exceldetail

I had my hands full today, and my buddy was right when he said "rest up, its a challenge".
He told me via email it had some water spotting which didnt budge with Optimum Polish (not unusual, OP is much too gentle for that).
When I arrived, I was greated by his housemaid with such hospitality, I was actually startled. This was my first trip to his place which sits back in a secluded valley. Beautiful home sitting atop a hillside with a gorgeous view. 4 car garage, tons a room to work in when his cycles and ZO6 and Turbo Carrera arent occupying it. Those are his weekend fun toys, the truck is the workhorse, and the FJC is his daily cruiser.
SO that leaves the poor ol truck exposed to the elements when not in use. The first pic is AFTER the wash.




I immediately knew I wasnt going to get this with a 6.5" pad, in very short order. So I started with "short order" right off the bat. 4" at a time. I went with a 4" yellow pad, 3.5" BP with the UDM, on about 5 for the majority of the time. I used Four Star Body Shop MC to start with, until I got comfortable with pad size, speed setting, technique and product. Then I played around with Optimum Compound which worked nearly equally as well, just a little slower. Then I tried Formula One Polish, which to my utter surprise worked very well for a "can do all" polish. Its not as lubricating as the other two, and loaded up the pad a little, but it did manage to cut through the mineral deposits pretty good. Course this was my first time using it also, so allow a little for user error.
Heres a progress shot with FS BSMC. Notice the areas at the top of both pics have been successfully cleaned of water spots. This by far, has been my most challenging H2O issue to date.


The glass on the shell was covered in water spots as well as about 75% of the truck, including front chrome peices, rear chrome bumper. I cleaned those areas with Perfecar Chrome cleaner which did a great job, both by hand and with the 4" yellow pad/UDM combo.
Heres a shot or that above panel all polished out. I completed the truck a second time with FS BSSMR, and an old Green P2 pad.

Sealed it up with FS UPP (Of course!)
Shell got a light polish with that Formula One, Orange pad, then sealed with DG 105.



6 hours on this one, not including the inside! Im ok with tomorrows cancellation also!

micvog

Wow.

triggerman

That truck looks great, nice job.

laidback93

Thats about what my front bumper looked like when I bought it off the lot.

Great job! I almost feel like driving down to SoCal someday to get a detail from you!

exceldetail

Hey I have relatives in your neck of the woods!

exceldetail

Thanks Michael!
Thanks Trigger!
Thanks LB

stogie1020

Once again, Patrick purchases a brand new vehicle for a client, and tries to convince us he "detailed" their car....

Hawhyen51

All I can say is

exceldetail

And its only taken me a week to recover!!! (seriously)

paradigm

i fear doing SMALL vehicles w/ a 4" pad and regret it later...you're crazy! nice work!

65 Fury Convert

Wow great write up and awesome job!

alucardx

nice one.

bradykp

do you know anyone in new jersey or northeast pennsylvania that can do work like you!

TLAdvanced

iTrader: (4)

So you used a polish to remove the spots with a high speed buffer?? I have water spots on my 07 TL-S and could not get them out with compound. Any suggestions??

Jesstzn

Looks good Patrick .. have you ever tried a wipe down with white table vinegar on the water spots prior to the polishing?

exceldetail

Dale, this truck has had very little attention in the past and I knew it needed a polish. I thought I would kill two birds with one punch, which worked out to my advantage. But....for stubborn water spots, vinegar works amazing.