HFX Detailing Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 (edited) Overview: Recently detailed the exterior of an Acura. The paint was absolutely hammered. There was embedded dirt everywhere, even in the window. The paint felt like sandpaper. There was zero shine in the vehicle. The customer wanted his shine back on a decent budget. I believe this was accomplished and he was very happy. The following post will list some products used, followed by the process with pictures and finish with some before/after pictures. To see the magic without the hassle, just skip to the end. The products (from adamspolishes.ca):http://www.adamspolishes.ca/p-1004-new-adams-made-in-the-usa-detailing-clay-bar.aspx http://www.adamspolishes.ca/p-121-adams-all-purpose-cleaner.aspx http://www.adamspolishes.ca/p-870-adams-detail-spray.aspx http://www.adamspolishes.ca/p-106-adams-great-white-microfiber-drying-towel.aspx http://www.adamspolishes.ca/p-56-adams-grit-guard-insert.aspx http://www.adamspolishes.ca/p-31-adams-car-wash-shampoo.aspx http://www.adamspolishes.ca/p-448-adams-hex-grip-pro-tire-dressing-applicator.aspx http://www.adamspolishes.ca/p-884-adams-deep-wheel-cleaner-new-price.aspx http://www.adamspolishes.ca/p-512-adams-super-vrt-tire-trim-dressing.aspx http://www.adamspolishes.ca/p-498-adams-glass-sealant.aspx http://www.adamspolishes.ca/p-423-adams-americana-premium-carnauba-paste-car-wax.aspx http://www.adamspolishes.ca/p-992-adams-buttery-wax-new-formula.aspx http://www.adamspolishes.ca/p-525-adams-brilliant-glaze.aspx The Process: The car paint was pretty bad. This is going to take some work. Lets start with the wheels. A couple shots of Adams Deep Wheel Cleaner and then we wait. After a few moments I rinse the tires off. Almost all of the stuck on grime was gone. The customer was more concerned about the paint so I moved on from the tires pretty quickly as I could have spent all day on them. Some minor spots I wiped away with a MicroFibre Towel. Before washing the vehicle I got my buckets ready. I have 2 buckets, each has a Grit Guard on the bottom to help trap dirt. You also rub your mitt on the grit guard to help remove dirt before it touches the paint. You use one bucket for soap, and the other for rinsing your mitt. You would use the first bucket, wipe your car, then go to the rinse bucket. Once the mitt is clean, you go into the wash bucket and repeat. You can spray your hose directly onto the wash pad so your Adams Shampoo has long lasting suds. Once your bucket is ready rinse your car plenty. This will help loosen dirt and make cleaning easier. When you are washing your vehicle check your pad often. If you see dirt on the pad, it is time to hit the rinse bucket. If your water in your bucket gets dirty, empty it and get fresh water. (no picture for this one...sorry, I value my camera ) Time to dry this bad boy! Spraying some Adams Detail Spray on the area before wiping helps lubricate and soak up water. Normally I use the sheeting method, but the embedded dirt was so thick it was grabbing my towel. Sheeting method was a no go. I did use it later, stay tuned. After my rinse, I did the baggy test. Take a sandwich bag and put your hand in it. Gently drag it on the paint, if you feel bumps you need to clay. After claying the paint is glass smooth and shines like nothing you have seen before. This car, needed a lot of clay. Spray some Detail Spray on a small section then bring out the clay. You should inspect the clay before each use and constantly re-work the clay. You can see from the picture below this car had some serious embedded dirt. The results were amazing. You wipe after clay barring a section. Here is what the clay looked like after doing the heavy contaminated area on the left side. This was after a small pass. I typically only use half a piece of clay (if that) on a whole vehicle. This car took 1.5 pieces and they were toast after. After doing my second wash, the sheeting method worked very well. You want to run your water in a way that it drags the water evenly leaving little to no drops behind. This works well on very clean cars and ones nicely waxed. Below is a bunch of water on the hood before using the sheeting method. At first glance this could be tough to dry and would use a lot of towel. After sheeting there is a lot less water. This should be easy to dry! Sheeting works best on cars that have a good wax coating and do not have a lot of embedded dirt. Now that the vehicle is dry. I applied Adams Americana Wax which I am super SMRT and did not take a picture of. I layered this with Adams Brilliant Glaze as this is good at hiding imperfections. Brilliant Glaze goes on smoothly and required very little product (less is more!). I wanted to make sure my hard work lasted and the customer had a nice looking vehicle for as long as possible. I decided to finish with some Adams Buttery Wax. Now we have 1 layer of protection, 1 layer of oh-my-god-look-at-that-car and 1 layer of extra protection. This car is almost ready! I applied some Adams V.R.T to the tires to give them a bit of an extra kick. This goes on easy. Repels water. And best of all, keeps the tires looking new for a long time. The last thing I did was added some Adams Glass Sealant as the customer drives a lot and this stuff is amazing. Glass Sealant improves visibility greatly, water just repels right off on the highway instead of sticking to your glass. Like the rest of Adams products, putting this on is a breeze and it comes off easy. Thats it, the car is done! Now, for the money shots. Before and afters: Who knew, the wheels were not black! After claybarring the chrome (you can clay almost anything) it came out shining so bright. There were multiple areas with yellow paint transfer. I got most of it out. It is amazing what clay can do. Wow. Look at that window. Another spot of paint transfer tackled. Money Shot #1! Money Shot #2! That is all folks! That was one very happy customer. Questions? Comments? Bonus Shot My burnt feet! More bonus shots I am pretty happy with this reflection A reflection made for a king. More reflections! Try and spot the car! EDIT 1: Some of the pictures are auto rotating when I upload them. Does anyone know how to fix this? EDIT 2: Added some bonus shots. Fixed some of the images that were rotated Edited August 3, 2014 by neverhaveiever Aaron@P2PQD and AmyAtAdamsAustralia 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sizzle Chest Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 Wow! Nice save! That car was hammered. Came out so much better. Good work. HFX Detailing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GXPaycheck Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 Great job! Polish that sucker! HFX Detailing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marylander Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 Beautiful! How in the world do people let their cars get so bad in the first place?!? HFX Detailing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HFX Detailing Posted August 3, 2014 Author Share Posted August 3, 2014 Thanks guys! It could use a polish, but I already went over budget for the sake of it looking good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natch02 Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 Geez that car has had better days. Nice turnaround on it!! HFX Detailing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael@Adams Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 HOLY COW that is crazy how bad that was to start! I have a 07 TL and it hurt to see that. Awesome results man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxcustody Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 AWESOME job!!!!!!!!!!You had your work cut out for you with that one...............NICE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HFX Detailing Posted August 5, 2014 Author Share Posted August 5, 2014 Thanks you guys! I didn't realize how bad it was until I looked at the before and after photos. All thanks to Adams! Team Adam's 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scootertrash19 Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 Super job! Looks like you will have a customer for life! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron@P2PQD Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 Amazing turn around, I can't believe how filthy that clay was! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 Great write-up and photos Jerome! HFX Detailing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HFX Detailing Posted August 6, 2014 Author Share Posted August 6, 2014 Great write-up and photos Jerome! Thank you. Ill be right back now while I print off your post, so I may use it as a business card. Amazing turn around, I can't believe how filthy that clay was! It was bad in some spots. I had to rework the clay often. The dirt, although messy, was still a lot easier to remove than tar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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