Spring clean

[ilogikal1]

I figured seeing as I comment on a lot of detailing threads I should probably put my money where my mouth is, so have some pictures (after a lot of text, which you're welcome to skip, because there's a lot of it... sorry about that).

 

Thanks to Waxybox and some Easter sales, I had a few products to play with and wanted to change from the sealant that was on it back to a wax for summer, no during photos because I couldn't be bothered frankly, but my process was as follows;

 

Snow foam using Purple Magifoam, rinse followed by a second hit with the Magifoam,

Whilst the second foam was dwelling I did the badges, petrol cap, etc with a Valet Pro brush and some APC.

I then foamed again using Tesco's own APC followed by a rinse.

Two bucket wash with Britemax Cleanmax followed by a rinse.

I would normally dry at this point, but the car was in the sun and I wasn't bothered about the usual water spots this time so I sat on my a*se for five minutes instead.

De-tarred with Tardis followed by a rinse.

Decon with Wolf's Decon Gel followed by yet another rinse.

I then clayed, starting off with the Waxybox clay & lube which I didn't get along with so I reverted back to my usual Dodo Juice Supernatural clay with a shampoo mix.

A quick wipedown using just a washmit and the hose then allowed to dry in the sun again.

Then I moved into the garage and taped up ready for polish.

At this point I tried Waxybox's April wax on one wing mirror and the C2V3 on top and on the other mirror.

After trying a few combinations with my DAS6, I eventually settled on Menz 203S on an orange Lake Country Constant Pressure pad until I was happy with the swirl removal. This was followed by Menz 85RE on a green LC CP pad to refine.

Two coats of Poorboys Blackhole, the first applied by machine on a Black LC Finishing pad, the second by hand to make sure I got all the little nooks that I probably missed with the machine.

This was followed by a coat of Poorboys White Natty's Paste Wax everywhere except the rear spoiler (which I'll come to shortly) and the wing mirrors as previously explained. Roughly 36 hours after the first coat, I applied a coat of PB Blue Natty's Paste Wax to the same areas.

In the mean time, the wheels were removed, treated the Tardis and Decon Gel treatment then cleaned with Juicy Details Mint Wheels followed by a normal wash with Poorboys Super Slick and Suds and dried. I had intended to treat them to a clay and cleanse with Wersktat Acrylic Prime but the sheer amounts of stone chips on the inside of the wheels and the corrosion expanding I've decided I'm likely to replace or refurb them fairly soon instead, so didn't bother. So at this point I decided to seal them and stick them back on the car for now... I did take the opportunity to do a little test though, so the first wheel was sealed with Poorboys Wheel Sealant, the second wheel was sealed with Smartwax Rim Wax, the third was supposed to be sealed with something else but my sample has been delayed so this one and the fourth were left unsealed and will now both serve as the control wheels. The tyres were all dressed with Megs Endurance Gel.

The trim dressed with Auto Finesse Revive followed by some extra protection in the form Dr Beasley's Trim Sealant from Waxybox.

Exhaust polished was with wire wool and Megs NXT All Metal Polysh.

Rubber was dressed with Einszett Gummi Pflege.

Glass cleaned with AutoBrite Direct Hell Shine Pain.

The interior had been done recently, so only needed a quick vacuum and dust down really.

 

All in all, it took me closing in on 40 hours of work over about two weeks - although I should mention there was a portion of that which was spent waiting for supplies as I ran out of some stuff halfway through and I was then working around work and what passes for my life.

 

So, on with the pictures then.

 

Before;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some considerable time later & after;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, the rear spoiler was used as another testbed area. Every time there's a "what wax for my wheels" type question FK1000P is brought up as useful for wheels and paintwork I decided to try Poorboys Wheel Sealant on the paint. So the spoiler got treated to that... it's not bad in terms shine, it'll be interesting (to me) to see how it lasts on the paint compared to the wheel it's also protecting.

Edited May 26, 2013 by ilogikal1

[ilogikal1]

It's been a long day and I pressed the wrong button, but I've fixed the post now... hopefully

[MITZ@CougarStore]

Nice work...

[HEADPHONES]

Great work there.

I'll be having a crack at something similar taking on board some of your tips

[The Bounty Bar Kid]

Wow! And I thought my cleaning regime was nutz!

 

Looks BTW

[Arran]

You forgot one vital area, a cotton bud with metal polish the clean the drivers door handle key hole

 

Looks great, how an azure should look

[Keyser]

Nice job

[Ekona]

Excellent job matey

[ilogikal1]

Cheers for the comments guys.

 

You forgot one vital area, a cotton bud with metal polish the clean the drivers door handle key hole

 

Looks great, how an azure should look

 

Erm... no, I didn't. I actually had to tackle that with the Dremel this time time though, just forgot to mention that, and the quick clean & dress of the engine bay too.

 

 

Wow! And I thought my cleaning regime was nutz!

 

Looks BTW

 

It will only see this sort of treatment twice a year usually when I switch between a sealant for winter and wax for summer. My regular wash routine is considerably more straightforward.

[buster]

good work

[ilogikal1]

A minor update, just in case anyone else is interested, as mentioned above I've got a few tests going on with LSPs at the moment and it's raining which is all the excuse I need for some beading pic-whoring.

 

PB Natty's setting the beading bar;

 

C2 doing it's thing well;

 

Waxybox #007 Wax (April's) in action, also doing well;

 

Dr Beasley's working well on this trim;

 

And working well over here too (apart from that small patch which will have to be addressed);

 

PB Wheel Sealant on the spoiler;

 

Which isn't too bad for beading, except...

 

So not terribly great in places either. Which will bother me. Because I'm sad like that. So, I'm devising an amendment to this test for the next wash... I know, it's all terribly exciting isn't it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, here's some more gratuitous beading shots;

 

 

 

[TheMacDaddy]

Awesome job, well done!

[ilogikal1]

Quick update after another wash today, in case anyone's at all interested;

 

The Rim Wax has completely failed now, it's offering absolutely no protection at all now after just a month.

The Poorboys Wheel Sealant on the wheel is doing okay - the wheel it's protecting is, I would say, 90% clean with nothing more than a quick snow foam and rinse.

On the paint work, it's still sheeting well but not doing so well on the beading. I had applied the Candy Gloss sample from a Waxybox to half of the spoiler which did bead nicely for about a week before fading away to nothing.

 

Also, two weeks ago, I tried Sonax Brilliant Shine Detailer on the various panels; it's a bit finickity to work with and the finish doesn't feel particularly slick... but the shine is good and it more than makes up for all of this with both the water behaviour and durability for a QD (it's still going strong). It could quite easily be used as an LSP in in own right, although it went over the wax (and wheel sealant on half of the spoiler) on mine, and the beading is just pure porn - more details here if you're interested.

 

 

Edited to add; I forgot to mention, the C2 is still going strong.

The Dr Beasley's Trim Sealant is starting to fail though, so this will be removed altogether now and replaced with Nanolex Trim Rejuvinator in a back to back test.

 

I've also got a G-Techniq G5 vs PIAA Screen Protect thing going on too, but I suspect no one else is anywhere near as interested in any of this as I am so I'll leave it there.

Edited June 29, 2013 by ilogikal1

[scobie140]

Good effort! I was raging at birds last week sh*tting over my car one day after I spent an hour washing it, if it happened after spending the time you did I think I'd be suicidal

[Sarah 350z]

Looks great!!

[Bems]

Top job fella. You do like a bit of beading don't you!

[downhuman]

Quick update after another wash today, in case anyone's at all interested;

 

The Rim Wax has completely failed now, it's offering absolutely no protection at all now after just a month.

The Poorboys Wheel Sealant on the wheel is doing okay - the wheel it's protecting is, I would say, 90% clean with nothing more than a quick snow foam and rinse.

On the paint work, it's still sheeting well but not doing so well on the beading. I had applied the Candy Gloss sample from a Waxybox to half of the spoiler which did bead nicely for about a week before fading away to nothing.

 

Also, two weeks ago, I tried Sonax Brilliant Shine Detailer on the various panels; it's a bit finickity to work with and the finish doesn't feel particularly slick... but the shine is good and it more than makes up for all of this with both the water behaviour and durability for a QD (it's still going strong). It could quite easily be used as an LSP in in own right, although it went over the wax (and wheel sealant on half of the spoiler) on mine, and the beading is just pure porn - more details here if you're interested.

 

 

Edited to add; I forgot to mention, the C2 is still going strong.

The Dr Beasley's Trim Sealant is starting to fail though, so this will be removed altogether now and replaced with Nanolex Trim Rejuvinator in a back to back test.

 

I've also got a G-Techniq G5 vs PIAA Screen Protect thing going on too, but I suspect no one else is anywhere near as interested in any of this as I am so I'll leave it there.

 

I am! I have the Piaa and the wipers too... But not sure whether to move to g5.

 

Also, I tried that sonax QD and don't like it ... Finish isn't great and it is very grabby to apply. Does bead well though so using it on my wheels

[ilogikal1]

I am! I have the Piaa and the wipers too... But not sure whether to move to g5.

 

Also, I tried that sonax QD and don't like it ... Finish isn't great and it is very grabby to apply. Does bead well though so using it on my wheels

 

I'll keep you informed of how I get on then, as I'm also using PIAA wipers.

 

I've currently got just G5 on the windscreen to see how it plays with the wipers & durability, but it's only been on for a week - first impressions are that the rain runs off at slightly lower speeds than the PIAA Screen Protect (that it's replaced). but there's not much difference. I did get a bit of judder from the wipers for the first 10 minutes or so of having them on in light rain, but it soon settled down - G-Techniq advise it can happen at first but I forget how long they suggest to give it.

On the rear screen I've got a 50/50 thing going with G5 on one side, PIAA on the other with corresponding side windows too for good measure - G5 seems to sheet the water from the hose a little quicker than than PIAA - only driven once in light-ish rain since applying it and to be honest there's not really much between them so far. The only other noticeable difference was that G5 is a touch more involved to apply, PIAA is almost a simple wipe on/wipe off but G5 needs a bit more elbow grease both to spread and buff (not a huge effort though!) - and it will dry on the microfibre if you don't spread it quickly enough too.

 

 

I know what you mean about the Sonax, it is a lot of work for a QD... but it's not a typical QD. I've not decided if it's worth the extra effort it takes though yet.

[ilogikal1]

Cheers for the comments guys.

 

Top job fella. You do like a bit of beading don't you!

 

You can't beat a good bit of beading porn!

[ilogikal1]

As the sun decided to take the weekend off I gave the car another clean today so there's a few updates to report.

 

As this post was longer than I intended it to be, so here's a short version;

 

PB Wheel Sealant; lasts about 2 months.

Sonax QD; just don't bother.

Prima Slick; I approve.

G5 or PIAA; G5 currently has the upper hand... whilst it hasn't rained

Nanolex Trim Rejuvenater and C2; going strong still.

 

 

And for anyone who can be arsed to read it, the longer version;

 

The PB Wheel Sealant is starting to fail now, both on the spoiler and on the wheel. - the latter required some agitation with a detailing brush to clean completely rather than just the pressure washer.

 

I had another play around with the Sonax QD and found it works best by spraying onto a microfibre and spreading rather than spraying directly onto the paint. Better still if the paint is still wet too as it seems to stop it from being too grabby. It was still very streaky regardless of how I used it, but I found the longer you leave it the easier it is to buff. I've decided it's not really worth the effort on the Z and I probably won't buy it again - it's currently being demoted to wheels and bathroom duties. Also, the Sonax wasted my snow foam... it just would not stick long enough to dwell.

I did also try Prima Slick from one of the Waxyboxes, which I quite liked. It added the slick finish back which the Sonax removes and did a much better job of removing the fresh water spots that the Sonax just didn't touch.

 

Rob, the G5 is still going strong. There's a noticeable difference now between that and the PIAA - there was only a few drops of water left on the G5 treated glass by the time I'd gone to fetch my drying towel, whereas the PIAA still had more water on but woth both the snow foam and the rinse there wasn't much difference in the sheeting between the two - if anything the G5 sheeted slightly quicker but it was marginal. There's no noticeable difference on the windscreen between the wiped & non-wiped areas, so it seems to be holding up well there. I also didn't need to use a glass cleaner - the few bug splatters that had stuck were easily removed with a snow foam and/or pressure washer rinse. Although it should be noted that the PIAA is still working, it's just dropped off slightly - to be honest, I probably wouldn't have noticed that much if wasn't side-by-side with the G5 - and due to the lack of rain recently, this is just when the car was washed, and thus stationary. I'll let you know of any differences on the road when the rain arrives (let's be honest, it's only a matter of time! )

So in summary, there's not a lot between the two when they're first applied, but G5 seems to perform that bit better for longer.

Oh, and in the name of fairness, both PIAA and G5 wasted my snow foam too.

 

The Nanolex is showing no signs of giving up yet, neither is the C2. I'm particularly impressed with the Nanolex, the trim hasn't shown any sings of fading at all (although it wasn't actually that bad to begin with) and it's still beading water exceptionally well. The C2 continues to live upto my expectations, beading well and still looks great, considering it's not even been topped-up with anything at all for two months now.

 

 

For my next test I'm thinking of putting the Sonax QD up against the PB Wheel Sealant, FK1000P & Chemical Guys Wheel Guard (if my sample ever shows up) on the wheels, however I've decided on C5 when they've been refurbed so that'll depend on when the refurb is likely to occur.

[K370Z2]

You get out what you put in. Great job great finish. Excellent guide.