I have been reading this forum for a few years, but I'm finally getting serious about what I've learned here. I continuously detail and keep my acura spotless as she's a garage queen as many on here know, but my daily driver takes far more abuse and usually needs far more attention. My 4Runner is my dd, but also goes to the mountains for camping, hauls firewood, drives downtown in traffic to take me to work, and hauling my 2 Pit Bulls around, which sucks because they shed 4 times a year. Anyway, my dad loaned me his fancy expensive vaccuum so I could clean out the truck. The truck had both fall and spring sheds from the dogs in it, as well as dirty from camping in September and hauling firewood. My dad's vaccuum is a Rainbow, and it runs on the use of water for suction, and claims to never loose suction, and frankly is amazing, one day I plan to own one, however they are extremely expensive. Regardless, it does wonders on a car detail, far outperforms my 3 HP shopvac.




The Rainbow sucks all the dirt, hair, etc into a tub of water, which you then have to dump down the toilet. I filled it 3 times, once for the back trunk, once for the back seats, and once for the front seats, unbelievable what this thing can get up. Here are a few pics of what came out of my interior.

I didn't take a pic of the first tank from the trunk, but it was just as bad as the Rear seats


Dog hair, dirt, etc


Wood chips and all


Front seats




I still have to clean and treat my interior, but today I focused on the exterior/paint. Dirty 4runner, it was 80 today and I waited until the sun was behind the large trees next to my house so I wasn't in direct sunlight, so it's hard to see just how dirty it was, but I just washed her like 2 weeks ago.


Dirty, just look at the trim and the tires


Hood before wash or clay


Some bird spots


I used to use one bucket, sponges, and terry cloths, thanks to this forum and Patrick I have changed my approach completely, now I use a 2 bucket system, grit guards, wool mits, all MF towels, clay, so on.


Washing dirty bitch


Did a 3 step wash with simple green, black magic soap, and megs foaming shampoo, today was also the first time I used WW towels and I was very impressed


Today was my first time claying, which is funny because I have 4 claying kits. So I decided, there was no better car to learn to clay on, than a giant vehicle to practice and figure out the technique. I am now a believer in Clay bars, I knew what they did, but did not expect the results that I got. I clayed the entire truck, using 2 pieces of clay. I was amazed at how the white clay became non-white half way through the claying, and continued to get darker and nastier. Thanks to Patrick's diagram on claying, I broke apart the car by sections, much like how I learned to wax. I noticed that the center area of the hood near the hood scoop and the roof were the worst and roughest areas.
[IMG]http://www.caffeine.nu/~yoda/4runnerdetail/truckdetail/P5150286.JPG
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After washing, drying and claying, the paint was just glowing

 

Tomorrow, I'm starting the paint detailing, I'm going to be using optimum compound, SSR1, optimum polish, optimum poliseal, and possibly Meg's Gold Class on top since I don't have a glaze, what does anyone think of this selection?

 

NIce job man I also starting doing the 2 bucket thing but I think you got a nice selection but well see what the detail gurus recomend

 

for the 2 bucket method. Well worth the hassle, expense and effort!
If she's a little beat up, feel warm and cozy with the OC and Poliseal in succession. Top with the the Gold Class for durability (Unless you have some Polymer).
Shes going to look stellar!
Im assuming your using orange/White pads for polishing?

 

I'm glad to see that you made the plunge! Once you get comfortable with everything on your DD, I'm sure your Acura will turn out very nice!

Let the addiction begin...

 

Good job .... Just to clairify something Quote "My dad's vaccuum is a Rainbow, and it runs on the use of water for suction, and claims to never loose suction," Unquote. In reality the unit uses water as a filter media not for suction. And yes they don't loose suction due to the filter media ( bag) filling or the paper then bag is made of plugging up.

They are called an impinger or scrubber.

This technology has been used in industry for years. Matter of fact when I startd working at the smelter in 1964 they were all over the place and some were 40 years old then. The technology is still used in environmental atmospheric sampling. Draw air through distilled water or in some cases acid solution and all the inpurities in the air are scrubbed out and the solution is then sent for assay.

Damn ... I'm just full of useless information especiall at 6 am.



D

 

I am trying to figure out the exact order for my attack, I was going to start with White pads since they're less abrasive, do you think multiple steps are neccessary, as in OC, then OP, then Poliseal? Or would I be OK to skip the OP step? I'm worried since I only have a small half full bottle of OC that I'm not sure I'll have enough for the whole vehicle

 

Good work!

I like the rectangular buckets.

 

None of the pics are working for me...

Anybody else having this issue?

 

mee

 

For some reason now it's working for me...

And umm...yeah

Thanks for the visual...I was about to go cook some dinner.

 

Thanks Todd, you were a great sounding board, and I appreciate all the input, and suggestions that you offered, they definitely helped

My web server was down earlier, took a while to come back up.

Spent another 5 hrs today taping off the car and cutting with optimum compound and SSR1, and then polishing with Optimum Polish (black label), playing with all my new Excel buffer pads, and pad conditioner from Patrick. Did a 3 stage buff with white pads for the SSR1 and the OC, and then red for the Opt Polish, wiping off bits at a time with MF towels by hand. Couldn't get to the roof, because my ceiling is too low, and the garage door is in the way, so I'll be trying to do those tomorrow when I do the Optimum Poli-Seal and Megs Gold class. Next time I think I'm going to do the Poli-seal, and then some UPP or some kind of glaze, definitely way too addictive, but my god what a change. The claybar alone was such an eye opener, still seeing swirling after the first 3 stages, I'm hoping the Poli-Seal will help the scratches, I'm wondering if they are from the MF towels, since they weren't washed b4 I used them? The beauty about practicing on the 4Runner, is that the CL and GF's CR-V are going to feel so much smaller and that's what I was going for by trying to learn this way. I took pics, but I'm too tired and to upload them right now. Going to finish her up tomorrow with PS and Gold Class after I work all morning and will take some sun pics (i hope) Also have to address the plastic fender trim, the running boards, and the tires, detailing to this extent is HARD WORK!

 

Just dirt out of my Car, Noah

 

And I haven't even detailed the interior or windows yet other than vaccuuming! FML

 

I'm blessed with an active imagination...

 

 

 

Chris it all depend on the color when deciding whether or not you need to step it down. I would definitely go with the compound, and then compare the PoliSeal and polish II side by side. Once you determine each's benefit, proceed.
I "think" if it was me, I would go Compound/Orange, Polish/White

 

Yeah, good advice patrick, I'm def going to need to step down to orange next time, white pads weren't good enough, I still see surface swirls after 3 days of working with the paint, I will have pics up tomorrow, I'm too tired to throw anymore up tonight

 

Alright, so total time spent on the exterior was about 4 hrs Friday, 5 Hrs Sat, and 4 Hrs Sunday, for about 13 hrs total time. Friday, I washed, dried, and clayed the car. Saturday, I wiped down the car, and then did the SSR1 and OC compounding with a white pad, and then Optimum Polish with a red pad. Sunday, I applied Scratch-X by hand to a few spots with deep scratches, then went over the whole car with Optimum Poli-Seal on a white pad, and then applied Megs Gold Class with a black pad. Then removed all the tape, did some minor touch ups, and removed any extra products that got on the fender trims. Tonight, I'm going to wash all the windows and apply Aquapel to all the windows, and apply some Endurance wheel treatments. I have to say that I'm very pleased with the outcome, although next detail (fall perhaps) I will be using an orange pad for the compounding and scratch work, and then I will have more white pads for other steps, I also plan to have a glaze and better sealant by that point. However, the work I put in definitely revived the paint, and I realized just how pretty the titanium silver Toyota paint really is when it's clean and polished. The paint wasn't even in this good of condition when I bought her from the dealer, now I have a true appreciation for how deep and rich the flake and color is of this paint, having stared at it for 3 days straight.

Taping alone took me almost 45 mins




Round 1 (next go round will be orange pad, possibly different compound)


Round 2 - Optimum Polish (these are after shots I believe)


Polished paint


Started to see some shine and reflection


Should have taken better before pics, this is after compound, SSR1, and polish, I did the headlights and taillights as well






Cleaning dirty excel pads with Danase pad cleaner also from Patrick


1 AM pic Saturday night trying to capture shine


Next day, reflection shot


On to the PoliSeal


Then the Meg's Gold Class


Finished product, out in the sunlight (reflection)


More reflection on the hood


Cloud reflection shot, hey I tried, silver's tough




Reflection, like a mirror


Finished paint

 

Got some light rain and mist, first time I took her out in the rain since all the work, and I have to say I'm addicted to the beading. I've had beading before from aquapel and ice spray wax, but nothing like this. I'm a fan, and I'm definitely a believer in claybars, my paint feels so freaking smooth. It's amazing

Going to do a wipe down and another spray wax sometime this week, going to do the gf's black CR-V before going for the acura paint

 

Chris, hats off to you my friend! That is some wet looking silver! And extreme gloss, great job amigo!
Looks like you have caught the bug! I think I saw a pic shot at 1am? LOL

 

Came out good Chris.

So hard (for me) to get that wet silver look.

Props.

 

Yeah Patrick, I used plenty of products supplied by you, and yes there were some shots saturday night at 1 AM after the optimum polish was wiped off

Thanks man, it took a LOT of work, and I'm still not completely satisfied, needs more swirl correction, but she sure looks amazing, I get so many compliments and people asking me who I took it to

 

Chris, great job on your first serious detail. +1 on Silver being tough to show in pics. Have you used the PC on the CL yet? I know you keep it clean, but have you polished it yet?

 

Nice job! Silver is sooo hard to photograph defects. The bonus is silver hides them sooo well! ha..ha..! The veh looks great! Really nice gloss!

 

No, not yet, I learned on my gf's old grand am before she traded it in, then wanted to practice, learn more techniques on the 4Runner due to the daily abuse she goes through. I will be doing a multiple step swirl removal and polish on the CL soon enough, waiting for my SSR2.5 and SSR3 to come in, I got 12 years of swirls to deal with on the ack

Plus I promised the GF I would buff her new black CR-V first, so I can get more familiar with working with a PC on black

 

2 months later, truck has been washed, and spray wax reapplied once, and it still beads like crazy, I get a lot tighter beading, but this was yesterday driving through the rain on the highway and I actually had a camera, still getting great beading all over the car



I get beading on the windows (aquapel) as well as every inch of the paint including the roof and the luggage racks, even the plastic bumper trims that I did with spray wax

 

Actually did get a chance to try out the PC on the ack before my Erie meet. The weather wouldn't stop raining long enough for me to wash the car and have a few days with it, so I ended up washing it on thursday in a drizzle rain, and then drying it off inside my garage. I used CG Citrus Wash and Gloss, 2 bucket method, and a eurow lamb mit. Friday, I went to work with the claybar on the 12 year old paint. Since my time was limited, I was only able to do a 1 step buff, so I went with Poliseal since it's a cleaner, polish, and sealant in 1, and although I wanted to do a multi step compound and polish with an orange pad, I was VERY impressed with the Poliseal as a 1 step for the time being. I actually saw significant swirl reduction just with PS and an Excel white pad, which was amazing, plus I was rushing so I used a bigger pad too I had planned to use the 4" pads but due to time restraints opted for a 6.5" Excel white pad.

Couple of before shots, didn't take any close up afters, but got a few showing less swirls






After the clay, I taped her all off and went to work with the PC and white pad with PS.









AFTER:

Holy crap, there's shiney paint under there!


Best I could do for a reflection shot in the garage (Sorry a little blurry)


Did I mention I love optimum products?




Can still see some swirls, but the car looks 100 times better than it did, I have some outside shots from the meet I will post a few shortly


Thanks for looking and helping to inspire me to take better care of my true loves

 

Nice update. I miss my CL

 

Just ordered one of those buckets