This past weekend I spent seven quality hours with Echo, giving her as thorough a workover as can be done by hand.
I don't have any 'before' pictures, but a bunch of you saw how cruddy she was on the March 5th meetup. The car had only gotten dirtier since then.
I'm relieved to say that the paint itself is in relatively good condition. It's due for a polishing to remove the swirls that I do see on most surfaces, but there are no rock chips on the hood or any other significant damage spots elsewhere. I don't yet have a polisher, so that treatment will have to come later.
What I did manage to accomplish was the following:
1. Full wheel & tire cleaning
2. Full mitt wash
3. Full exterior clay bar
4. Quick rewash
5. Door jamb/trunk/engine bay cleaning
6. Wax
I have a secret weapon that I absolutely swear by - the Mr. Clean Autodry car wash system:
It's a pretty average soap-dispensing hose attachment that only does an okay job of washing the car... though it actually works pretty well in place of quick-detailer spray when I'm claying the car. But the real benefit to this thing is that it has a special filter cartridge that removes all minerals from your water supply, allowing you to spray a post-rinse mist that air dries to a spot-free finish, no chamois required. That alone is worth more than the cost of the unit. They're discontinued, but still available from Amazon and other online sources.
Anyway, here are the results; I'm really happy with how well she came out. The paint is positively slippery now.
Just a wee bit of headlight condensation. Gone now, but something I'll have to look into later.
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Originally Posted by RITmusic2k
