So I am detailing my wife's TL this weekend. Standby for updates.

First time doing the TL, I've done my 4Runner before. Hope this goes quicker than the truck did!

 

Discovered the 32 ounce bottles that I have of the optimum compound 2 and the polish 2 seem to be filled with water. I have 2 8 oz bottles of both that are still thick, so not really sure if I got jipped when I bought them since this is the first time using them or if they went bad. If I remember right I bought them them on a clearance sale from Dealers Domain.

So looks like since I have just polish I'll be only using that, now just to figure out which pad to use with it. White or orange? Looks like a test spot is in order.

 

So I tried to take a butter knife and reach down to the bottom of the bottles to see if it had congealed. Turns out the compound did and once I mixed it up it looked normal. I can't say the same for the polish bottle, as I could not mix it up and get anything thicker than water constancy. Looks like the polish bottle is trash.

So I'm going to use the half of the polish and the white pad that I have left. If I have time I will follow up with the finishing polish and the black/grey pad.

 

Sorry for the delay in getting this post updated! Had some issues and then Monday I called out to work sick, so didn't get finished very quickly.

So I initially started to use my old Optimum Compound and Polish that was about 2 years old. I worked on the compounding of the entire front and right side of vehicle before grabbing my 500W halogen lamp and saw that the compound and an Orange Lake Country CCS pad did NOTHING!!! So I even tried going over the worst area 2-3 more times with not much of a change. I even tired new pads to see if it made a difference and it hardly did. So I assumed that it was just because of the old fluid. The next day I went to Autozone and picked up some Meguires 105 & 205. The 50:50 shot below is the proof of the difference from the old Optimum product.

So I spent 11hrs total, not including breaks and meals doing the paint correction phase. (yes I'm not fast at all).

Products used:

• PC 7424XP
• Nanoskin Autoscrub pad
• Lake Country CCS pad
• Orange for Optimum Compound & Megs 105
• White for Optimum Polish & Meg 205
• Grey for the sealant
• Duragloss Total Performance Polish (TPP) # 105 (sealant)
• Plus frosty adult beverages, and plenty of tunes!

Before Shots:









Body Skirts were in the worst shape on the car.




Side Skirt Before:


After Side Skirt:



After 50:50 Comparison Shot:



We have not had much sun this week so here's the best I could do with our clouds.




All in all, my wife and I are very happy with how the car looks now!

 

extremely good job! making me want to do it like right now!!!

 

Nice work!
Working by sunlight is a bitch though.
You have a garage. You should get a couple halogen work lights to find swirls.

 

Thanks! I saw one a few weeks ago that gave me the same motivation!

Thanks for the comments! The first pictures were taken outside just to try and show the swirls. Then I did move inside the garage to work on the car. I do have an old dual 500W halogen lamp, but it died on me. The switches in the back had to be taken apart and permanently turned on my using tape. I need to get new ones, but since at least one lamp was working I decided after going to town on the car to double check the progress and that's when I noticed the issue of my Optimum product stopped working. When I initally did check the 12"x12" test area it did work. So that's why I pressed forward without using the lamp.

Oh well ya live and learn. Since this is a new house and I don't have my garage fully setup yet, I'm going to be installing a bunch more lighting in the garage so I have better visibility when working on the car. Currently I just have the 2 florescent bulbs towards the front of the garage which only does so well for illumination.

 

What did you use on the painted plastic(?) pieces between the doors?
Is meguairs 105/205 safe to use there?

 

Great looking detail.

 

I used the light product between the two of the 105/205, no issuse. Just remember only use as much pressure as needed to correct the paint.

 

Thanks! I need to wash the car this weekend. Its been dirty for about 3 weeks as the weather has not been good for keeping it clean.

 

Just saw your av, any info on the 4 Runner?

 

Why does your after picture of the sideskirt look the same as the before?

The 50/50 looks great! And final product.

 

How much ? To do my cl ? Haha Great job !

 

Awesome before and after pics! Looks like you have great taste in cars too because I drive a 06 NBP TL and my wife has a 07 4runner

 

Good turnaround! TPP105 FTW!

 

Sorry for the delay, I just noticed these responses.

2008 SR5 4x4 V6, Salsa Red Pearl, Taupe Interior, OW (Overland Warehouse - shut down now) 2.0" Suspension lift, Light Racings Upper Control Arm's, 285/70R17 Kelly Safari TSR's w/Spidertrax 1.25" Spacer, DirtyDeeds Muffler (a guy on T4R.org home brew muffler), SpeedoHealer (corrects my digital speedometer calibrated to my GPS.

Anything else about it you want to know?

Thanks! Heck yeah we are awesome aren't we!!

Well how much do you want to pay for me to fly out and pay for my stay there? :wink:

Thanks! Discovered this stuff is great!

The skirts wouldn't smooth out, I tried my heaviest pad with the heavier of the 105/205 combo all the way down to what should shine it up, but that after was the best I could get out of it. So I figured whatever, guess those skirts are beat to hell!

 

Looks nice man! Im jelly! Haha i dont have the time nor the knowledge or patience for this! Hats off to you !