Nissan Altima DD gets attention

[Captain Slow]

This past Sunday I went to a friend/coworker's house to do a one on one detail clinic. The vehicle we did is his 2008 Nissan Altima. Todd is a sales representative for the company I've been with for nearly 30 years. The vehicle has well over 100,000 highway miles and has never had our type of attention focused on it.

Notice the near absence of gloss to the paint. Reflections? Mmmm not really.

 

We started with Deep Wheel Cleaner at all four corners. The barrels of the wheels were filthy to say the least but the face of the wheels were surprisingly clean. Tires were cleaned with APC and a brush.

 

All four cleaned up real nice. Todd commented he didn't know old wheels could look that bright again.

 

Then it was on to the wash. Captain BrainFart left bucket #2 at home so we proceeded with a one bucket with Grit Gard wash. I used the last of a competitors product in the foam gun and in the bucket. I taught him to wash top down and front to back. Door jambs were cleaned with Waterless Wash.

 

We then pulled the car into the garage for drying and clay bar. I sealed the glass after we clayed but didn't wipe it off until a quick wash after polishing. We used the OTC clay bar kit I found the night before at Wally World. I bought the only two they had because I love a bargain and hey! they were practically giving it away. Anyway, the paint was very manky and Todd said he could hear the clay doing it's job.

 

Here's Todd after having dropped his first clay bar. Welcome to our world! Yes that's a new piece of clay.

Wow! Take away the oxidation and the finish starts to shine. Here you can see why some are happy with a wash, clay bar and wax.

 

I used the relatively small trunk lid for the test spot. I used a 3M product on an orange pad after trying a few combinations. After doing the trunk lid, roof and hood I turned him loose.

 

I grabbed Todd's Dewalt drill, 4" focus pads, SHR, Barry's polish and hit trouble spots and hard to reach areas. By the time we had corrected the paint we had covered his ride in dust so it was out in the sun for a quick wash, rinse and set. Well a quick wash and rinse...

Back in the garage we went for another drying session. I chose Quik Sealant as the LSP of choice for it's ease of use, durability and the fact that a second coat could go on in a short amount of time. Todd was amazed at how easily we applied the Quik Sealant. He also sealed the wheels with Quik Sealant while I applied SVRT on the tires and grill pieces. Back out in the sun for a few shots of the finished product.

 

We weren't going for perfection but we sure got her looking great!

 

 

BTW: I had washed my car the night before, can't be showing up in a dirty ride.

 

Edited May 8, 2013 by sportredmistress

[JBlack151]

BAM.....Todd has a brand new Altima! Nice one Paul.

[ksell87]

Man that's a beautiful ride. And the Altima turned out okay too:thumbsup:

[Captain Slow]

Man that's a beautiful ride. And the Altima turned out okay too:thumbsup:

I see what you did there.

[Green Machine]

Looking good brother!

[THE Mook]

That wheel bleeding!

 

Nice work!

[ArmyAcadia09]

Looks great. You have taught him well

[Fierce5]

Nice one!

[Captain Slow]

UPDATE:

 

Yesterday Todd came up to me to say Merry Christmas and mentioned to me the Quik Sealant is still beading up. He was in Indiana last week in the snow and rain and noticed most of the cars around him were not beading at all. No additional wax or sealant since then per Todd.

 

Quik Sealant durability? Oh h#ll yeah!!!    

 

We also discussed doing another round on his Altima this winter. His garage is well insulated and with the big heater he has it can easily get up to short sleeve and shorts temps in there.

Edited December 24, 2013 by sportredmistress