Detail for Charity... well, kinda. Trashed Toyota Avalon - Corrected and Coated.

[zmcgovern45]

So for those of you who don`t know, detailing is not my full time job. I am an engineer and do my detailing work on the weekends. Anyway - every year my company helps to bring donations to the United Way. One of the ways my division helps to raise donations is through a silent auction in which employees or local businesses can donate products, services, homemade goodies, etc which other employees can then bid on. All of the money is then donated to the United Way... a pretty cool idea. I decided to help out by offering a "routine" detailing package consisting of what I call a Routine Maintenance Detail (basically a very thorough cleaning and application of sealant or wax) and Routine Interior Detail (a thorough vacuuming and wipe down of all interior surfaces).

The person that placed the winning bid on my donation was hoping to have his wife`s vehicle cleaned up. I asked him to bring it to work so that I could have a look at it since he mentioned it had swirl marks that he was hoping to have removed. Upon initial inspection, I could tell the vehicle was in poor shape. I explained that a two-stage correction would be best to remove the majority of the swirls and restore the gloss to the vehicle. I also explained that the Toyota Jet Black paint was some of the softest paint and is therefore extremely fragile. A coating would not only help to provide superior protection from the elements, but it would help to resist light scratches and swirls. The owner agreed to go with the 22ple VX1 Pro Coating. I deducted the full price of the donated package from these upgraded services and even threw in a free engine detail since I figured the entire car should be clean!


Process

Engine
- Rinse
- Wash underside of the hood with soft brush
- Meguiar`s D103 (diluted 10:1) was sprayed liberally over everything and then agitated with various brushes (repeat as needed)
- Rinsed
- Blown Dry
- Plastic Engine Covers dressed with 303 Aerospace Protectant
- Hoses/Harnesses/Misc. Dressed with CG Black on Black

Exterior
- Wheels: Sonax Full Effect agitated with various brushes and wheel sponge
- Tires: Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner and Tire Brush
- Pre-Soak: CG Citrus Wash & Gloss via foam canon and Karcher X-Series Pressure Washer
- Wash: CG Citrus Wash & Gloss (two bucket method) with microfiber chenille wash mitt
- Dry: Waffle Weave Towels
- Iron Decontamination: Iron X
- General Decontamination: Nanoskin Autoscrub Mitt (Fine Grade)
- Dry: Waffle Weave Towels
- Tape: 3M Blue Painters Tape
- Paint Thickness Readings Taken
- Compound: Menzerna FG400 on 5.5" Orange Light Cutting Pad via Rupes LHR21ES and 3",4" pads via PC7424XP
- Polish: Menzerna SF4500 on 5.5" White Polishing Pads via Rupes LHR21ES and 3",4" pads via PC7424XP
- IPA Wipedown using 15% Solution
- Wash: CG Citrus Wash and Gloss
- IPA Wipedown using 15% Solution
- Coating: 22ple VX1 Pro Glass Coating
- Wheel Sealant: Poorboy`s World Wheel Sealant (2 coats)
- Tire Dressing: Optimum Opti-Bond Tire Gel
- Glass: Stoner`s Invisible Glass
- Exhaust tips: CG Metal Polish + Protection applied by hand via MF Towel

Interior
- Vacuum
- All plastic, vinyl, and leather wiped down with 303 Aerospace Protectant
- Glass: Stoner`s Invisible Glass

Total Time: 15 Hours


Before

Well, Summer is officially gone so I began working in the dark since the sun is setting much earlier. I took a few photos of the initial condition of the vehicle.

The engine was very dirty.










There was bug splatter EVERYWHERE... the front bumper was unfortunately beyond repair - much of the bugs had already done permanent damage to the painted areas. The mirrors were also heavily coated in guts, as was the glass. Note: this is the SIDE window, not the windshield, still plenty of bug guts somehow.






A thick layer of dirt, grime, and TONS of water spots covered every surface of the vehicle. I was prepared to see a tremendous amount of etched spots.














Here you can see the etching left by a rather large bird bomb (top of the door near the crack between front and rear doors). The owner told me the local auto body shop that had done some work on their car offered to "take care of it" when she was picking her car up. Apparently they went after it with some sandpaper, or a scotch brite pad... or maybe they just rubbed some dirt on it. Either way, you can clearly see the immense damage that was caused by attempting to remove the bird bomb marking.





During



After this inspection with proper lighting, I was sure I was in for a long weekend... I was even more worried to see how the paint would look once it was properly washed and decontaminated. Dirt helps to cover up many of the surface defects (believe it or not), so I was expecting to see a lot more damage after the paint was clean. I began by cleaning the engine.





I then moved on to cleaning the wheels and tires - these machined wheels cleaned up rather nicely, but the faces were all extremely scratched up. I am not sure if it was caused by someone using improper washing media (ie scotch brite pads or kitchen sponges) or if it was just a very poor factory finish. You cannot see the defects I am referring to in this photo - you need direct light to see them.




The car was then foamed to help loosen the caked on dirt and debris. The foam was then left to dwell for several minutes and was then rinsed with a pressure washer. I proper two bucket wash was then completed to remove any remaining dirt. Afterwards, the car was treated with Iron X and then detailing clay to remove any bonded contaminates from the surface of the vehicle.




After washing and decontamination, the true condition of the paint was revealed. A swirled, spotted, dull mess - just as I expected.




My test spot revealed a dramatic difference. I was able to achieve about 80-85% correction on the majority of the vehicle, but the rear of the car had been repainted (rear quarters and bumber) and was in much worse shape therefore it was not quite as nice afterwards (sorry no pics of that area... it would have made you cringe. There were sanding marks, pin holes, runs, horrible texture, and I even found a hair that was trapped beneath the clear coat).




Here is a video of this test spot: The first 50/50 (left vs. right) shows the difference from the original paint prior to any correction vs. paint that had been compounded with Menzerna FG400 and then polished with Menzerna SF4500.

The 2nd 50/50 (top vs. bottom) shows the difference between the top section that had only been compounded vs. the bottom section which had been compounded and polished. The difference here is more subtle because FG400 only leaves a very minor haze even in this very soft paint, but you can clearly see the area that had been finish polished was a deeper, darker black.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he-PoTGKdEc&feature=share&list=UUYYkJ7ziLLPtmrrESuYUo Pw"]Toyota Avalon Paint Correction 50/50 - Rupes LHR21ES Menzer - YouTube[/ame]



Door Before Correction


And after compounding



Door Before Correction


And after compounding


A closer look at the door after compounding reveals yet another bird bomb that had been left on the paint causing permanent damage. The clear coat had begun to fail - the only way to repair this is to repaint it. (note: you can also see the fine marring left by the heavy cutting compound. This was removed with the final polishing


Door Before Correction


And after compounding




Door Before Correction


And after compounding

[zmcgovern45]

Fender Before Correction


And after compounding



Trunk Lid Before Correction


And After Compounding



50/50 Shot on the trunk lid


I couldn`t quite tell if the front bumber had been repainted or what, but the paint was extremely dull.


After compounding, clarity had been restored, but many of the defects towards the bottom were simply too deep to remove at this point. Luckily these defects were so low on the car that they will most likely be unnoticed even in direct sunlight.




After compounding was completed, I proceeded in polishing the entire vehicle to bring out the most gloss possible. The car looked very nice at this point.




The car was then wiped down with IPA, washed, and wiped down again to remove any existing dust and polishing oils that remained on the paint. Next, I applied 22ple VX1 Pro Coating to all painted areas. Here you can see what the coating looks like a couple of minutes after application. Excess is removed after 5 minutes or so.




After the coating was applied, I moved the vehicle outside to check for any residual coating on the surface of the paint. The car was looking great at this point! (photography tip: use a smaller aperture (larger #) to produce sun stars like this! I tend to use f/11-f/13, but it is also common to go as small as f/22)










Tires were nice and clean, but they were dull looking compared to the deep, dark jet black paint.



After applying Opti-Bond tire gel, the tires looked great. A nice water based tire dressing is not only visually appealing, but it helps to keep your rubber healthy by nourishing the rubber.





After

After a lot of work, the car looked a lot better. It was far from perfect, but I was pleased with the turn around given the extremely poor condition beforehand and the limited amount of time I had to work on it.

The engine looked as good as new.



The only thing better than nicely polished black paint is black paint coated with a premium paint coating! Look at that gloss!













The car is now a true black. The paint is smooth, glossy, and best of all it is protected with a premium coating that will last for years! That means easy maintenance, better protection from the elements, and no waxing for years!




All ready to be picked up!





As always, thanks for looking! Questions and/or Comments are greatly appreciated!

[Ronkh]

Great turn around

good crisp clear reflections, looks nice and deep/dark

[Todd@RUPES]

Wow, absolutely excellent work! That is a huge turnaround, and excellent documentation!

[Pats300zx]

Amazing work !!!!

[zmcgovern45]

Thanks guys I appreciate it!

[Stokdgs]

The word is bumpers, not bumbers..

Beautiful, stunning, turn around !!

Thanks for sharing -
Dan F

[Wheelzntoys]

Great turnaround! They were smart to go for the upgrade.

[The Driver]

You forgot the ending to the story! What was the owners reaction!? Describe!

[zmcgovern45]

The word is bumpers, not bumbers..

Beautiful, stunning, turn around !!

Thanks for sharing -
Dan F

Wow - spelling fail TWICE! haha oops. I typically write these in a bit of a rush, and then copy paste a lot so sometimes I have to live with the embarrassment of my poor spelling. Guess that is why I am an engineer - I aint got to write too good... and thanks!

Great turnaround! They were smart to go for the upgrade.

^I agree.. I just hope they take my advice for proper maintenance and it doesn`t end up trashed again in a few months

You forgot the ending to the story! What was the owners reaction!? Describe!

^They were happy and said it looked good, but I would not say they were excited about it. I make it a point to take about 15-30 minutes and go over several photos and walk the owners around their vehicles once completed, but these people didn`t give me too much of a reaction when showing them the photos and the vehicle... Oh well

[mjlinane]

Great job!

[Evan.J]

Beautiful work Zach!

[The Driver]

=
^They were happy and said it looked good, but I would not say they were excited about it. I make it a point to take about 15-30 minutes and go over several photos and walk the owners around their vehicles once completed, but these people didn`t give me too much of a reaction when showing them the photos and the vehicle... Oh well

That`s a bummer but hey you got about 198973454397647096 thumbs up from the people who take this stuff uber serious

[zmcgovern45]

Great job!

Beautiful work Zach!

Thanks guys!

That`s a bummer but hey you got about 198973454397647096 thumbs up from the people who take this stuff uber serious

Yeah - it sort of takes the wind out of your sails when you feel like you really hit one out of the park, but at the end of the day it doesn`t bother me at all. This definitely wasn`t my usual type of customer. I market myself almost exclusively to local car clubs and enthusiasts and therefore usually deal with true car lovers who can appreciate the work and transformation their vehicle has gone through... this detail was through a charitable auction, and I was expecting to get some neglected DD and a non-enthusiast owner. All in all, I am just glad they were pleased with the work and hope they can recommend me to others.

[Ronkh]

^They were happy and said it looked good, but I would not say they were excited about it. I make it a point to take about 15-30 minutes and go over several photos and walk the owners around their vehicles once completed, but these people didn`t give me too much of a reaction when showing them the photos and the vehicle... Oh well

Too bad. It was a great job. Musta been let down some