Marilyn has been getting too much love lately, so I figured I'd spend some time on Tori over the weekend. I never got the chance to fully buff her since getting her, since her swirls/marring from the dealer were very minor.

So this weekend, I clayed her, then used the Flex with a white CCS pad for 90% of the car, then orange CCS for the remaining 10% or fewer spots. Didn't take me too long, since I already buffed some of the car a month ago. Anyways, applied Glossworkz Glaze, Blacklight, Jetseal, then final LSP was Dodo Supernatural. Clearbra areas got only Blackfire Wet Diamond. I feel that this sealant works the best on the film.

Rims and Tires were cleaned with Opticlean, dressed with V7 (rims) and Poorboys Bold n Bright (tires and inner fender wheel wells).

One thing I did want to note, is the power of VINEGAR. Yes, distilled, white vinegar. $1.00 at Walmart or elsewhere. Why did I need this? The caked on, crusted on, seemed-like-permanent water etching from the dealer that I never got a chance to remove before (too lazy). Tori sat on the showroom floor, but it was in no doubt "washed and detailed" by, as you all know, very inexperienced dealership would-be "detailers". (How else would my swirls have got on there initially???). Anyways, I hat etch marks on the wiper stems, the windows, the chrome trim, and the black plastic trim. I knew from reading somewhere, years ago, that vinegar did the trick...I just never got the chance to try it. So I used it full strength with an old mf towel, dabbed some on, cleaned everything I mentioned above with it. I was able to remove about 95% of the etching. I was very pleased. I'll go over the remaining 5% tonight or this weekend.

So just a little helpful tip for you guys... Vinegar. As a window cleaner, trim cleaner, etc. Works awesome for stubborn etched areas. Now that I am etch free, I will proceed to seal the trim areas with Techniq C4.

On to pics. NO HDR! I wanted to showcase Tori in all her "bare" glory. Silver Moon is the name of her paint. I love the metallic. Note that her final LSP is Supernatural. Pics were taken early this morning, I was advised that dawn and dusk are the BEST times to take photos of light colored (white/silver) paint... any other time, the color appears "washed-out".

 

Nice! And anytime from sunup to sundown is hard because of all the light. But early morning & late evening and under the lights at night. My car always looks like a pool of white paint and i just wanna jump in sometimes

 

yeah white and silver are the hardest to photograph accurately. They look MUCH better in person.

 

Tori is looking sharper than a knife edge!

 

Excellent work Sir.------Bill

 

Lol thanks guys. It's a lot of work... But it's very rewarding... In fact I just washed Marilyn tonight again. Dang dust and crud just finds a way to stick to dark paints. Ugh

 

Once again, everything you touch looks amazing!

On, and on the subject of vinegar, my boss at the used car lot I work at is a pretty old fashion car guy, he's been in the business for 28 years now and he always has a bottle of vinegar on hand at the lot and swears by it for water spots/etching. He says it's what they always used on show cars and what not 'back in the day.'

 

You don't have to tell me Zto5. I'm right there with you. LOL------Bill

 

Thanks Kevin.

Yeah all that hard work I did on Marilyn the last 2 days, put her in the car show, it got a bunch of dust and pollen(?) on her from just sitting at the show for 2 hours. Go figure.

 

Thats the worst! Spend hours shining to perfection to head to a show or go on a cruise with the buds, or even for a day/night out on the town. Only to be covered with dust, dirt, pollen, and who knows what else.