** 1St Detail of the NEW YEAR **

[57chevy]

This is kinda long but I hope you read it through.

Well we had a break from the winter blast here in mich. and I took full advantage of it on Sunday to use my NEW PC. Thought I`d better try it on my own vehicle for practice. Turns out it`s very simply to operate and handle. :beer

I used it on my 1994 Chevy Astro Van (10 years New) the 1st new vehicle my wife and I purchased after the arrival of our 3rd daughter (yes 3 girls) and we have had it ever since. It has been well maintained over the years by myself. But this site has taught me a many new tricks, tips and products to use.Thank You DC members.

Keep in mind that the vehicle is 10 years old and has never had mud flaps or running boards to protect the paint. I also live in the country where dirt roads turn to mud in the rain, gravel constantly gets thrown around and snow and ice, and salt are part of mich winters. So with this intro I`ll desc the process I used to complete the work so far.

Process:
1) had to take it to the Power Wash quarter car wash and hose off the caked on mud.
2)Got back home and had to hose off the new mud from 4 miles of dirt road. More like wet muddy road.
3) Sprayed Bleech-White on the tires and scrubbed with a tire brush one tire at a time, follwed by Megs. Gold Class Wheel Cleaner.
4) Using the 2 bucket method, MEgs. Gold Class Car Shampoo and a wool mitt I washed the whole vehicle top to bottom and dried with a synthetic chamios. Now the fun begins.
5) Using all Megs. products and my new PC.
Megs #9 Swirl Remover 2.0 and a Blue Edge Pad (setting of 3)
Megs. #6 Cleaner/Wax with a White Edge Pad
Megs. #26 Hi-Tech Yellow Wax with a White Edge Pad.
Megs. #20 Polymer Sealant with a white edge pad.
6) Used the same products I did all the wheels to make them easier to maintain in the future plus to cover up scratches in the clear coat. Turned out very nice. All by hand.
7) Used Stoners Invisible Glass inside and out. Wiped first with a terry cloth towel and finished with a MF towel. What awesome results in the glass as you will see in the pics. Great stuff.
8) Cleaned all the plastic lenses, grill and emblems with 3M Plastic cleaner and 3M polish. Again these products made everything look almost new again. I was considering replacing my grill...no need to now.
9) Toched-up all the trim with Armour All Extreme Tire Shine with a small rag for percision. No rubbing or buffing required.
10) topped the tires off with Turtle wax Spray foam tire shine. Using what`s left of some supplies.
11) Beer :beer

I was pleasantly surprised with the results for a vehicle this age and an everyday driver. Not to mention it will now be my Mobile Detailing Unit.

I think it`s proof that with the proper care, process and products the finish can las a long time. See the pics that follow if they fit the upload size.

[zymolKK]

Sounds Great - would love to see the pics!

[57chevy]

Seems my PICS are too large to upload. MAX is 500,000 Bytes my Pics are 800,000. Looks like the 3.2 mega-pixels creates a good size file I will try to trim them back to reduce the size.

[57chevy]

Here`s one PIC You should be able to clouds in teh glass and look through the drivers side window to the passenger side view mirror. See the trees in the mirror?

[elortt]

lookin good

Eric

[57chevy]

Again look at the reflection along the drivers side. See teh snow above the rear tire, clouds on the hood and you can`t miss the trees in the glass. The funny thing is I didn`t see these when I took the photo. Also you can see the Bug Sheild shines too.

[57chevy]

Here`s a shoot of the bug shield notice the clouds reflection in the bug shield and the hood. Also, the plastic grill and around the headlights. #m Cleaner and Polish. They where scratchy and not very nice to look at before I started.

[GraniteState]

Great work to bad you have to drive down the muddy road again.... tell them to pave the roads...

[groebuck]

With the digital camera - you can set the resolution of the pics you take (mine goes from 640x480 up to 2048x1536) the 640x480 are perfect for posting here

looks really good - first time with the pc is great aint it?

[Woob]

Wait did you do #9 to 6 to 26 to 20? Wont the Polymer Sealant not bond correctly due to 6 and 26 already on the paint? Good work, must be hard stuff!

[gentletouch]

Did you clay it?

[57chevy]

See the blue skies above. Note the lense covers look almost perfect.

[andriver]

Looks new 57chevy.

[57chevy]

Tinted glass looks like a mirror

[57chevy]

I just noticed in the last pic I could see my garage in teh back of the side view mirror. This one show onother good shot of the grill and bug shield.