Fully Detailed!

Spent the better part of the day detailing the exterior of the Tacoma and it looks great! I don't have a good enough camera to show the crap and stains all over the paint before. I had the rail dust spots all over the place and red blotches from leaves sitting on the paint. Here's the products I used in order of how I went through them:
Eagle One wash (I normally use Mother's but didn't want the wax from the wash before detailing)
Turtle Wax Bug and Tar Remover - Heavy Duty
Meguiar's Clay Bar Kit
Meguiar's Ultimate Compound
Meguiar's NXT Tech Wax 2.0


First, a simple hand wash:


Then moved on to the Turtle Wax Bug and Tar Remover to get the red blotchy sap crap off the truck. The Turtle Wax Bug and Tar Remover was recommended to me by the auto parts store and all I can say is it's a complete waste of money. It does not remove bugs, tar or tree sap, even with a LOT of elbow grease. If you're considering this product, don't waste your time or money.
After the Turtle Wax product didn't work, I moved on to Clay Bar. I'd never clay barred or polished a truck before but it's a relatively simple process. The clay bar was actually a disappointing step. It did take off some of the sap and a little of the rust stains from what I'm assuming is rail dust. It made the surface nice and smooth, like baby's ass smooth but it didn't take a lot of the stains off.
Next was the Ultimate Compound and that was the step that gave the most dramatic results. The Ultimate Compound took off all of the rail dust stains, sap and whatever else was on the paint that survived the wash and clay bar. Awesome product and left the truck looking like new!
Lastly, the wax. The wax gave it a nice shine and the truck looks better than the day it rolled off the showroom floor




Thanks to the guys who helped me choose the products in the "Ask a Detailer" thread and Meguiar's themselves. I e-mailed them and asked a bunch of questions and they helped me choose the correct products.

 

Ultimate compound is some really good OTC stuff, especially when followed by Ultimate Polish.

 

Looking good Mike! I love the whlm

 

I missed the polish step, but there aren't any swirls or anything. Plus the steps I did already took over 5 hours

Thanks Keith! I finally ditched the wrap around grill guard to show them off a little more.

 

Did you do it all by hand or buffer?

 

All by hand, I don't have any experience with power buffers or orbitals and didn't want to run the risk of burning through the clear coat. Needless to say, shoulders and arms are about numb!

 

lol x2

I did my truck a month ago (by hand) and my arms were toast for the next couple days, I couldn't even lift my arm to brush my teeth!

I did a great job, though, but i know I coulda done better if I had a buffer. The human hand can only do so much, ya know?

Good job!

 

SW Tacos FTW! I like your grille, where'd you get it?

 

Thanks! I know exactly how you feel, I'm vegged out on the Lazyboy with a beer in hand

 

Just a stock 2011 grille. I bought it through this deal:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/bu...ed-oem-grilles-175-shipped-brand-new-box.html

 

^ haha Nice.

 

Nice, I gotta say white paint isn't really a looker, now black is a completely different story

 

I beg to differ. White can look really good, it just takes a lot of time... but yeah, darker colors do look best.

 

Thanks, that's what I was thinking

 

True, my last truck was black and it looked incredible when it was clean but 2 days later it looked like hell. White takes a lot to make it look awesome but it's a lot easier to keep clean vs. the dark colors. I owned 2 dark blue trucks and a black truck, after that it was an easy decision to buy a Superwhite!

 

Very nice! Yup, black paint is a complete PITA to take care of...sometimes I wish I had a white truck instead

 

Looks great! You know you did it right when a white truck shines like that. My last two trucks were white and I know how hard you worked to get yours looking good.

 

Thanks! Arms are definitely sore today (next day is the worst!). I've never detailed a vehicle like that before but I can say it's definitely worth it! By far the cheapest way to get that 'new car look' vs. actually buying a new car

 

Again, (ive stated before) the ultimate products are very nice... I typically use the compound as well, I've never really gotten any better results by using the polish....so it collects dust.

I need to find another good wax though.... I don't like detailing every 6 months anymore. Last few wax products have only lasted a few months at most. I miss Granitize.... EPA took their old recipe for some reason. That stuff would last almost a year! I'm currently trying out the Meguiars Ultimate Wax, but we'll see

 

^ Ultimate Wax won't last very long either...

The most durable product i've ever used was Finish Kare 1000p. It lasted me about 8 months.