lake Country Light Green pad

I waxed and buffed by hand, the entire wax process only took about 30 minutes as the Pinnacle went on/came off very very easily.