OCDetailing Gallery & Blog

1996 BMW 3.1.8 is

aspetter — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:30:22 +0000

This BMW needed a LOT of TLC. The paint was scarred and abused from years of neglect, which showed in the fenders, side skirts and clear coat failure across the car. After a good wash, the swirls even showed up worse than ever, also allowing me to see some oxidation in the paint. I had my work cut out for me!

Once the car was washed and clayed, I moved the BMW into the garage and set up a test spot. After 2 passes with my orange pad and Swirl, the paint was looking crisp and black. When the paint was finally polished, I applied a wax and left it to cure overnight.

The next day I set to vacuuming the floors, spot removing and extractions, since this too would take all day in the sun and overnight to dry completely. First I vacuumed all the carpets and realized some of the stains were set in longer than I thought, others weren’t stains, but burn marks and others would just require a little work. Next, I grabbed my solution and began to scrub the stains out of the carpets. Once the carpets had been treated with stain remover, I grabbed my extractor and started to extract all the carpets, including the floor mat. The dirty water that came out of these carpets was just amazingly dark. The car was then left in the garage overnight to dry.

The next day I pulled the car into the sun to finish drying and started cleaning and protecting the vinyl and leather. Then all that was left was to protect the black trim, clean the engine bay, waxing the wheels, dressing the tires, cleaning the windows and mirrors and wiping the wax residue off. Finally I got my after pictures taken care of and the owner came back to retrieve a cleaner car.

How do I know if my car needs to be clayed?

aspetter — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 19:06:22 +0000

The paint on your car should be smooth to the touch and not make any sound when rubbed after it has been washed. Here is an example of a car before, during and after being clayed.

Toyota Sienna

aspetter — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 17:41:07 +0000

This Toyota Sienna came to me needing a full detail with carpet extractions. After I washed and clayed the paint, I was able to see how much help the paint really needed. So I set up a tape line and polished the paint with an orange pad and medium polish to see the effects. This seemed to work well so I did this process over the entire exterior of the car. Afterwards, I waxed the paint and went to work cleaning the engine bay, wheels, tires and trim.

Once the exterior was looking good, I set to work cleaning and protecting the indoor vinyl from front to back. Next, I vacuumed the carpets and pulled the mats out to be extracted. Then I cleaned the mirrors and windows and took pictures of the Sienna.

1934 Ford Coupe

aspetter — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:05:46 +0000

This 1934 Ford Coupe was an amazing vehicle to work on, I just needed to polish all the chrome for a car show. Once the car was pulled into the garage and the engine cooled down, I immediately began working to ensure the best quality work. I started out by hand polishing all the metal in the engine bay. My small fingers allowed me to polish the hard to reach locations that may have never been polished before. After several hours of polishing in the engine, I hopped inside and started polishing the steering wheel. Due to nooks and crannies on the wheel, it alone took about an hour to polish before I could polish out the dash. When the dash was completed, I moved back outside and began to polish the extra chrome on the frame. Headlights, taillight trim, mirrors and tailpipes were easily accessible, which made the polishing process go much faster. Once all the metal was polished, I vacuumed the floor to remove any debris I drug in while working and waited for the car to be picked up.

2006 Chrysler 300

aspetter — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:05:16 +0000

This Chrysler 300 has been taken care of it since the day it was purchased, and the maintenance detail was the perfect pick-me-up it needed. The paint was very clean, so after a professional swirl free wash, I clayed the car from top to bottom to remove the bonded contaminants. About an hour later, the paint was smooth to touch again. Next I polished out some scuff marks around a deep scratch on the driver side and then it was ready for a good coat of wax to be applied, I chose a good carnuba wax that should last 4 months and provide some ultimate protection for the upcoming weather changes. After I was finished with the paint, I brought out my next set of supplies and went to work on the tires, wheels and plastic trim. The tires were sprayed with a tire protector and color-rejuvenator, the wheels were cleaned up and waxed by hand and that weathered plastic trim was restored to it’s original black with my favorite plastic trim protection.

Once the exterior was complete, it was time to move forward and start working on the interior. The owner clearly specified he did not want a shiny dash, so I chose my secondary dash cleaner-protector with a low gloss shine. It did wonders on the dash without adding the bright glare caused by most dash protection products. The vents and cracks were dusted to remove that hard-to-reach grit and the windows were cleaned with a streak-free solution. Next all the leather seats were conditioned by hand (not by towel) to get the best results. Now it was time to vacuum all the carpets and floor mats to pick up any loose sand, dirt and gravel that managed to sneak into the carpet fibers.

Testimonials

aspetter — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:38:26 +0000

Here are a few words from some of my clients from my different advertising locations:

“That MCS was super dirty from months of neglect and hard track time. Thanks Ashley for restoring the car’s shine, luster, and self-respect. =) This girl knows her stuff!” June 22, 2009

Ben – ncdetailing.com

“Ashley did a great job detailing my car. My car was in rough shape both inside and out when I first hired her, the outside hadn’t been washed in over a year and the inside hadn’t seen a detailing since I bought it several years ago. When she was finished it looked and smelled like new. Her attention to detail was amazing, every square centimeter was squeaky clean from the back taillights to the front headlights and everything in between. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her services to anyone.” March 30, 2010

Top qualities: Great Results , Expert , Good Value

Jeff – LinkedIn

“Ashley has provided for my car, on multiple occasions, the most thorough and professional detailing I have had done since I have owned the car. My 350z looks better now than it has since I took ownership of it. Ashley provided great service with a smile, and even better, at a great price. I highly recommend her detailing work and will be a customer for life.” March 26, 2010

Top qualities: Great Results , Expert , Good Value

Malcolm – LinkedIn

“Ashley’s work was phenomenal. At one point, she emailed me a picture while she was working on the car. I asked her why she sent me a picture of the sky. She had to email me back to explain that I was actually looking at a picture of my wife’s car door, which was so glossy and seamless that it looked like a mirror. Amazing.” March 26, 2010

Top qualities: Great Results , Expert , High Integrity

Russ – LinkedIn

“Ashley did an amazing job at bringing out the best in my aged auto. My car looked so clean it almost felt like it was new again. After she did the work, she provided me with a lot of detailed information on the best care for my car (many things I had never even thought of). I’ll definitely be hiring her again… soon! ” March 25, 2010

Top qualities: Great Results , Expert , Good Value

Jake – LinkedIn

2006 Harley Davidson Sportster

aspetter — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 20:41:51 +0000

This Harley was on a cross-country trip and had never been detailed before. I had to have the Harley detailed by a certain time, so the owner even helped out with some of the minor detailing. It took less than an hour to remove the swirls, scratches and holograms with an orange pad and a moderate polish. The real work came in for polishing the chrome by hand. I got help with the windshield cleaning, tire waxing and leather conditioning. When everything was cleaned up and polished out, I applied the wax and took the final pictures.

June 2010 Cars & Coffee

aspetter — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 04:20:06 +0000

On June 5th, I attended my first Cars & Coffee event at Brier Creek and saw a wide assortment of vehicles. As this was my first time at the event, I spent all my time checking out the different cars and inspecting the condition of the paint, exterior plastics and interior. Several of the car clubs were talking amongst themselves and watched as I passed by their cars looking at some the most unusual places. As beautiful as these cars were, sadly they all had their flaws. I’m not positive if the owners realize the condition of their car, but every car on the lot was complete with swirls, holograms and minor swirls that could easily be polished out. I stopped to listen to stories about restorations and installs and learned about the several different car clubs and enthusiasts. At the next Cars & Coffee event, I will bring information about OCDetailing, pictures of my work and products to show some sample work.

Here are some of the cars that caught my attention:

MINI Touch-ups and Scratch Removal

aspetter — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:20:22 +0000

This MINI came for specific work: remove boot scratches, remove door scratches, touch-up rock chips and remove the seat stain. After the rain washed the car of loose dirt, I put the MINI in the garage and clayed the areas I needed to polish. I dried the car off and put a lamp near the bonnet to dry the touch-up paint I was applying. While the paint was drying, I sprayed the stain and got my materials to hand polish the boot. With the microfiber towel and Prima Cut, I was able to polish the scratches out and get the shine back behind the door handles. Next, I agitated the stain with a brush to get the stain remover working more aggressively. Now that the touch-up paint was dry, I used a white pad and Swirl to remove the excess touch-up paint. By this time, my extractor had completely heated and was ready to extract the seat and remove the stain; I extracted the entire lower cushion to prevent the seat from having just 1 clean spot and put the MINI outside to dry in the sun. Not long after the sun started heating up, the rain came back and prevented the seat from drying. I couldn’t get a 2nd look at the seat as it was still damp when the owner arrived and would have to finish at another time. A few days later, the MINI was back and I completed another 2-3 rounds of stain removal to get the stain out for good. The sun was playing games again, so I had to use my work light to dry the seat after each pass with the extractor.

Kia Optima Carpet Cleaning

aspetter — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:59:57 +0000

With stains galore, there was a lot of work that had to be done. First, all the carpet mats were vacuumed to reveal the full damage and a stain remover was sprayed onto the stains. After 10 minutes the stains were agitated and I began shampooing the mats until I got the ‘clean’ I was looking for. Then, I extracted the mats to remove the dirty water, hard stains and grit and left them to dry before putting them back into the car.