Detailed my friends car...
 

My friend 'tuanle16' left his car with me while he went out of town. I compounded and polished his paint, Leatherique'd the seats, painted his calipers, and cleaned ten years of brake dust off inside of wheels. Came out very nice!

Last picture was from Cars & Coffee, a friend of ours was pretending to admire it, it was very windy and cold but the turn out was still great. I'll post a couple of the interesting cars I saw.

Oh and the brakes!

................Purdy!

Great job, Whip! I'm sure tuanle16 is going to love it!

Wow, gorgeous. Can I be your friend and leave my car with you when I go out of town?

Do I get a free place to stay in Miami during Jan :cheers:. Actually my prices are too reasonable. I only use random orbital so as to not risk damage or removing too much clear coat. It takes much longer but the results are amazing. I'll even lightly wet sand on occasion.

yes. agreed. amazing!!! while i was out of town, whip sent me some pics of the process. i couldn't help but keep staring at the pics. anyone out there in the charlotte area, YOU HAVE TO SEE WHIP!!! he loves doing this and it's his side business. I'm the fortunate guy to be his 2nd customer.

You said you compounded it? Do you use a rubbing compound over the entire car? Or just on the places where the minor scratches are?

Ever try claybarring cars?

holy crap.

i just came in from washing mine and now i feel so very very inadequate. :)

i spend a few days in charlotte every so often so i might have to give you a buzz.

Ya forgot to mention, I clay barred before I started. I consider anything with abrasives that break down to be a compound. I call anything with very very minimal abrasives to be a polish. I'm sure others have different definitions. I've used sand paper from 1500 to 3000, and compounds from heavy (abrasives equivalent to ~1200 grit), med, fine, then just a base compound like 3m, Meguiars, Zaino PC (though the Zaino PC is pretty great at removing or rounding most mild swirls, especially if a lubricant is used). All base compounds will milkify especially on black and require careful polishing to remove before waxing. On my 2009 MB I decided to never do it because the swirls were so minor that I didn't feel making the paint slightly milky, though swirl free, was worth it. I use a 6 speed random orbital, it takes more time but works great.

Come on by, just leave enough time to down some beers and grill some steaks! PM me. :cheers:

man. i just got her back and she is a beauty!!! so impressed with whip's work. the car looks freaking brand new!! i'm nervous to drive it. if you are in charlotte, you HAVE TO give him a try. trust me. you won't be disappointed. his prices are so low too, i feel like i'm taking advantage of him.

Mind me asking what your prices are like?

No problem, I sent long PM.

Nice work Whip. What do you use to clean the brake dust on the inside of the wheels?

I normally don't have to clean 9 years of brake dust off the inside of a wheel, I used anything I could get my hands on. I was even going to post looking for ideas. I ended up using several types of the brake cleaners found at automotive stores, then a lot of dawn, power washer, then some 3000 grit sand paper, I figured they couldn't get any worse. In the end they came out ok, maybe a 3 on a scale of 10 in the Porsche wheel world :).

I'm looking for ideas if I run into any more like this. I know when I got my Boxster which is two years older it was pretty bad two. I used pretty much the same process and they are decent too.

paint them black

Oh now you tell me! Let me at'em, always like a good experiment.

I've read good reviews about these 2 products.

Wolf's Chemicals WF-1NT Wheel Cleaner
Optimum Power Clean

My 10-year old wheels are full of brake dust on the inside of the wheel. I'll get one of these cleaners and see how they do.

First Porsche
 

When I got my first Porsche I was living in Germany in a rented house without a garage. When I washed the car I took the wheels off one at a time and took them in the bath tub to scrub them front and back. That is, until my landlord had a problem. I didn't understand all of his German, but I did figure out he was pretty unhappy. When I later bought a house there I made sure I had a garage and a good place to wash the next Porsche.

Brake cleaner & sand paper? Sounds a little too much. I always clean the inside of the wheel.

I use Armorall Triple Action Wheel Cleaner to clean really hard stains on inside of wheel. I use it sparingly because it's very acidic.

Armor All® - Product Detail

Normal cleaning which I do at least once every 3 weeks in warmer weather is P21S wheel cleaner. I buy these 5 litre at a time and it's the cat's ass.

Wolf's wheel cleaner looks pretty good.

Wolf Chemicals Nano Wheel Cleaner - WF-1NT - - Detailing World -

Yes sorry I meant wheel cleaner I must have been falling asleep when I posted. Meant I used several brands of wheel cleaner. Understand the outside of wheels were in very good shape, the insides had years of un-removed brake dust. The 3000 grit san paper did almost nothing to remove the stains, the power washer did help a lot. I would not touch the outside of the wheel with sandpaper unless I was repainting, even a 3000 would stratch the highly polished finishes on the outside.
For my cars I've always washed the inside of the wheels each time I wash the car so they stay perfect, twice a year I would remove them completely from the car and detail them thoroughly.

I'll have to try some of the products you guys have recommended, I've never needed wheel cleaner because I always kept mine perfect, but on cars with some buildup I would like to give these a try. The wheels I took off my Boxster still have some stains on the inside, I'll have to give these a try.

I also use Goo Gone for those tiny black deposits inside the wheels, presumably coming from the pads.

Yes I have OCD problems! Don't we all?

Then you are in good company.

Everyone I know that is into seriously detailing cars uses Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner. I've used a number of other products, and the Sonax is by FAR my favorite. It is expensive, but that said, I still consider it the best value out there. Rarely will I say one product is THAT much better than the competition, but that really is the case here.

This my "new" 2003 S after I used the "clay" route, and then waxed with Mguires
I used rubbing compound and scratch remover for those bad areas.

shiny seal gray
 

I think its called the "clay bar' did a nice job I think !! waxed the wheels also.