Disabled Detailing

[CupraRcleanR]

Great write-up thanks for sharing

[Mr Face]

Hi Steve,

My hands are still good but the back is shot to pieces so perhaps we should share some resources sooner or later. Shame we are more than a quick jaunt away from each other. I got rather beaten up in an RTA in 05 and as a result can now only realistically stand for an hour possibly on a good day an hour & a half in every 24. Cocktails of pain killers, anti inflammatory’s and muscle relaxants are now par for the course. However, after getting my new car at Christmas and discovering all the free of charge accessories (holograms, buffer trails and swirl marks) detailing has now given me something to drag me sorry rear end out of bed or off the sofa for as often as I am able.

Rear end of your motor looks wicked. Before I saw the nose I originally guessed at the XF and almost hit the Aston button. She does look lovely though ( I hope she shaves her arm pits regularly though )

Wishing you all the very best fella

Mike

[dubnut71]

Steve - fantastic results and very interested to hear your process and how you modify it to suit your needs. We all do that in some way or another so you can feel right at home here.
The finish looks spectacular and the lines of that car are stunning, is it just me or when viewing that rear 3/4 view my mind just screams "Aston Martin" !!!!!

[Lowiepete]

Hi Mike,

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. I inherited my disease; woke up one morning
and there I was, afflicted with the most puzzling set of symptoms. Many
thanks for your kind words. It'll be good to share discoveries that make
achieving our goal just a tad easier.

Originally Posted by Mr Face

I hope she shaves her arm pits regularly though

C'mon, you know a lady never tells!
How about just a clean pair of heels instead?


Regards,
Steve

[Rowan83]

The paintwork looks very nice mate! Got to love the FK1000P, that's why i have it on my car

[Lowiepete]

Hello Folks,

Everyone seems to be keen on hearing about "my process", though I'm not
sure that there's much new stuff to tell. Anyway, here goes...

Using Showroom Shine
When I saw/heard this being demonstrated on Ideal World, (TV on in background)
my ears pricked-up when they mentioned no more buckets of suds. That's
quite apart from all the other paraphernalia that we're all familiar with. Perhaps
it was time to concentrate on what these guys were saying, trying to sift out
the fact from the inevitable hype.

Once I saw the deal, Proshine (as it was called then) - a petrol treatment,
an engine oil additive, cooling system additive and some MF cloths for less
than £30 inc P+P, I thought, why not? Up to now, I haven't looked back.
As an aside the Greased Lightning Oil Additive was amazing! I could feel the
engine freeing-up within the first few hundred yards of driving. It also gave
me an extra 2mpg on my round-town driving.

Anyway, back to the cleaning agent. Before applying it for the first time, I
gave the car my normal bucket wash. All the hype demos were being done on
cars that had already been treated. I should say that all this happened before
I was aware of swirls and holograms etc. Definitely part of the great unwashed!

Up to that point, the paintwork on the car was clean, but not free of swirls.
I'd perhaps give it a polishing twice a year, and bucket wash when either I
felt like it, or when it really needed it. Apart from the crud that seems to
materialise from thin air, the car never got that dirty anyway.

The Proshine was supplied in a manual pump atomiser, which I continue to use
by refilling to this day. First thing I do is to go around the car and look for any
heavy-soil areas and just them give a light misting. As with ONR, you need to
allow the product do its work. In this instance to penetrate and soften the
muck. I can't emphasise this enough. Detergents produce suds (bubbles) that
hold particles in suspension. Surfactants do a similar thing by making water
"wetter" - in other words breaking down its surface-tension. If you spray on
and immediately wipe off, then you defeat the entire objective.

Actually, the first thing to do is to lightly dampen an MF cloth before you go out.
Another word I'm going to highlight here is "lightly". I'm not able to rub surfaces
with any great pressure. So, if you find yourself rubbing at any point during
the start of this process, something isn't right. Start with any panel, and apply
a mist of the Showroom Shine, similar to that shown for the ONR in a previous
post. Let the product dwell! Allow anything up to a minute, depending on
how heavy the soiling is.

Now, take your MF cloth and _drag_ it across the surface as lightly as you can.
Gather the dirt, and allow the product to dry. Then, always using a clean side
of another dry MF cloth, buff it to a shine.

The next morning, after the first application and a very wet night, my dark
green car looked almost "white" - I was horrified! However, I didn't lose faith.
I simply repeated the process and that scenario was never repeated. After
the second coat, I could see that the shine was beginning to get better, and
deeper. By the time last winter came, I'd probably applied 6 to 8 coats. Each
time I cleaned the car, it wasn't only getting shinier, it was also easier and
very much quicker to clean.

Through the winter, there were few occasions when I could get out there, but
I was well impressed with the beading. Without the baking hot sun, the rain
had better chances of washing off most of the muck. Occasionally, I'd go out
and wipe the car over very quickly after a heavy shower.

Needless to say, I am more than happy with this product and I'm now on my
3rd order. However, since my joining DW, there is a new kid on the block - ONR.
This doesn't mean that I'll be abandoning the Showroom Shine, just using it
less often. Apparently, ONR leaves a polymer coating behind, so for a trial
period I'm going to substitute that to see what results transpire.

Update 06 July 2009 - See this thread on beading...

As for ONR, the process to me seems very similar to Showroom Shine, again
with the emphasis on lightness of touch. The major difference I found today
is that it can be a one-cloth application - in the latest pics I posted I didn't
buff the car with a 2nd dry MF cloth, and certainly didn't feel I needed to.

Regards,
Steve

[Lowiepete]

Hello Folks,

Now for a start on the fabulous leather seats.

Product Search
To begin with I had some real problems in finding something that would help
me maintain these seats. Cream leather really suits this car, but it does show
every mark. Dirt seems to make the leather look like its surface is scuffed.

Then I happened upon some stuff called "Elisir di Pelle" which the
seller claimed as being the bees-knees. The price was within budget so I took
a chance. The biggest surprise was that the conditioner smelled exactly the
same as the leather in the car! You can probably imagine my delight...

So, Does it Work?
Absolutely! Here's a couple of before shots...

The bottom padded portion of the seat back seems to get the dirtiest.


Application of the cleaner is with MF cloth, will little or no rubbing required.
The conditioner does need a bit of rubbing, the instructions say to not let
it dry before buffing.
Here's a couple of after shots...




A Caveat
Since first posting this, I've learned that "Elisir di Pelle" appears to be another
manufacturer's product that has been "re-badged" by the seller. I have
no clue as to whom the original manufacturer might be, and it's likely that
I'll never be able to establish it. For me it's a shame, because the product
does everything that the seller claimed, and it looks unlikely that I'll be able
to obtain top-up supplies.

Remainder of the Interior
One thing about having a dog is all the extra work that she creates. Not only
the hair, but the dust and sand off the beach, where my "hairless creature",
bless her heart, insists I take her every evening. Another factor is the steep
rake of the screen, which means being very careful with not introducing any
extra shine from the expanse of patterned black plastic beneath it.

My "saviour" here has been use of the Optimum Instant Detailer. It certainly
brings the black to its proper clean colour without adding any extra reflection
into the screen. Here's some "after" pictures of the detailed interior...










Once I looked closely at these pictures, I rushed back to look for areas
that I might have missed. Even though these are relatively poor pictures,
they do highlight some areas to check. All is well, mostly trick of the light.

Regards,
Steve

[VIPER]

I have made this thread into a sticky, and would like to see it progress as something of a reference and help part of the site for people to share their personal experiences and how they adapt their detailing techniques to overcome any physical problems they have .

So, if you suffer from any kind of disablilty, this thread is the place to post about it, and to offer up any help and tips that you think might benefit others in a similar situation

Cheers
Viper

[chisai]

This is a fantastic thread. I admit I had never given a thought to how people with any form of disability looked after their cars, and for that I apologise. It's great how people can adapt to any given situation.
Reading over this it doesn't quite read right but I hope you get the gist of what I mean.

[RaceGlazer]

We had a chap last week call us to thank us for our Extra Long Wheel Brush as he's disabled and can't get down onto his knees to clean his wheels. Its extra reach help a lot. He made some other helpful suggestions too.
Again, its not something that I had given much thought to, so anything that the less than agile community can suggest we'd be happy to try to help with.