So it all started a week or so ago, I get a call from Jerry's SO, and she tells me that her JCW MCS kinda went off the track at SOW and was now filled with dust and really needs a good cleaning. So I'm bracing for the worst, when Jerry pulls up today, and turns out it's not as bad as I had imagined.

The dash is quite dusty but that'll be fixed with some Meguiar's APC Plus and a MF towel.


I see some dirt in the vents, so I'll use my 6HP Ridgid shop vac to suck that out. I also use the APC Plus on a damp rag to pick up any dust that the vac doesn't pick up.


Some more evidence of the offroad excursion

Even the VIN number area is filled with dirt (Its wet because I took the photos out of order, lol)






The paint looks a little hazy, but its probably due to the dust and the fact it's cloudy and overcast. Swirls aren't too bad, but then again, it's got Zaino on it, so it's doing a decent job at concealing the defects. I wonder what it will look like once I remove it?





The key scratch is unrelated to the offroading. I also notice the polish/wax residue on the arches.



The wheels can use a good cleaning. I'll hit it with Meguiar's Wheel Brightener











Some hologramming is visible on the door here.

I took another shot to try to show that the holograms move as I move.

Some more light defects.

Ok this looks and feels bad. No sense in wetsanding this one. I analyzed it at 50x.

That key scratch is deeeeep!


I took this to show the shade difference between the painted arch on the rear aero kit bumper and the plastic arch. I think Black Wow is going to make them match more closely.





Process of Wash with Dawn detergent twice to get rid of the Zaino. You can see how the water is "sticking" to the surface here.


I dried the paint with my Prima Waffle Weave microfiber towels. I used air from my compressor to blow water from the crevices, aero grills, wheels (lug bolt recesses), emblems, etc...




I had one of my assistants do the final cleaning on the wheels and dressing the tires with Endurance High Gloss Gel.


Ok most of the car is taped off. I ended up taping the arches and a few other places after this photo was taken.


All the graphics needs to be taped off. Yes I pretty much used an entire roll of blue painters tape!



A visible defect.



I took this photo to show that when I tape off the graphics, I try to get as close to the edge as I can, but still leave a gap--this is about 1/16" gap here.


I clayed the whole car using the Meguiar's Blue Mild Detailing Clay and Last Touch for lube. Then I dried it off, and polished first with the white LC pad and the Makita Rotary Buffer with Swirl. After a few tests, the deeper defects weren't budging, so I moved to the orange LC pad and that really made the paint flawless, but it was also marring the the paint.

So I followed that with the White LC pad with Swirl on the rotary, then White LC pad with Swirl on the PC to remove any buffer trails, then White LC pad with Amigo on the PC for a little extra pop on this dark green paint, followed by the Black LC pad with Epic on the PC. I removed Epic by hand.



While Epic was drying, I cleaned the glass with Prima Clarity and the MF Glass Cleaning cloth, and restored the trim with my BW. I used a prototype cleanser on the trim first before using the BW to prep it. I then moved inside and cleaned the door jambs and sills with Hydro--inner parts of the door against the fender as well. I found some stains on the interior panels and cleaned with APC Plus. I wiped down all the surfaces, vacuumed the seats and seams where dirt was hiding, under the seats. The floor matts were removed and vacuumed. I then used air from my air compressor to blow dust out of areas that couldn't be vacuumed or wiped up--like in the VIN area.








Engine was cleaned and dressed with Meguiar's Hyperdressing
















All in all another fun and successful day detailing a MINI! Note, I wasn't able to do much for the key scratch, except to minimize it. After the paint was fully polished out, it was much less noticeable.

 

Pretty!
I need an assistant to do my wheels.
Thanks for the post OG, I especially liked the 50x with the metallic flake.

 

Thanks!! Yes, assistants are nice to have! Though as Jerry can attest to today, I got down and dirty plenty of times today with his MINI, lol.

Richard

 

What suspension is that MINI sitting on? Looks hot!

 

Richard,

Thank you so much. Teresa loved it. She is pretty picky about the car and does all the detailing and her words were: "No way I can get it to look like that." The car looks better then it did brand new (less the key scratch and the effed up front bumper ) Plus not having the dust on the VIN will set my little OCD daemons at ease.

Thanks. It is riding on Bilstein PSS9's.

 

WOW! nice job.

 

That was my first thought as well. 'Oh, how convenient. He lets his assistant do the wheels.' If I ever get something a little more difficult to clean than my Bridgespokes I'll have to pick up an assistant on clearance at the Target.

OG: When you tape off the vinyl, do you go back later and do anything to the paint inside the numerals by hand? And is there a specific kind of blue painter's tape that's best? Upon my last perusal through the tape aisle at the aformentioned Targeto there were more choices (various stickinesses?) than I was expecting to find.

 

Well I cleaned off 95% of the gunk, it just needed some final detailed wiping, Hydro protection, and tire dressing. My assistant doesn't normally do detailing--he helps me with production related stuff around the shop, so this was his first time working on a car with me.

As for the vinyl, I use the same medium stick blue tape. I don't press it hard, just enough to stick. I tape it for protection during the polishing process. I remove it before final PC polishing and PC wax application.

Richard

 

Phew, what a relief! When I first saw the thread title, I thought "Oh no, OctaneGuy is getting bashed on the MININuts forum?" Not a pretty sight when that happens.

 

Hahah. Yeah in hindsight, I should have flipped it with OctaneGuy gets crazy with MININuts, lol. It's all good.

 

all in good fun!

seriously.....we need an OctaneGuy road trip out this way. I'd pay for it.