My adventure into detailing.

[CamaroFred]

Please don't you all laugh at the same time.

Somehow the synapses in my brain whispered to me while I was sleeping and said, "You can do it."

So I go online and order an orbital, polish, sealant, wax, and some clay bar to put the icing on the cake.

Then the reality set in so I thought, "Let's start small and see how it goes."
I figured the deck lid is small, I can stand upright and do it. Let's see how that works out.

So the first step is the clay. That went back on the shelf in less than ten minutes. Whoever thought that shit up should have been strung up by the neck.

So I break the orbital out of it's box, fix the orange pad on, spread the polish on it and start that. My neighbor comes home and says how nice it is looking, and I thought so too, until the sun started to set. Then all the swirls and fine scratches make themselves taunt me. Any way I said okay, I'll do better next time, but I apply the sealent anyway.

Next morning, when the sun is rising I tackle the hood. Same shit. Still all fine scratches and swirls. I give up an apply the sealant.
Then I go for the roof. Holy Moly I am standing on my tip-toes to reach the center. By know I sort of caught on so I order the handle doohickey and some 3 1/2" pads. Found out that was nice for trimming around the roof antennae and the reverse mohawk.

So then I said, "Self, you can do this. Just do a bit at a time."
So that worked when I did the butt and then the front. I was pretty proud to have gotten that far. Yeah, I maybe put too much sealant here and there but it wasn't hard to clean up. A bit of vinyl and rubber dressing spritzed on a micro-fiber made it all good.

So now I was possessed. I mean I did all the hard parts, right? It's only the two sides left.

So again I go out with the orbital and the polish and the front fender is like nothing. So I approach the door. I used the 3" to outline the area and go around the door handle then I played Tim Tayler.
There are only a few places in our home with 220, 240, whatever it takes, so I settled for the 120 to orbit the door instead of firing up the generator at 5AM. I didn't count on all the bending down but I muscled through it and even did the rear quarter panel. Again followed immediately with the sealant.
I sat down in the garage on an old but comfy chair (that I was supposed to throw away when we got new furniture in the living room) and it took every bit of my stamina to get out of that chair and my legs felt like jello and my arms were not much better. I managed to close the big door, knock off my shoes and lay down on the couch. Thank goodness there was a NASCAR race on so I could sleep.
So now, I know the only part left is the driver's side.
I imagine I could buy a stool so I don't have to bend over so much. So I get on Amazon and follow the reviews and order up what is supposed to be a reliable thing. It arrives in a few days. My son puts it together for me, sits down on it and launches himself through the garage with a big smile on his face. So that got my hopes up. Then it turned into a heat wave so I just stayed inside for s couple of weeks.
Finally I thought, "Idiot, you only have one more side to complete."
So I did. I turned it into four parts, with breaks in the chair and a fan blowing over me.
The stool is like lame when you have the orbital. But it is great when you do the outlining and the follow up sealant. So it did take off some load.
So I was finally done with the orbital and sealant.

Now I just had to wax.
This scared me because when I used to wax a car the longer you let the wax sit the harder it becomes to remove. So I thought I would do just like with the polish and sealant, one panel at a time. I used Griot's Poly wax and followed the instructions to rub it in. After it hazes over you just buff it off with the included towel. My eyes looked like Marty Feldman in Frankenstein when I wiped off the hood.
I still stuck with my plan of one panel at a time because my legs were still sore so it took a few days to complete the process.

I was so used to waking up and dew was on the car and when it dissipated dirt spots were all over. No more. The car looks spotless in the mornings and even after a rain.

I am sorry no pics, My driveway doesn't make good photos and with my legs trying to recover and the summer heat I am doing good to get the trash out. When it cools off I will trip out to the forest preserve.

Here is an oldie but goodie. Sunrise.
I will never reproduce this image. Canon camera and lens.

[chuckie669]

Well I applaud your effort. Detailing is very time consuming.

Truth be told clay is pretty easy and you'll save some headache by decontaminating the paint. Trick is to keep the surfaces wet applying minimal pressure and constantly kneed it into itself.

Im not sure about your orbital or pad size, but using a dual action with 6 in pads have been ideal for me personally.

Match a swirl remover with the proper pad. Analyse the surface then go with polish and matching pad and finally a sealant with the finishing pad.

I can usually apply my Adams sealant on low setting across the whole car now and then go back over with a good mf towel.

Keep up the good work. You'll get faster and it's nice to sit back and admire.

I always start with the least abrasive approach and then work my way backwards until I get the desired results and a dual action is practically impossible to cook the paint.

[CamaroFred]

Originally Posted by chuckie669

Well I applaud your effort. Detailing is very time consuming.

Truth be told clay is pretty easy and you'll save some headache by decontaminating the paint. Trick is to keep the surfaces wet applying minimal pressure and constantly kneed it into itself.

Im not sure about your orbital or pad size, but using a dual action with 6 in pads have been ideal for me personally.

Match a swirl remover with the proper pad. Analyse the surface then go with polish and matching pad and finally a sealant with the finishing pad.

I can usually apply my Adams sealant on low setting across the whole car now and then go back over with a good mf towel.

Keep up the good work. You'll get faster and it's nice to sit back and admire.

I always start with the least abrasive approach and then work my way backwards until I get the desired results and a dual action is practically impossible to cook the paint.

Thank you for the encouragement. I am sure I can do better, but that will have to wait for fall.

I did order some more abrasive polish and it is all happy sitting on the workbench waiting for fall to arrive. I just went one step up so we will see.

What really did make my day was applying the vinyl and rubber treatment to the grill and butt. Wiped it onto the Onstar antenna. I got so excited at how much difference that made I soaked a wooden Q-Tip with it and did the fake air intake.

[SynergyGreenSS]

Great to see how much you care about your car! I work as a detailer and trust me, I know your pain. It's very time consuming and it takes a lot of patience, not to mention it's more physically demanding than you would expect. It pays off in the end though when you see your finished product. I'm sure the car looks fantastic