Well hello everyone I see a lot of great detailers here. I was invited over here by DJ. He saw a post of mine and asked me to post it over here. Anyway. a little about me. MY name is Barry Theal and I own a very small detailing company here in Lancaster Pa. Presidential Details is a very personal business. I keep it small and enjoy everything about this type of work! Since DJ asked I thought I would share a few of my Jobs. Nice to meet you all!
Barry Theal
Presidentialdetails.com

First up is a Porshe I did!

Hello everybody. I had the pleasure of detailing a 1999 Porsche that was beyond neglected. When in contact with this client he said he bought the car new and it was his garage queen for years. He mentioned that he moved and for the past five years the car sat outside in the New Jersey weather for about five years. He said that his life was getting busy and he began to let the car go. Then it snowballed with neglect from there. My goal with this car was to return it to the garage queen status again. Although it feels great to have a nice clean ride. As detailers we have the opportunity to add value to a car. This car is a prime example of both. The total time spent on this car was well over 40 man hours of complete reconditioning. I tried to focus on every little detail of this vehicle. Now lets see how this car came to me. Oh and for the record I learned this week not all exotics are babied!

Here is how this car came to me.











Those are just to show the how dirty this car was. I really can’t describe the amounts of tar and fallout on the paint. There was years of Residual dirt everywhere. So I First started with a complete dismantle of all wheels and tires , plates, plate brackets, bumper protectors and a few other things! When I removed the Plates you could see rust falling from the Bracket and the screws. It was pretty bad! Here are some pics of the process.



Take notice in this Picture of the rust I mentioned earlier in the write up.



Here you can see wear the rust stained the paint. Some was dust and some was embedded in the clear coat surface!



These are the Bumper protectors I was telling you about. I found removing these were important. It allowed me to get to every part of the rear bumper during this reconditioning .



Next I pulled all wheels and tires off and I was left with this.

 

I love before shots like this. Car looks great and when you see this in my write ups you know its going to be a good write up!



Once I got all the wheels removed You can see here how bad they were. Now keep in mind when removing wheels it’s a great idea to label them lol these were so dirty I label them with my finger tips. Here is my mountain of Filthy wheels and tires.



This picture show you my extraordinary labeling process. Nothing fancy but hey it worked on this one!



Here are some close ups of some of the undercarriage and suspension parts, wheel wells and various other parts. You can see years of build up dirt and rust everywhere.











At this point I turned my work to focus on the jams, front and rear cargo areas and gas flap. I worked from the inside out during the Decontamination phase. All areas were sprayed with Ardex New Wave with a Dilution ratio of 4 to 1. This stuff is a great Degreaser and my personal favorite. It cleans good and fast and it isn’t harmful. Then the areas were agitated using various sponges and brushes and rinsed down, Here are some of the process.







Here you can see where various area’s were covered with plastic for safety reasons. Better be safe then

 

sorry.







Next the car was Sprayed down with a Mixture of Dawn, Ardex New Wave, and Water and let dwell for about for a few minutes., Then rinsed off. The main purpose of this is to loosen all surface dirt the was loose prior to putting anything on the paint. This is a very crucial step to a swirl free wash. Lol it really didn’t matter on this particular vehicle, but I still performed the step.



Once all the loose dirt was rinsed away, I resoaked the car again using the same steps above and began this time to break down anything in the tighter area of the car and sponge bathed the paint.







Once rinsed I clayed the entire vehicle to remove a lot of fallout and overspray and tons of other things that were embed in the paint. Two clay bars were needed. This photo here is of a new claybar after a 2*2 area.



Next I turned my focus to the wheels wow these were bad, But cleaned up very nicely. Here is a 50/50 shot for ya! Can you tell which one was cleaned?





The tires were placed back on and the car was blown dry and the paint was received its first of many Ipa wipedowns.

The car was taped off and the inspection of the paint came. Here is what I was looking at! This was really bad and I truly thought I wasn’t sure if I could pull this one off. The paint had calcium spots all over the place and a few swirls and rids to aid in its entourage of neglect!!! I can express how the swirls were. It was almost like a good brillo pad scrubbing was done a few times. I know the owner didn’t do this. Years of improper washing leads to this.

 

IMG]http://i484.photobucket.com/albums/rr202/barrytheal/porshe%20Boxter%20before/DSC_0198.jpg[/IMG]



















Once the car was taped off. I noticed that the headlamps have suffered a little. The uv coating was gone and the lights were severely faded and oxidized. So I refinished them first using sand paper and polishing. They were sealed later. I started at 400 grit and worked to 1500 the compounded out.!







Once I got the lights taken care off I moved to the paint. I started using Ardex 1000 compound and leveled the paint with a Tuff buff black lambs wool pad! This combination is probably the best on the market for aggressive compounding. Here is a 50/50 shots for ya after the first wool step.



Once the first compounding step was finished 14 hours later lol I moved to refinement. I choose to use Ardex 1500 and Cyan Hydrotech pad from Autogeek. This pad compliments Ardex 1500 very nicely and worked great together as a team. Once this step was achieved I finished the polishing with Ardex 3000 and the tangerine Hydrotech pad from Autogeek. What another great combo. Here are some pics of the corrected paint.













At this point the paint looked great. Polished out nicely and ready ready to be rinsed. SO I removed all tape and gave it a final IPA wipedown then a good pressure wash rinse to remove all the polishing and compounding dust! A good friend of mine once said to me. Barry usually when others are done is when I beginning to get started. So I thought ok Ill see what he means. At this point I considered the paint polished and looking great, but I wanted to raise the level of gloss on this. I choose to use Menzerna 85rd and a black 6 inch polishing pad. I burnished this paint for over 8 hours on this car. I was really wanted to have this paint reflect light as much as possible. Here are a few shots.

 

IMG]http://i484.photobucket.com/albums/rr202/barrytheal/porshe%20Boxter%20before/DSC_0350.jpg[/IMG]



Once the Burnishing stage was complete I Did yet another Ipa wipedown and applied the sealant by Pc7424 Armored Jacket was the choice. While the sealant was curing. I polished the rear plastic window.
I then wiped everything down and pressured washed the car for last time. Here are some beading shots for ya.





The car was blown dry and moved back to my detailing area,.

Now the fun begins.

While the car was drying I refinished the license plate frames. It was a nice added touch. Now I know you will never see this on the car, but it was the right thing for me to do,. They were sanded and repainted. They had some rust which is common. Also it gave them a nice clean look. Here are a before during after.







Next while the plates were drying I put the car on jack stands and removed the wheels for the remainder of the detail. This allowed me to pay attention the inner wheel wells and also made for some nice detailing touches.





All lug nuts had a lot or surface rust on them, so I decided to sand each one and paint them with werth paint. This wasn’t fun but these little things made the wheels! Here are some pics.







At this point it was time to tackle the interior I started first with the floor mats. They were dry scrubbed to raise all dirt then blown with compressed air. Then scrubbed using a mix a Ardex New Wave and Water then pressured wash. I removed the heavy water with an Ice scraper then vacuumed to dry. Blown to fluff and let sit!!











I then moved to the interior cleaning. It was cleaned with various brushes, sponges, compressed air and other various methods once cleaned all leather was protected .. Here are some final interior shots pretty much it was clean at this point besides the finishing touches.

 

All the tools to the spare tire were polished then I cleaned the tool bag and used leather conditioner on it to ensure a complete protection and lasting life.










While I was at it I cleaned the owners Manuel books and conditioned them and everything was place in the front cargo area. This was a great added touch!




Once the interior was done I cleaned all I the inner wheel wells and arches using steam and Various suspension parts were polished. 3m rubberized undercarriage spray was used in certain area’s to prevent any future rusting and it also adds for a little bit less noisy of a ride. Various parts received a paint resurfacing to get a nice clean look. The wheels were polished with ardex m205 and then sealed with Armored Jacket.










The wheel was mounted and the lug nuts were torqued at 105 pounds of pressure.



All that hard work sure is paying off!


Wet Reflections was the Final LSP for this. It was applied in two coats to ensure a complete even Coverage.









Here are a few outside sun shots for you guys and gals.

 

Up next is a 1940 chevy!

This 1940 Chevy Master Deluxe came rolling into my house about two weeks ago. The client contacted me about my perfection package which is my most elite package. A total of a week was spent on this car going over every spot. My goal was to completely make this thing look like it rolled out of the factory. After futher inspection I knew I was in for a detail that was gonna be tough. This single stage black Laquer paint was very brittle and thin. I can’t express how thin it was. The interior needed some help, but over all it was pretty decent. Loaded with swirls I knew a very care full re-level of the paint had to be performed then a thourgh refinement was needed. For safty reasons the motor was not touched.

Here is how the car came to me





My first step consisted of a complete dismantle of anything on that exterior that I could saftly remove. During this stage both bumpers, plates, wheels, moonies and few other various chrome emblems and mirrors were removed. The car was placed on jack stands to help aid in the decontamintation phase.





Once the car was dismantled I Moved to the dismantle phase. During this phase I First did a soap rinse with a 50/50 mix of dawn and Ardex New Wave All Purpose Cleaner, followed by a good pressure washing to remove all the lose debris. This is very important because it will remove anything that can prevent marring .





Once the car was rinsed free of all the dirt, I began to work my way around the bottom half of the car to Clean all inner suspension parts and frame and under carriage. It was suffering from years of dirt build up. This car had some real deep fenders. It was crazy it was like I crawling in a cave to get to everything. Various brushes and tools were used to clean everything.







Once I finished the cars under carriage I gave the paint a wash using the same 50/50 mix as before, but this time I used a grout sponge to agitate any remaining dirt on the outer pours of the paint. Once rinsed I placed a rubber glove over my hand and began to feel to see what clay was needed. Upon a full inspection, I was surprised not one spot on the whole car needed any claying at all. This was a first in a long time for me.
So the car was blown dry and taken to my other bay to be prepared for compounding and polishing.

I pulled the car up and got all areas masked off that could cause a problem with my rotaries. Once all was taped I began to inspect the paint using various lighting. The lighting included halogens, sun guns , and led. .I want to see every flaw in the surface. SO here is what I was looking at.














Don’t hate me for this halogen light mixed with LED’s This is my favorite checker. I like it more then the 3m Sungun. Check how the LED’s show the Halo’s and the Halogen shows the swirls.








As you can see this car had some serious swirls. I mean its one thing to relevel paint with clear coat, but when you relieving single stage laquer in this condition it can be nerve wracking. On mistake and oops there goes an edge or a nice burn.

During the leveling stages various sheets of paper were used ranging from 800 grit to to 2500. The sheets were a mix of Mirka and Mequiars Unigrit. I choose these for personal likings. Once some areas were sanded to my liking I came back over them with a Makita 9227 and a white wool pad to level the paint as much as I could without jeopardizing any paint. A Leveling compound was used. After about to 2 bottles of IPA and 12 hours later ( I think ) It was time to refine all the marring the wool left behind. At this point I used a 70 PPI ( Pours per Inch ) Foam pad and a Makita 9227. A Medium based compound was used that finishes down very nicely. During both of these stages I had a 3 inch pad of equal standards on my Dewalt DW849 to hit tighter places.

 

Once the car was complete I gave it a pressure rinse followed by a good IPA wipedown and pulled it out of my garage for inspection. During this stage I was looking for any issues that I induced, Thee included sanding marks, Halo’s or wool marring. Although it was a little hazy out I captured a few shots for ya.






LOL this shot here is for my buddy RYDAWG ( Ryan ) . I often tak to him on the phone out in front of my house and he always says “ Is that another buggy?” LOL I told I would some day get a picture of the amish buggies that ride by my house. So here it is for ya! Finally got one.



Once all inspections were complete I pulled the car in and remasked and began to jewel this Chevy. This one step took about 9 hours. It was a lot of patience. A few in action shots.



Here in this shot you can see how much fun these lights and curves were. Take notice my finger over the head of the poilsher. This would ensure no scratches would hit the turning signal. What a car this was.



While I was jewelling the car John finally should up and wanted to help out. He began to work on all the chrome. Each piece was polished by hand. Then sealed later.







Once I completed the jewelling I did a very, very hardcore inspection before applying the LSP. I did so many IPA wipedowns I began to get a headache from the fumes lol. Once wipe down here are a few shots of the paint under the lights.








Once everything was done John began to work on the interior as I applied a Carnuba wax based with fortified German Polymers. John finished up. I got the final detailing done. Here are a few pics along the way. All inside wood was polished with Indian Paste Wax. LOL I found this stuff at a local Mennonite Word Workers Shop. We had never polished wood and to my surprise this stuff was awesome!!! The Mennonite man was right. I loved it.









Once the car was complete it sat in my garage for a few days. It has been raining all week here, I woke this morning at 7 am and took the car across the street behind the church and got these shots. Here are a few inside pictures for ya.














Now some final pictures of the paint.

































Thank guys again for viewing my work. There were a few other things done that were not pictured. All the wheels were reprayed black, the under carriage and wheel wells were coated with 3m under coating. This car was a fun car to have around. It was a pleasure to work on. Thank you for looking at my work! May god bless you all.

Barry

 

Welcome Barry!!

 

great to have you over here bro! Glad you got to post up two awesome jobs from recent as well