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Complete From the Studio: CTS-V


THE Mook

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Good Morning,

 

Did this a couple weeks back.  Great guy, and awesome car!  So much fun to knock this one out.  The car had a fair amount of swirl marks in it, lots of bugs, a semi-dirty engine...nothing too major!  Did I mention this one was a LOT of fun!?

 

Here's what it looked like when it showed up:

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The Products and Process:
 
·         Wheel Wells and Tires cleaned with Adam's All Purpose Cleaner and the Adam's 20" Fender Brush.
·         Wheels cleaned with Adam's Green Wheel Cleaner, Adam's Boulder Blonde Boar's Hair Wheel BrushAdam's Wheel Woolies and Adam's Turbostick.
·         Engine Bay cleaned with Adam's All Purpose Cleaner, Adam's Wheel Woolies, and Adam's Boulder Blonde Boar's Hair Wheel Brush.
·         Two Bucket Wash with Grit Guards and Two Wash Pads from the Adam's Complete Two Bucket Wash Kit.
·         Vehicle was dried using Adam's Air Force Master Blaster and Adam's Great White Drying Towel.
·         Engine Bay, Tires and Trim were first decontaminated with Adam's APC and Adam's Edgeless Utility Towels.  Then dressed with either Adam's SVRT or Adam's In and Out Spray.
·         Wheel Wells were dressed with Adam's Invisible Undercarriage Spray.
·         Vehicle was masked with Adam's Professional Detailer's Masking Tape.
·         Door Jambs were cleaned with Adam's Waterless Wash and Adam's Waterless Wash Towels.
·         Interior and Exterior Glass cleaned with Adam's Glass Cleaner and Adam's Glass Cleaning Microfiber Towels.

·         Interior was vacuumed out and wiped down with Adam's Total Interior Detailer.
·         Decontamination of paint and glass was done using Adam's Detailing Claybar and Adam's Detail Spray as a lubricant.
·          Paint was corrected (holograms, swirl marks and water spotting) with the Flex 3401VRG Polisher, Adam's 7" Orange Microfiber Paint Cutting Pad, and Adam's Paint Correcting Polish.
·         The entirety of the paint was polished with the same polisher, Adam's 7" White Foam Paint Finishing Pad, and Adam's Paint Finishing Polish.
·          Paint and Glass Pieces were treated to Adam's Brilliant Glaze via the Adam's 7" Red Glazing Pad or the Adam's Americana Premium Wax and Glaze Applicator
·         Paint was treated to Adam's Patriot.
·         All Polish, Glaze, and Wax residue removed with Adam's DoubleSoft Towels.

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a Few of the Engine...not too bad...

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My wheel and tire "Crew" ready to boogie.

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Before the wash, I addressed the exhaust tips.

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Getting ready to start the Wheels and Tires, I always start by rinsing the Wheel Wells.

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The Turbostick is so much fun!

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Boar's Hair Brush for the Faces

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Clean!

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With the large amount of bugs on the front end of the car, I opted to pre-soak the areas in Waterless Wash, but first, set the nozzle to Stream.

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Time to lift that hood back up and get to work under it.

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Clean!

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After I dressed the engine, I took some Metal Polish and knocked out the water spotting on the cross member here.

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Once the vehicle was dry, and the door jambs were wiped clean, I placed my cardboard down and began to shoot Invisible Undercarriage Spray into the Wheel Wells.

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From there, it was time to dress the tires with SVRT.

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I chose to throw some Metal Polish on the Wheels too.  Really brightened them up.

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With the paint now corrected and polished...and glazed, I figured what better time to bring out the Patriot!  (Yes I cleaned up around the badge before I let the car go LOL!)

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Thanks to Matt@Adams for snapping a few action shots!

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Looks great Mook - no surprise there.

 

Wondered however how you went at the engine though.  It appears you sprayed APC full foam over the covers etc.  How did you rinse?  Hafta say I'd freak myself out if I just hosed it down.  That's a mighty expensive and sophisticated engine there, with lots of electrical senders and contact points around.  Sensor failures can be so expensive to isolate and repair most of the time I'd rather leave the engine bay dirty - which is almost always the rule if I'm working on someone else's car.

 

My approach with my own engines is to remove all the plastic/vanity covers first.  Once off, they'll get immersed in APC and warm water, dried then hit with SVRT.  Under those covers, I photo document the wire routing etc. then I'll remove anything easy/low risk that looks to be in the way of accessing any dirty parts.  This makes room for a shop-vac with a long crevice and other computer-purpose dusting attachments.  Any grease/grit is isolated with paper towels then sprayed with a 50/50 APC/water, wiped down or toothbrused clean.  Final step is to use a compressed air blower nozzle and go over any still moist or cruddy areas.  Any greasy areas are noted as they can be indications to required maintenance, everything is checked over, incl. engine and indoor air filters, fluid levels are topped up and the plastic covers are replaced.  My DD's are relegated to outside parking only, and they do collect a fair bit of debris.

 

For the interior I see you used TID.  I love the finish and simplicity of TID but don't find it to be that aggressive at cleaning the real dirty stuff, so wondered what you do in areas that require more aggressive attention (coffee/pop stains, grease or shoe marks, general grime etc.)    For these I use the same 50/50 APC/water mix and if necessary a Magic Eraser (carefully as it can cause gloss to appear in matte areas.) 

 

Sorry for going on, but something I've had difficulty gettin' done in decent time are carpets and very grimy floor mats.  Similar to engines, on interiors, carpets and mats I find the rule for detergents is less is more - and then some.  I use half as much as I need, and step it up until the job is done.  With Adam's carpet cleaner it seems there is a tipping point at which too much cleaner is near impossible to remove, forcing the resort to a full water spray, when I'm usually trying to avoid soaking them in the first place.  Seems the best thing for mats is a low foaming high traffic carpet cleaner.  I get real anal about cleaning until their is no grime, rinsing until there is no soap, wet-vac'ing until there is no soak left, - but I can spend hours on mats alone getting them to "new" and then hanging overnight for them to dry.  You guys make it look so easy!  Other interior cleaners I use are dry clean products, but then sometimes give up to APC and LOTS of soak/rinse (like with grimy seatbelts.)  My portable steam cleaner helps, but doesn't seem too compatible with Adams carpet cleaner.

 

Anyhow, just trying to pick up some tips on Adam's products from the pro!

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Regarding Paul's comments about cleaning the engine, I was wondering how we can even be sure there is one under all that plastic! I remember once upon a time you had to cut a hole in your hood to fit a supercharger, now here's a small(ish) car with a Roots-style blower you can't even see when you pop the hood! :willy:

 

Mook, I'm curious about using metal polish on those wheels. I always treat polished metal like paint if it has a clearcoat. Is the metal polish still the best option here?

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