3D One

[Kitzy]

Mike,

BTW, I'd love to come down and detail your new truck. As soon as I get through re-arranging my sock drawer, polishing my driveway, re-arranging my stereo wires and a few other things, I'll give you a call.  But seriously, if you were only a little closer ...

This damn dirt road is killing me.  I can’t even get to the end of the road without it being trashed.  And holy crap do dually fenders accumulate dirt.


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[Too Stroked]

I had four really nice cars in a row to detail the last few days at work. You know what that means right? Yup, today a 2018 RAV4 rolled into my bay with one of my favorite colors. I forget what Toyota calls it, but Candy Apple Red would cover it quite nicely. The vehicle was a lease return with only 26,000 miles on it, but it looked a little rough before I washed it. It looked even rougher after I washed it. How rough? The hood was pretty representative of the vehicle if not a little worse. How's this? (Make sure you click on the pics to enlarge them.)







I swear, I'm not making this crap up. People actually return leased vehicles in this kind of shape.

Since I really, really like the color - and the fact that this particular RAV4 is a very desirable trim level, I elected to really wail on it. I took two full (4 way) passes with Menzerna 400 on a Hex Logic Cutting pad followed by another two full passes with 3D One on the same kind of pad. I ended up going through 3 pads just on the hood! Although it didn't turn out perfect, I think this looks a tiny bit better. Your thoughts?

[Kitzy]

Wow that hood is wrecked!  But what a great color.  I’m not a fan of most reds but I like that.  Awesome turn around!  Sounds like it will be another quick sale. 


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[Blown F-150]

Looks like someone loved the auto car wash! Very nice turn around


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[Too Stroked]

Thanks guys! I finished this one up this morning and discovered some more interesting handy work from the previous owner. This was the right rear quarter panel before and after. Words fail me.





After a total of 4 1/2 hours, here's what rolled onto the used car lot. Not perfect, but one hell of a lot more attractive than what I started with.

[Kitzy]

Looks like someone loved the auto car wash! Very nice turn around


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I was thinking atleast they kept it clean.  Probably very clean.  Looks like it was washed A LOT!  Haha


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[Blown F-150]

Tom, I may have missed it. What size of pad are you using with all those curves on the Rav 4? Can you get in there pretty well with a 5" pad?

[Too Stroked]

Tom, I may have missed it. What size of pad are you using with all those curves on the Rav 4? Can you get in there pretty well with a 5" pad?

I actually use mostly 6" pads. I only have a few 5" and very rarely seem to need them. In fact for this generation RAV4, the 6" work much better - even with all of the curves.

[Blown F-150]

Good to know. I’m always worried about ridges and high spots with larger pads.


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[Too Stroked]

Think every new car that rolls off the transporter is perfect and just needs a wash prior to delivery? Well, that's the plan, but sometimes things don't go according to plan. I was detailing a used car in my bay while one of my co-workers was prepping a brand new Army Green Tacoma for delivery. He was washing the hood when he said, "Um, Tom, you better take a look at this." I went over and found this:



What we have here is a situation where something on the transporter was rubbing on the hood. (This is the driver side, but there was a slightly less ugly matching mess on the passenger side.) My guess is that it was from a piece of fabric, possibly an orange flag that they sometimes place on cross members. Ugh. Oh, and it was 11 AM and the truck was due for delivery to the customer at 3 PM. Time to get to work.

As bad as it looked, I couldn't feel anything really bad with my fingernail, so there was hope. I started with a Hex Logic pad on the Flex with the Menzerna 400 Heavy Cut Compound. It took about 90% of the defects out. I then stepped down to an Orange LC pad on the Flex with 3D One. Here's what the same area looked like a bit later:



Score one for the good guys. The truck was delivered on time and in perfect shape. Whew!

[sscully]

Nice.
I always wondered how much damage is from the train / transport truck and how much is induced by most prep guys washing with one bucket and a wash mitt from the Reagan administration that is dropped on the floor two times per day...

[Kitzy]

Wow that’s rough.  Looks like someone wet sanded it.  Nice save!


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[Too Stroked]

Today's "save." This is a 2018 RAV4 with 26,000 leased miles on it. It's also the most stripped RAV4 I've ever seen. Cloth interior, wheel covers, manual seats and even no roof rack side rails. Yea, this one had nothing on it and very little going for it. The special bonus was the area around the driver's door. Apparently the person who drove this had a very large ring of keys or something. The paint was chipped to hell on the leading edge of the back door and the B pillar area inside the door actually had a bunch of small dents in it. And of course the paint was removed at the center of the dents too. Oh, and did I mention that it was washed with a rake?  Yea, I got through washing this one and pretty well wrote it off. The interior was dirty, but virtually everything came off with the vacuum.

So you would think that I've been doing this for long enough to know enough to take proper before and after shots right? Well, I have this nasty habit of not taking before pics of anything I have no hope for. And as I mentioned, I had no hope for this one. That said, I also had some new polish products from our local Detailing Supply house that they wanted me to try. Hell, what could I mess up? So I have no before pics, but trust me, it was bad.

The main product I tried on this one was a Heavy Cut Polish from a company called Pace. (I'd never heard of them.) But seeing that I had 3 free sample bottles of various polishes from them, I figured this would be a great test vehicle. I used this product on every panel (on brand new Hex Logic pads) and was reasonably impressed. The hood however posed special challenges because it was so bad. I ended up going back to the Menzerna Heavy Cut 400 - and 3 full passes - because it was so hammered.

How did it come out? Well the Pace polish cut pretty damn well and finished out very nicely. It wiped off very easily - something the 3D One is not famous for. The vehicle as a whole looked a ton better. In fact when I rolled it outside, it looked damn decent - except for all of the brush touch up work I was forced to do. Do you think this might sell though?

[Kitzy]

Still loving that color.  I have this love for maroon and dark red especially with a little metallic.  It looks good and I’m sure even with a few flaws it will probably sell.  Your average joe just looks at the whole package and if it looks eye catching then they are sold. 

You said wheel covers but those look like regular wheels.


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[Too Stroked]

You said wheel covers but those look like regular wheels.

Steel wheels with plastic wheel covers. I don't care for them much. I like the alloy wheels much better.