rjt65

you guys have pix of your wheels? smokey granite dudes. 2 cars ago I had a charcoal granite Nissan Stanza, than Gold sand maxima, and finally went black! I dont regret it even with my current scratches!

DDOC-one more ? and gr8 pix!! hahahaha!! i have all my supplies in my office on top of my homemade Bonsai lighting housing cedarwood light table/stand!!! pile of dirty MF towels der wunder drying towels etc on my floor I plan to wash tonight! I am trying to figure out where to permanently put them! too many for the old store in the bucket style, plus i still have some inferior stuff for use on my wifes truck hahaha Do you clean your applicators after every use? think before you said to wash in sink with dish soap. What about your wash mitts? Too funny. Yeah, I will admit, I am pretty obsessive about my regimen, but so is every single one of us Autopians. Keep reading the Autopia forums and you will be detailing like a pro. How obsessive am I about detailing? Well, here are some pics of my detailing supplies. I got a bunch more in boxes.

wont let me load my front view pix for some reason...

# 2 shine on #3 - if u look at the pix with rear tail light you can see a tree reflected in the black shine in side in front of the taillight.. thank u Ultima and Sonus!! will be below cannot seem to get 2 pix in one post today

could not add another album or even add more pix to existing album so here ya go.... 1st one

thanks for tip, the dusting was lite so i didn't think iIneeded the hose... I am sooo proud of myself for not losing my mind on the scratches!!! I think my lowering testosterone is positively helping my angst and is mellowing with age!!! I will load up my new pix to my gallery in a few moments..It is a sparkling but I am not sure yet if the improvements will be as evident in the new photos versus the old. PS - The p21 is spectacular!!! like a butter bar firm and went on and off with ease like no other wax I have used before. Having all the paint cleaner, and the 2 coats of PG + on it sure made this waxing my easiest ever !!! thanks again for the product suggestions, i am hooked both inside and outside the car.

Hey here is my Columns and week markers for my list on my car... (yah no excell ssheets) truncated my wrap text and the week columns are in the ssheet to the right of the tasks obviously. Target Week 1 2 3 Exterior Wash Body - Ultima Paint Guard Wash w MF mitt -2 derwunder drying towels-2 buckets 1x week X Wash Tires & Wheels - UPG wash - tire brushes 1x week X Detail Tires & Wheels - wheel products 2 x Month X Clean/Polish Glass Wet MF towel inside-SONUS perfect glass bundle green mf applicators 1x week Detail Vinyl & Rubber Trim -SONUS cockpit bundle w green mf applicator 2 x month Chrome & Polished Aluminum - Sonus glass and chrome polish (Part of glassbundle) every 6 weeks Wax Clay 1 x year Polish - more abrasive use machine Cleanse/lite Polish-Ultima Paintwork Cleanser 3x year X Polymer Sealant -Ultima Paint Guard Plus- USE blue brick applicator 3/4 x year X Prewax Cleaning Carnauba Paste/Paste Glaze - P21-S with handi grip foam applicator-buff with MF towels 2 x Month X Carnauba Cream Ultima Detail Spray Plus - quick detailing use Buffing MF towel apply-other or flip for buff As Needed Interior Vacuum 1 x week x Shampoo Carpet Annual Shampoo Floor Mats 2 x year Clean Leather & Vinyl - Sonus Leather Cleaner-use red-white interior applictor sponge every 6 weeks Condition Leather & Vinyl - sonus conditioner use red white interior every 6 weeks Vinyl.plastic rubber- Sonus Cockpit bundle - Sonus anti-static detailer and Eclipse spf-40 uv protection use green mf applicator 1 x month x Seal interior - Ultima Interior Guard Plus 3-4 x per year x Spot Clean 1 x week x Clean nav screen - use warm water on mf towel- non ammonia cleaner only! 2 x month x Dust Vents & Electronics 2x Month Engine Degrease/Wash ? Rubber Protectant ? Spray Wax/Engine Shine ? Wipe Down/Dust ? Miscellaneous Treat Door & Trunk Seals 3/4 x year Detail Door & Trunk Jambs 3/4 x year Detail Wheel Wells 1 x year Detail Underbody 1 x year

yah those swirl-scratchs making me bang my head. thought going to a hand wash (with boars hair brush's only supposedly) would be ok. ah well So u r only going to seal PG + and wax ?or are u claying polishing (by hand?) than seal wax? PS - the internal stuff worked well. much different than armor all - no oily residue, the interior guard looked excellent, the anti static cleanser in the sonus pack really did get the dust off. at first when applied I was like this is not getting rid dust on the upper dash by window oh well... than later when came back in dust free. I am a waffling on wheter i might put on a 3rd coat of paint guard-wax later day, or carnuba in the AM...hmmm Good luck this weekend post your pix after too... Hey no fair you beat me to it!!!!! Don't forget to post pics. You answered my question about polishing when you told me you had swirls and then ddoc said what you were using...so sounds like you are good!!!! As to swirls on my car, I have only used the spray car washes....I will never go to a auto car wash that has anything touching my cars paint. Did that with my last car and regretted it; also used cheap crap on my wheels and ruined them on my last car....that is why I started this post. Thanks to ddoc and SW03ES and mrburnikas and others, I won't make that mistake again and I will use good stuff. Now, I am probably not going to ever grow up to be like my hero detaildoc (ha ha), but I want to at least seal the paint and wax the car every so often to make it look good when I want it to. detaildoc is a mad man with his regimen (detaildoc were you in the Army?). Phew, I am not sure I could keep up with that and do my hobby (golf). On the PC or UDM, I may do that in a year or so also....but right now, I want to do it by hand. But hey rtj, you are now the expert huh (don't forget to post pics). Pretty soon I will have a second hero...you! ha ha!

JGTNLO: Do you see any scratches in your black Car when you look at certain angles to the sun? How have you washed for the last 3 months--no car wash issues? Mine is not noticable looking straight on, just see a lot of scratches at 45 degree angle. Alas, my easy cleansing polish (as ddoc stated) did not remove those scratches (curse the damn car wash!) I luv my car but the Obsidian black will pray on me, making me mad. I think I will continue my light detailing course, wait a year or so than invest in a porter cable orbiter or equivilent and than polish out the scratches. Cheers guys

Tales of a lunatic new car owner Part I (many more to follow!) I think I beat ya to detailing JGT! :P So got up early (skipped gym but got enough stretching and aerobic in by servicing my car) and braved 39 degree chill to wash it! 1- Washed (of course the Ultima little plastic spout thing popped off so instead of an ounce 6 ounces went into bucket..beware cheap clear plastic spout inside bottle! used der wunder MF mitt... nice! (tires cleaned first) than dried with der wunder drying towels 2- used Sonus paintwork cleanser- worked well buffed off with polishing der wunder towels--really shined and cleaned it! 3- 1st coat of Ultima paintguard on -around 9AM - (than had to go to work) buttttt 4- snuck out to use the Sonus cockpit bundle 1st cleaner than back in for work 5- than to my horror my landscapers had come to do my spring clean-up--- arrggh my car covered in dust... (Simple MF towel fixed that!) 6- run off to lunch errand at supermarket sooo there I am applying part II of the cockpit bundle in Pathmark parking lot in an exrta wide spot at the end of parking lot. Also this kept my car out of driveway from evil landscapers <_< 7- back on calls on mute applying --the Ultima Interior Guard so doors open still airing out 8- Plan to wait till last moment--about 6:45 7PM to apply the 2nd coat of Paint guard Plus-- 9- Carnuba wax goes on Weds in the AM than rain will come for 40 days again!!! Thanks for all the help ddoc/JGT and others in this thread!l

Hmm thanks for the pinnacle video info JGTNLO u a scared me with the polishing. As the Paintwork cleanser is the least abrasive polish/cleanser I think I would be ok applying by hand, but I will skip it for the first time. Detail doc: some advice here, when u can for the 2 questions below: 1 -Is there anything to be afraid of with the Sonus Paintwork Cleanser (as you would with a normal polish that is much more abrasive I would think). Any tricks with this I should be aware of. I think just apply with the applicator, rub in a little than wipe off.followed by 2-3 coats of Ultima guard, than Carnuba. Maybe best to live with the minimal swirl type scratches for a few months than do the paintwork cleanser? 2- JGTNLO stated he might clay (but than no polish, JGT?), if you clay you have to polish after, right? and should u use some type of liquid spray when claying? Saw it on the pinnacle site, they say use a lubricant in tandem w/clay. Wondering why Sonus green clay didn't advise to use a lubricant(at least that I saw).

I have some swirls and minor scratches, which was brought on by a car wash (supposedly only boar head brushes-whatever it seemed to surface scratch me alot) I am using the SONUS paintwork cleanser by hand, (why the warning?---ddoc advised using it), and also if u r using the clay DDOC also said you would have to polish (with machine). Ok so I bought clay but as it is new I am saving it for down the road, as I am not buying a polish machine for a while. cheerio Yep, I am in PA, but it rained here....crap! Don't you have a new car? Do you need polish? Be careful, I wouldn't use it unless you have an older car with a bunch of swirls in the paint. I am afraid to use the clay bar but detaildoc helped me with that (even though with my new car, I plan on washing and drying my car, putting on a sealant (Ultima) and letting it cure for 12-14 hrs, then waxing with P21S-100 carnauba wax). So, I wouldn't use the polish until you check with detaildoc (or unless you know for sure you need it). I probably will do it this weekend...but the Masters (:golf:) is on TV so I will probably work around that! Priorities you know!! And I agree that detaildoc has the right Avatar....I hope to get one too...but much smaller....haha!

You found the perfect avatar for you detail Doc! JGTnewLexus: I am assuming you in PA (I think) might have had the good weather on Saturday we had in NY, so did you get to detail? if so let me know how it came out. I am supposed to get most of my stuff today, hope to get the polish cleanser and more MF towels Tuesday I work from home so plan to try to sneak out when i get my 2nd shipment (sent by air this time so should be faster), Polish (sonus Paintwork Cleanser), than the 2 or 3 coats of the Sonus paintguard- than carnuba. Inside as well. cheers guys If it does not end up too dirty or with heavy grime you can probably just hose it down at full pressure and then QD.

Hello all 1 week and 2 days into ownership and I have all the features pretty much known. Still reading thru my last book - the owners manual. and have not seen much on how to program in tones into a string. So I enter a phone number to enter my work conference call ....lets say I enter for the location a name than the number as: xxx-xxx-xxxPP123456# where x = phone #, (it dials the phone #) but it does not than use the PP pauses than enter the touchtone #'s for the passcode. I just see it pass thru the first phone # digits Is there a way to automate this? I did see a way to manually enter the tones after but want it automated into speed dial. seem slike these maybe hard pauses, where what i want is a soft pause. thanks anyone for help here

I should have mentioned it is superior 'cause in my driveway and I have the key fobs for it! couese since UPS had a train derail Friday, and my supplies not here I get a friggin 60 degree sunny day to look at my rain spots arrghh So the great weather forecasters predicted rain morning and day , but of course 58 and sunny hahahahahahaha Maybe the G.O.D.S of detailing are doing this to ensure I polish (light Sonus stuff-by hand) first than seal. So detail doc if I do the 12 hour thing the 2-3 coats of guard.. and i have to drive the car in-between should I wash before applying the sealant each time? thanks yet again for advice...

I should have mentioned I got the Lexus navigational hover pack with the ultra LUX plus deal, thus i just hovered up in the air a bout 8 feet to take the pix! OOOH, aaaah!!!! Just curious, did you take the over head one from your helicopter? Can we get a picture of that?

ok guys- 1- DDOC - I am the classic lazy IM and email typer. I type to much all day (work from home so i type all day on my laptop), so DO plead guilty to name chopping. I plan to send your name to my wife so after she gets these bills she will hunt you down '; He made me buy this stuff!' I will cry. As a carrot I told her I will detail her Ford expedition which is in sore need of detailing. 2- JGTnewLexus - My car is obviously superior to your car 'cause it is in my driveway!!!! How was the black interior in the summer. With it 50 degrees but sunny I felt the heat on the dash and wonder about the back seats. You garaging? I won't until i clean up the garage, get rid of some stuff, hope in 1.5 months to get it inside. Hey, all, the ONR, that looks like the Winter magic needed, can you use this n freezing temps to clean your car when no hose is available ?

DDOC and all: Autopia is gr8! Maybe can find a few dollars less from other sites.. But the cust svce --unbelievable. I created an initial order and got the 15% off as I was in the 250$ range...than wanted to add an mf mitt--sent and email than remembered need a foam interior applicator added that via email...next AM had 2 emails stating they were added and with my 15% discount was applied to these adds. Should be here Friday. So after reading more posts from the G.O.D. 's on clay polishing, and the detailing guides on guide on autopia.org i placed another order for green clay, more mf towels, and another foam applicator for the sonus paintwork cleanser. another 50$ Clicked on the online chat operator and asked her (Lynn the same gr8 rep who handled my emails) if they would give me the 15% discount --she did and fixed a problem with my mailing address i did not notice when i submitted the order. Great customer service thanks for the site!

Good luck...300 mile son mine and luvin it. end of month dealing helps a lot. post some pix..... I posted 2 today i have same minus the spoiler, but added the bumper package all aroud. After bouncing back and forth with dealers in MD/VA/PA, they finally found me a Black on Black UL in NJ with everything except that Intuitive Cruise Control (does any trim actually come equipped with this?). I haggled some more and got the All-Weather Mats and Rear Spoiler included for free for a total pretax/tags price of $40,925. Total out the door was a few bucks above $43k I believe... not bad I think... considering the B on B UL...

I just did.... in my album... 300 miles and luvin it.....

Got 1 hour of cloudy sun, so took a few pix--though under 2 megs could not upload so I halfed the pixels (anyone know the max pixel count or true megs to upload pix?--could not find on the site search. forecast rain Friday and Saturday so my detailing weekend derailed. But on a positive note I will order Sonus polish and add that to my next week (no rain please) regiment.

JGT = JGTNEWLEXUSOWNER---He who started this thread (and thanks yet again for him sending me this link and for all the help from u on this stuff) Dang sounds like i need to go back and order some more mf towels. Yes, all Lexus Obsidian lack clearcoat. What is JGT? When I do the Ultima, I usually do it during a weekend when I am not planning to use it for 1 1/2 days, that way I don't have to worry about washing it again. For the Ultima, you only really need one MF. Apply all 3 coats of Ultima without buffing. Wait until the 12 hours after the last coat, then do the buffing. You will need approximately 2-3 to buff off the wax. You will also need 1 - 2 for the QD. I have about 10 MF's so that I don't have to wash them after each use.

Hey was a typing a mssg and it got lost i guess .....so sorry if this is a duplicate. DDOC: I have a Black Obsidian w black interior- ultra lux package with panoramic roof, ML stereo, mouldings-- PS -Someone (maybe DDOC) said that the LX black have no clearcoat. think this is the same as JGT? Is it ok to drive the car after doing a sealing? I am hard pressed to leave it immobile for 24 hours. So I can wash, seal than wait 12 hours, seal again drive than wax next day? My swirls were not really much, seemed like a few surface scratches but they seem gone now(or hidden). Became noticeable after a custom hand wash (boars head brushes they claim) but than after another few days rain and spots i cant see scratches. or hopefully they were just smudges. So i think a wash, seal seal and wax will let me know if i need to polish. I don't have the polish or machine so would have to wait anyway. here is another ? - how many MF towels should you have to do all this? (one for glass, one for all the various sealents and wax's) Do you wash them after every use? cheerio