[Divine Detail]

This vehicle was booked for a full three day Ambassador Detail. The owner of this vehicle took good care of his vehicle and it truly does show, the vehicle:

2007 MazdaSpeed 3

Here is how the vehicle was delivered:

Rims look good


But still require some attention




















As you can see by the interior it doesn’t appear to be in bad condition

I was quite pleased when I opened the hood, here is what greeted me:


The customer brought the summer tires:


Well all personal belonging were removed and put inside a zip log bag, floor mats were also removed and it was time to get going on the interior. First the entire interior was given a thorough vacuum:


Once satisfied with the vacuum it was time for the wipe down and for the wipe down Meg’s APC was used diluted 20:1:


All vents and hard to reach areas were agitated with a Swissvax brush:




Followed up with the air compressor:




Once satisfied with the interior wipe down it was time to move on to the carpet but before that here is how the wipe down water finished off:

Considering the vehicle appeared to be in reasonable condition it was quite dirty. Well now on to the carpet, first the Mytee was set and water was heated up:


Once the Mytee heated the water up, first the carpets received a quick hot water spray:


Followed up with a small amount of Folex:


With the help of a Meg’s brush, the carpet was agitated:


Finished off with a good extraction with the help of the Mytee:

(Sorry for the over exposed image)

Now all that was left to do is dress the interior, for this Zymol Vinyl is used:


On certain sections Vinyl was applied directly on the panels:


Spread with a foam applicator:


The entire interior was dressed using this method. Once the entire interior had been dressed it was followed up with a quick wipe down:


Windows were cleansed with Zymol Glass and a glass micro fiber towel.

This concludes the interior and also the first day.

Day two

The day began with the summer rims and here is what greeted me:

Not too bad huh


Now that’s quite the sight.

Well first up a good rinse:




Followed up with P21S Gel:




Tires got a healthy coat of ARO:


Now to scrub the rims the two inch wool brush is used:


Followed up with a Swissvax brush:


Tires were scrubbed with a Meg’s tire brush:


Now that takes care of the face of the rims now for the inside of the rims, again the Swissvax brush is used:


And used:


Well here is how all that scrubbing finished off:




P21S Gel worked okay but here is what a closer look revealed:

Just not good enough


Now this was quite something, not sure what it was but it was time to step up to Meg’s Wheel Brightner:


Gave the rims a good coat of Wheel Brightner:




Once again agitated with the Swissvax brush and there was a big improvement but it still didn’t look right so time to clay the rims.

For this Riccardo is used:

Well after the claying there were still some spots on the rims that just didn’t want to budge but never the less a big improvement.

Well that took care of the summer rims now for the rims on the vehicle.

First up wheel wells tires and rims were given a quick rinse:


Wheel wells received a healthy coat of P21S Total Auto Wash:


Rims received P21S Gel:


Making sure to reach inside the rims:


Tires received a good coat of ARO:


Now to scrub the wheel wells, there was no way the long handle Meg’s brush was going to fit so the Black ShMITT was needed here:


For the rims again the two inch wool brush is used:


Making sure to get all the way inside the rims:


Getting behind the calipers required the one inch wool brush:


The face of the face of the rims again the Swissvax brush is used:


Tires got a good scrub with Meg’s tire brush:


Here is how all that scrubbing turned out:


Ready to be rinsed out:


This process was done to all wheel wells, tires and rims. Now it was time to take care of the rest of the vehicle, first the CR unit is connected:

0PPM and Deionzed water is ready to go

The two bucket method was used to wash the vehicle and the shampoo of choice, well not really a shampoo, P21S Total Auto Wash was used to make sure what ever protection was on the vehicle is completely removed, partnered up with Zymol sponge:


Let the washing begin:


Once the entire vehicle had been washed and rinsed with Deionzed water it was time to clay the vehicle, once again the clay of choice is Riccardo.

The clay before:


Here is the clay once the entire vehicle had been clayed:

Surprisingly there wasn’t that much contamination on the vehicle, the lower panels how ever had quite a bit.

Well once again the vehicle was given a good rinse with Deionized water and as much water as possible is removed with the air compressor.

The vehicle was then finished off with a waffle weaved micro fiber:


Now it was time to get the vehicle ready for polishing all delicate areas were taped up:






Side markers were removed:


Now it was time to see how much clear coat/paint was available, first up PosiTector 6000:




With the help of a PosiTector 200 readings on the bumpers and spoiler were taken:






Now to see how much correction was going to be required on this vehicle:


This was shocking, barely any swirls


Just some minor micro marring



The rear bumper was going to require some work:


Well on to the polishing, a test section was selected and first combo was a Blue 3M Finishing pad (UK) combined with 3M Ultrafina SE (UK), with Metabo combined with 3M Backing Plate (UK) at 1500RPM.

This combo proved to be to weak, so the foam pad was bumped up to the Black 3M Polishing pad (UK) combined with 3M Ultrafina SE (UK), Metabo combined with 3M Backing Plate (UK) at 1500RPM. This combo provided satisfying results:


Let the polishing begin:


Before:


After:


Before:


After:


Before:


After:


The rear bumper required something a bit stronger, so 3M Perfect-it III (UK) was used combined with the same Black Polishing foam pad and finished off with a Blue Finishing pad (UK) and Ultrafina SE

Before:


After:


Before:


During:


After:


Before:


After:


Now for the 3M clear bra protection on the hood here is a 50/50:



Significant difference on the 3m clear bra

Well that completes the polishing process and time to remove all the tape and give the entire vehicle a final wipe down.

Customer wanted a sealant, not just any sealant but Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant:


The entire vehicle was given a good coat of Wolfgang Sealant, along with the door jams:


Rims also received a good coat of Wolfgang Sealant:


Making sure to get all the way inside:


That includes the summer rims as well:


This concludes day two and the sealant was left over night to cure.

Day three

The Wolfgang Sealant was left on the vehicle for over 12hrs, buffed off with the help of several Cookie Monsters and followed up with Zymol Vintage applied via foam applicator:


As thin as possible, but not to thin:


Of course, when using the foam applicator the foam pad is heated up first with one of the 1000W light stand:


Vintage was applied and left to bond on the vehicle, wile Vintage was bonding it was time to take care of the exhaust pipe. Here is how the exhaust looked like before:


Product used was:


Now to finish off the tires, tires were dressed with Zymol Tyre:


All exterior plastic trims received a good coat of Black WOW applied via yellow micro fiber towel and buffed off with another yellow micro fiber towel.

Engine received a wipe down and dressed with 303. Side markers were installed again.

Here is how the summer rims finished off:








Unfortunately not too many after pictures but managed to snap these:







The only picture of how the exhaust finished off:


Well this concludes another Ambassador Detail, sorry for the lack of after pictures. Hope you enjoy.

	APC All Purpose Cleaner

	ARO Amazing Roll Off

[kogenx]

Wow Great Turn around on the wheels, great attention and detail to everything thing there! Love the photos during the process, showing how its done! Thank you for sharing

[Smith2287]

Very nice detail guys I love the results you had. I quick question when you do the use TAW as a shampoo how much product do you use? I want to give it a try next time I need to strip off some old wax.

[jake_b]

very nice work nica. love the polishing videos. what perfect it III did you use on the back side?

[Nica]

Originally Posted by kogenx

Wow Great Turn around on the wheels, great attention and detail to everything thing there! Love the photos during the process, showing how its done! Thank you for sharing

Thank you kogenx, glad you enjoyed the lengthy write up

Originally Posted by Smith2287

Very nice detail guys I love the results you had. I quick question when you do the use TAW as a shampoo how much product do you use? I want to give it a try next time I need to strip off some old wax.

Glad you enjoyed it, as for the Total Auto Wash mix, I just pore a small amount about two to three cap full. You only need a small amount and it works quite well, you can tell when the vehicle is completely striped of it's protection by the rinsing, the water should not beed it should pool on the surface of the vehicle. That's why I use an air compresor to remove as much water as possible...well I hope this helps, sorry I couldn't be more specific with the amount of Total Auto Wash

Originally Posted by jake_b

very nice work nica. love the polishing videos. what perfect it III did you use on the back side?

Thank you, glad you found the videos usefull. Oh right here is what it took to correct this vehicle:

3M Perfect-it III Extra Fine Compound combined with 3M Black foam pad (UK) finished off with 3M Perfect-it III UltrafinaSE both with a 3 with 3M Blue foam pad, the only spot that the 3M Blue came out to play.

[FMINUS]

great writeup and pics like always! How did u like the AUTOSOL?

[Nica]

Originally Posted by FMINUS

great writeup and pics like always! How did u like the AUTOSOL?

Oh yes, AutoSol is perfect for me. Finally a product worthy, I'm very, very impressed with this product. I'm definetly going to be getting a few more tubes. This product worked really good, like I said I've gone through a bunch of metal products and finaly the search has ended

[Asphalt Rocket]

Great Job Nica

[Denzil]

Great write-up as usual Carlos! I always seem to learn something new from your methods/techniques.

I have a question though. Is there any difference in your pump sprayers that hold P21S TAW, P21S Wheel Cleaner Gel, and Meg's Wheel Brightener? I noticed they're different colors but is that the only difference?

[er1k024]

Wonderful job with a superb write-up!
How would you compare the Wolfgang Sealant to jetseal?