Detailing 101 Need to find out how to pamper your new MINI? Find out all the detailing secrets here.

Detailer's Domain: Mini Cooper, this is one you have to see

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
  #1  
Old 11-11-2009, 06:47 PM
phil@detailersdomain's Avatar
phil@detailersdomain
phil@detailersdomain is offline
Former Vendor
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: NJ
Posts: 868
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Detailer's Domain: Mini Cooper, this is one you have to see

Mini Cooper - This Mini was a bit of a surprise. We figured it would be a 8 hour job. How bad could it possible be, its such a small car. The customer asked for paint correction services and the interior to be cleaned....he then added he would like the wheels pulled off/detailed and the wheel wells detailed as well. Okay when we got the car it was something else.......take a look what a disaster!

Products Used:
Exterior:
Einszett Blitz in the Cam Spray Foam Canon
Adam's Gray Clay Bar and Optimum Instant Detail Spray and Gloss Enhancerfor clay lube
Menzerna Power Gloss Compoune
Menzerna Super Intensive
Menzerna PO85RD
Menzerna Top Inspection
Einszett Glanz

Wheels/Wheel Wells/Tires/Engine
Uber Wheel/Tire/Wheel Well Kit

Interior:
Leather Master Strong Cleaner
Leather Master Vital
Leather Master Protection Cream

Einszett Deep Cleaner
Einszett Gummi
Adam's Glass Cleaner

Dressing on Trim
Black Wow


Tools:
Infratech 5300
Fenix TK11
3M Sun Gun
Brinkmann MaxFire
Metabo PE12-175
Flex 3403
Makita 9227 Hi Speed Rotary
The Uber Foam Pads (5.5inch)
Tons of "Uber" Microfiber Towels
Uber Drying Towels

Cam Spray 1500A with Cam Spray Foam Gun

Before shots:

Wheels




That wasn't so bad........let's start with the interior detail.

Interior before shots: --- Dog hair???? no one said anything about dog hair...













So how in the world do we attack this interior. After careful thought, we decided to pull the rear bench out as well as the front seats.

Ugh the seats!


Time to pull them out


Hair was everywhere



The rear bench



So what do we have underneath the bench




Dirt, dirt, and more dirt...




Tommy on the vac



Driver's area



More vacuuming


Time to pull the front seats out (battery was disconnected)

Tommy pulling out the driver's side



Dan assisting Tommy on the seat removal


Under the driver's seat


More hair!



Cleaned up



Bench back in, Tommy finishing them up


Seat out, cleaned/conditioned/protected



Passenger seat being put back in



Final shots of the interior






Door jamb before



Door jamb after


Now to the exterior:

Starting with the engine start to finish:


Before shot of the engine







Dan on the P21S





Brushing/Agitating all the built up grease, grime, and dirt




Rinsing down the engine bay




Engine wipe down


Final shots of the engine:



Wash - Paint correction - Wheels - Wheel Wells

The presoak




Foaming and washing down the car





Washing down the car with an Uber Sponge


Wheels on the car getting P21S on tires and wheels, wheel wells pressure washed


Claying the car


PG with the Makita and the Uber Yellow


Checking the paint with a Fenix TK11



50/50 shot of the hood
Before shots of the hood






The roof was a mess we did as much as we could on it without wet sanding, scratches were pretty deep, take a look



Under the Sun Gun


After PG and SIP


After PO85RD


Polishing out the bumpers


We put the car on jacks to move on to the wheels and wheel wells



Wheels










Dan and I claying the wheels



Cleaning up the wheel wells




Dressed up in Adam's Undercarriage Spray




Finished wheel wells





Finishing touches
Black wow on the trim



After shots inside and out

















I hope you enjoyed this one. We look forward to your comments
 
  #2  
Old 11-11-2009, 07:02 PM
lacning74's Avatar
lacning74
lacning74 is offline
6th Gear
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: May 2007
Location: nyc
Posts: 1,361
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
my mini needs this so badly. i might have to stop by.
 
  #3  
Old 11-11-2009, 07:43 PM
veggivet's Avatar
veggivet
veggivet is offline
6th Gear
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Northeast
Posts: 2,647
Received 110 Likes on 95 Posts
I knew there was a good reason I decided never to let my dog in any of my MINI's. Beautiful work, guys!
 
  #4  
Old 11-11-2009, 08:05 PM
MiniMaybee's Avatar
MiniMaybee
MiniMaybee is offline
6th Gear
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Centennial, CO
Posts: 6,067
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Yes!
 
  #5  
Old 11-11-2009, 08:13 PM
coachfraley's Avatar
coachfraley
coachfraley is offline
1st Gear
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 46
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Very nice work!
 
  #6  
Old 11-11-2009, 08:16 PM
IceManMCS's Avatar
IceManMCS
IceManMCS is offline
Banned
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Moved to MA
Posts: 92
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Extremely impressive. It looks like those hairs came from a tiny chiwawa. How many hours did it actually take you to complete? I am afraid to ask how much it cost.
 
  #7  
Old 11-11-2009, 08:38 PM
mordecai's Avatar
mordecai
mordecai is offline
3rd Gear
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Pennsyltuckey
Posts: 274
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I have 1 thing to say and then some questions. First: WOW! (yes, just WOW!)

First, I don't know if they started doing this in the wheel wells in 07 or it was earlier but there's this weird carpet type crap in the wheel wells that all sorts of junk gets stuck in; how do you get that out? Second, what exactly did you do to the wheels to get the bits of tar and black grime off? I wash and clay and wash and clay and cannot get the little black specks off my rims!

Either way, phenomenal job! I would love to learn how to do this great of a detail job some day. Thanks for sharing!
 
  #8  
Old 11-11-2009, 09:12 PM
phil@detailersdomain's Avatar
phil@detailersdomain
phil@detailersdomain is offline
Former Vendor
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: NJ
Posts: 868
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
thanks everyone, we were so confused on what to do on this we ended up spending 2 days on it about 20-23 hours total over the 2 days.

Now on the wheels we used everything on our wheel kit above plus some 3m adhesive remover in the inner wheel.

thanks again.
 
  #9  
Old 11-12-2009, 05:49 AM
MI MINI S's Avatar
MI MINI S
MI MINI S is offline
3rd Gear
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Posts: 249
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
You did a great job...wow! All that dog hair, what a mess. How much did it cost the customer for your services?
 
  #10  
Old 11-12-2009, 05:54 AM
C H I C K L E T's Avatar
C H I C K L E T
C H I C K L E T is offline
6th Gear
iTrader: (12)
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 1,892
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Wow! What was the customer's reaction?
 
  #11  
Old 11-12-2009, 06:17 AM
phil@detailersdomain's Avatar
phil@detailersdomain
phil@detailersdomain is offline
Former Vendor
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: NJ
Posts: 868
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
the customer was stoked! as for the price...you can pm me if you really want to..
 
  #12  
Old 11-12-2009, 06:52 AM
jcoop36's Avatar
jcoop36
jcoop36 is offline
2nd Gear
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Lawrence, Kansas
Posts: 84
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Superb job, folks! Looks BETTER than new! This owner just let it get out of hand, and whatever your bill was, it had to be worth it to him. If he won't/can't keep ahead of the dirt buildup, he'll be back to you in the future.

Question: When you wash down the engine, do you cover hoses, distributor, or any other items, or do you just work it over as is?
 
  #13  
Old 11-12-2009, 06:53 AM
ricbow's Avatar
ricbow
ricbow is offline
5th Gear
Join Date: May 2008
Location: nor cal
Posts: 647
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Philip, just wow!!!!!!!!!!!
 
  #14  
Old 11-12-2009, 09:57 AM
matthew-w's Avatar
matthew-w
matthew-w is offline
4th Gear
iTrader: (4)
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Undisclosed location in Boulder County
Posts: 321
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
I've got dogs, and I've detailed my own cars enough times to know how much work went into that job. Great results all around.

Quick question regarding the jack stands. Did you modify the jack stand to accommodate the MINI's jack points?
 
  #15  
Old 11-14-2009, 05:34 PM
k_h_d's Avatar
k_h_d
k_h_d is offline
6th Gear
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,781
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
That interior was absolutely disgusting. How in the world could anybody drive in that. Great job on the detail.
 
  #16  
Old 11-14-2009, 07:52 PM
pilotart's Avatar
pilotart
pilotart is offline
6th Gear
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Florida, South Gulf Coast
Posts: 1,258
Received 5 Likes on 4 Posts
Looks like a great job to me, what a transformation for that MINI!

But, what about all that grime that hides under the beltline chrome?
 
  #17  
Old 11-14-2009, 08:43 PM
kenchan's Avatar
kenchan
kenchan is offline
6th Gear
iTrader: (3)
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 31,439
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
all i can say is wow to both extremes...

wow as in how the f- do you get your car so discustingly dirty?
and the wow as in how the heck did you get that to this?!
 
  #18  
Old 11-15-2009, 02:15 PM
bratling's Avatar
bratling
bratling is offline
Super Moderator
iTrader: (2)
Join Date: May 2009
Location: North of Boston, MA
Posts: 1,675
Received 217 Likes on 151 Posts
Woah. Your photos and descriptions have given me new appreciation for how much work you guys do!
 
  #19  
Old 11-15-2009, 02:42 PM
dogdal24's Avatar
dogdal24
dogdal24 is offline
5th Gear
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Perkasie Pa
Posts: 643
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Once Again Nice Work!
Also on a side note I just received those green towels from you. They are pretty nice!
 
  #20  
Old 11-16-2009, 06:09 PM
kurisu's Avatar
kurisu
kurisu is offline
2nd Gear
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Posts: 94
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I'm with Kenchan. Unbelievable how someone could let his/her car go that long without cleaning. And damn, that's some impressive work
 
  #21  
Old 11-16-2009, 07:11 PM
04Mini-S's Avatar
04Mini-S
04Mini-S is offline
2nd Gear
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: San Antonio, TX
Posts: 94
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
You guys performed a miracle. To let a car get to that level of filth, unacceptable...
 
  #22  
Old 11-20-2009, 06:07 PM
phil@detailersdomain's Avatar
phil@detailersdomain
phil@detailersdomain is offline
Former Vendor
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: NJ
Posts: 868
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
thanks for the feedback everyone! unfortunately some customer just don't have the time, when I showed her the write up she couldn't believe how bad it really was.
 
  #23  
Old 03-27-2010, 06:58 AM
chirowolf's Avatar
chirowolf
chirowolf is offline
Neutral
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
WOW. If I did not live in Illinois I would have my car at your place today. Great Job. Nice to see a shop with such outstanding service
 
  #24  
Old 03-27-2010, 08:50 AM
ricbow's Avatar
ricbow
ricbow is offline
5th Gear
Join Date: May 2008
Location: nor cal
Posts: 647
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
you need to move to calif.
 
  #25  
Old 03-27-2010, 02:17 PM
phil@detailersdomain's Avatar
phil@detailersdomain
phil@detailersdomain is offline
Former Vendor
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: NJ
Posts: 868
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
there should be tons of guys in CA doing this.
 


Quick Reply: Detailer's Domain: Mini Cooper, this is one you have to see



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 01:34 AM.