Apologies in advance for all the replies, I needed to split the images across different posts
The genesis of this detail is way back in December when I got a nice package from the lads in cleancar.ie, containing a DAS-6 and some Hex-Logic & Menzerna goodies.
As we all know, January wasn't a great month for detailing given the fact that the country's road salt supply was expended in a matter of days and lots of it ended up stuck to our wheelarches. We had justabout finished stockpiling milk, bread and teabags when the thaw came, pipes burst and our taps ran dry. Again, not very conducive to detailing.
So, when a free weekend came up, it seemed the perfect opportunity to give the WRX some TLC. Apologies in advance for the photos, they are from my phone but hopefully give a good account of the detail.
The before pictures show a car in good nick, but paintwork a bit lifeless. Also lots of dust and bugs from the recent good weather.
Friday evening 1
First up were the shuts. I regularly clean down the shuts so they were in reasonable condition, more dusty than anything else.
My method here was to use APC cut 20:1 applied with a sprayer.
Then agitated with a paintbrush.
Rather than rinse off, I wiped off the residue with a valeting cloth before using Meguiars NXT2 Quick Detailer to finish it off. Probably not ideal but I can't do that trick with the powerwasher where the residue is rinsed off - I tried it once and nearly saturated the interior.
The other job I did on Friday evening was to spruce up the interior. I cheated here by detailing the interior the previous weekend. Steps are as follows:
Befores:
Remove mats and beat the dust off them, followed by hoovering.
Friday evening 2
The hot weather had meant a mass of flies and bugs were welded to the front of the car with paintwork, lights and windscreen affected.
So, it was a case of loading up a sprayer bottle with Autoglym Intensve Tar Remover, and spraying liberally to loosen up the bugs. As the sticker shows, local motor factors can be a helluva lot cheaper than Halfords with this stuff.
I also used a lambswool mitt and some hot water to soften them up, after which my wash bucket looked like
Next up was the wheels. These had been polished,detarred and waxed recently so it was a case of a mild wash to bring them back.
The hot weather was evaporating the QD in seconds, leaving a few streaks.
Saturday afternoon 3
Washed once more, no pic this time as I was so anxious to get the machine polishing done. Finally, with the weather holding up it was time to crack out the DAS6. My experiences with the polishes and pads are detailed here: http://www.carcare.ie/forum/showthread.php?p=2616#post2616
The car was done once over with Menzerna P203s on a Hex-Logic Green Polishing Pad. This seemed to leave a little hologramming so I refined with a Black Finishing Pad and Menzerna P85RE5.
