Well, my bride is traveling this weekend so I have the place to myself. My goal is to completely detail her olive metallic Boxster. I am a hobbyist not a pro. If you haven't seen this color it is really unique. It is a very dark metallic green with gold metallic in it. In the shade it almost looks solid black but in the sun it just pops full of green and gold color. It has light swirl marks and some minor haloing. Question: Do I approach this color the same as any dark color? (de-iron, clay, PC start PO203S and finish with PO85RD.).

I can never seem to get the inside of the windows, especially the front, clean. I need help here - how should I approach the interior of the windows?

Wheels - my thought is de-iron gel, detail cleaning and then Rejex. Does this seem reasonable?

Looks like it's going to be a cloudy weekend in Boston so I should be good to go!

Thanks as always. This is a great forum and I always learn a ton!

Best,

Matt

 

Sounds like a lot of fun Matt and your wife will sure to be surprised. I'm very familiar with that color and it's very nice. When polished and waxed properly, there's so much depth and richness in the paint, you'll be amazed.

As for your questions, you're on the right path. Treat the paint as you would any other color. Clay to get contaminants off clearcoat. What imperfections are you starting out with? Menzerna 203 and 85RD should do a very good job if you have medium to light imperfections in the finish. 203 is really meant to be a 1-step, so technically, you shouldn't have to do anything after it. So, in the future if you are wanting to do a 2-step, get SIP, PO83.

What pads are you using?

The interior windows are very simple if you have the correct towel and cleaner. Ideally, you need a designated MicroGlass towel:



These towels do not have a nap, so you won't get too much streaking or little lint left on the glass. Most glass cleaners on the market are way too concentrated IMHO. A good off the shelf cleaner would be Stoner Invisible Glass. If you get the aerosol, just spray on the exterior glass, a wipe. When doing interior, the same towel used to clean exterior should be damp enough to not need further spraying inside.

We use Lumiere Natural Glass Cleaner. Great product and it doesn't streak. The trick is to use two towels. Fold towels in half. So you now have side 1 towel 1, side 2 towels 1, side 1 towel 2, side 2 towel 2....make sense.

1. Spray liquid glass cleaner on T1-S1
2. wipe window
3. flip towel..now T1-S2...wipe
4. Do a final wipe with T2-S1
5. Stand back and admire crystal clear galss

Wheels, if not heavily embedded with brake dust, should be simple. Spray wheel cleaner, use various brushes to clean, then rinse. Once dry, you can actually clay the wheels as well, polish them, then wax them with rejex. Same concept as your paint. You can probably use Menz 85RD with a mf towel or pad and it'll do a fine job of polishing.

Hope this helps and make sure to share the final results, or the whole journey, with us. Looking forward to seeing that Olive paint shine and glisten

 

So how did it go?

 

Mo,

thanks so much for your advice and encouragement. I never realized how tired one can get detailing a car

It was a cloudy weekend in MA so I never got to see the results in the sun. I approached it like this:
1- iron cut on the wheels
2- wash with Dawn
3- Iron Cut the paint - stuff is amazing...
4- clay
5- Leaf Blower dry
6- Into the garage for masking
7- Menzerna PO85RD - green pad
8- Menzerna Power Finish - blue pad
9- wash / dry
10- detail spray
11- ultima paint guard plus
12- Rejex wheels
13- Leather Masters leather
14- 1Z einszett ****pit Premium (awesome stuff)
15- 303 fabric protection - top
16- cleaned the glass per your advice - much better but need some glass MFs

Once the sun is out I'll be able to tell how I did. I have a couple of questions:
1- I was uncertain how long I should polish a section. I read someplace that once the polish has broken down - but I don't know what that means or how to tell.

2- I had a difficult time removing the Menzerna Power Finish - I think I used too much product (it was also very humid).

Lessons learned - make sure there are plenty of MF towels clean and ready to go!

I'll get some pics up once the sun comes out.

Thanks so much!!

Matt

 

Good work...can't wait to see results.

as for your polishing, Power Finish should have been used with green pad and 85RD with blue pad....PF 1st then 85RD.

Polish is broken down when haze begins to disappear and the surface becomes almost transparent. You should begin to see your reflection in the paint surface.

If you over-use the product, it takes too long to break down and if you don't break it down all the way, it's too difficult to remove.

Great effort and you'll never learn if you don't try. Can't wait to see end results.

 

ugh... sounds like it did the polishing backwards.... I feel like a goof... I don't know how I did that.... so my expectations once I pull the car into the sun are lower. Thank you for straightening that out for me.

Mo, how much is the correct amount of polish on the pad?

There's a lot to learn here but it really is fun. You can really get to know your car and the intricacies of the design.

Thanks so much for the guidance...

Matt

 

what is the iron cut stuff?

 

Initially, you need to use more polish on a fresh pad. We put little dollops of polish all over the pad and work it into the foam so it's evenly dispersed. Then, you really only need about a dime-size amount to polish an area like half a door or half a hood.

 

matt,

great effort, did you take any pictures?

if so would love to see them.

 

Iron Cut is in short like a spray that is used on your paint as well as wheels to remove iron particles. Its a great step prior to claying your car.

It will remove a good amount of contaminants and will reduce the amount of claying which will reduce the amount of marring your paint with the clay bar.

 

I'm going to try to get pics up this weekend. I work out of town during the week and only get home on the weekends.

It's a tough color to capture but will do my best....

thank you

Matt