Detailing the new ride

[Woodie]

The weekend couldn't come quickly enough for me. I was itching to get stuck into the new ride. Unfortunately my wife had other plans and told me that she had confirmed our attendance at a braai with some friends at 4pm. This seriously compromised the time available and the attention to detail. That being said, I still had several hours and an enthusiastic Siya, so there was no holding back.

Due to the time constraints, I decided to tackle the interior on Friday evening, so that the available time on Saturday could be spent on the exterior. We experimented with several products combinations (Meguiars Ultimate Compound, Meguiars M105, Meguiars M205 & Menzerna SIP)on the paintwork before settling on the one that provided the best results under the circumstances.

Interior
Carpets were brushed and vacuumed
All interior surfaces, excluding seats, were wiped down with a MF and a very weak solution of APC
Cleaned surfaces were then treated with 303 Protectant - applied with a foam applicator, left to dry and then buffed off with a clean MF
Seats were treated with the Meguiars Aloe 2-step product - Step 1 = Leather Cleaner and Step 2 = Leather Conditioner

Engine
Engine bay wasn't very dirty, so it was just wiped down with a MF and APC
Treated with Meguiars Hyper Dressing at 3:1 dilution and left overnight

Wheels & Tyres
Wheel wells cleaned with APC and the Mothers Fender Brush
Wheels cleaned with Sonax Xtreme Effect Wheel Cleaner
Cleaned wheel wells dressed with Adams Invisible Undercarriage Spray
Wheels waxed with Smartwax RimWax
Tyres dressed with Meguiars Endurance Gel

Glass
Cleaner with Meguiars Glass Cleaner Concentrate

Exterior
Soaped with a strong dilution of Meguiars M62 Shampoo using the Karcher pressure cleaner and foam attachment
Washed with M62 Shampoo
Clayed with a combination of fine and mild clay
Correction was done with Menzerna SIP together with the Lake Country Orange and Meguiars Burgandy Cutting pads. Siya also alternated between the Makita DA and Makita rotary depending on his mood.
I followed Siya with Meguiars M205 and Lake Country Orange pads on the G220 DA
This was followed by Blackfire Gloss Enhancing Polish applied by hand
LSP was Blackfire Wet Diamond Paint Protection - also applied by hand

Some photos:

Interior (After)





Engine (After)



Siya the snowman







After wash and clay







50:50 - this was after M205, which still left some swirling and random scratches after a single pass. We decided on a double hit process using Menzerna SIP followed by M205. Still not perfect, but a good base to work with as I strive for perfection over the weeks to come.





Close ups after LSP









Final product











Thanks for looking.