Some pictures of my Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero after I did detailing work yesterday.
Excuse the quality of the images, it’s 50 C/122 F outside and I very quickly took these shots to post. Still, I wanted to take the photos in direct sunlight. There is some dust on the paintwork, as it’s a dusty day but it isn’t too bad. It took me just over 14 hours to do this, and it was also a bit dark to take pictures when I was done last night.
I’m not going to be doing any exterior detailing on my Grand Marquis just yet, as I’m taking it in for a complete bare metal respray soon. I used a paint thickness meter and it has been painted to touch up on imperfections in certain areas and the quality of craftsmanship is very low for my liking.
Started off by washing the truck twice, using four times the recommended strength of Sonax Auto Shampoo and a hint of dish washing detergent. By the end of it, the paint looked rather dull. Next, I clayed every panel twice until they felt as close to “smooth as glass” as possible (used a sandwich bag as a ‘glove’ to help). After the second round, I was not satisfied and reckoned a third round would not make a big difference. So my next step was wet sanding, starting with 2,000 grit sandpaper and then moving onto 3,000 grit as a final round. Washed the truck again, using the recommended dose of Auto Shampoo as a final step.
Next step was 3M Perfect-It Rubbing compound, followed by an application of 3M Scratch Remover using my Makita Orbital Polisher. Did this three times until I achieved the results I wanted. Afterwards I applied Meguiar’s Polymer Sealant 20 twice. Final step was to wash the truck again and apply Meguiar’s Quik Detailer. Didn’t want to use any carnauba, as it’s too hot and when there’s any sand blowing it sticks right to paint. Not that Quik Detailer’s any better, but it was pretty much the cherry on top of the cake. Here are the results. There are some minor chips in certain areas, but it’s a 10 year old vehicle with 320,000 km (200,000 miles) on the clock and a daily driver, so it’s not going to be perfect. Good news is except the hood and bumper area behind the right rear mud guard, it's all factory paint.
I’m not going to be doing any exterior detailing on my Grand Marquis just yet, as I’m taking it in for a complete bare metal respray soon. I used a paint thickness meter and it has been painted to touch up on imperfections in certain areas and the quality of craftsmanship is very low for my liking.
Started off by washing the truck twice, using four times the recommended strength of Sonax Auto Shampoo and a hint of dish washing detergent. By the end of it, the paint looked rather dull. Next, I clayed every panel twice until they felt as close to “smooth as glass” as possible (used a sandwich bag as a ‘glove’ to help). After the second round, I was not satisfied and reckoned a third round would not make a big difference. So my next step was wet sanding, starting with 2,000 grit sandpaper and then moving onto 3,000 grit as a final round. Washed the truck again, using the recommended dose of Auto Shampoo as a final step.
Next step was 3M Perfect-It Rubbing compound, followed by an application of 3M Scratch Remover using my Makita Orbital Polisher. Did this three times until I achieved the results I wanted. Afterwards I applied Meguiar’s Polymer Sealant 20 twice. Final step was to wash the truck again and apply Meguiar’s Quik Detailer. Didn’t want to use any carnauba, as it’s too hot and when there’s any sand blowing it sticks right to paint. Not that Quik Detailer’s any better, but it was pretty much the cherry on top of the cake. Here are the results. There are some minor chips in certain areas, but it’s a 10 year old vehicle with 320,000 km (200,000 miles) on the clock and a daily driver, so it’s not going to be perfect. Good news is except the hood and bumper area behind the right rear mud guard, it's all factory paint.
