Complimenting my OCD tendencies, I’ve typically held a strict policy of keeping my cars & bikes clean and sanitary. The reason why installs take me so long to do is because I have to scrub down all parts and fasteners before reassembly. I take pride in upkeep.
However, due to the amount of garage work that took place during the past few months, there was simply no point in preserving the cleanliness of the RX-7. By the end of it, a thick layer of dust and grime had accumulated. And to think a brand new paint job essentially laid underneath all of this…
Finally, with all the major wrenching complete, I could restore the car’s finish with a much needed detail. I’ve been looking forward to this part. Regardless of the repaint, swirl marks and micro scratches are inevitable if a car sits for any length of time without consistent maintenance. Properly cleaning a car is almost a science, and it’s shocking to realize just how finicky and temperamental paint is. All it takes is one bad wipe of a towel to introduce new marks in the clear coat.
To perform the job thoroughly, I picked up a Griot’s Garage Random Orbital with a set of Lake Country pads. My brand of choice for the detailing products is Wolfgang. This stuff is the real deal, forget the subpar consumer-grade offerings like Meguiar’s, Turtle Wax, Zymol, etc. I also grabbed a few Cobra Gold Plush microfiber towels.
I’ve been most looking forward to applying this wax… the Pinnacle Souveran. I’ve had this sitting on my shelf for half a year, and never got the chance to use it.
While detailing a car may be therapeutic in many ways, you can’t escape the fact that it requires a lot of effort.
I dedicated an entire day just to polish the car. I ended up doing 2 passes and it was extremely time consuming and slow work. Once the polishing was done, I applied sealant over the car (except the hood because it still had fresh paint, and I wanted to give it more time to outgas).
The sealant needed 12 hours to cure and I ran out of time last weekend to finish the detailing. I’m going to pick it back up tomorrow and top everything off with the Souveran wax. The results so far have been appealing… I’ll have to try and arrange a photoshoot once it’s all ready.