Well, I spent my weekend on a fall detail for my MCS. There have been a number of threads asking about what to do and when. I figured I would post my steps as well as a few pics with before and after shots. Enjoy! Now I'm off to get some ibuprofen...

Here are the steps I followed (note I used Prima products for the most part; pad references are for the Dealers Paradise pads):

Day 1:

1. Dawn wash car and wheels
2. Clay
3. Rinse car
4. Nero'ed the trim to help protect against wayward polish
5. Swirl w/ orange pad
6. Swirl w/ white pad
7. Wipe w/ Monster Fluffy
8. Amigo w/ white pad
9. Wipe w/ Monster Fluffy
10. Epic with black pad
11. Ate lunch
12. Buff w/ Monster Fluffy
13. Trim w/ Black Wow
14. Spruced up tires w/ Tire Wet
15. Shined wheels w/ Slick
16. Exterior windows w/ Clarity
17. Cleaned interior w/ Nero and Clarity
18. Cleaned and conditioned Leather w/ Lexol products

Day 2:

1. Dust w/ Monster Fluffy
2. Epic by hand
3. Buff w/ Monster Fluffy
4. Miller time!

As I'm not an expert, anyone out there that knows better please correct me on my ordering. I'll change my procedure for the spring cleaning!

Here are the pics:

Before:


An example of some of the damage I was trying to clean up:


Tools I used:


Scratched area after Amigo:


Scratched Area after Epic:


All Done!


Cleanup Time (sorry it's out of focus):


That's it. Sorry for the long post. Hope someone gets some value out of it!

-Ed

 

did you weigh yourself before and after the detail? (should've lost a few
lbs. oh, but that huge lunch you ate, and the many bottles of miller.... maybe not).



i like how deep your red is.

 

Ha! If it had been the middle of summer, I probably would have dehydrated; but it was only in the mid-60's here in WI, so it wasn't too bad. Suffice it to day, if I could lose weight detailing, I would detail my friends and neighbors cars every weekend! Much more fun than working out...

Thanks for the compliment on the red

-Ed

 

Nicely done ! It's a lot of work, but well worth it. And you only have to do it twice a year.

Funny thing about Chili Red... if the sun hits it at a certain angle, it comes out looking orange on photographs (like in your second pic). But when it's polished and waxed and the lighting is right, it's deep and gorgeous.

 

I did a detail a couple of weeks back on my wife's XC90, while she was at work. It took me 5 hours. when she asked what Idid that day, I told her it took me 5 hours to do the inside and out of her car. Her response. "right.."

Good work takes time.

 

oh, BTW, 200-OK Nice work!

 

Yes, looks very nice. A lot of effort but worth every minute.