My first car was my stepmom's old 99 monte carlo. I loved it, mostly just because of the sentimental value of being my first car. It's always been well taken care of, my stepmom kept it pretty clean. I neglected it a little bit cleaning wise, but kept everything in terms of maintenance in check. Washing was basic wash with some generic car wash and dry off. It was waxed probably once a year. My stepmom had this car since it had about 5 miles on it, so it's pretty much been a one owner car.

Well, since I've had the crossfire I've become obsessed with really cleaning a car. Through here and some friends (thanks max, this is all your fault ) I really learned how to do it. I had to leave the crossfire back home because I toasted the tires on it and can't afford new ones yet, and I brought the old monte carlo back.

Over the last couple of weeks, I did a lot of cleaning on it.

This is last weekend after I washed it twice, clayed it, and put two layers of wax on it.

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And today I cleaned out the engine compartment. That was a lot of work. I don't think it had ever been cleaned since it was bought. Spent a couple hours last weekend and about 5 today. It was absolutely filthy. It was a lot of work, but it came out very nice.

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So, my old baby is looking pretty good.

Can you guess how many miles it has on it? 186,589 and a half. Still runs like brand new.

 

Nice job - maybe you should do a little detailing on the side to get the money for the new tires!

 

Young man, I am very impressed. Very.

 

me too.......... nice job

 

Nice job there lama. Detailing can be addictive. I recently gave my mom's white Buick a full day detail job. She's 82 years old so it was a "present".

BTW, don't forget the tires.

 

Yeah, nice shiny car and the tires are brown.

Somehow in my entire cabinet of cleaning stuff I didn't have any shiny tire stuff. I'll probably go get that tomorrow.

Friend of mine has a very well abused red mustang GT that I may detail. It's a swirled mess though, so I think I will buy a orbital polisher before I even attempt it. It's got a large section down the side where he hit something or another and it took all of the paint off of whatever he hit and put it on the car. I think most of it can be buffed out, but it's definitely not going to happen by hand.

Anybody got a used meguiar's polisher they want to sell, for preferably a low price.

 

Before you put the tire shine on, you need to clean the dirt off. If you don't have any tire/wheel cleaner, grab a bottle of cleaner like 409 or Fantastik. I suggest spraying a couple tires at a time, give the cleaner a minute or two to loosen the dirt, then take brush and brush and then brush them down and then hose off the tires. Repeat on the other two tires. Take care in not letting that stuff sit on the plastic hub caps too long (if that applies).

Let the tires dry real good and then apply the tire shine. I recommend going with something that's not too wet looking such as Meguiar's Endurance. A product that gives the constant wet look just says "pimp my ride" LOL, which I don't think your step-mom would like too much.

 

Tires are looking good now. It really makes a difference on how the whole car looks.

Going to rain tonight. Can we go ahead and change that to scientific law? It is going to rain every time you clean your car well. I used to believe it was a theory, but no, it's a law.

Ordered a meguiars polisher today that should get here next friday. So I'm really going to make this old girl shine next weekend. It's swirled up pretty good, so it definitely needs it.

 

For a 10 year old car, thats looking pretty smart. You've done a top job of the engine bay, looks as good as new.

Do you fancy visiting the UK?

 

Thanks. And yeah sure, I'll be over soon. I pass through every day on my way to class.

If you want to pay for airfare and lodging for a couple of days I'd be glad to clean up your car for free. :wink:

It's suprising to me how much different the white stands out than the black. I keep my crossfire's engine bay at least this clean, but you can't really tell because the black color of the body doesn't stand out against the engine parts. If it was shiny like the outside paint it would probably look good, but the flat color doesn't stick out.

 

Don't forget to apply a dressing of some sort to the wheel wells too.

Southern California defies this law - we'll go 9 months at a time without rain so it's easy to keep a car clean for a long, long time.

Let me know if you any help with that. I work for Meguiar's, running our online discussion forum and teaching our detailing classes. Just got back from Orlando, FL where I was a guest of the Rolls Royce Owners Club and did a couple of seminars for them.

 

Well ****

And I thought the rain was bad....

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Yep. Kid behind me fell asleep while I was on my way to school. He was in a truck going about 25, just plowed right into me. I think the wax came off...

So looks like buffing it will have to wait.

Mike, thanks for offering to help. Depending on what car I end up driving until it gets fixed, I may have to buff another, so I'll let you know if I need anything.

And california doesn't count, for any laws. That place is just weird.

 

That sucks, at least your not hurt car can be fixed.

 

I hope that CD in your trunk came out of HIS CD player.

Being rear-ended in this town is all too common...

 

Haha, I have no idea what that cd is. It was just sitting in a box in the trunk. Maybe my brother's or sister's? Gonna have to put it in and see.

Makes me terrified to ever drive my crossfire around here. I keep a good eye out for stuff, tons of drunk drivers around here, but even when I saw this guy coming I couldn't go anywhere.

Oh well. They have insurance, so it's going to get fixed.

 

At least you weren't driving your Crossfire!

 

Wow...that really sucks!

I was going to comment...... I washed and cleaned my car Sunday, Monday we got 8 inches of snow.

I suppose that pales in comparison to being rear-ended by some moron.

 

Same for me... Spent Saturday washing the car... only to get snow/rain last night.


mr-lama, another Auburn man? Fantastic. War Eagle!

 

Wow, really sorry to see this damage, but this is the funniest line ever following pix of a wreck:

I suspect that, yes, it did.

 

And, Mike-the really sad thing is that he and I are the only ones within ~ 80 miles that even have wax on our vehicles.