First Ever Detail - 1996 Hyundai Elantra

[InFrA]

Hi guys,

I have had this car since my 18th birthday(2002), I always do my best to keep it neat and tidy but have never really gone into too much detail when it comes to looking after the paint. But its 13 years old now and requires that little bit of extra TLC.

So over to the detail, In the past I have always been the type to give my car a wash every weekend and a polish once every couple of months(4-6). Recently though, I noticed that my bonnet was going... yellow/hazy? But it was only noticable under certain light conditions. The finnish also seemed sticky somehow.

After chatting to Calypso and getting a lot of good advice, I ordered a bunch of products from Poor-Boys (Thanks Don for the excellent service).

So I started with a wash, using Meguires Deep Crystal Car Wash, follwed by clay, another wash, dry, Mothers Pre Wax Cleaner (made the bonnet white again!), Mothers Sealer & Glaze, Meguires Gold Class wax(Still have lots left), and finally Meguires Ultimate Quick Detailer.


The two Chemical Guys sample bottles in front (complimentary from Don for my patience with the suppliers regarding my microfiber towels) Will be used for another detail in the not too distant future... They are a Chemical guys wash and some Butter Wet Wax.

The rest of the "tools", two applicators and 6 microfibers courtesy of Poor Boys once again.


Now the detail. I took pictures during the entire process... it took me all day basically, 10am til 6pm... what a day.

Before the wash




After the wash


Bonnet before Clay.


I realised the clay doesnt seem to do much more than make the paintwork smoother, I thought it would help with the colour a bit too, but that was all down to the cleaner.

As you can see in the picture with the reflection of the light, its hazy where I did not apply cleaner, and bright where I applied cleaner.

After Cleaner and Glaze







And the final result, after the Gold Class wax and Ultimate Quick Detailer. I left the car in garage overnight for the UQD do cure for 12 hours...




Very happy with the reflections and... look... no swirl marks!





Some more reflections









Thats it, I am very happy with the results of my first detail, learnt a lot... I discovered a few areas where I could of spent more time, but I will cover those areas in future, the main point was the bonnet, which came out very good.
Thanks again to Calypso for your advice and Don from Poor-boys for the great service and products.

Next victim... Moms new Getz 1.6 High Spec

[calypso]

Great work for a first attempt. White is so unrewarding but it really looks like it has brought the life back into that paint, much more luster.

[Carn]

Very nice work and a great 1st attempt InFra, look forward to seeing how you get along with the Getz. The metallic blue should come out fantastic and will show off your hard work alot better than the white one. White cars are unfortunately very unrewarding as far as seeing hours of hard work but you can clearly see the difference it has made to your car

Edit to add : Sorry forgot to say welcome to the forum

[InFrA]

Thanks man, appreciate it... looking foward to tackling moms car next. I think its going to come out very nicely especially that colour.

[MeTsU]

Well done InFrA! It's good to have another keen bean on board.

[freerider]

Man, those are some nice handjob results

The butter wet wax will work really well on the gets! It really does a great job on darker colours.

Do you have fish tanks with plants by any chance? I see the reflection of a 15000k globe

[InFrA]

Thanks for all the comments. Positive comments always make you feel like you did a gr8 job even more... like a pat on the back.

Don, nope, no fishtanks, those are the garage lights, I think the tubes came from the family business, manufacture commercial refridgeration units, Display Cabinets, underbars, coldrooms etc...

[Carn]

Who do you work for InFra, we manufacture refrigeration and air con coils up here in Joburg ?

[InFrA]

Well, I suppose it was the family business, right before my father passed away earlier this year he pulled out due to medical reasons and I kinda went into IT, so the other half of the family still runs it.

Company is Freezepoint Services CC

[Carn]

Ah ok, haven't heard of you guys. Where are you based btw ?

**Sorry for the hijack**

[InFrA]

Hehe no prob. If you manufacture coils, then you probably supply companies like Reco, Kovco etc... who would then supply us...

Based in Port Elizabeth

http://www.freezepoint.co.za

[springbok]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your first detail. Very nice post and good pics to back it up. Just shows how much can be achieved by hand with plenty of time, patience and correct application. Looking forward to seeing how Mum's car turns out.

[rustbucket]

Really looks good. White may not have the depth of a black car but when it properly cleaned you certainly can see it.

[Carn]

Ah yes, Reco, Kovco, etc all wholesale our units