I guess this will be my second introduction. Picked up an 04 Black IS300 Sport Design. We went to take a look at the vehicle on a rainy day, so it was kind of hiding all the blemishes and stuff. Anyways, I enjoy detailing and keeping my vehicles CLEAN so since we are on spring break (although will be working a 40hr work week), I will be cleaning, polishing, waxing, etc, the whole nine yards with the vehicle.

It's an on going project so more pictures will be uploaded as I have to time to finish up different things so stay in tune!

First: Interior detail (done on march 13). The interior was very GREASY from Armor All or whatever cheap over the counter interior wipe and the two front floor mats were caked with salt. With the temp still in the low 30's I am unable to pull out the pressure washer to clean up the floor mats (no money for an extractor) so cleaned almost everything except the floor mats.

Vacuumed the whole car, sprayed the interior down with Meguiars APC+ diluted at 1:10 ratio, scrubbed with a soft horse hair brush, and wiped down/away with some cheap microfibers. Then went on to "rinsing" the interior with distilled water twice by spring fine mist of the water and scrubbing the interior down with some more cheap microfibers. x2.

Lastly, after the interior dried, applied 1 coat (so far) of CarPro PERL diluted at 3:1.

No before pictures and the after pictures doesn't really do it justice as it was taken with a camera phone, in the garage, at night. Non greasy, nice matte with VERY little gloss.

 

Engine Clean Up/Detail

156k miles of caked up salt, dirt, crap, etc. Probably never cleaned its whole life. At 26 degrees for a high today, i couldn't bust out the hose two hose down everything to ensure a thorough job. So, i filled up a whole bunch of spray bottles with water and one bottle of Meguiar's APC+ at ~ 4:1 and went to town. Used several different brushes and microfibers to clean, rinse, and dry. Finished with one coat (so far) of CarPro PERL at 1:1. Pretty decent results for not being able to pull out the hose imo.

Before:


After cleaning and some elbow grease:



After one coat of PERL

 

The bay came out good! need better shots of the interior. need a shampoo machine though, you'd be amazed at what comes out of carpets...

 

I had a heated Bissell Little Green Machine, but took it back because it wasn't heating, but i do intend on buy another one so i can do the carpets and mats.

Whats in store for me! So far, about 8 hours into cleaning the interior and giving it a rinseless to see the true condition, and first layer with touch up paint!

LOTS of rock chips. Going to touch up all chips, wet sand, and polish.


Camera is unable to catch how bad it really is, and this is before decontaminating the paint!! Waiting on my new pads to put my GG6 back into use!


Headlight will also need attention. Wet sand and polished out with 3inch pads. Package is suppose to arrive on tuesday!!

 

I've never used (or even heard of) carpro "PERL" before. You sir have just sold me on it and I'm ordering it right now. Thank you for that.

 

No Problem. CarPro PERL is very versatile. Plastic, Engine, Rubber, Leather depending on dilution ratio. A lot of people use either aerospace 303 or ultima products. I chose CarPro Perl over the others because I think it is more versatile and is sold as a concentrate so you can get more for the money.

 

What buffer do you have or plan on using?

 

my hood looks the same, except I'm MSM. I love OCD (in a good way) folks like you that clean the hell out of their cars because it gives me motivation to do the same!

 

I have a Griots Garage DA. I want to pick up a rotary polisher, but i can't justify picking one up at the moment.

I hate driving a dirty vehicle. My cars that i at least like just a bit, has to be clean, ridiculously clean compared to most people.

 

What do you think works the best, a hose or compressed air?

 

Both. Hose to rinse and compressed air to help dry/remove water.

Quick update. Did the head lights and my new detailing pads came in, but I am holding off until the weekend as I will be doing the timing belt, waterpump, etc, change friday and hopefully finish it sometime saturday, then take all day saturday and sunday to polish up the exterior.

Headlight Before (not extremely bad, but enough to need a good cleaning)


Headlight After.
Started the wet sand at 2k grit as I dont think it was TOO bad. 2000, 25000, and 3m trizac 3000 grit. Then hit it up with m105 and m205 with 3 in pads on my GG6.



Passenger Side. They are a little fogged in the inside. Whatever tho. Just going to protect them and leave them as is.

 

What I was up against. My test section just because i was anxious.

Before


After 6 pass of m105 and m205. No wax/lsp
It isn't the SUPERB or to the point where I really want it to, but because it will be a daily driver, I wont be polishing it with anything finer than m205. However, I will be using Chemical Guys BlackLight a little as a filler, and top it with v7. I change up wax and rewax often so i am not too concerned about durability.


Comparison with tape remove



My microfibers were linting a little.

 

Dude you're doing an amazing job! How much do you charge?! haha Keep up the great work!

 

Hood is all done! m105, m205, and Chemical Guys Black Light

 

That bay turned out so good. Looks amazing now