Thread: Winter Car Prep: Big, Blacked-Out, and Bad *** Jeep Wrangler + AutoLavish

The owner of this 2007 4-Door Wrangler was referred to us by a future client, with the goal was to put on some good protection in prep for winter. Of course if possible, we wanted to make it look better in the process.


When we arrived, the Jeep looked intimidating. We already expected to have to scrub down the undersides, and brought a few extra bottles of APC, Degreaser, and C.G. Barebones (basically the same stuff as ASD with less smell). The finish was heavily swirled and had significant RIDS (off-roading has a way of doing this!). Since it is a Jeep, and it is about to be put through winter, we advised going with a full 2 or 3 step correction come Spring, with a 1-step for the time being. A One Step would really liven up the color while making the Jeep look great, and would fit within the client's original budget better. We will get into this later.


Here I am, ready to tackle the Jeep:


















Undersides:










We started by cleaning the undersides using Meg's Degreaser at 4:1 and APC at 4:1 sprayed liberally everywhere we could aim at followed by the black SchMITT and various brushes.






As I was crawling under the Jeep, Jacob took care of the wheels. We used C.G. Sticky Wheel Gel at 3:1 and the Daytona Brushes, with APC 4:1 for the tires. One half of one of the front tires was getting hit by direct sunlight while we washed the wheels, and the APC left streak marks no matter how fast we rinsed off the grime. So advice: never use APC on tires that have been heavily dressed before, and never use APC on anything in the sun. The temps on the paint in the sun were 130+F on a 55 F day with the vehicle in the sun for about 10 minutes. We did not check the temps on the tires, and, well, had to work that tire extra hard the rest of the day. We used Griots Rubber Cleaner (and shade) with good results.


After rinsing off the degreasers and wheel cleaners, we foamed the undersides to help neutralize anything left. Shampoo in this case was C.G. Citrus Wash and Clear at about 3:1 dilution in the Foam Cannon.








...and continued to foam the rest of the vehicle for the first time to loosen the heavy soil:

...and rinsed:






The Jeep was dryed with the Leaf Blower and a few drying-dedicated waffle-weave MF towels, then taped up for polishing.






As mentioned earlier, the finish was in rough shape. Got Swirls?:








We split up a section of the hood to sample some methods and see what would give the best bang for the buck. On the right side of the picture, we have 3M Ultrafina and pad via rotary. On the left side we have Meg's M105 + 3M Ultrafina (could use an intermediate step with M205). The left looks better, but the right side looked really good too for a quick one-stepper! We showed this to the owner. He was stoked by both corrections, but going with a Multi-Step polishing would have doubled the time and cost of the detail (some wet sanding was needed as well). As it looked, we would be able to hook up this Jeep, make it look amazing, spend more time with sealants, and still come out just under his budget. We advised to wait for Spring to do the full monty: correct any issues that happen in Winter, and clean out the undersides to get all salt off the Jeep. The owner thanked us for our honesty and for not trying to rip him off






We used both the Makita and the Flexcalibur with 3" and 5" black LLC pads and the 7" Ultrafina pad. Backing plate was the Yellow Foam 3M Backing plate for the Makita 6 (or 7") backing plate for the Ultrafina pad. Polish was 3M Ultrafina only.


After polishing, we foamed the car one more and used the pressure washer to get rid of any polish residue in the crevices.

LSP was the winning combo from Danase: DWG under Danase Paint Sealant. If you like DWG, you will love the Paint Sealant. Super easy to apply and wipe off, super slick, super wet. We are very pleased with all the Danase products we have tried so far (DWG, DPS, Diamond Tire Gel). The DPS smells different that any sealant we have tried, kinda like toothpaste. Get a bottle and let us know what you think

The underside was dressed with C.G. Barebones. This stuff is really good, and similar to Meg's All Season Dressing. If anything, the barebones has a more pleasant smell, where the Meg's ASD smells stronger for a longer period of time. I do not know about longevity comparisons, that will have to wait until I can wash The AutoLavish Detail Rig (done half in ASD and half in Barebones). Tires were dressed with Black Magic Matte Tire Shine, provided by the owner. I love how this stuff looks on big wheels. With nice shiny wheels you do not want the tire shine to take away from the look, but tires this big need to be dressed as it is hard to achieve an even look without proper dressing.

The owner was extremely impressed and kept moving around, watching the various reflections:




















Bug catcher:




What are these guys looking at?





Oh! Oh, I see now... killer reflections from a simple one-step




I would rock this Jeep anyday!

great job! I absolutely love the 4dr Jeeps, I gotta get one to replace my current beater

Nice job, guys! Yeah customers always appreciate when you're honest with them about what they need. And it's a good thing you were honest with that guy because he looks like he'd eat you for trying to screw him .

Originally Posted by Monsta

great job! I absolutely love the 4dr Jeeps, I gotta get one to replace my current beater

I hear you, and I don't think there are many better vehicles for Michigan Winters. I know I'd love to build a rock climber one day

Originally Posted by Clever Nickname

Nice job, guys! Yeah customers always appreciate when you're honest with them about what they need. And it's a good thing you were honest with that guy because he looks like he'd eat you for trying to screw him .

What's happenin' Jesse, we're always upfront with clients and we try to help educate them to their options... especially the ones that might break our limbs

Hope something can be worked out for you to post your work. L4P would definitely appreciate the work of Earth's premier Ferrari detailer

Nice work, Marc!!!! I know your guys must be getting hammered with winter preps!!?? I've gotten four calls today wanting corrections this month!! Three a month is it for this old guy and I'm done thru Dec. - heading to Beaver Creek next week and it's already snowing like mad up there

I might have to bring Eric up here for a week or so. I'll for sure get some pics of him in his flip flops and hoodie in the Colorado cold!!!


Good work on the Jeep!!!

Again, glad to see you guys here!!!

Great work!

Nick

great job!

Yea Andy - people are really starting to request a lot of Winter preps though I'm just glad we haven't yet had our first snow fall.

Thanks a lot Nick! Hope to do similar work for you

We appreciate it Phil - I knew it wouldn't take long to see you around here much more often. Hope things are well out in NJ