I was planning my detail for a while, so I waited for sales and fliers to come out. I got the Mothers clay bar kit for I think $20. The wax which I ultimately returned was $16. I used Mothers carnuba deep crystal as a backup which I already had, and the polish was on sale for $16 as well. So, for about $50 on sale to about $75 full price I can't really complain. It does take a LOOONG time to do it and do it right. I polished almost every panel twice, but it just depends on how the car looks when you start. Mine was pretty clean, but it looked like it had never really been detailed. I had some water spots that took some 3-4 times going over with the polish. I did it all by hand. Someone with an orbital may be able to get it done a lot faster.

As for the mobile guy. I've never been impressed. My step-dad paid like $225 to have his Tahoe done. Yes, its a Tahoe, so, our cars would be prob around $175 or so. You're basically paying $100 labor if you consider spending about $75 on supplies. My step-dads detailer looked like he went tire-wet happy. He had the rainbow looking silicone drops all over his car. I guess if you know someone who does a good job it can be worth it. But, don't expect them to take the time on problem areas like water spots and imperfections. Its probably just once over and they call it a day.

 

I laid two towels down across the fenders, I actually took out the air intake so I could access more of the block. I bought some Simply Awesome from the dollar store. I have to say, that stuff worked awesome. You can dilute it for different purposes, but on the bottle it actually had Engine Cleaning as one of the purposes which you don't dilute. I jacked up the car on both sides so I could reach more places then just hosed it off gently from the top, but where there was nothing electrical, I blasted. My driveway is pretty stained from all the grease and oil that ran off, but the engine came out looking pretty nice.

 

^forgot to mention that I taped up the throttle body

 

Damn, doesn't sound too bad.. Did you do it without the buffer thingy?

 

Nice job and a very clean coupe! You even cleaned inside you exhaust tips, good job. There's only one thing you forgot, your tires are about the same color as your G try using some tire black....anything would look better!
Gary

 

Yeah, all by hand. No power tools

 

dayaam

 

Props for using no power tools. That would be brutal.

It takes me about 7-8 hours to do a full detail on a car. With power tools.

 

you car looks mint, wish mine would still look like that

 

Good job! I've done a polish by hand once, it's not fun at all and made me get a DA... I feel for your arms.

I really miss doing a proper detailing job. Another 2 months to go (hopefully). Can't pull the hose out or my driveway will be a damn skating rink , and all the products just don't behave the same when it's below freezing.

 

very nice looking!

 

New pics added

 

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/2815731946.html

really now? for an si? this thing is clean why would you want to sell it? for a supra sure or maybe even an sti but nothing else that you listed is worth it.. in my opinion

 

LOL, good find. But hey, he wants to sell it then why not?

 

I just figured since it was clean and I had some pictures I'd stick it out there to see what people were offering. I did get an offer for a Supra : http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/2816888942.html