As about 250 of you know (based on the read count in the Cabrio section), I picked up Vanilla Scoop a week ago Monday, and tried not to drive her to much the first week before my clearbra install on Saturday. While showing her off to the neighbors Sunday I noticed what I thought to be an enormous amount of brake dust since she only has 100 miles on her and decided (to the disbelief of my wife and neighbors) to remedy the situation. As a brief background, while detailing is not new to me, based on this forum I am definitely taking my detailing to another level. Most of the products I'm using below for the first time came from recommendations on this forum and by Namers. Any suggested improvements on my techniques, "tricks of the trade", or products which simplify are greatly appreciated.

I only had a couple hours available, but got out the hose and gave her her first Mystique bath. Ran into a problem with my brand new dirt guards not fitting in my old buckets which will be corrected shortly with bigger buckets. I was able to successfully two bucket wash her, but the microfiber waffle weave towel didn't dry very well. I definitely need suggestions on more absorbent towels, because I ended up having to fall back to my old method of using old bath towels which work well, but aren't absorbent enough to blot dry.

Prior to drying I took my old wheel brush and went to town on the wheels. Once cleaned (and dried) I applied some Prima Wheel Armour which I was very impressed with. Went on easy and gave a really slippery finish. I still had about a half hour so I put some Griot's Vinyl and Rubber Dressing on the black bumper and door trim. This was suggested to me over Black Wow only because it has a flatter finish which I prefer. Time will tell, but I thought it looked great on first application.

On Tuesday they forecast snow for today, so I left work early to continue on nilla. Here in Denver, they use mag-chloride on the roads, and I felt as if I was running out of time to get adequate protection on her. It was about 50 and getting colder, so I donned a pair of rubber boots and gloves and with my new 5 gal buckets gave her her second bath, this time with dish washing detergent to get off the dealer wax. On completing the wash, I noticed I didn't have very much if any dirt in the buckets under the dirt guards, so either I did a decent job on Sunday, or I am doing something wrong. I didn't wash my wheels which was a mistake because I dried them (last) which put dirt all over my drying towels. Once dry I pulled her into the garage and began my first detailing process.

Using a baggie over my hand I could not believe how much crap there was on the paint, pretty much over the entire car. I was really weird how the baggie made the imperfections stand out over just my bare touch. Resigned to do this right I clay bar'd the whole car, using a Mothers clay bar kit I bought on the way home. I probably didn't do this quite thorough enough, since I could always feel something with the baggie, but I got 80 to 90 percent of the bumps. I had never clayed a car before, and while the process seemed to go easy enough, I'm sure it can be done better. I did notice some tape marks and other weird parasites disappear.

Next step was to apply Epic. I used a PC-RAB, though I don't know if it was advantageous to. For one, I was pretty scared to get near the black trim & plastic pieces for fear of getting any Epic on them. Plus with the undulations on the hood, not wanting to do the clearbra for a couple weeks, and intricacies of the boot, the main benefit was on the sides and doors (since I'm in a Cab no roof here). The process went fairly quickly. I ran into a snag at the beginning because I only put about a dime size dollop of Epic in the center or hollow of the pad. When I started applying it on the hood, black fibers from the pad went everywhere. I called DP and Nick straightened me out by having me put the Epic near the outer edge of the pad and using more of it. Back on track, I went over the entire car with the PC. I reapplied Epic on the pad at each quadrant of the car (front, sides, & rear). I'm not sure if I used to much or to little in doing this, but it seemed cover all the areas and didn't appear to go on to thick. I then went over the car again with a rolled up microfiber towel as an applicator pad (Heather/Nick add one applicator pad to my cart please) to the places I had avoided with the PC. With the size of the car and all the area's to avoid and undulations on the hood I'm not sure if it would have been better to just apply it by hand. I used a microfiber towel to remove the Epic and could not believe how great it looked. Even on my PW finish it shined far superior and felt so much more slippery than the finish by the dealer.

If we get a reasonably warm day in the near future I am thinking that I may want to apply another coat of Epic just in case I missed any areas and hit the clearbra. Besides, isn't more is better?

Overall, I'm very pleased with the new products. Going with Epic was a great move. I'm still learning, but am confident I'll get there eventually. Assuming you made it this far, thanks for making it through. Jon

 

Should make sure you wash the MF towels at least 1 time before trying them out, also make sure you don't use fabric softener on them (will help them to absorb water).

Otherwise it sounds like the detailing OCD is setting in nicely

 

Sounds like you had fun. Now that you have Epic on be sure to tell you clearbra installer to use alcohol to remove it before installation. Also now that you have Epic you can use Hydro after your washings, you will be surprised how Hydro helps your towel absorb water. A trick that Heather gave me is to lightly spritz your waffle weave with slick before your dry with it. The Slick will remove any surface charge that inhibits absorption. Works pretty good, but drying with Hydro works even better.
Love to see some pictures if you got any.

 

wow, i think i just read a novel about vanilla scoop...

 

Hey did you take notes of the high points? Send them my way

Mark

 

Well, it's in the wash now, so I'll let you know. What's OCD?

I haven't picked up Slick yet, so that's out for now, but the Hydro is planned for future washings. Hopefully we'll have some nice days over the holiday where I can take some pics. I have a bunch from day one in my gallery, but I need to post more since I got the windows tinted. Plus my signature appears to be in need of updating.

Ya. Good thing I cut it back before posting. You'd still be reading

 

OCD: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

...or for us folks, Obsessive Cooper Detailing

 

obsessive compulsive detailing is accurate.