My MINI has been parked all winter and since its getting nice out and the detailing season is upon us, I figured it was time to pull her out of the garage so I could clean it up and get ready for some fun.

I have already finished detailing one car, and doing in a double car garage where I couldn't move my MINI because it was on blocks was a pain.

The time was right, nice weather and it only seemed fitting I give her a MINI clean up to go.

Some before notes:

• MINI was not washed prior to storing - weather wasn't co-operating
• Wheels and wheel wells were brutally dirty
• The wheels were taken off in fall and stored - I've cleaned them seperately

Some lessons learned:

• leave more space between the wall and car next year as its a pain to get in there to put the tire back on with just enough room

Products Used:

Hyper Wash with two bucket and Older Chenille Mit
APC 4:1
Wheel Brightener 4:1
Supreme Shine Microfibres
Waffle Weave Drying Towel
M21


Process:

Wash with Hyper Wash
APC 4:1
M21 with foam applicator
Black WOW on Wheel Well


The wheel wells seemed to be extremely dry as they just soaked in the Black WOW and ate it like it was nothing. Very happy with the result and I'm going to see how this holds up. I figured if I can put it on the plastic trim, why not the plastic wheel wells. When it rains it'll just bead and hopefully not attract so much dirt in the process. I usually use Hyper Dressing 4:1 on the wheel wells, but sine I had the chance to use Black WOW, I thought, why not, let's taste it out here.

And now for the write up.

Now here are the pics for you.

I told you it was super dirty. I feel so bad for her. But in due time she'll be fully detailed and back out on the road showing off :001_tt2:




Inside the front passenger side wheel well.










The JOHN COOPER WORKS calipers. Super dirty as well. :thumbdown:



After just rinsing them with water this is what it looked like.



Pretty amazing what some water by itself can do. Just water no soap nothing.



Now, after the wash, here is what it looked like.

I first sprayed it with water, then sprayed it with APC 4:1 and covered the entire wheel well. After letting that sit for a minute or so and watching it turn brown, I take my wash mitt with some Hyper Wash soap and went to town.

I used a wheel face brush for the calipers and in those areas.

I microfibre cloth for the nicks and nooks that the mitt couldn't reach.




What a difference I'd say!!!



Don't mind the brakes there. They're getting a full polish and clean and paint job in a couple weeks with the father in-law so they won't look like that for long.

But here is the JOHN COOPER WORKS caliper all cleand up.

This isn't the pic where I applied M21 to the caliper, but I eventually did apply a coat of M21 to help keep off the brake dust. It shined the caliper up nicely and I was impressed.



Here's a shot of the rear passenger wheel well.

See how the dirt collected there. Not happy about that. One of the many reason I won't take her out until the city cleans the roads of its salt, sand and other junk that's covering it right now.







All cleaned up and ready to go!!!



Now once I finished, this is when it got interesting and fun.

Here, I figured, why not apply Black WOW. It just might be my best thought yet for detailing if this works out like I hope it will.

Here are some after pics of Black Wow applied to the wheel well. I did all four, but did not take pics of all four as they'd all look the same.



What a huge difference the Black WOW made. :thumbup1:

I can't wait to do this again.

I applied some with a foam applicator and then wipe off the excess so I don't have any "leaking" on to my tire with a microfibre.

Worked beautifully. Thanks to Richard for an AMAZING product!!! :thumbup:



[b]Until next time, and there will be more as the season has just begun.


The End.


Thanks for looking.

 

Very nice. Good write-up too!
I did the same last summer and it worked really well right up till the first snow fall. Unfortunately my OCD kicked in when I was under the car and I put BW on all the plastic bits underneath - gas tank, jack points etc. Looked really good until I jacked the MINI down then you couldn't see the results any more.
I bought some undercarriage spray from Groits. The stuff is crap. Just really a heavy silicone that gets all gooey and attracts dirt and small animals. I would not recommend it to anyone.

 

sharing your SCD with the NAMER's very nice.

love the idea and of course this looks like great.

 

Thanks for the compliments.

I've got the undercarriage planned. Coming up end of the month before I take the MINI out of "storage" and put her back on the road.

I want to make sure the roads have been cleaned of all the salt and sand/grime etc...before I take her out for summer.

Thank you.

Gotta spread the knowledge about detailing as much as one can.

SCD is AWESOME!!!

 

FYI, your brake calipers hold your brake pads, the metallic composite or ceramic things grabbing your rotors. You were cleaning your calipers, not pads.

 

Thanks.

You knew what I meant though.

 

Nice Job. Thanks for sharing.

 

Thank You.

Very much appreciated.