Interior/Exterior Record for me, 12 hrs to clean a Mini.
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2nd Gear
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 119
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Record for me, 12 hrs to clean a Mini.
Its been way too long since our beloved MCS has received a good detail so I got stuck into it today.
I started with a general wash and chamois dry, then moved onto a good clean off of all the tar spots. Has anyone else noticed how good Mini's are at collecting tar spots? They were spread all over the front bar, both doors, both rear quarter panels, the hatch and rear bar. Confirms to me that I hate road works.
Next I moved onto hitting the entire car with a clay bar, it really is amazing how much muck comes of what appears to be a clean car. Each panel was done until glass smooth, the sides took the longest due to the residue from road grime and tar spots, did I mention I hate road works? All this residue was on a car that is washed every week, obviously clean is not really clean.
After the clay bar, I broke out the buffer with a finishing waffle pad and used some swirl remover to get rid of fine scratches. This was not a hard job to do on the sides, back, bonnet etc because as mellow yellow is a rather forgiving colour. The roof on the other hand was a nightmare, black is a terrible colour to detail but it came up a treat.
The paint was finished off with 2 coats of wax, the paint came up really well for a 4 year old car with over 60,000 miles on it. Nothing better than highly waxed paint that feels smooth as glass to touch (not that anyone else is actually allowed to touch it).
Then the worst bit for Mini detailing, cleaning the plastic wheel arches and lower bars. I hate the textured finish that has one job in its life, trap wax and make it look white and powdery. I used some exterior trim detailer and a lot of hard work, result was it looks like new again. I also hit the plastic panel under the wiper arms, the gutters and all other exterior plastics/rubber that I could find.
The other section that I find troublesome is the plastic A and C pillar trims, the black plastic collects scratches quite easily over time and makes an otherwise very tidy car look old. For these I gave them a good polish up with plastic polish, along with the front and rear lights. The plastic polish did a great job and no fine scratches remain.
The last step for the exterior was all window glass. This was cleaned thoroughly with some glass cleaner and then hit with some glass polish. It was quite astonishing to look at the polishing rag and see all the contaminants that had come off the glass work that had already been cleaned twice.
With the exterior looking great, there was no way I could leave the interior the way it was. First up was a thorough vacuum and to use some masking tape to remove my wife's long strands of blonde hair she leaves around. Then I hit all interior surfaces with interior detailer and finished with some dash and trim foam. The result is very good and it smells great as well, a nice place to be.
We have two Mini's, the 2006 Mellow Yellow MCS and a 2011 JCW, now when they are parked together, you could almost think that they are about the same age, not one is about 4.5 years old (MCS) and the other is 3 weeks old (JCW). The only down side of doing all this (apart from the aching muscles and sore back), is you find every little stone chip and blemish. Considering its age and the amount of use, it is not too bad but I still wish they weren't there.
For those that are interested, the products used were:
Meguires NXT gen wash
Bowden's Own microfibre wash mit
Bowden's Own natural chamois
Turtle wax Tar and bug remover
Meguires clay bar and quick detailer spray
Meguires Final Inspection Swirl Remover
Meguires Nxt Gen paste
Meguires Exterior trim detailer
Meguires Plastx
Meguires Glass cleaner
Sonax Glass polish
Meguires Interior detailer
Meguires dash and trim foam
About 25 microfibre cloths.
I know Meguires is not exactly top level stuff but it is easily found, the price is not over the top and the result is pretty good.
I do not have any pics right now as I finished after dark but I will attempt to get them tomorrow and post them up.
I started with a general wash and chamois dry, then moved onto a good clean off of all the tar spots. Has anyone else noticed how good Mini's are at collecting tar spots? They were spread all over the front bar, both doors, both rear quarter panels, the hatch and rear bar. Confirms to me that I hate road works.
Next I moved onto hitting the entire car with a clay bar, it really is amazing how much muck comes of what appears to be a clean car. Each panel was done until glass smooth, the sides took the longest due to the residue from road grime and tar spots, did I mention I hate road works? All this residue was on a car that is washed every week, obviously clean is not really clean.
After the clay bar, I broke out the buffer with a finishing waffle pad and used some swirl remover to get rid of fine scratches. This was not a hard job to do on the sides, back, bonnet etc because as mellow yellow is a rather forgiving colour. The roof on the other hand was a nightmare, black is a terrible colour to detail but it came up a treat.
The paint was finished off with 2 coats of wax, the paint came up really well for a 4 year old car with over 60,000 miles on it. Nothing better than highly waxed paint that feels smooth as glass to touch (not that anyone else is actually allowed to touch it).
Then the worst bit for Mini detailing, cleaning the plastic wheel arches and lower bars. I hate the textured finish that has one job in its life, trap wax and make it look white and powdery. I used some exterior trim detailer and a lot of hard work, result was it looks like new again. I also hit the plastic panel under the wiper arms, the gutters and all other exterior plastics/rubber that I could find.
The other section that I find troublesome is the plastic A and C pillar trims, the black plastic collects scratches quite easily over time and makes an otherwise very tidy car look old. For these I gave them a good polish up with plastic polish, along with the front and rear lights. The plastic polish did a great job and no fine scratches remain.
The last step for the exterior was all window glass. This was cleaned thoroughly with some glass cleaner and then hit with some glass polish. It was quite astonishing to look at the polishing rag and see all the contaminants that had come off the glass work that had already been cleaned twice.
With the exterior looking great, there was no way I could leave the interior the way it was. First up was a thorough vacuum and to use some masking tape to remove my wife's long strands of blonde hair she leaves around. Then I hit all interior surfaces with interior detailer and finished with some dash and trim foam. The result is very good and it smells great as well, a nice place to be.
We have two Mini's, the 2006 Mellow Yellow MCS and a 2011 JCW, now when they are parked together, you could almost think that they are about the same age, not one is about 4.5 years old (MCS) and the other is 3 weeks old (JCW). The only down side of doing all this (apart from the aching muscles and sore back), is you find every little stone chip and blemish. Considering its age and the amount of use, it is not too bad but I still wish they weren't there.
For those that are interested, the products used were:
Meguires NXT gen wash
Bowden's Own microfibre wash mit
Bowden's Own natural chamois
Turtle wax Tar and bug remover
Meguires clay bar and quick detailer spray
Meguires Final Inspection Swirl Remover
Meguires Nxt Gen paste
Meguires Exterior trim detailer
Meguires Plastx
Meguires Glass cleaner
Sonax Glass polish
Meguires Interior detailer
Meguires dash and trim foam
About 25 microfibre cloths.
I know Meguires is not exactly top level stuff but it is easily found, the price is not over the top and the result is pretty good.
I do not have any pics right now as I finished after dark but I will attempt to get them tomorrow and post them up.
2nd Gear
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 52
Likes: 1
Sounds similar to what I did to my E46 330i this weekend. Meguiars may not be top of the line when it comes to price, but their higher end stuff *works* when used right. Their M205 and M105 combo is awesome with a Porter Cable, and their interior detailer is the best I've used.
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