Week Two With My New Baby

[tresola]

*sigh* I worked all weekend on getting the car done, and I'm not even half done still! I can pretty much call the interior done minus I haven't thrown the defogger in there yet to completely rid the nasty odors. However, I found some spots between the seats where I took out gobs of dog hair, ew! I also got the new seat covers in place. I steamcleaned everything so I'm not sure if I have to reshampoo the carpets or not...

But... yesterday I began on the exterior work. Wow. This guy probably never polished or waxed the car. Especially both bumpers were as rough as sandpaper, and there was a lot of scuff marks everywhere. I decided to clay spots on the car, but ended up doing the entire car. I was able to get every single scuff mark out, including a spot with overspray, and both bumpers now are smooth as glass. We thought the bumpers were painted the wrong color, but actually like the article I was reading last Friday, there was so much dirt in the pores of the paint that it gave it a yellowish hue. Apparently white cars don't look super white sometimes because they have a tendency to be more porous, thus holding onto the dirt more. After going after the bumpers with clay, I loosened so much dirt that it didn't even look like I had washed the car! I need to give it another wash tonight and I'll take some pictures. I should have taken more before pictures but I didn't figure I'd see so much of a difference! Wow. The paint is now a very sparkly white pearl instead of looking like a super white. I was also able to remove the tape marks, so all in all, the paint job no longer looks horrendous and definitely acceptable. Who knew this beast would turn into such a beauty with a little elbow grease?! The only thing that bugs me still is the chipping clearcoat on the roof, but I think with a little work I can get that fixed as well.

This coming weekend will be all about getting the paint cleaner, polish and wax/sealant on the car. I'm not even sure if its worth tackling the alloys because a couple of them are really beaten up. I may steam clean and then just polish them up and call it quits til I can have them redone. I want to refinish the chrome on the car too, alot of it has chips in it, like the front grill.

[Donnie]

Sounds like you've been busy man, but it's all worth it. I've let mine set for so long because of the never ending winter we've had that I'm ashamed of myself. So I'll be going through the same as you before too long. Keep it up, it'll get there.

[stereopaul511]

A lot of hard work that will definitely pay off.

[Pogs]

You were really busy.!! Cant wait to see some pics after you have her where you want her.

[Ruski]

your definitely working hard. keep it, and lets see some pics, but you should spray the chrome pieces and repaint the grill.

[tresola]

Thanks! It is a lot of work, but in the end you're right, it does pay off. I really enjoy detailing and I'm quite particular on how my cars look. My bf was so annoyed yesterday I blew off the chance for a nice ride on the scooters to work on the car. And actually cars that are well-detailed have a potential of saving mpg because the smoothness makes the air flow around the car easier, creating less drag. And here I always thought it was a cleaner car made you drive faster.

I'll get some pics up tonight of my work yesterday, and as soon as I get through washing the poor dirty beast. I'll take some new ones post-wash as well. I couldn't believe clay takes off overspray too! I had some nasty dark spots on the fender and the more I scrubbed them, the more red I was getting off and the dots were disappearing. I just thought my car was part dalmation or smething... And I really thought half the car was not a pearl but I was sucessful in recovering all of it. I think some of the problem was oxidation, the other half was nobody detailed any of the newest painted body parts.

The interior still needs the headliner and seatbelts thoroughly scrubbed, but at least the dirt's gone and the seats are covered so they won't suffer further damage. Besides, I really enjoy time bonding with my vehicles.

And... my TRD sway bar is on the way, I am so excited! That'll be another project for the weekend, if I can wait that long.

I was actually thinking of turning my car restoration hobby into a business, but after all I spent this weekend and how sunburned I wound up, I'm having second thoughts. I think a blog that educates people on how to do it themselves sounds better the more time I put into this!

[yaddadaimsayin]

lol very nice. I haven't had a chance to try the clay bar yet. So you would highly recommend it? My car feels bumpy when I run my hand across it as well. It just sounds extremely strenuous to use a piece of clay to wipe down an entire vehicle. Sounds like it paid off though!

[Pogs]

^^^ I personally would recommend clay bar to everyone. Its not that strenuous due to the lubrication (For meguires I think its quick detail spray). I can get my whole car done in about 40 minutes if I am being anal about my job quality.

[tresola]

Yeah, I highly recommend claying if your car isn't smooth. You could use a paint cleaner or something like it, but its not going to get deep inside and lift the dirt and imperfections. I used the ICE Turtle Wax stuff yesterday. They've got both a bar and a liquid, and I used both of them. The liquid works great and takes less time than the clay bar if you don't have really bad areas, but otherwise the clay bar is better. I've also used Mother's clay bar kit and it does an equally good job. Right now my area Walmart has their Mother's clay kit on clearance for $12. The ICE kit was $14.99 at O'Reillys but I took their advertisement to Walmart and they price matched for me. Otherwise theirs was $15.98. But well worth it! In all honesty, if your car is just rough, it won't take more than a couple hours tops to clay. My car had lots of crap and problem areas, and I'm anal, which is why it took me 4+ hours yesterday.

I think I'm going to do some waterless wash on the car when I get home in 40 min, and take some pics to share. I won't bother with a full wash since its supposed to rain for the next few days. I hope I can blow up enough of the before shots to show the discoloration in the bumpers, and then the after shots after using the clay bar.

[tresola]

Sorry I kind of pooped out on my post; I had brought the car Monday night to the mechanic's and didn't get it back til late last night. I will do the pictures as promised by the weekend! I also realized I have to redo the front end claying. I got so tired and nearly died by the time I finished, and I cut a few corners. Ooops! I'm sure I can get that bumper looking a lot better with more dedicated time, when I'm feeling refreshed.

I've decided to take tomorrow off so I have a great 3 day weekend, and hopefully get the car finished up. I've got some more claying, shampooing, bombing, polishing, waxing, etc. to do before I can officially call it done.

I just spoke with my mechanic, he found the mirror "cap" as its called, the trim piece that covers the mirror electronics on the inside. $13.00! I'm excited! He's also going to look for another mirror for me, hopefully in a pearl so I won't have to spend the money to have it painted. These guys, I love'em! They're cheap, helpful and they do a good job. In fact, I spent a good 15 min bs'ing with their lead mechanic last night, and he admitted he didn't turn in a slip to charge me for one of the car inspections. I probably could have turned over the sway bar work to them, but you just sometimes need to have the fun of doing the labor yourself. And as it was pointed out, the sway bar is one thing you can ooops and still drive the car to the mechanic.