So, just bought the car about 8 weeks ago and finally had two days (in a row) to do a detail.

Prior owner thought he was a fanatic (he made sure the dealer did not wash the car, ever. He even put this in writing in the original new car order.) Although he waxed it regularly (with some crap from Griots), he never touched the rubber or trim with anything! There was wax lines in many of the crevasses, around trim, rubber, etc. Some of the plastic trim had wax residue on it.

Over the course of my 8 weeks I just washed it- and discovered as the wax wore off, that there were many fine microscratches... so, here is the path to a perfect optical surface (for me, many ways to skin this cat)

1. Wash with carwash
2. Wash with detergent to strip wax. (Probably a bit alkaline, oh well.)
3. Clay bar. Used Clay Magic, Fine grade. (They are probably the first company to offer clay for finishes. Big bar, I cut it in half. I used car wash soap + water in a spray bottle (2 parts water, 1 part soap) as lube. There are more expensive lubes you can buy, but why?
4. Rinse, dry.
5. Mask - Used blue masking tape to cover whatever I didn't want polished or waxed. Headlights, lower trim, door seals, window rubber, etc, etc, etc.
6. Menzerna Super Intensive Polish. Used one of the newer Lake Country pads (Orange, 7.5" with a dished shape and the divots in the face.) Product works fine. Not particularly aggressive, easy to control, well behaved.

That was day one...day two:

7. Merzerna Micro Polish, Lake Country 6.5" White pad. VERY marginal improvement.
8. Zaino Z5 with ZFX, 6.5" Lake Country Red pad
9. Buff with Microfiber, wipe with Grand Finale
10. Repeat.
11. Zaino Z2 with ZFX, 6.5" Lake Country Red pad
12. Buff with Microfiber, wipe with Grand Finale
13. Repeat
14. Repeat


(So, 2 coats Z5, 3 coat Z2)

Strip tape, clean windows, clean trip, detail plastic and rubber

Zaino Grand Finale


Pictures.

Of course, it is almost impossible to fully appreciate a detail with pictures.... indeed, the fine surface scratches that interfere with the depth and 'pop' of a finish are hard to photograph, and a picture of a perfect scratch free surface is pretty much useless. But check out the hood, and a self portrait- (remember this is grey not black)

One of the hardest things is training your eye to look AT- THE- SURFACE and not through it or at the reflection... It is hard to get the hang of, then it is all of a sudden easy. Bright lights help, but you can't use the direct reflection- maybe 10-15 degrees off axis.

Anyway, there are about 7 or 8 microscratches still left, but the hazy, spider webby look is gone forever. I swear the flies have trouble landing!

A

PS A **MAJOR** thank you to Moe at Glistening Perfection- for his recommendations to change one of my usual products (turned me on the the Menzerna SIP) and for CUSTOMER SERVICE way above and beyond. Thanks Moe.

 

Looks amazing and I love that color. That is as thorough as one could get during a detail.

 

I would say you've pretty much nailed the process there Adam! Its always a good sign when someone talks about days rather than hours for a thorough detail.
What did you think of the new LC pads? Personally I dont think they match up to the older ones without the "golfball" divots.
Looks sweet as a nut mate!
Cheers
Brett

 

Looks great. Love that car. I respect your insight over at m5board. I believe we saw that same process a couple years ago on the M5. Keep up the good work!

Edwin

 

Hey Edwin-

Yeah, the "Naked M5" post... Changed just a bit, the two Menzerna products instead of the Meguiars Swirl Remover. I was told the Swirl remover 2.0 had some oils that tended to fill in the surface (ie yes it had a light abrasive, but fooled you by having some filler too)... given this was a dark color, I decided to try the other.

The more products I try, the more I am convinced it is process not product that makes the biggest difference.

Brett-

I was very unimpressed by the divots- seemed to make zero difference. I still got sling if I wasn't careful, and it didn't seem to help distribute.

Thanks for the comments- def not much traffic over here, eh?

A

 

Beautiful work...

 

looks great!

 

Amazing guide - thank you!

What do you use for detailing the trim and rubber on the exterior?

How frequently do you wash the car and what is your standard upkeep for maintaining that look??

Thanks!

 

great work

 

I just use Zaino rubber/vinyl Z16 for the exterior bits- and turtlewax F21 for the tires- they get changes so often that longevity isn't an issue on that.

I've been looking for an alternative on the rubber and vinyl... any tips?

This car is not used much- wash every two -four weeks, this level of detail once a year. Re-application of Z2 every 2-3 months. On the M5 it gets a weekly wash, otherwise the same.

A

 

were you using a Porter cable or a rotary for this detail. Looks great

 

GREAT JOB Adam....the car looks great. You should not be getting any slinging of product; that's more technique than the pad. Did you use a DA or rotary; I don't remember. Anyway, glad the products worked out for you. As far as the black trim, you want to use zymol Tyre as it's a natural ans silicone-free conditioner. It will give your tires and black trim a satin black look.

 

Using a PC.

As far as slinging, I just needed to spread the liquid quickly prior to turning it on- my comment was that I had heard the divots control sling, and I didn't see it. Still had to be careful with fresh applications.

Thx for the tip on Zymol-

Adam

 

Thanks for the great tips and the response to my question above. This is really useful stuff - I plan on trying my hand at this in the coming weeks.

 

With the PC it's easy not to sling. Apply the product on the finish and turn the PC on first. Then, tilting the PC slightly, pass over the polish from left to right. You shouldn't be slinging at all with a PC. Hope this helps on the tech nique.