This car actually used to belong to a friend of mine, and was picked up by the new owner about a month ago - it's his third RX-8. When the car was delivered to him, it had been to an autocross event at Carlisle two days before and needed a good cleaning. There was also a long scratch I knew about on the passenger side from having seen the car before and I was able to dramatically improve it.

The car was hand washed, clayed, polished, and got two coats of wax. The wheels were also hand washed, clayed and got two coats of wax. On the interior, the carpets were treated with upholstery cleaner, agitated, and vacuumed, and all the leather and plastics were cleaned and dressed. The engine bay was also hand washed, cleaned, and dressed. The exhaust tips were hand polished and the exterior trim was dressed.

On to the pics:

As delivered to me:


After the job was complete:


Driver's side front before:


Driver's side front after:


Driver's side rear before:


Driver's side rear after:


Passenger side rear 3/4 shot before:


Passenger side rear 3/4 shot after:


Hood and fender with bird droppings, amongst other things:


Hood and fender after:


Engine bay before and afters:







Exhaust tip before:


Exhaust tip after hand polishing and trim dressing:


Here are the pics of the nasty scratch that goes down both doors of the passenger side:



I taped off the panels I didn't want to wet sand and began to work.



This is how it looked after the first pass of wet sanding with 1500:


Here it is after the second pass:




Here it is after a good polishing to bring the gloss back, and a couple coats of wax just like the rest of the car:




Outside in the real light:




The interior all cleaned and dressed:


The final results:

 

great job with the scratch. A little too much gloss on the tires though haha. I prefer a little gloss or the matte look.

 

Thank you. Now that you pointed it out, I agree. I'm going to try wiping them after or change products. Anything you recommend?

 

Very good job on the wet sanding, looks great! What are you using for the tires currently? I agree they are a bit heavy on the gloss, but some people do like it that way.

 

Impressed about the wetsanding, but too much pictures on just washing some stuff and putting tire shine on lol.

 

Thank you. That was Meguiar's gel with a foam applicator.
Thank you. I need to get better with the picture taking for sure. I'm pretty good at photos in general but need to get better at capturing my work. I think the write up can be better too.

The car was hand washed, clayed, polished, and got two coats of wax. The wheels were also hand washed, clayed and got two coats of wax. On the interior, the carpets were treated with upholstery cleaner, agitated, and vacuumed, and all the leather and plastics were cleaned and dressed. The engine bay was also hand washed, cleaned, and dressed. The exhaust tips were hand polished and the exterior trim was dressed.

 

If you want to try something with not as much shine, I personally like to use
Chemical Guys V.R.P. Dressing

It can be used on tires, exterior trim and even interior vinyl such as dash boards and door panels.

 

As usual Jeff you did an awesome job!

 

whats with the hood though

 

^^ The same could be asked for the whole car. Detailing job looks good, but those cars are fugly.

 

looks good

 

Check out some of the Pro detailers posts, if you did a polish you can easily show before and afters under sunlight or bright lights. If you look at their threads I am sure you can see how you can improve on picture taking

Happy Detailing!

 

you said 2 coats of wax? was the second done between 18-24 hours after the first, I thought I remember reading that. Also list what kind of products you used Excellent work though friend. I like some of your angles.

 

I know this thread is old, but did you wet sand/polish by hand or machine? i need to do a few touch ups on my ride. Checking to see if i need a machine or if i can do it today by hand.
holla back!