That nasty detail some of you know about...

[01WJLimited]

Well, as some of you know, yesterday I "detailed" (hardly...) my manager's 12 year old car... that was never washed. Once I got it to my house and saw what I had to work with in only a few hours... It wasn't going to be perfect. She worked from 10:00am to 2:00pm, I had to have it back there by 2. This gave me 4 hours, so I did all that I could. It was more of a cleaning than a detail, this was no where near a detail. Not enough time. Anyway, it's a 1994 (?) Chevy Lumina.

Nasty details:
-I picked up five handfuls of gravel from under the driver's side floormat.
-Infinite trash and things for her granddaughter
-DOG HAIR. She has 4 of them. Soon to be 5. They all get rides in the car quite often.
-There was a mud coating about 1/8" thick caked on the front bumper and hood where the bra was.
-The chrome trim had turned gold (stained) on the front bumper.
-There are black spots on my driveway from the brakedust. 12 years worth of brakedust.

Anyway. Materials.

Exterior:
-F21 Wash
-Meg's Smooth Surface Clay Kit
-Mothers FX Spray Wax
-NuFinish Wax (x2) Laugh all you want, this car needed long term protection over looks.
-Meg's High Endurance High Gloss Gel Tire dressing w/ foam swipe on tires and hood bra.
-Meg's All Wheel Cleaner on Hubcaps.

Interior:
-Trash Removal
-Vacuum
-Undiluted APC on Armrests, Doorjambs, kick panels, everything.
-Meg's QID
-Windex on windows (Again, laugh all you want, it works.)

Before:




After:




I would've gotten the steam cleaner out, but I was all out of time. She was thrilled regardless. Other than the carpets being stained, the car turned out alright, not to mention sanitary.

[SCDetail]

Very nice job, with the time you had!! I could not stand to have a car that dirty. It would drive me nuts. I have some at the hospital I work at that I just want to "help". Was there a difference between the paint under the bra and the hood?

SCDetail

[01WJLimited]

Originally Posted by SCDetail

Very nice job, with the time you had!! I could not stand to have a car that dirty. It would drive me nuts. I have some at the hospital I work at that I just want to "help". Was there a difference between the paint under the bra and the hood?

SCDetail

Suprisingly, I didn't notice a difference. I'm sure the paint was just as faded underneath due to the abrasion of dirt etc. being smashed on it.

By the way... I couldn't take a car that dirty either.

[audiboy]

It looks like you did a great job with the limited time you had. I hope she takes better care of it now.

[Big Leegr]

Looks nice!

I'm surprised that she'd leave all the crap for you to pick up!
At least have the courtesy to pick up the bulk of the stuff (bottles, cig paks, etc.) before dropping it off, I think.

[01WJLimited]

I don't have a problem with it. She's going through hard times right now and working two jobs, so I think of it more as a favor.

[CBlakeNS]

Very nice with the time you had...looks 100% better!

[HyundaiLvr87]

It looks great, considering the time you had. I put a mask on my mom's WHITE car and I want to take it off, and I am worried about how it will look underneath. There is a paint difference at the leading edge of it.

[01WJLimited]

Originally Posted by HyundaiLvr87

It looks great, considering the time you had. I put a mask on my mom's WHITE car and I want to take it off, and I am worried about how it will look underneath. There is a paint difference at the leading edge of it.

This is true, there was a band about an inch thick where the rear edge of the hood cover was that had rubbed the paint and got filled with dirt quite nicely. I'm sure it's nothing a PC and some coarse polish couldn't take off, but I lack both.


A side note: This car is mechanically sound. She has all of the maintenance done when it's needed. The car ran great, and rode smooth. It was just cosmetically challenged.

[mblgjr]

Cosmetically Challenged? hahaha...

That interior is GROSS though, I couldn't stand to drive it for fear of something jumping on me.

Great job, I know dog hair is hard work getting out.

[01WJLimited]

Originally Posted by mblgjr

Cosmetically Challenged? hahaha...

That interior is GROSS though, I couldn't stand to drive it for fear of something jumping on me.

Great job, I know dog hair is hard work getting out.

Yes it was. I couldn't even get it all out of the mats. No biggie she said, she picked up her new puppy yesterday.

[JaredPointer]

Wow, that was nice of you to offer to clean it up for her. And a nice job as well. Sorry to hear that she's falling on hard times as well. On the flip side, you'd think she might cut down on getting puppies for a while. Those things are expensive.

[05SilverTRD]

Great job on a car that was that dirty. With the time you had, you made an amazing difference.