CobrAA's Eastern detailing pic

[cobrAA]

Process :

2-wash bucket method
Clay bar
Mech. Decon.
1-step polish
Paint cleaner
Menzerna Powerlock.

Avant:

Ah oui.. il y avait pas mal d’huile qui a sécher sur les moulures..Ce fut plus compliqué à retirer et ce n’est pas parti à 100% non-plus.











And I jump right after in the sun..


























See ya!

Alex

[cobrAA]

A month ago, I wrote an article about the proper way to clean your pads. Well now it’s time to talk about the proper way to clean your Microfiber!

Just like pad, you should use a soap that doesn’t leave anything behind to just have a clean towel that won’t streak after-all.

Do not mix your interior/wheels towel with the exterior! Do 2 loads! You don’t want APC/ harsh cleaner mixed with your clean exterior towel.

Suite à mon article sur le nettoyage des pads à machine, je vous explique comment nettoyer des microfibres. On suit le même principe, c'est à dire on doit utiliser un savon à microfibre qui ne laissera pas de strie comme d'autre détergeant pourrait en laisser. Il est aussi important de toujours faire deux brassées, une pour les roues/intérieur et l'autre pour la peinture.

1) Always wash with hot water. fill the Microfiber soap first and then add the towel. WHY ? because you don’t want 2-3 towels to absorb all your soap. Mix it first in the water then add the towel.

Toujours nettoyer à l'eau chaude, ça nettoie beaucoup mieux et ajouter la solution avant d'ajouter les microfibres, de sorte que le mélange soit uniforme dans l'eau.


2) Adding the solution (usually I add 2oz for a full load = 20-25 towels).





3) Since my wash machine is quite old, I need to manually stop the machine and restart it or else it will do a whole cycle in like 20 minutes which I think is too short.. So what I do.. is let the machine on for 5 minutes, let mix it thoroughly and then let it sit for a hour.. then you do the full wash or even do mega-cycle if your machine has it.

Dépendant de votre machine, je vous recommande de faire un cycle, laisser mijoter 1 heures et faire un autre cycle.



4) Once it’s clean, don’t heat the towel, let it dry naturally. However, if you dry it outside.. chances are debris will stick to your towel.. sometimes to a point who wont be able to use your towel on painted surface ( true story!)

See, washing your microfiber is not a banal thing. There’s precaution to it and not a lot of people talk about it even tho, you use a microfiber every single time you touch your car, no !? Or, if it’s too complicated or your rich, then you can go buy fresh towel at 3$/16x16 each for every single job !

Hope you enjoyed it. I have more idea in my mind haha.

Trouvez un moyen de les faire sécher à l'intérieur pour éviter que des débris de toutes sortes se colle à vos microfibres lors du séchages et éviter aussi la sécheuses.

Au plaisir!

[cobrAA]

I did a little trip to the US this PM to get some of my orders placed in the last 3-4 weeks.

1) Have you noticed the increase of 30 cents of the gaz over the last 6-12 months ? I bet all shipping carrier now charges more and thus the company have to charges more to suck up the increased price. Well, for me, it sure cost me more to go to the US.

2) Every trip takes me about 3-4 hours. Time is money!

3) You propably know or maybe not, Freeport have changed their way of doing thing now. It's now 5$/box and it can cost even 7$ if it's too heavy. I remember not long ago, it was 3$/no matter the size/weight. Well today. I paid 50$ for my stuff. Also, they make you sign/fill a paper when you leave with your boxes, but the thing is.. you know how it is there ? It's quite small or imagine 2-3 peoples filling paper for 10 boxes each ( name, shipper name, carrier, 4 digit tracking) Took me an extra 30 minutes today.

Also, to all of you who order from Autogeek, didn't you notice the increase of DP's line pricing ? Since they changed the label last year, pricing have gone up by 20%.. Have you noticed the price increase in Blackfire's line too ? Funny they had new label too LOL

Optimum ONR.. 39.99 to 49.99 !

Menzerna Polish!! ( from 129.99 to 179.99$)

Zymol.... Glasur.. 109$ to 129( or is it 139$ now?) Not long ago.. Vintage was selling for 1600$ its not 2400$

Samething for Swissvax. When they changed swissmol to swissvax = price increase and not long ago ( I think 1 or 2 years) they announced a price increase of 20% to all their retailer.

It's an industry trend and it seems like almost all manufactures are following the 20% increase rules.

Am I the only one who noticed ?

But with the new changes freeport have made. I think I will start buying more from canadian retailer. When you consider, I loose 3 hours + 25$ in box + 7.5% of tax + gaz.. really http://www.autoobsessed.com/ doesn't seems anymore expensive than any of ther US retailer.

P.S: Please write down Alex - MR.com in the comments box if you ever place an order from Autoob.

[cobrAA]

Here we have today a sweet Cayenne. The car was in good shape. A couple of light scratches there and there but overall it was well kept! And it’s always easier/ more fun to work on a car that is already well kept! Lots of pics so I will skip the bla-bla!

Process:
2-bucket washing method
Foam gun
Clay bar
Chemic. Decon
1-step polish
Zymol HD-Cleanse pre-wax treatment
Zymol Glasur which is specially formulated for Porsche’s paint ( so says Zymol!)
Engine bay cleaned
Interior done by extractor
Leather conditioner

Foaming.


Ça, c’est le decontaminant chimique qui travaille:




On contact with brake dust and metallic contaminant that can rust your paint, the decon turns purple and remove those bad particles.




I still need to do the clay bar after it:




J’ai essayé de prendre en photo la condition de la peinture, mais c’était plutot difficile:




Ici, c’était assez ardu du fait que j’étais direct dans le edge du panneau, très facile à brulé, mais ça la très bien sortie!


Just because I’m crazy.. that’s me polishing the little panel with paint the engine bay had!!


Just some tool to clean under the seat.



L’intérieur était en meilleur condition que l’extérieur, je mentirais pas. Donc, j’ai surtout protéger et rajeunis l’intérieur, plutôt qu’un full clean-up.

[cobrAA]

I took a solid 30 minutes on these pipes, the owner told me ‘’ jva tu me voir la face dedans après? ‘’ So, I had no choice to make it nice :P




Glasur on the freshly polished engine cover:








Freshhh

[cobrAA]

And now the after-pic..

Zymol Hd-Cleanse + Glasur, Sweet combo


Zymol Glasur:


















Pas de soleil, malheureusement, mais quand même, la peinture a une belle profondeur qu’on voit rarement chez les peintures japonaises de couleurs pâles.

[cobrAA]

Bon, beaucoup de photos! J’espère vous avez aimez.

Alex

[cobrAA]

Sur cette 128i 2012, le propriétaire m’a demandé la protection qui serait la plus durable. Son but était de protéger son fini le plus longtemps possible tout en réduisant le risque de swirls. J’ai donc opté pour le traitement opti-coat.

Ce traitement durcit plus ‘’fort’’ que les clear coat conventionnel et permet donc de réduire la quantité de cheveux d’anges introduites sur sa voiture. En plus, la compagnie dit que ce traitement est permanent.. Bref, je sais qu’il dure au moins 1 ans jusqu’à ce jour!
C’est un bon investissement pour ceux qui viennent de se procurer une voiture en bonne état et n’aiment pas en prendre soins souvent.

Processus :
Décontaminant à la clay bar douce
Décontaminant chimique
Lavage
Opti-coat.

Et voici le résultat :

































Si vous avez une nouvelle voiture, pensez-y! le traitement opti-coat peut valoir la peine, au lieu d’une cire.

À la prochaine.

[cobrAA]

Process :

The Showroom treatment. Period. ( I do whatever needs to be in a dealer showroom. As simple)

- Headlight:

They needed wet-sanding so this was in the to-do list:







After the wet-sanding and nano-coating:


- Paint reading:

When doing a big correction, it’s mandatory to have a paint gauge to monitor the thickness of the paint:












- Interior :

For reason between me and the owner, we didn’t the extractor wash, we only did a dusting and protecting trim.. He registered to my maintenance wash detail so I will do it next time!

Very very dusty!







After:

[cobrAA]

- Engine bay:

I’m happy to see that my polishing last year inside the hood lasted quite well. So I just did a quicky and put it another coat of protection. I also polished every metal I could find. With the single turbo conversion there’s now a hole showing that needed a good cleaning too. But hey!! You can’t expect a 20yr old jdm WHITE to still be pure white 20yr old later. You simply can’t haha.

Before:









After:

You can see the 75/25 in this picture! The metal polish did a good job.








- Volk racing Wheels:

I then found out that the wheel needed a little polish. Beeing black gloss, swirls was easy to see. I also polished the lip with Menzerna polish since it’s clear-coated not bare metal!

As for the protection, I went crazy with some of the finest wax on the world. Since we will see each other every month, it’s not a problem to re-apply anyways. As always, the wheels were cleaned with Sonax and boars hair brush first.







After:


- Cleaning:

As always, I cleaned the car using my usual procedure which include the use of many boars brush, APC, Clay bar, foam cannon, chemical decon. Etc.

















- Yellowish rear bumper:

Thanks to a rich tune.. the white bumper takes second to turn yellow haha! I had to compound it, APC it and get under the car to really clean it well along the edge of the bodykit. I tried nano-coating the bumper, maybe it will help.. Dunno!





After with the exhaust polished:



Its now as white as it can be! But for how long ? haha

[cobrAA]

- Storage damage:

These damages occurred when the car was in storage.. the owner didn’t put a cover on his car and the piping leaked and left some white/yellow-ish residue on the paint like salt in fact..







So, what I did is trying with a clay bar, didn’t do nothing. Then tried something more aggressive cleaner, didn’t work either so I went straight to the wet-sanding! Then compounded the whole care anyways. It’s now perfect








- Waxing and Cleaner fluid:

So for the finishing touch, nothing less then the finest product on the market; Swissvax Cleaner Fluid to prep the paint and My signature wax made by Raceglaze UK. This wax will give the ultimate shine that will last longer than sealant. This wax is truly exceptional, if you think Zymol Glasur is special, you have no idea what it’s like to work with this product. Thanks Raceglaze for trusting me.

[cobrAA]

Trim were fully dressed also:


















Oh I wet-sanded that area also, big scratch from someone who layed on the car:










Ça m’a fait plaisir et j’espère que ça va taire certains ….. Faites moi confiance, laissez moi votre auto pour 48 heures, vous allez voir le résultat

[cobrAA]

So I start by decontaminant the car with Iron-X:











I also clayed the car:


I then did a 1-step polish with Menzerna and followed by Swissvax Cleaner fluid by hand:


and after:

[cobrAA]

The point of this detail was to review 2 wax of mine ; Swissvax Shield Vs. Raceglaze 4x4.

So I start by decontaminant the car with Iron-X:











I also clayed the car:


I then did a 1-step polish with Menzerna and followed by Swissvax Cleaner fluid by hand:


So we’re now up to the review!!

Both wax are made of PTFE to enhance the durability of the wax. I’m sure we could find more brand having PTFE inside their wax but I think the goal for Raceglaze was to beat the most-know swissvax shield or let say they are equal, Raceglaze would still be twice cheaper than Shield! So, let see if I think Raceglaze have what it takes.

Packaging:



Theses are the old jar-style and they are VERY WEAK. Probably the worst jar I’ve ever used and when you consider it’s from Swissvax and the price they ask for it, you would prefer something better quality. One of my jar have a broken cap (that SV don’t want to replace) and this one is craked at the jar but since it’s a ‘’double jar’’ it doesn’t really matter.

On the Raceglaze end, the sample pot is quite cool and it might look very tiny but it was still quite easy to dip the yellow applicator inside the jar. However, I still think the 30ml with a wider jar wouldn’t be a bad idea. I mean, I still managed to wax the car without having to get the wax with my hand and transfer it to the pad but I think 30ml is a great sample size If I compare with the big 8oz jar RG55 I have, I can tell you the quality is there and I can’t see myself stripping the tread like always happen on Swissvax jar. ( never tried the new-style jar tho!)

+1 Raceglaze ( comparing with the old-style jar)

Smell:

The old version of Shield smell pretty neutral, maybe a bit chemical. Now I think they added fragrance to it ? For raceglaze, it smell like pineapple, very much like Victoria Collector, in fact.

+2 Raceglaze ( comparing to the chemical old version)

First impression when touching the wax:

Swissvax: it’s quite hard! Pretty much like Crystal Rock-level so it might be easier to use less. (= more application)
Raceglaze: A lot more soft, quite oily. I thought PTFE would make the wax harder but here it feel really soft, it melt to the touch almost instantly. So I’m thinking easier to spread but maybe I will use too much. It also look pretty similar to RG55 or Victoria wax.

+1 Swissvax ( I don’t hate soft wax but I prefer the feeling of harder wax)

Application:

Swissvax: Like I thought, it need a bit more work to spread easily on the paint but it’s management without too much troubles. It buff out like a breeze. I think that’s a Swissvax signature, any wax I tried buff out easily ( maybe beside Mystery).

Raceglaze: Again like I thought, it spread sooooo easilyyy it’s a breeze to apply! Leave it 10 minutes and buff; didn’t felt any harder to remove, I heard some people saying raceglaze needs a bit more work but I think they let the wax cure for too long. I admit, if you leave the wax for 20 minutes or dry out in the sun, you will have a hard time buffing the wax but that,s also true with 50% of the ‘nuba on the market.




Neutral or a slight edge for Raceglaze if you don’t let the wax dry on the paint.

Here’s how much I used to do half of the car:







Water behaviour:

Both being PTFE wax, I think it would be ‘’weird’’ if they acted completely different right? So far, after 3 hours, they look EXACTLY the same. The only difference is that one is twice cheaper

Shield on the left, 4x4 on the right

[cobrAA]

Neutral. Same on both. They seems to sheet and bead quite well. We will see in a week or two if they repel dirt as well as they claim to.

Look department:

IMO, More of a glassy look for Shield where 4x4 has maybe a little more of a carnauba glow to it but to be honest, this is a gold/beige car, maybe it would show a bit better on darker color.

























So as a first impression, I think that Raceglaze is not only cheaper, smell better and spread easier but it’s also twice cheaper. I also have RG55 and later on, I should try to review RG55 vs. 4x4. So far, I really like it, but I only have enough to do 2 car or 3 other half car !