Looking Up Under the Bonnet

Carmyne is a 2002 Camry, and to my knowledge the engine compartment has never been detailed until now. When I first started this effort there was 7 years of road gunk built up. I used purple power to degrease the entire engine compartment. I scrubbed off any excess build up with a soft bristle brush. I rinsed off the entire engine compartment. I repeated this process 4 times to get off all the grime and gunk. When I was satisfied that I could not get off any more contaminants I followed up with Black Magic 2-in-1 Engine Shine. This stuff is awesome! All the parts that had lost their black color were instantly brought back to a deep black and a nice clean shine.




Here is a shot of the headlight restoration results.


I only have 1 other step I would like to do on Carmyne before I feel she is complete. I want to do a final wax coat on the body with Maguiar's #7 as suggested by my neighbor. I think this will give me the "WOW Factor" I've been looking for.

Carmyne is Oh So Sexy!!!

I have been working on Carmyne Camry to make her just absolutely shine like those cars you see on TV or at the car shows. I think I am very close. Check out all 3 pics and look at the glass like reflections down the body of the car. Carmyne is a 2002 Camry that has not been garage kept (with the exception of 1 year.) So I am very proud of the glossy reflection I was able to buff in to her.



You may ask how did I do this. Well, here's a bit of the details...

The first step I did was to spray some purple magic on the tires and rims and let it sit to eat away at the road grime. I worked on getting the Pine tree sap off and the only thing that worked quickly was rubbing alcohol. You don't want to use a lot. I used cotton balls and a spray bottle of water to keep from marring the paint and clear coat. Once I had all the sap off and scrubbed the tires a bit I hand washed the car to get off any dirt and road grime.

The next step was very tedious. I used Meguiars Smooth Surface Clay kit. This was very labor intensive but the results were well worth it. Check out this YouTube video if you are interested to know what a Clay Bar Kit is: Clay Bar Kit How-To
This is the kit.

Inside the kit is some spray detailing wax, some pour on cleaner wax, 2 clay bars, and a polishing cloth. The spray detailing wax is used to lubricate the surface of the car so you can rub the clay bar over it to remove the city ick and contaminates.

The outcome of clay bar kit is to make the surface of your car as smooth as glass. It is very obvious this happens if you do a small area and test out the two surfaces by touch. My car body feels like it just left the factory.
While I was working on a factory like restoration, I found this light restoration kit also by Meguiar's and was utterly amazed at the results especially for the $20 that it cost. My headlights had been really cloudy and looked aged. I was considering replacing the headlights altogether because they looked so crumby.

After using this restoration kit I was so impressed I felt there was absolutely no need to pursue replacement at all. The lights look spectacular. The kit has the restoration cream, an attachment for your drill, and a polishing cloth. The attachment for the drill makes the work cut down to no time at all. Scroll back up and look at the head on shot of my car to see how clear the light covers are.
Next I used Meguiar's 3 step car wax system. It seems like I'm meguiar's-centric, but it just happened that while at Pepboys, that was the brand that caught my eye the most.

You can see there is step 1 Paint Cleaner, step 2 Polish, and then step 3 Carnuba wax. I also purchased a buffer to assist in this process. It was well worth the money too. Over a weekend, that is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I completed the clay kit and steps 1-3 of the wax system.

The previous weekend, I detailed the engine. That was a major task but now Carmyne looks incredible inside, under the hood, and outside.

Addicted to Number Patterns

As odds would have it I was actually paying attention when this palindrome occurred and was able to snap a pic while in traffic. Fortunately the light turned red before the odometer rolled another mile. Why am I so addicted to numbers? I have no idea. But I get just a moment of enjoyment out of things like this. So you too can see a glimpse into my psychosis :)

One might think that I'd be a huge fan of Monk or NUMB3RS but I don't care for Monk and I've not yet seen numbers. Oh well :) That's what netflix is for, right?

70K

Carmyne is growing up. Before she rolled 70K, I got a shot of her rolling 69996. Since I was a math major, of course I was excited to snap a pic of the palindrome.

Then there was the build up to the actual rolling to 70K.

And here is the moment of truth...Carmyne rolled 70K. YAY!