TTQ B4U

So Steve aka Killjoy here on CR picked up a new Daily. He's a pro at finding great bang-for-the-buck rides and this is another example. It's a Fleet car that Jordan found for him at a great price. At just a couple years old with about 38k on the ODO, and likely hundreds of tunnel-style car washes from the fleet it was in the paint was in decent but swirled out condition. The approach here wasn't full correction but enough to make a difference and use the savings towards a multi-layer ceramic coating to protect it for a few years. Paint, trim and wheels were coated here and the end result was a HUGE reduction to near elimination of most all but a few deeper clear-coat scratches that aren't worth chasing vs leaving the thicker clear coat to do it's job. Overall, I really like the car, the metallic now really POPS! out and it's looking great once again. Many thanks to Steve for his continued trust in my work. Onto the pics: Here's another "little something extra" for Steve and his new ride. A nice silicon license plate holder that completely cover the back of the plate, provides a nice black frame around the plate and yet still allows for a cover to fit. No more scratches back there.

+4 for Hoblick

Gone! Lock it up.

Haha! Thanks. I get that when I do these cars too. Love black and hate black but it's definitely worth it once they are perfected and coated. If it wasn't for Ceramic being a thing I'd likely pass but it makes them so easy to care for that black becomes okay to own again. Nothing turns heads like a perfect black car too. Even my sons little 94k mile 2014 Corolla has gotten people to ask me what I've done to it as it glows and looks great when clean.

Fixed.

So in follow up to this detail, the license plate frames I have are here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0824WPBGF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 When pulling the plates off her car I noticed the screws used were already rusty and should be replaced. The above frame comes with 2 different sets of self tapping and threaded varieties so bases are covered all around. They also include screw top covers for a nice clean look. Going forward I'm going to keep 3-4 sets on-hand for customers with new/clean cars that I think will benefit from them as something "a little extra" for them as an appreciation for their trust in my work. Here are some pics. The Full backside is covered in a very soft supple silicon material. The stock plate slides in the molded edges and fitment is perfect. Time to replace the old hardware too: The finished product is clean and simple. It's also nice that if you do wish to use an additional frame, I've found they fit just fine over top of this set up and still looks very clean.

So a local friend of mine who purchased a new Lexus GS350 AWD last year had been toying with getting her car detailed but wasn't sure it was going to make a huge difference or not. As time went by and now close to 9,000 miles she started to see some subtle concerns as it relates to marring and while overall the car looked good, it didn't jump out and really POP like she knew it could. Given it's a Lexus and Toyota/Lexus paint, along with lots of Japanese counterparts, tend to have softer/easier to correct paint, I informed her after seeing it in person that it wouldn't take much in the way of correction to get her perfection. That said together we decided on just a Basic Clean & Protect. Even though it's not a "correction" package, I feel I have my processes pretty well dialed-in and wouldn't ever over-charge for a service, so I pretty much knew I could get her ride looking amazing without breaking the bank and use that difference to upgrade her coating choice. Protection wise, she did just that and invested in the same 3 layer system that I recently installed on my wife's car. It's an amazing product and while time consuming and a little more challenging to apply, the results are well worth it. One additional "little something extra" I began to carry and provide customers are really nice silicone license plate frames. I saw these on a recent detail I did and the owner shared with me what they are like and I jumped on them and put them on both of our current vehicles. See the photos and details in the next post here. Really worth it for those interested in preventing any rattles or the dreaded scratches that can happen even with foam backing stops lots of vehicles have. Now....onto this beautiful Lexus!! Getting FULL 3-D effect from these awesome tail lamps is housed in ensuring the plastic housing is also fully corrected Reflections are great and the appearance of a car with great clarity is important but the key to any solid color from black to red to gray for the utmost reflectivity from any angle is the correction of imperfections. Flawless clear allows the depth of the color and paint to really show through.

This time a daily driven Sweed. This 2016 Volvo with just under 47k on the clock came to me as a referral from a fellow CR Member and avid car guy. The owner bought this a little over two years back as a daily for his wife but quickly realized pure black can be difficult to get to really look good without a full detail. The goal here wasn't perfection but he did want the imperfections greatly reduced and the entire vehicle ceramic coated. He went with my Premium Enhancement Polish Package and it was a good choice as I was able to get upwards of 85-90% reduction of the marring that this wagon received from it's lifetime of tunnel washes. From there he chose to go with my 12-18 month Ceramic Coating and as a bonus I tossed in a nice wheel polishing and coating the plastic trim on there so as to keep it from graying out over time. As you can see the paint has been badly marred and scuffed likely from an attempt to remove contaminants with Clay Bar. No Worries, nothing a little time, effort and the right products couldn't address. All the black plastic trim that normally would fade away to light grey over time is now protected. Many thanks to everyone that puts in good words for my work and trusts in it enough to send over referrals.

So a friend of mine Ben picked up a new to him daily last year after he had an accident that totaled out his previous SUV. He found a fully loaded and really nice Mazda CX-5 and a great deal was had given it's the previous generation body style. I removed a couple badges from the rear of the car, one being a Dealer Sticker and the other a faux "Touring" badge that didn't match the OEM look. It's a pearl white but never really glowed and the trim was 5yrs faded and needed some "POP" put back into it. Mazda has notoriously razor thin paints and being it's a daily no heavy paint correction was chose but rather a great Polish & Protect option including some Ceramic Coatings was all she needed. Ben selected my Basic Polish & Protect Package with an 18-24 month Ceramic Coating on the paint. He also opted for the Ceramic on the cladding/trim which not only helps restore it's color and depth but will retain it for several years too. Lastly, let's not forget the wheels. 19" and in near perfect shape, they needed a light polish and ceramic to help with cleaning day-forward. Inside he wanted the parchment (off white) leather cleaned and sealed up to prevent dye transfer. There was also another "faux" Touring badge on the dash that was an eyesore and is now gone. Lastly, I heard him mention needing to take some customers out the following day, so as a bonus I gave the interior a full cleaning to remove some drywall dust (home projects galore there) and winter muck. She's now perfect inside and out. Yesterday was great and begins the spring detail season for sure. Love that the sun eventually popped out to help with pics too. 5 years old and with just over 46k on the ODO, I'd say she turned out better than new

Good tip. I try not to leave batteries in chargers if I'm not around. Thankfully most even the bigger leaf blower ones charge up rather quickly. Great reminder and fail-safe trick.

Cool YouTube Channel with a bunch of 8k resolution 360 images/videos. Click on the images and scroll around them. https://www.youtube.com/c/Mars360/featured

Anyone have links to where they are putting pics, etc. if they are? As noted, it's like it didn't even happen. I thought there would be more talk about it online but crickets....

Less than $20 of priceless fun. Works great. https://www.amazon.com/Snow-Joe-SJEG700-Reducing-Absorbing/dp/B077CVJP8J/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=driveway+ice+scraper&qid=1613562926&sr=8-3

neighbor had one for nearly 10yrs with zero issues. I asked what made him switch and if you saw his 2500 Cummings long bed which pulls a big trailer you'd know why. Huge. All said, he loved it. It's the only Nissan that make me interested in their line up and I'm not a truck guy at this moment.

it's definitely winter in CR land.

leave it alone. the problem isn't a gun problem.

It's typical of all sides but ironic for her and them this time. The media and the congress people all encourage hate. Hate breed violence and when you tell people to get in faces and make people uncomfortable and that riots are necessary and should continue, blah, blah, it angers BOTH Sides. It's not even just about her and others encouraging the anti-trump crowed. Their words impact the Pro Trump crowed too. They are hiding behind semantics as if their words and actions only impact certain people when in fact they impact everyone. Jan 6th wasn't a spontaneous event and it wasn't invoked by one person. They want to try and cast blame to clear themselves. Ain't happening.

Where am I blaming "the system" ? I cracked on the media, congress AND Trump plenty of times. I don't think he failed as a leader over the last four years. He had his share of shit shows for sure but failure....no. On that day in January I think he should have come out immediately LIVE and told everyone to GTFO sure. Again, I could write a book on that. I was livid watching it and his response/lack of response. Hindsight on many fronts just not his are 20/20. I'll instead stay on-point with what my messages here today have been and that is those blaming him need to look in the mirror because they indeed are just as guilty of inciting division, hate and vitriol. No less that's for sure. Trump took days off, the rest of "the system" didn't take one day off from doing it. He's been off social media and out of office for weeks now and they are ALL still stuck on Trump. It's actually now laughable. They don't know what to do if they are going after him. His haters in power and in the media are the biggest hypocrites in existence. It would be rare to find one that would admit their own mis-doings.

If you think the videos and compilation of them that are out there haven't contributed to the division or vitriol or are in some way linked to the riots then we will have to agree to disagree. In my eyes the Media is the most guilty, congress next and Trump, well we all have known he's not a unity bring people together guy, but he is but one man. Lots of people no doubt want to pin this all on him and that's the problem. No one has a sense of accountability anymore including and especially those blaming him. Lots of shit to go around. Just my opinion.

The problems are: 1. Can't we just all agree? Unfortunately no. 2. They've ALL taken a swing at the wedge driving this country apart. I agree but see #1, not everyone does. Blows me away but it seems to be the case. Oh well....back to having lunch.

right out in front of the Supreme Court. Only his words were threatening the justices. Thankfully his crowd was small and didn't include outsiders there to cause real trouble. I don't see where Trump incited anyone during his speech. I watched it and I read it. It was a typical Trump compilation of what he did, blah blah and the quote I provided is right from the transcript. I certainly can write a book on what he should have done and where he was wrong though. Don't mistake my words for him not having had performed poorly that day as he indeed did. His opposition however took 4 years worth of the media tirades combined that with their own words thus they didn't have to further promote a gathering where they gave a speech to specifically call for anything. It was commonplace by Hollywood, Congress, the media, etc. literally making it almost widely accepted although wrong. They took four full years of inciting hatred and vilifying Trump and his supporters. They called for it at their own rallies and speeches. I remember because I saw his live on TV and thought exactly what you're feeling here. If you're going to lean on looking for the exact same thing as he did and instead overlook the rest and all the other side did then I can't help you there. Keep looking but don't forget to look both ways.

There are a number of instances/videos where they encouraged, condoned and promoted the actions last summer. They aren't innocent by any means. Even Cory Booker is on video telling people to "Go to the hill today; please get up in the face of some congress people" In his speach that day which his what so many are focused on, he stated. The transcript is available. "we’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard." I agree. And my point is we shouldn't give a pass to the members of congress who called for people to continue rioting and to get up in the faces of others including members of the cabinet to make them feel uncomfortable, etc. It's complete hypocrisy on their part to act as if their own actions didn't happen. It is all indeed a complete embarrassment. Both sides played these dangerous games. It wasn't until that day that people became shocked that something happened?

Just the same it should also not be favorable to anyone who considered all the actions from the entire summer of 2020 justifiable either. Plenty more property damage and loss of life. DC Elites are all living in their own glass houses and equally guilty.

I did see it on social media but I wasn't sure if it was BS or if she really actually did that. Evidently so. Nothing shocks me anymore though.

I can't wait to move, have some land and a nice one that size or a bit bigger. Nicely done!