What's In DFB's Cabinet?

[DFB5.0]

Last few years, because of the quality of the current detailing products and the frequency I choose to apply them, I have not had any need to clay the paint on any of my cars.

Last time I polished and coated my Mustang, I went over the paint with a clay sponge and iron remover, but frankly, I could have skipped both. Regular, careful maintenance and being stored in a garage for 99.9% of its life means you don't tend to allow contamination to build up.

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[DFB5.0]

The Shagger is back in the house..............................

 

[DFB5.0]

Of course, you knew what was coming.........................

Did it need a wash? Absolutely not. But with a day in leu, of course it needed to be washed.

Tires scrubbed with Brake Buster, wheels cleaned with some left-over Incredible Suds in my foam cannon, Gyeon Wet Coat applied, and rotors treated with Atom Mac. The rest of the car washed with Reset, drying aid Gyeon Ceramic Detailer. Tires dressed with OG Tire.

Apart from Rinse-less washes, this is the first time washing the Jag after being ceramic coated. The coating just makes everything easy, from the pre rinse, to rinsing the soap off, to blowing the car down and towel drying.

Finally, Odyssey Red at its finest! Makes me wonder why nearly every euro luxury car is painted white, black or grey.................

 

[skinnyb]

Tried my final 2 products yesterday.

Used Silke to do a final wipe down on my Mustang when I arrived at a car show yesterday. Very slick, smells wonderful. Pretty good experience. Will definitely use for a drying aid in the future if I don't need to lay down any protection.

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Used Parla on my Mazda after the Fall deep clean. Was very easy to wipe on and off. Time will tell how durable it is, I put lots of miles on my daily driver so I will know pretty quick . Smells decent, will have to really blow me away to unseat my KCx S0.02 as my favorite.

 

[amkr]

Waxit had a 20% off sale for the Nova line today.

So naturally, every product Nv makes is now en-route.

Looking forward to trying Nv Wheel, Lustre and Boost v2.

 

[DFB5.0]

I'm assuming you are referencing rubber residue, in which case you need an adhesive or tar remover.............in essence a solvent for organic compounds.

Rubber should be pretty easy to lift with a mid-grade tar remover like Carpro TarX or Koch Chemie TEA.

The next step up from that would be Koch Chemie Eulex or Stoner Tarminator. Both are aggressive, so be sure to only treat small areas at a time.

In either case, I would do this step after washing the rest of the car, then go through and spot treat the sections of concern, then being sure to thoroughly rinse the paint after treatment.

 

[GT 550]

Mate you're a lot smaller than I expected. Even accounting for kneeling down, yeah sorry to say...huge kudos to you for tackling the old man's Wildtrack though

 

[DFB5.0]

The Drying Aid and InnerQD are refills, the rest new to me.

 

[skinnyb]

The Drying Aid and InnerQD are refills, the rest new to me.

I just ordered some Trix myself. I'm excited to try it. Should work wonders for Decon of wheel barrels especially before coating as well as rocker panels.

 

[DFB5.0]

I just ordered some Trix myself. I'm excited to try it. Should work wonders for Decon of wheel barrels especially before coating as well as rocker panels.

From what I have seen, its pretty potent, so use with care.

 

[skinnyb]

From what I have seen, its pretty potent, so use with care.

Exactly, I am a big fan of using the least agressive to get the job done, normally for me Brake Buster or even whatever soap I am using works just fine as I wash weekly as a rule. But once in a while, the Big Guns are necessary especially if I am washing a car for a friend that hasn't seen a wash mit in months .

 

[DFB5.0]

It was up early for a Miami Monday, or to be precise, a Miami Monday Service.

Confession, I actually skipped last years' service on the XR8. Granted, the car would be lucky to have done 500 km in the last two years, but I felt guilty any way. In defense, I get super anxious handing this car over to someone else, so booking and taking the car in to the dealer is not something I look forward to. I really need to learn how to do oil changes myself, especially considering what it cost me.

Now, I'm not posting this cost break down to complain, rather to show what goes into owning one of these cars. And yes, it had the 135,000km service with only 7,208km on the clock.

135,000km/108mth Service Price Calculator Service - $215.07

Oil Filter - $16.35
Castrol Edge 5W-20 x 8.5lt - $203.15
Environmental Levy - $25.00

Total Labour - $215.07
Total Parts - $20.40
Total POL - $228.15
Total Misc - $0.02
Total Tax - $46.36

Total Invoice - $510.00 AUD.

Yes, $510 for an oil change, $200 of that for the oil alone. Castrol Edge 5W-20 was an FPV-only oil and was always expensive. I'm actually surprised it got that oil to be honest, it was discontinued quite a while ago. Included with the service is an emailed report of the car along with images of the car on the ramp, tire condition and battery life. And yes, still the factory Dunlop's from 2014!

The car was serviced and ready to be picked up within three hours, which suited me just fine. Back in my care and mind at ease.

 

[DFB5.0]

Today seemed to be Falcon Day!

While the XR8 was being serviced, I did a rinse-less wash on the XR6. In this case, the freshly coated wheels needed nothing more than a rinse down............



I'm extremely pleased with this coating so far, the look, feel and water behavior are exactly what I was going for.

Rinse-less of choice on the blue car was yellow ONR teamed with NV Boost v2.

At the moment, I trying to find a small drying towel I like. In that I mean a square, 40x40cm towel that suits my style of drying. The FTW is ok, but grabby. The Creature, again ok but seems to lack softness over time. The Eagle 500 doesn't really suit drying. So, I ordered 3 different towels, two of which I already use elsewhere................

Firstly, the purple Minx Royale, which on first acquaintance is butter smooth, but felt grabby on the paint. Scratch!

Second towel, the 30x30cm Gauntlet (grey towel above). I've used this towel for wheels for a while now, on paint this is more what I'm going for. I've loved Gauntlets from the very beginning, offering a smoothness that most traditional twist-loop towels lack. In the small size, this suits me more than the medium sized version. Hmmm, maybe. I just have to figure out how to denote these from my wheel towels.

Thirdly, the Platinum Pluffle (white towel), which has been my rinse-less towel. Out of curiosity, last week I grabbed one and tried it for drying and was pleasantly surprised. This towel has the softness I want, an even pile on each side (unlike the Creature), is butter smooth across the paint and perfectly sized. I think I have my winner.

With the XR8 now back, it was next in line. I washed the wheels with NV Snow, rinsed the rest of the car and then did an Absolute/Bead Maker rinse-less wash. In this case, I continued using the Platinum Pluffles to dry.

Two clean Falcon's...................

 

[DFB5.0]

And because I had the camera out, may I present my first ever exhaust clip video -

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