2011 Explorer- Opti Guarded

[Flawless Reflections]

This vehicle belongs to my Physiotherapist. He got it new in the fall. I quoted him for a one step for paint and OG for paint, wheels and glass. This was exterior only. We have a billion dollar construction project underway to build a new bridge to connect Canada and the US, so some of our local roads are literally a mud-bath (minus the hot chicks in bikinis!). That stuff is just plain nasty to remove from the paint. Unfortunately, his work is right smack in that area so it will be a good test for the OG to see how it stands up to that abuse. (I know it will do just fine!).

 

Here's the condition as it arrived. Thankfully the bird bomb was not a permanent etch and there was one chip to fill in. Actually I found several more and did them all.

 

 

 

 

CHIP:

 

 

 

BIRD BOMB:

 

 

WHEEL AREA:

 

 

 

 

OTHER AREAS:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He specifically showed me the areas under the doors and beneath them and the body. They were filthy.

 

 

 

 

WHEELS/WELLS/BARRELS/TIRES:

 

The tires were the biggest challenge here. This is the first time that Zep Purple did not completely remove all dirt from the tires. I had to go back over them and I used ARO at 100%! That did it although it was still not perfect, but much, much better.

The barrels got Tarminator sprayed in dry and allowed to dwell while I did the wells which got Zep Citrus and agitated with a long handled brush.

The tires were done as mentioned while the barrels soaked in Tarminator. Then the barrels had ZC sprayed into them and agitated and pw'd off. The faces were also done with ZC.

 

The door jam bottom area was power washed with the machine turned off so it was a concentrated, yet gentle spray so as not to soak everything around. It was then sprayed down with ZC and washed with a demoted wash mitt and a separated bucket of 901 and then rinsed. I used a wheel woolie to get into nooks and crannies.

 

Next up was the vehicle wash. First was an extensive rinse using the power washer to try to strip as much of the sticky mud off as possible. It was then foamed with a strong mix of 901 and Dawn and allowed to dwell. I then power washed that off and did a wash with a similar soap mix. Finally it was clean. This process took me over 2 hours. I've usually clayed by this point!

 

 

 

The vehicle was then brought inside wet to clay with Riccardo yellow. I used the MB to blast off the wheels, tires and wells prior to starting to clay. ONR was used as clay lube and then the vehicle was wiped down wit ONR prior to being dried. Now up to 4 hours by this point.

 

The paint was pretty good really. It needed a fine polish. Here's the condition after clay:

 

 

 

PAINT POLISHING:

 

This was going to be a one step, so I needed something gentle on this soft paint, and yet something that would make the paint "pop". I first tried Menz FG500 and a yellow B/S pad. Too harsh. I then tried it with a white B/S pad....naah...still not good enough. Then back to tried and true: M205 with a green B/S pad...BINGO!! Lovely clarity and finished down beautifully. There were a few areas with some heavier scratches (nothing terrible) that got M105/yellow B/S prior.

The paint was then ONR'd followed by ERASER to prepare for the OG. The paint, glass and chrome was then treated to OG. It took a while (I'm guessing about 2 hours) to do the OG on it. Took longer than normal for me, but I was being very careful to avoid any high spots as this mirror finish black showed everything. Worth the effort though I think.

 

Here's a shot of the reflection after polishing only:

 

 

 

WHEELS/TIRES:

 

The wheels got wiped down with ERASER and then treated to OG. The tires were treated with DP Tire gel. The wells were sprayed down with Megs HD and then wiped down.

 

TRIM:

 

The trim was treated with UTTG.

[Flawless Reflections]

INSIDE AFTERS:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OUTSIDE AFTERS:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see it was just starting to spit rain as I pulled it out. It was a race to get the pics in time.

 

 

 

 

 

CHIP REPAIR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking. Just shy of 12 hours total. Comments appreciated.

[Perfections Detail]

Great job as usual Richy

[Impressive Image Detailing]

You did an outstanding job on making the Explorer look like black glass Richy.

 

Prop's to you my friend

[Impressive Image Detailing]

OPT needs to come out with version of Eraser,not to get off the subject

[Joel Blake]

They are...