Engine Bay Detail

I thought I would have a separate post with all the engine bay detail I did over the last couple of years. The process across all of them is the same. I start with an all purpose cleaner or a degreaser, depending on how bad the condition of the engine bay is, then I agitate with a brush. I then follow up with steam cleaning then I hose the engine bay down while making sure the garden hose is on fan as direct stream of water may cause damage to sensitive or exposed parts in the engine bay (especially with older vehicles).

Removing Swirls and Fine Scratches (VIDEOS)

I have been trying to take the time to write this post but unfortunately my full time and the detailing I do on the side are not leaving me with much spare time. I have taken some videos of 50/50 paint correction that I'd like to share with you all. All the videos below are taken by applying a painter's tape to divide the panel I'm working on into 2 panels. After that, I go ahead and work on either side of the tape and leave the other side untouched. When I'm finally done I simply remove the tape, turn on the flash and then I start filming.

Audi TT Quattro:

Ford Mustang Saleen (3 different cars):

As always, if you have a question about anything in this post, please let me know in the comment section below

Ford Mustang Saleen - Wheel Polishing

I was tasked to restore this baby to life and so I did. I will post some before and after in separate posts to highlight certain detailing aspects. The wheels here were metal and were oxidized and scratched so I went at it with metal polish and the blue metal polish pad. Here are some shots of before, 50/50 and after. 

Before:

50/50:

After:

A before and after:

As always, post your questions and comments below. More to come. 

Detailed: 1989 Ford Mustang - Track Car

Couple of weeks ago I got called by the owner of the Saleen I detailed few months back and asked me to detail his track car, a 1989 Ford Mustang with a roll cage and all the bells and whistles to win on the Track. 

Car wasn't in a bad shape since it's only driven at the track and very little street time (car is street legal), but the interior needed cleaning and I removed few stains from the passenger's side. 

I then took care of the door sills. 

Also, both seats needed some love so I vacuumed and cleaned the vinyl sides. 

I then went ahead and vaccuumed and cleaned the trunk area and then went ahead and cleaned the side panels. 

After I was done with the interior and taking care of the minor defects here and there I moved on to paint correction. It was cold outside and the weather did not  cooperate. Low temperatures meant that I couldn't use the hose to wash the car so I went with a waterless wash using a combination of Detail Spray and Waterless Wash. 

After claying the car, I took my 3401 Flex and Adams Paint Correcting Polish and got to work. The video below is a 50/50 testing a 2x2 area for effectiveness. 

Now here are some shots of the car completely done. 

Questions and comments are welcome.

Leather Seats Detailed: GMC Canyon

A customer of mine bought these seats used for his truck and asked me to detail them before he installs them in his truck. The seats were used and it shows. There were tons of stains on the bench seat and the driver's seat, the passenger seat was in a better shape but not good by all means. Enough with the talking and let's get right to it. This is the passenger seat when I received it. 

I started by taping off one of the seats to do a 50/50 for comparison purposes. 

And here are the results after cleaning and conditioning half of the seat, pretty dramatic!

After I completed the detail on this seat and the driver's I moved on to do tr bench seat. Here's a before and after. 

Before:

Notice the circled stains!

After

And here's a 50/50 for comparison purposes.

Finally, I noticed that the belt receptacles are faded so I decided to restore them by cleaning the inside of the letters where it says "PRESS" and clean and condition the whole receptacle. Here's a before and after.

After

And here's a 50/50 for comparison purposes.

Thanks for reading! Please follow the blog and let me know if you have any questions or comments. 

Detailed: 2005 Acura MDX

I received this one on a short notice last weekend and I happened to be free. The owner wanted to have the car reconditioned as he decided to sell it. The car was in a bad condition, inside and out. Deep scratches, rust (nothing I can do there), caked brake dust, etc. but he focus was not on paint correction but more like getting the car back in shape so that it can be sold for a fair market value. The owner has 2 kids and the car was never detailed, so the interior was particularly in a bad shape.

As always I started by doing the wheels and tires. I scrubbed the tires and sprayed Adam's Deep Wheel Cleaner on the wheels. Here are some before, in process and after pictures:

Before:

In process:

After:

Next, the engine bay. I sprayed Adam's All Purpose Cleaner and slowly worked my fender brush over the different parts of the engine and used my detail brush to clean around small areas then I rinsed the whole bay down with just hose water (don't use pressure washer on the engine bay, especially on older cars). Finally, I applied Adam's SVRT for the plastic parts. Here's a before and after:

Before:

After:

Next, the exhaust tips. Surprisingly the tips were not in bad shape so minor metal polishing brought them back to life. 

Before:

After:

After the engine bay and wheels were done, it was time for some headlight restoration. The headlights were in such bad shape that visibility at night must have been minimal compared to what it was originally and to what it is now after the restoration

50/50 driver's side done:

Both headlights are done

After I polished the car (no pics, sorry!), it was time to take care of the interior. As stated before, the interior was a detailer's challenge full coffee stains, melted candy, food, papers, post it notes and more. I used my Ridgid Shop Vac, Mytee Vapor Steamer, Adam's Leather and Interior Cleaner and bunch of microfiber towels. Before and after pics of the interior:

Before:

After:

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After:

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After:

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After:

If you have any questions please let me know in the comments section below.