It’s finally clean!

[pa-fatboy]

I have had my Ranger for 11 months and 6,000 miles. After the initial detail I did after receiving my Ranger, it’s been car washes or a quick foam cannon wash at home. It takes me a while to detail anymore and I usually need help finishing up due to some health issues. It took me 4 days and one daughter to complete this one! Great time in the garage with her, as always!

I used my Foam Cannon with Honey Dew Shampoo to start the wash. I finished that up with a two bucket hand wash. We followed that up with my version of claying using Claying Disc’s attached to my Porter Cable polisher and a Clay Lubricant.

I did use an led flashlight to look for imperfections in the paint. As I said, I went through my local car wash several times, I expected to find some swirls in the paint. I did find 4 scratches and chips that I will need to fill in soon. I didn’t find any swirls, so I moved onto the paint sealant without using a swirl remover or gloss. If I can remove a step, I will these days.

I finished her with Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant. This is supposed to last a little while. Supposedly it’s longer lasting than wax at 5-6 months. I have used this before and it is currently one of my top two sealants. The other is Chemical Guys Jet Seal. I’ve had good luck with both.

I used Griot’s Vinyl and Rubber Dressing over all the exterior trim. For the glass, I had 4-5 choices. Honestly I just grabbed one and it worked well enough.

I did have a ceramic coating available in my arsenal. It’s McKee’s 37. I didn’t use it as I noticed Autogeek.net stopped selling it, McKee’s web site is selling it, but it looks like a back shelf item on their site. To add to that, I figured out that it must be 6 years old... to sketchy for me to work with.

im happy with the outcome. Now it’s on to my wife car. It’s black.

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[quangdog]

I'm planning to use the upcoming 3 day weekend to do my first full exterior detail. I have the same color truck as you, and I just hope it looks half as good as yours when I'm finished. Fantastic results - looks great!

 

[Sandman Ranger]

Nice!

Bead Maker by P&S.
Worth a try.
.......and no car washes.
.......if you must, touch less.

 

[SOHK_Alumni]

I'm not sure, but maybe you need some more practice to get things just right!

I'll volunteer both my Rangers, shoot, I'll toss in my '02 Jaguar for you to practice on!

Your work looks fantastic!

 

[Sandman Ranger]

An easy to use and forgiving coating.

https://usa.gtechniq.com/products/auto/protect/exterior/paint/crystal-serum-light

 

[pa-fatboy]

An easy to use and forgiving coating.

https://usa.gtechniq.com/products/auto/protect/exterior/paint/crystal-serum-light

I will give this a shot. Thanks for the heads up about it. Do you have any tips on working with it, and maybe a picture of something you coated with it? I know I’m asking a lot. Thanks!

 

[THLONE]

It looks better than your barn. LOL ?

 

[Sandman Ranger]

I will give this a shot. Thanks for the heads up about it. Do you have any tips on working with it, and maybe a picture of something you coated with it? I know I’m asking a lot. Thanks!

I have not coated a lot with it but Obsessed Garage uses it and sells it in a combo package with OG label. Site link below.

https://www.obsessedgarage.com/

I have coated the Ranger headlights, side mirrors, side windows, window trim, door handles and new fender vents.
Video after apply. Clean vehicle well, apply coating in panels. Then wipe down well with micro fiber. One coating only. Will not build up with more coatings.

 

[LightingBlue]

Oh boy, another detailing thread where we find out how our detailing is parallel!

How are you liking the clay "disc"? I've seen those type products for a while but figured that having any actual RPM behind it would increase the odds of grinding something into the paint beyond what is possible by hand. And by hand I mean the clay towels (which I have migrated to exclusively from the old clay bar approach)

Nanoskin clay towel - medium grade

In the Buffers/Polishers thread I don't think you mentioned that you have gone through a bottle of the Wolfgang v3.0 sealant. It's really some awesome stuff!

What swirl-finder light are you using these days? I just picked up the Astro 50SLMAX and couldn't be more pleased. Taking the garage lighting shown in your pics into consideration, having a swirl finder light is probably what you're doing a LOT of your work under. I'm in the same boat currently, however we purchased a pair of 6-bulb lamps and a 4-bulb lamp from Obsessed Garage and another eight 2-bulb lamps from Amazon to re-do the shop lighting. Will post up some pics in our build thread for you to take a look at HERE.

 

[LightingBlue]

I have not coated a lot with it but Obsessed Garage uses it and sells it in a combo package with OG label. Site link below.

https://www.obsessedgarage.com/

I helped a buddy do that coating (2 coats) a few weekends back on his '06 Forester (the STy version). He's a huge fan of Obsessed Garage and pays for the membership or whatever. That coating is a little tricky to put on over an entire vehicle. And the surface prep took about 6 hours longer than anticipated. We let the surface coatings cure for 2 days in my garage and were fortunate to have a sunny day when he came back to pick up the car.

The results were.... Well i'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but it was more than what we saw. Yup, it looked like it had a coat of wax on it (nowhere near Wolfgang sealant v3.0 levels of gloss or depth). That it took 2 guys 2 days of hard work to do the coating (including some intense paint correction and compounding) for that final product.... It better darn well last 4 years or whatever they say it will. And it better resist surface marks like a mo-fo'. Otherwise it was not worth the investment. Especially considering you constantly have to dump extra money into the finish with their "recharge" spray.

You would get better results and the joy of detailing your own car with less overall work if you just did a cleaner wax or single-stage polishing and waxing twice a year.

Anyway, Rich already knows we differ on the perceived value of catalyzed surface coatings. No need to beat that horse to death.

 

[Tracy Bowman]

It looks better than your barn. LOL ?

That barn has character! Oh yes, the Ranger is beautiful also!

 

[pa-fatboy]

Oh boy, another detailing thread where we find out how our detailing is parallel!

How are you liking the clay "disc"? I've seen those type products for a while but figured that having any actual RPM behind it would increase the odds of grinding something into the paint beyond what is possible by hand.

What swirl-finder light are you using these days?

Hey LB!

for a swirl finding light, I actually use an Inexpensive LED flashlight from amazon that I got for under $25. When I was searching for a swirl finding light 5 years ago, I hooked up with a professional detailer who installed Modesta ceramic coating on my Mustang. I asked him what he used and he showed me his $25 LED light and how he used it. I have never found a need to spend the asking price the buffer manufacturers are asking for their lights.

The clay disc’s are awesome. I don’t know what evidence or backing you have for the discs grinding anything into the paint. Is their a study I could review? I can say that there is a difference on the clay discs from new to used. The actual surface has a bit of a waffle type shape, or maybe more of a hexagon pattern. In the indentations on the claying disc surface, all the tiny particles from the paint are visible. You can see permanent ‘shadows’ that tell me the claying discs are pulling the contamination out of the paint. The high points use the claying lubricant and it’s surface to pull the contamination out of the paint and the low points collect the contamination. anyway that’s what looks like is happening. I see the same level of contamination when using the detailing clay and needing the fold the clay over to get a clean surface.

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