{"id":2845,"date":"2013-05-21T08:11:33","date_gmt":"2013-05-21T15:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/?p=2845"},"modified":"2015-03-04T15:44:47","modified_gmt":"2015-03-04T23:44:47","slug":"ultimate-28-hour-new-car-detailing-toyota-tacoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/2845\/ultimate-28-hour-new-car-detailing-toyota-tacoma\/","title":{"rendered":"Ultimate 28-Hour New Car Detailing – RallyWays Toyota Tacoma TRD"},"content":{"rendered":"
I have been studying professional detailing carefully on my own in my spare time. I have learned that brand new car detailing is as important as detailing a car that seemingly might need it more. I have friends that drive Ferraris and other super cars whose brains I have been picking to learn their secrets for car care. I have also spent countless hours reading tutorials, reviews and articles about pro auto detailing, mainly for high-end cars. There is a big difference between the instructions for off-the-shelf products at O-Reilly’s and the products and techniques used by the true car show detailing aficionados.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n The great thing about this feature is that the techniques and products I used to detail this new $30,000 truck are the same procedures used to detail a $300,000 super car.<\/p>\n The only thing this detail did not include was paint correction and swirl-removal. The truck is brand new, and it did not sit at the dealership long enough to get washed and scratched. Additionally, I asked the dealer not to wash or detail the truck when they delivered it to me. So basically, I received it as they got it from the ship with plastics, shipping waxes and stickers all over the thing. The truck is white, which shows swirls much less than darker colors. But trust me, there weren\u2019t any.<\/p>\n Let’s start with the steps for this project.<\/strong><\/p>\n I carefully selected all the products used after many hours of research. I have already written an intro article describing all the products to be used in this project in detail. You can find the article here: Best Car Detailing Products<\/a><\/p>\n The process used to detail this Toyota Tacoma TRD is pretty much the same process I recommend in my Car Detailing Process page – albeit with a few adjustments to suit this particular project’s needs.<\/p>\n The wash<\/strong><\/p>\n The initial wash of the truck is pretty straightforward. I use the 2-bucket method as well as 2 microfiber sponges. What I do is I first soak the truck with water to start the process of loosening the dirt while I work on mixing the solutions for the wash. Normally, I would use a quality car washing solution like Meguiar\u2019s Ultimate Wash & Wax, which won’t strip the wax. But because I’m starting at the very beginning, with a new vehicle, I want any unknown wax off. So I wash it with Dawn dish detergent – Very good at stripping wax.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n After preparing one of the buckets with the solution of Dawn soap and the other with clean fresh water for rinsing the sponges, I then “foam” the truck. Since I don’t have a foamer on hand, I simply make sure to make lots of suds and pick them up with the sponge. I then spread all these suds over the vehicle by squeezing the sponge without ever touching the paint. I sometimes go through an entire bucket doing this first.<\/p>\n Spreading the suds all over the car first helps loosen the dirt before you even touch the car. This goes a long way in preventing swirl marks and surface scratches when washing.<\/p>\n Before I start with the paint however, I wash the wheels and tires. I have a dedicated bucket, sponge, washcloth and brush for this process. And of course, the dirty water must be thrown out and NEVER used for the paint itself. I like to have the car covered in suds during the 15 minutes it takes me to clean the wheels and tires. All the while, the suds are working for me in loosening up the dirt. Note, this must be done in the shade. If you have no shade, you need to work faster and just keep water on the vehicle’s paint. No suds until you’re ready to work on it. Otherwise, the sun will dry all the suds on the paint and stain it.<\/p>\n After this is done I start from the top down and clean one section at a time. I always clean the sponge in the rinsing bucket before I go and pick up more clean soap. The reason I have 2 sponges for the paint is because the bottom sections of the vehicle (waist down) are usually dirtier than the top. I don’t like to use the main sponge for the bottom sections of the car, to help keep it cleaner. This does not take into account the extra sponge, wash cloth and brush that I only use for the wheels.<\/p>\n Having finished the wash and sprayed the truck down with a garden hose I’m almost ready to dry. Before that however, I have a neat little trick. I remove the nozzle off the hose so that I’m able to sheet water off the vehicle, top to bottom in sections. This prevents having a million water droplets on top of the car and makes drying much easier and safer. It\u2019s safer because you have to touch the paint less.<\/p>\n Drying<\/strong><\/p>\n I like to use a blower for most of the drying process. This helps me avoid touching the paint and reduce swirls. You need an electric blower for this. Don’t use a gas one. Many gas blowers exhaust right through the blower itself and will spit oils all over your car. So, electric only. A leaf blower is fine, but a dedicated heating blower is even better as it will dry much faster and better. Mine is non-heating, so I have to finish off the drying job with a pair of large and fluffy microfiber towels<\/a>. The first one takes care of the bigger sections, while the second one is used for odds and ends.<\/p>\n Since I will be working on a full detail, I don’t want water to be coming out of the crevices as I ‘m working. So, I make sure to blow all the water I can out of the little crevices. But because I’ll be claying first, it will be pretty much completely dry by the time I’m ready to add wax.<\/p>\n I like to use an actual chamois, instead of microfiber for the door jams and the edges of the engine bay and trunk (tailgate in this case). I find the chamois gets really dirty, but cleans much better than the microfiber towels when you put them in the washer.<\/p>\n Clay Paint<\/strong><\/p>\n It’s now time to clay the paint in order to get it ready for protection. Clay bar for cars<\/a> is the best way to clean the paint and prep it for polishing. I’m sure you will ask, “But, why clay the paint if it’s a new car?” or “Should I clay bar a new car?” The answer is YES.<\/p>\n In fact, there’s no better time to clay the paint than when the vehicle is new and you are preparing it for protection for the next few years. Cars arrive kind of dirty from the factory. Meaning, the paint is crazy contaminated. There’s contamination from the shipping process, rail dust stuck in the paint pores and all kinds of grime from packing materials, tape and stickers.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The minute you start claying the paint, you’ll notice just how dirty it really is. In this particular case, it’s a truck that had not even been at the dealership for more than 2 weeks. Most new cars sit around much longer than that before they are bought, so they’ll obviously be worse.<\/p>\n I used Meguiar\u2019s Smooth Surface Clay Kit for the job and it was satisfactory. For the clay bar lubricant, I used Meguiar\u2019s Quik Detailer for part of the job, but also tried Chemical Guys Synthetic Quick Detailer. Both were absolutely fine for the job. However, in the future, I’d like to try a slightly more aggressive clay than the standard Meg’s stuff. No big deal though.<\/p>\n I had 2 bars of clay. It’s a big truck, not one of my Miatas, and I found the first bar to get quite dirty 2\/3’s of the way through the job. So, I broke out the second clay bar near the end. The first bar I relegated to use for the glass, lamps, chrome bumpers, doorjambs, tailgate and hood gutters. Then I put it away to further relegate it for claying the wheels. After that, it was pretty much trash. The second bar was clean enough to see another detailing day in the future.<\/p>\n Prep<\/strong><\/p>\n After claying the white truck and wiping off any excess with quick detailer I got ready to prep for paint sealant. By then, the day was coming to an end, but I wanted to at least apply the first layer of protection. Doing this today would allow me to call it a day and leave the truck in the garage to let the synthetic paint sealant cure for 12 hours.<\/p>\n Some guys like to wash the vehicle again after claying. I personally don’t think this is necessary unless you’re pushing the 28-hour detail up into the 30’s. Since my quick detailer has no additives, I find it to leave no residue. Otherwise, a good cleaner sprits is a good idea to get the paint ready for protection.<\/p>\n Inspect and polish<\/strong><\/p>\n Before going crazy on wax, to follow my car detailing procedure, at this time I must inspect the paint closely to decide if it needs polishing or not. Most of the time, a bit of polish can go a long way, but you also don’t want to polish every time you do an extended detail job. Polishing removes paint or clearcoat, and you only have so much of that until you cut through it.<\/p>\n At this point, you can measure the paint thickness if you have one of those fancy paint thickness meters and decide how to proceed. The truck is new, so the paint is nice and thick. It’s white and new. Shining a strong LED light on it reveals very little to be concerned about. I decide no polish is needed so I’m skipping this step. Plus. I’m aiming at a 30-hour project at the most. Including paint correction is this project would likely make it a 40-hour ordeal. That I’m reserving for the next project. So I move on.<\/p>\n Paint protection<\/strong><\/p>\n Ok, now comes the big deal in the detailing project. Also, the hardest part of the job, but the one I like the most. The RallyWays Taco is a daily driver and doesn’t get detailed every week like the garage queens. It will be washed once a month and waxed once every 2 months. It needs more protection than your average coat of carnauba can offer. Because of this, I’m applying a synthetic paint sealant instead of carnauba wax. Polymer synthetic sealants last longer and protect better than regular car wax. However, they don’t look as pretty. For that reason, this time around I’m testing the method of layering wax over sealed paint.<\/p>\n I had planned to span this project over Saturday and Sunday and then finish it off working Monday night. Unfortunately, Sunday brought a little bit of rain, so I had to work most of the time inside a tiny garage. This slowed me down quite a bit. Needless to say, the project wasn’t completed until Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n My choice of paint sealant for the job was Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0<\/a> at $40 for the 16oz bottle. Before applying the sealant, or any wax for that matter, I mask off plastic trim that can easily get contaminated with wax using 3M blue painter’s tape. This goes a long way in keeping black trim looking black.<\/p>\n\n