First Ever Detail - 1996 Hyundai Elantra

[InFrA]

Hi guys,

I have had this car since my 18th birthday(2002), I always do my best to keep it neat and tidy but have never really gone into too much detail when it comes to looking after the paint. But its 13 years old now and requires that little bit of extra TLC.

So over to the detail, In the past I have always been the type to give my car a wash every weekend and a polish once every couple of months(4-6). Recently though, I noticed that my bonnet was going... yellow/hazy? But it was only noticable under certain light conditions. The finnish also seemed sticky somehow.

After chatting to Calypso and getting a lot of good advice, I ordered a bunch of products from Poor-Boys (Thanks Don for the excellent service).

So I started with a wash, using Meguires Deep Crystal Car Wash, follwed by clay, another wash, dry, Mothers Pre Wax Cleaner (made the bonnet white again!), Mothers Sealer & Glaze, Meguires Gold Class wax(Still have lots left), and finally Meguires Ultimate Quick Detailer.


The two Chemical Guys sample bottles in front (complimentary from Don for my patience with the suppliers regarding my microfiber towels) Will be used for another detail in the not too distant future... They are a Chemical guys wash and some Butter Wet Wax.

The rest of the "tools", two applicators and 6 microfibers courtesy of Poor Boys once again.


Now the detail. I took pictures during the entire process... it took me all day basically, 10am til 6pm... what a day.

Before the wash




After the wash


Bonnet before Clay.


I realised the clay doesnt seem to do much more than make the paintwork smoother, I thought it would help with the colour a bit too, but that was all down to the cleaner.

As you can see in the picture with the reflection of the light, its hazy where I did not apply cleaner, and bright where I applied cleaner.

After Cleaner and Glaze







And the final result, after the Gold Class wax and Ultimate Quick Detailer. I left the car in garage overnight for the UQD do cure for 12 hours...




Very happy with the reflections and... look... no swirl marks!





Some more reflections









Thats it, I am very happy with the results of my first detail, learnt a lot... I discovered a few areas where I could of spent more time, but I will cover those areas in future, the main point was the bonnet, which came out very good.
Thanks again to Calypso for your advice and Don from Poor-boys for the great service and products.

Next victim... Moms new Getz 1.6 High Spec