Audi SQ5 Polish and Sealant

This was a new client to me and this particular vehicle is only driven a few thousand miles per year. The owner did want to see am improvement in the paint condition, but understood that with a black car, it's very difficult to maintain it at the highest level.  Black isn't a color, it's a full time job.  The vehicle had seen some body work and paint previously , but was in generally good condition. We elected for a dedicated polish and silica sealant to remove the majority of the defects, amp up the gloss and  provide good protection. 

Process

• Wheels and tires cleaned with Meguiar's DUB wheel cleaner and Meguiars D108
• Prefoamed with Bilt hamber Autofoam
• Hand wash with CG citrus wash daily
• Mechanically decontaminated with traditional clay bar
• Paint was polished with a HD Polish on a Boss 21 with rupes yellow pads
• Bumpers were corrected with a 15mm pneimatic polisher and 4-inch pads
• Tight areas were corrected with Flex Kompact rotary and various pads
• Paint was protected Angelwax Ti-22
• Tires were dressed with carpro PERL
• Wheels were protected with carpro hydro2
• Exhaust was polished with Pinnacle Exhaust cleaner and brightener

The horror of the tunnel car wash

Most of the vehicles I work on are are cared for by discerning owners.  Owners that know the horror of a touch car wash.  Salt and sand is a necessary evil in Minnesota winters.  These contaminants quickly bond to the paint, that should not be a surprise, we spray it on the roads before a snow storm because it has holding power.  Moreover, few people have the facilities at their home to perform a hand wash in the winter.  Many people are tempted to use a brush car wash in the winter in the hopes of getting all the junk off their vehicle.  But as we'll see, even a single trip to the tunnel can spell disaster for your paint.  

I worked on this brilliant black Audi A4 in November of 2016.  below you'll see the initial condition and the corrected condition as of November 6th, 2016.  It was not perfect, but it was a drastic improvement and done within the clients budget. 

The owner's significant other thought she would do him a favor and get the car clean, becuase she knows how much he likes his car clean.  And if you want a clean car, you take it to the car wash.  In this case, no good deed goes unpunished.  This is the condition 4 months later after a single tunnel car wash.  The vehicle had seen several touchless washes, but this was the first time anything had touched the paint.

A single car wash has undone hours of labor correcting the paint.Fortunately there was plenty of paint left to get the car back to where it was, and the owner learned a expensive, but valuable lesson. 

So how can we approach maintenance in the winter here?  There are several methods I'll outline below.  All do take some commitment and more time than what one might otherwise allow for a traditional hand wash in the driveway.

1. Outfit your garage as necessary to perform hand washes in the winter.  This can be an expensive proposition.  Insulating, heating, providing a drain, running a water line, providing adequate lighting, GFI outlets, water resistant wall surfaces.  The bonus here is that you can wash your car anytime you want.

2. Utilize a coin-operated wash for hand washing.  There's a little investment in a travel kit for washing.  I recommend getting some gamma seal lids for your wash and rinse buckets.  Most coin-op washes are OK with hand washing as long as you are not holding up a line.  It's best to go at off-peak times, like late at night or very early in the morning.  It's also nice to have a battery powered leaf blower for touchless drying.  Use a quick detailer or spray wax for the final dry/wipe.  The upside is that this is relatively in expensive, but it does take more time, and it's likely your car will be dirty again by the time it gets back home.  

3. Utilize a touchless wash to remove the bulk of the containants, then finish at home with a rinseless wash.  This can be very economical if you have a wash pass and finishing with a rinseless wash at home means that your car will be very clean in the garage.  The downside is that you may be a little cold in the garage and a rinseless wash just isn't quite as thorough as a traditional wash.  Additionally, touchless washes will struggle to get wheels and tight areas fully clean and you will have to spend extra time here and risk inflicting some minor swirls tdue to the remaining contaminants. 

4. Similar to the touchless wash, use the coin-op wash to remove the bulk of contaminants, then finish at home with a rinseless wash.  The benefit here is that you can do a thorough cleaning of the wheels and tight areas at the coin-op wash and only have minor contaminants to deal with at home. Your wheels and tight areas will turn out better and you won't be putting your paint at as much risk. 

ERA Shelby Cobra Compound and Polish

I've done several vehicles for this client and this is his latest acquisition. He previously tried to purchase the vehicle in an auction 4 months ago and came up short. Fast forward less than half a year and he was able to get it...at a premium...with swirls and RIDs recently installed. Because he will be dirving this car regularly, the goal was to get as many of the shallow defects out as possible while saving room for future work. Before my arrival, the owner had washed and decon'd the car. I was left to do a quick rinseless for some light dust before jumping into the correction

Process
Rinseless with N-914
RIDs with flex kompak, flex orange foam and P1 compound

Compounded with Boss 21, megs MF, griots FCC
Adams mini, LC MF, P1 compound
Flex Kompact orange foam P1 compound
Flex 3401, LC hybrid orange P1 compound for complex curves

Polish with Boss 21, rupes yellow, m205
adams mini rupes yellow, m205
flex kompakt flex black foam, m205
flex 3401, lc hybrid white, m205 for complex curves

Sealed with Angelwax Ti-22
Topped with Angelwax Enigma

Top 10 of 2016

It's already getting a little late in 2017 for reflection posts, but it seems like a good opportunity before the season starts ramping up.

A8 that recieved a 3-step correction.  This thing came in beat and it makes the list for being one of the best turn-arounds.

This Audi S5 made the list for it's tasteful upgrades and the beautiful color

A BMW M4 in Yas Marina Blue.  The color is gorgeous.  This makes the list for it's color, specifically for the amount of pearl in the paint.  I had to get some touch-up and my supplier said he had never seen a paint spec with so much pearl.  They didn't think it would even come out of the can!

Because racecar.

It's a 1990 Audi V8 Quattro.  Pretty unique vehicle.  But this makes the cut strictly for this photo.  There's a AAA truck in this picture.  It's a reflection in a reflection; real life Inception.  Tom Cruise ain't got nothin on the V8Q

It's a real deal Shelby GT500.  This one came home from the SAAC Concours with a Gold Award and has been invited back for a Premier Award.  Don't think it's needs any further justification.

Do you scuba?  This Scuba Blue Allroad was featured by Audi USA as part of Camp Allroad. 

This Volcano Red S4 is one of the most unique colors I've worked with.  It can look anything from burgundy to blazy orange depending on the light and angle.  And it's tastefully upgraded, but that depends on your taste.

It's a Focus RS, in nitrous blue.  It is the premier hot hatch, this car's paint is staggaring and now it's self-healing too. 

If one Allroad is good, then two on the list must be better!  This one made it for not having the contrasting flares.  They are still matte paint, but they are body matched and that makes all the difference on the glacier white model. That glacier white paint is also now self healing.

2013 Audi Allroad Paint Correction & Coating

The owner of this car purchased it unseen from a dealer in southern California.  Upon arrival in Minnesota there were a number of issues that needed to be resolved before handing it over to me.  After quite a bit of new paint and some body work, it came in to have a partial detail prior to getting paint protection film installed. Then back to me for a self healing coating. 

I'm fairly sure that the previous owner used beach towels covered in sand to wipe down this car.  The hood was covered in very deep scratches, many of which could not be removed.  After several paint correction steps, we had to stop due to the amount of clearcoat that had been removed.  Fortunately, the PPF was able to hide most of that remained.  After the PPF install, we completed the paint correction and moved on to the coating.  

Process

• Wheels and tires cleaned with Meguiar's DUB wheel cleaner and Ardex Proper
• Prefoamed with CG citrus wash + Gloss and Bilt hamber Autofoam
• Hand wash with CG citrus wash daily
• Mechanically decontaminated with traditional clay bar
• Paint was compounded with Menzerna FG400 on a rotary with a demin pad
• Second compound with Meguiars D300 on a Boss 21 with Meguairs MF pads
• Paint was polished with a Nanohide prep polish on a Boss 21 with rupes yellow pads
• Bumpers were corrected with a DAS pro plus 15mm and 4-inch pads
• Tight areas were corrected with Flex Kompact rotary and various pads
• Paint was protected with Nanohide NH-A7 seal healing coating
• Tires were dressed with carpro PERL
• Glass was coated with Pearn Nano Glass Coating
• Wheels and exhaust were left untouched as they would be replaced shortly

2009 Audi A4 Brilliant Black Paint Correction

The owner of this car got a crazy deal on it about a year ago, and it's taken him quite a while to get all the mechanical issues sorted.  But it's finally time for the car to get a proper cleaning.  This car is a daily driver and it was in very rough shape when it arrived.  The owner had a budget in mind for the car and wanted to get it looking as nice as he could within that budget.  In these cases, it's important to get a consistent finish on the paint, but to get the most economy out of the job, extra time was spent on the gloss panels of the car; The hood, the roof and the trunk.  These are the panels most often in direct sun and visible at normal standing height.  

Process

• Wheels and tires cleaned with Meguiar's DUB wheel cleaner and Ardex Proper
• Prefoamed with CG citrus wash + Gloss and Bilt hamber Autofoam
• Hand wash with CG citrus wash daily
• Polish residue was removed PPF edges with APC, IPA, soft brushes and towels
• Mechanically decontaminated with traditional clay bar
• Paint was polished with HD Polish+ on a 21mm DA with rupes yellow pads
• Tight areas were corrected with HD Polish+ on a flex 3401 with LC white hybrid pads
• Paint was protected with Blackfire Wet Diamond
• Tires were dressed with carpro PERL
• Trim and wheels protected with carpro hydro2
• Exhaust cleaned with pinnacle exhaust cleaner and brightener

2014 Ford Focus deep interior clean and exterior winter prep

The owner of this car had an incident in the trunk that resulted in a lot of liquid being spilled.  They attempted to resolve the situation with baking soda and a vacuum.  This is understandable in a panic situation and when some home remedy website tells you that everything will be sunshine and snow cones.  But the reality is that they went from the frying pan into the fire.  They also had transported their niece and nephew which also resulted in some kid grime in the back seat.  Finally, with winter approaching, they wanted to get the vehicle protected.  The majority of the interior was done with an mid-range interior cleaning, but the rear cargo are and headliner got a deep cleaning. 

Interior Process

• Carpets dry brushed and vacuumed
• Hard surfaces cleaned with an enzyme based cleaner via tornador
• Leather cleaned and protected with McKee's Leather Lotion
• Carpets cleaned with high pressure stream
• Headliner cleaned with an enzyme based cleaner via tornador
• Cargo lid pressure washed and cleaned with an enzyme based cleaner via tornador
• Hard surfaces protected with McKee's Fast Interior Detailer

Process

• Wheels and tires cleaned with Meguiar's DUB wheel cleaner and Ardex Proper
• Prefoamed with CG citrus wash + Gloss and Bilt hamber Autofoam
• Hand wash with CG citrus wash daily
• Mechanically decontaminated with Speedy Prep Towel
• Paint was polished with HD Speed on a 21mm DA with rupes yellow pads
• Bumper were corrected with HD Polish+ on a Rupes LHR75 with Rupes Yellow pad
• Tires were dressed with carpro PERL
• Wheels protected with carpro hydro2
• Trim was protected with Ultima Tire and trim guard

2016 At a Glance

2016 was an awesome year for Detailed Creations.  Like most businesses, we set performance goals.  Some of these goals are strategic (financials, marketing & accreditation) while some are more self centered (awards &  accolades).  

AWARD WINNING CARS

We were able to contribute to several award wining vehicles and others that received national attention.  

2001 Audi A4 won the Eurowerks OEM+ category for squeezing a 4.2L V8 in place of a 1.8L I4 motor.  We performed a basic exterior, removed a few scratches, touched up stains on the interior and detailed the very special engine bay, also assisting by giving the custom aluminum heatshield into a mirror finish. 

1967 Shelby GT500 took home a gold award from the SAC Concours.  We prepared all parts of this vehicle for the concours event including the interior, exterior, engine bay and undercarriage.  The owner was asked back to compete for a premier award, which is the highest honor available at the concours.  Finally, the car will be featured in a book pulished by the SAC historian.

2013 Audi Allroad was featured by Audi USA as part of Camp Allroad.  We prepared both the interior and exterior for the event.  We also prepared the Volcano Red S4 seen next to it in the promotional videos

2010 Audi S4 (Ibis White) was also featured by Audi USA as part of Camp Allroad.  We prepared the exterior.  After the track season, we once again prepped the exterior for winter as well as the interior.

NEW PRODUCT CERTIFIED INSTALLER

This is probably the most exciting news for our clients; we are now able to offer some of the most innovative ceramic coatings on the market that are only available to professionals. 

Pearl Nano Ceramic Coatings offer exceptional value with a multilayer system that includes a 9H base layer and very hydrophobic topcoat to create a 3D matrix effect that will last for years. 

Nanohide is on the leading edge of coatings offerings a traditional multi-year coating as well as a self-healing coating.  That's right minor swirls and scratches within the coating layer will heal them selves and disappear.

NEW WEBSITE

After several years and a few underwhelming websites, we focused on creating a very streamlined website and simplifying the detailing menu.  

NEW PRODUCTS ADDED TO THE STANDARD REGIMEN

We are always in search of new and revolutionary products that provide great results and value for our clients.  This year there were several new products that came to market and a few that have now become available in the US; and we've incorporated these into our standard regimen.  There are also a couple existing hidden gems that we've discovered along the way.

• Bilt Hamber Autofoam
• Bilt Hamber Surfex HD
• Carbrite Brite Spot for the tornador
• Gyeon Cure
• 3M 3" pneumatic polisher with 15mm orbit
• MCKee's Fast Interior Detailer
• TAC Systems Quartz Max
• Carpro Ech2o
• Griots Garage Boss 21 polisher
• Griots Garage Fast Microfiber pads
• Meguiars D114 Rinse Free Express Wash
• Carpro Rayon, Demin & Velvete pads

BETA PRODUCTS TESTED

Along with working on award winning cars, this is probably our biggest honor.  Our peers in the detailing community recognize that we are serious about our craft and very particular about the quality of the products we use, and they choose to partner with us to develop new products.  Not only do we get the first glimpse at new products that may come to market, we also get to provide feedback to help improve these products for everyone and, in a small way, shape the future of the detailing industry.  Below are a few of the companies that we had the honor of doing beta testing for in 2016.

• Son1c Wax
• Pearl Nano
• Palm Beach Motoring Group (Wolfgang, Blackfire, McKee's 37) 

DETAILING WORKSHOPS

We put on 3 workshops this year.  They all focused on maintenance and enhancement of the exterior of the vehicle.  We trained about 20 individuals and took 3 cars from drab to dapper. We are looking forward to expanding this in the future to interiors, engines and more advanced paint correction.

NEW PRODUCTS TESTED AND REVIEWED

We test a lot of products; we don't keep track of the conversion ratio, but it's probably in the neighborhood of 5:1.  That's not to say the other 4 products are bad or didn't perform, in fact we do a lot of research before we even consider adding it to our arsenal.  We have very specific requirements based on the business model, the clients we serve and our detailing philosophy and practices.  In some cases, these are great products that just didn't fill a need in our model.  We would still encourage anyone to try these products and when we review them, we try to target who these products may suit the best.  The list below is by no mean all inclusive and it specifically excludes any product previously listed that was added to our regimen.

• McKee's 37 Wax Remover
• McKee's 37 Extreme Iron Remover
• McKee's 37 Leather Lotion
• Blackfire Wt Diamond Glass Cleaner
• Wolfgang Uber Ceramic Coating
• Wolfgang Perfekt Vision Glass Polish
• Wolfgang Perfekt Finish Paint Prep
• Pinnacle Signature Series II paste wax revised version
• Wolfgang Uber Rinseless Wash
• Carpro Hydrofoam
• Carpro Reset

Review - McKee's 37 Xtreme Iron Remover

I received this product at no cost, and in return, I agree to provide a review. I will try to keep this as objective as I can.

Copy from AG

Use this cleaner once and you’ll wonder how you ever detailed without it!

McKee’s 37 Xtreme Iron Remover solves an issue that plagues virtually every vehicle on the road today – iron contamination. Iron contamination is a real issue for old and new cars alike. A brand spanking new car can have HORRIBLE iron contamination and left untreated the iron particles will cause corrosion to the precious thin clear coat paint that comes on a brand new car. McKee’s 37 Xtreme Iron Remover is the solution to removing iron particles to maximize the gloss potential of your paint!

Iron contamination is caused by:

• Rail dust (new car transportation)
• Brake dust
• Living near a railroad track
• Airborne chemical compounds

McKee’s 37 Xtreme Iron Remover is pH-balanced and 100% acid-free, so you can use it on every exterior surface with confidence. Simply spray this powerful cleaner directly onto all exterior surfaces and wait a few minutes for it to turn red as it dissolves ferrous (iron containing) particles, leaving your paint glossy,smooth, and bright. Then, wash your vehicle as you normally would and then apply a coat of your favorite wax or sealant. Your vehicle’s paint will appear glossier than it ever has!

Don't stop at your paint! McKee's 37 Xtreme Iron Remover works wonders on old, neglected wheels too. Years of caked-on brake dust doesn't stand a chance against McKee's 37 Xtreme Iron Remover.

Q & A with Mike Phillips, Autogeek’s Director of Training and host of Competition Ready on Velocity Network:

Question: Does using an iron remover take the place of using detailing clay?

Answer: No. Iron removers only remove iron contamination. Iron removers will not remove non-iron contaminants like overspray paint, tree sap mist, industrial fallout, traffic pollution, airborne dirt and other airborne contaminants. It’s still very important to use a clay bar when you detail your vehicle.



Question: Which order do you decontaminate a car?

Answer: You always start with chemical decontamination (ie: Xtreme Iron Remover) followed by mechanical decontamination (ie: Clay Bar). The reason why is because if there are any forms of iron contaminants bonded onto or embedded into your car's paint - if you were to remove them with detailing clay, you would risk rubbing them over the paint potentially instilling scratches into the paint. This is why you do the chemical decontamination first, to avoid the risk of rubbing iron particles over the paint and scratching it.

I will agree with everything above. Though I do know how I got on without it to this point, it involved a different brand of iron remover. 

I don't know if this is the most effective or the best smelling, but it does have one big thing other don't, viscosity. This is a good and bad thing. It is extremely thick, so it clings very well to all surfaces, it stays right where you spray it, and that's a good thing; you don't get any runs into places you don't want to flush with water over and over again. It's also extremely thick, which is not a good thing when trying to disperse it on paint while spraying. The spray pattern if pretty tight, even on the fan setting. This necessitates some spreading of the product, which means potentially picking up dirt with whatever your spreading tool is. To be fair, I do spread Iron-X as well, and usually perform this task after a thorough pressure rinse so the big stuff is gone. But this step lies between the initial rinse and contact washing. Either before or after a snow foam depending on my mood, so there is still some potential to pick up some dirt. In this respect, the product may require a change in your wash procedure. 

Upon spraying the product, I am greeted with the typical rotten egg smell, though it is mild and covered by a 'fresh' cleaning agent smell. I do like the smell of DUB wheel cleaner better, but this is a close second. Folks familiar with these cleaners would say 'yeah I smell it and it's not that bad compared to brand Z'. The uninitiated would smell it and think the product had gone bad, but I don't think they would find it too offensive. 

As far as cleaning, I think the gel formula requires a little more time to react than other products, but since it stays put, this isn't an issue if you can avoid it drying on the paint. Because of the viscosity, I feel like I used a lot more product than I normally would, I need to try a couple different sprayers to see if there's one that will disperse it a little better. 

This particular allroad had PPF installed on the front clip about 1 month ago and you can already see contaminant on the hood.

Iron Contamination on the hood changing color

moments later you can see the reaction

Lower bit subject to German brake dust

Roof area, you can really see the thickness of the product here

I didn't have a chance to put this head-to-head against any other offerings, but I plan to do that in a couple weeks when I get a car that has about 10-20 track days behind it since the last detail.

In general I like this product. I know I've been wanting a thicker iron remover myself, even played around with some gelling agents to see if I could do it myself, but I had similar results were non-existent reaction, I think this is inherent in a gel formula. I can't say that I'm dead set on this product yet. It did perform, and it performed well. I think this is a case of 'be careful what you wish for', I wanted a gel type iron remover and I got one. I hadn't anticipated the other challenges associated with a gel type iron remover. If you are doing a multi step wheel cleaning, definitely consider this as it will cling to the wheel very well. For paint, the jury is out until I find a better sprayer; if I can get a good spray pattern, this product is near the top of the list of iron removers by having a balance of performance, scent and cling ability.

Review - Car Pro ECH2O

Out of all the new SEMA releases, this was the one that most piqued my interest. And based on some of the hype that is already out there by the folks who have tried it before release of at SEMA, I was further cautiously optimistic about the performance. I recall some specific line to the effect that, 'you can't make it streak even if you try' and 'it's like wiping on gloss'; that would be nice.

The bottle seems to be easily stained by the thick, teal mixture. I found that the dilution on the bottle differ slightly from what is listed on another distributors site (the latter being more dilute). Those listed on AG do match the bottle. I chose to start with a dilution of 1:20, adding 2 oz of concentrate to 40oz of distilled water in a garden sprayer. The product itself is very thick, it clung to the sides of a small measuring cup that had come from a cough syrup bottle. I poured a little of the dilute product back into the measuring cup and stirred it to reclaim the concentrate. Once diluted the product appears more of a blue color through the opaque plastic of my garden sprayer. This product does not have a distinct fragrance, rather, the smell is a byproduct of the solvents/carriers and whatever magic they put in the bottle. As long as the product performs well, I can dismiss the less than stellar odor, though I do find that my work spaces smelled a bit like a body shop afterward. 

After finishing a rinseless wash, I applied a light layer of Ech20 to one panel at a time as well as a light misting on the plush side of a 530 towel. After wiping on, I used a second 530 towel to wipe it off. Any streaking flashed away within moments. It went on and came off very easily, and the towels went smoothly over the paint. After the sun went down, the pattern of condensation on the car did mimic the wiping pattern, so even though you can't see any streaks, something of that pattern is left behind. 

The surface has a soft slippery feel, almost oily much like a traditional sealant, I feel that is new to carpro products; Reload and the CQuartz options all seem to have a hard slickness to them. This was a pleasant surprise. 

As for Gloss, yes, it's a gloss boss. I imagine at a more concentrated mixture it would have even greater gloss, but both of my vehicles showed a noticeable increase in gloss after using Ech2o at 1:20. 

In terms of cleaning as a waterless wash at a lower dilution, I think it's close to Ultima Waterless wash, but Ultima still holds a slight edge.  I often choose to use Ultima as a prespray before doing a rinseless wash and I feel that using Ech2O in the same way would likely inhibit the gloss additives and negate any benefit of using it over Ultima.  As a specific waterless wash, my use will depend on my desired result.  If I'm just trying to clean the car, I will use Ultima for the cost savings and similar performance.  If I'm cleaning before or at a show, I will reach for Ech2O.  

I will most certainly be purchasing this again. I plan to use regularly as a gloss booster just before returning vehicles to clients. At its listed price point, it's not going to complete on price with UWW, but I feel Ech2O outperforms UWW in the finish department. I will need to do some additional testing on it's cleaning ability. For now, UWW will remain the waterless choice for me in most situations, while Echo2 will be the gloss boosting QD, replacing Finish Kare 425. 

Requisite  product photo

After application and spreading the product with a 530 gsm towel

After final buff

Couple after shots