Documenting "Operation S4 - Detail and Protect" from Start to Finish

[bhvrdr]

You guys make me feel as though I am extremely undeserving and neglectful of my car. Nice work on your car OP!

I'm guessing I know where you all stand on the local $5 washes.

Mike

[ptper]

I'm by no means an expert, but here are some things that I like:

Foam cannon is great, but I'm too lazy to bust out the pressure washer, plus it's a little noisy even for me let alone my neighbors, lol. Now, I just use the Adam's gun, there's a range of thickness settings and you can just use a regular garden hose with it. This works great for the pre-wash bath.

For the wheels, I use the Sonax stuff. I use wheel woolies, but lately they've become burdensome on the forearms (ha) and don't get everything off. I actually just purchased a wheel mitt from amazon, planning to use this weekend.

Agree with everyone on the two-bucket wash.

Detail spray is your friend. I like the Adam's stuff. For misting after the rinse (right before drying), and anywhere thereafter.

For drying, the uber super drying microfiber towel is the best I've used hands down. The name suggests it's an over-the-top description. It's not, imo. You can also get an air blaster, but I don't have the patience myself, i like to keep moving! Sheet rinsing helps too.

To be honest, I just went to detailing forum on this site, where the owner of Detailer's Domain (Phil) sponsors and occasionally answers questions, to get tips and recommendations. But, it was watching his YouTube videos is where I really learned how seriously I had to step up my game, ha. Just watching those over and over served as a tutorial for me. Highly recommend checking them out.

He hasn't done many recent ones, the ones that are over a year ago, were the best

https://www.youtube.com/user/detailersdomain/videos

[s4buckeye]

Completely false and arbitrary statements

https://www.detailersdomain.com/coll...r-drying-towel

That is the best drying towel I have used to date, and Ive tried a lot of shit.

Also, if you are washing/drying incorrectly then you will degrade the ability of your towels much faster. The only benefit to a chamois is that it can be rung out and reused as opposed to needing a new dry waffle weave. Also, a chamois will retain dirt much easier (with not many places for it to hide except right on the surface of the towel) and then before long you are undoing all your precious hard work.



+1

thanks for the info, but I have used them and they suck. that's enough for me.

get the CG or DD big microfiber towels and skip the waffle weave.



you're welcome.

[ThatOneDude]

Just placed this order on adamspolishes.com with AUG15 15% off code

[FliGi7]

Good deal.

[ptper]

Or you can add this baby to your arsenal

[ThatOneDude]

Well folks I have applied 2 coats of the CarPro Leather Coating to the front passenger seat and front driver seat. Unfortunately I don't have a single drop of the product left after coating the 2 front seats twice each (and I put one coating on the door handle + red inserts plus 2 coatings on the center console armrest.)

To be honest I was hoping to complete the entire interior with one bottle. I recall reading from several people that they actually had left over after 2 coats of their leather front and back.

In fairness though, the S4 seats up front are almost entirely covered by leather. Even the back of the sport seats are almost fully leather, so I think the S4 has more leather real estate than many other cars.

At any rate... I first cleaned them very well with Dr Beasley's Fine Leather Cleanser, then wiped all surfaces again with a damp MF cloth, then wiped all surfaces again with a dry MF cloth to remove all possible cleanser residue.

Then coated every inch of leather surface on the front, back, sides of both front seats. Waited an hour. Then applied a second coating to every inch once again to ensure full coverage.

Overall I think it is a really nice product in the sense that it leaves the leather feeling factory new and very supple and "leathery" to the touch. I was really concerned at how the seats would feel after the coating but I am happy to say that they feel really excellent!

I suppose I will have to get a second bottle now for the back seats :(

Lots of pics to follow. Just wanted to provide a quick update!

[pdqgp]

Few recommendations from washing my cars the last 15-20 years:

• Definitely use a second bucket/grit guard
• Get a second mit for cleaning the lower half of the car, or get a big "uber" mit for the top half of the car. You don't want to use the same mit for the top half and bottom, dirtier half
• Didn't see wheel cleaning tools or chemicals
• Is that drying towel a chamois? Don't use those, they cause scratches big time
• Use quick detailer spray before wiping with microfibers, helps lube the paint/water for swirl and spot free drying, especially for windows
• I would just use only citrus wash only for detailing washes, as I understand it is not pH neutral and will cut into the top coat more if you use it for maintenance washes
• Wash and rinse in between polishing and wax/sealing
• You are going to need A LOT more microfiber towels than that

^^ lots of good stuff here.

They key for me is to always use clean microfiber towels and when drying, I spray detail mist on the towel each time as in the video shown here. As the towel gets wet, I just wring it out and respray and wipe. I use three microfiber towels for each wash. One for the hood, roof and trunk, then I use that one for the rocker panels. A second and third are used for the remainder of the car, one for each half.

[ThatOneDude]

Leather Cleanse + Coating - Part 1

Dr Beasley's Leather Cleanser - 5 step process

Spray on
Light scrub/rub
Wipe off
Damp MF cloth to remove residue
Dry MF cloth

Driver's Seat



Look closely at the discoloration and grime on the red leather


Before




After




Before




After



Passenger Seat




CarPro Leather Coating

Passenger Seat




Driver Seat




After 2 coats - Comparison shots: same angles as the above before/after being cleaned, but here with the leather coating




Grain and feel is still very nice after 2 coats. Does not feel greasy or tacky at all.




Front seats all finished with 2 coats each




PRODUCT REVIEWS

Dr Beasley's Cleanser: Really nice. Easy to use. Cleaned the leather very well and wiped away with virtually no residue. Overall I am perfectly pleased with this product. Not really much else to say. Recommended.

CarPro Leather Coating: End result is quite nice. Application is a little tiresome and once again (similar to the Nano Resin application) the loose suede applicator can't possibly be the best way to do this. It doesn't stay in place for more than 10 seconds at a time. CONSTANT re-adjustment. Why not just attach the suede cloth to the foam applicator and provide maybe 3 applicators with the package. I only used 2 tiny suede cloths in total and neither were even remotely soiled or unusable after 2 coats. I HIGHLY recommend that these companies making these nano coatings available for DIY home use switch to providing an attached suede cloth. Charge another $5 if they have to. It would be worth it.

Application: The product goes on easy enough, but it's definitely a good idea to keep an eye on the coating a few minutes after it's applied to look for any uneven coating and use the larger cloths to gently wipe away excess and smooth out the overlaps.

The smell: The best way I can describe it is that it smells just like puzzle glue that I used years ago to glaze overtop a puzzle to keep it together. It's not exactly a pleasant scent, but it's also not awful by any stretch. I used gloves, but I did not use a face mask and honestly I never felt the need to.

Complaint: The biggest disappointment is that the bottle was definitely not enough the coat front and rear seats with 2 coats. One coat all the way around.. sure. But almost everything I read recommended at least 2 coats. Having to pony up for another kit is not really exciting, but if I must then I will. I may contact CarPro to see if I can buy just the bottle. I don't need another applicator and I don't need any more cloths so maybe I can get some kind of discount on the second bottle.

update --> I contacted CarPro and they added this product to their Labor Day sale for me so I bought a second bottle for 30% off. They said some leathers absorb more and some absorb less. I guess the S4 Nappa leather is very thirsty!

The end result: Very nice. I'm pleased with the look and feel of the leather. Feels factory and that's exactly what I was hoping for. Not sure how they pulled this off. Of course I have no idea about the long term (or even short term) performance yet, but at this point, I will say that I am pleased with the product overall and I'm glad I took the time to do this.

Thanks for looking

[14S4GWM]

Looks amazing, what a transformation. Great job.

[FliGi7]

Just by the looks of the pictures, the coating looks to add a bit more shine than I care to add on my seats. Of course, pictures can be deceiving. Regardless, the seats obviously benefitted greatly from both the cleaning and protection. Great documentation of the process as well.

As an aside, I nearly always use a soft fingernail brush or boar's hair brush to clean my seats. It provides really useful and easy agitation of the surface that is needed to lift most of the grime out of it without having to overwork yourself with shorter nap materials (MF towels or a sponge applicator). I know a lot of cleaners call for the sponge applicator, so just take this FWIW. Just another method to try that could save some time and effort, especially for very dirty seats.

[ThatOneDude]

Just by the looks of the pictures, the coating looks to add a bit more shine than I care to add on my seats. Of course, pictures can be deceiving. Regardless, the seats obviously benefitted greatly from both the cleaning and protection. Great documentation of the process as well.

As an aside, I nearly always use a soft fingernail brush or boar's hair brush to clean my seats. It provides really useful and easy agitation of the surface that is needed to lift most of the grime out of it without having to overwork yourself with shorter nap materials (MF towels or a sponge applicator). I know a lot of cleaners call for the sponge applicator, so just take this FWIW. Just another method to try that could save some time and effort, especially for very dirty seats.

Yah pics can be deceiving for sure. It's just the flash from my iphone. They are not shiny at all. In fact, you can't even tell I did anything. (other than that they are clean as a whistle now)

But yah there is absolutely zero shine effect in person. I should have taken a pic with no flash. It's almost as if I have to just have faith that the coating is there lol