DeX

Yesterday was Driven To Perform (DTP) here in Calgary and it was my first car show since spending the winter building my car on my measly budget. I'm looking for any suggestions you guys want to give me about shows. My battery only lasted 2 hours with the subs going, but I saw people with battery chargers keeping their cars powered, are these a good investment? I'd like to have my audio/video going for the whole show. The only comments I don't need are the crappy pictures, I just need a better camera and then I'll be ready for those! I'll also take you through my cleaning routine, what do you think?

1. Took my car to the hand wash a few streets over and gave it a good scrubbing to get everything off including up inside the wheel wells and inside the wheels.
2. Dried it in the bay with a microfiber cloth, wringing the water out every few minutes.
3. Drove it home to my parkade where it was sitting all night so the paint was still nice and cool.
4. Went over every body panel with a Mothers clay bar while lubricating the paint with Mothers California Gold detailer. Some stuff just wouldn't come off, I had to leave it. Scratching it with my fingernail was a last resort for some stuff. I pulled the clay bar in half and laid half on the dash as a backup in case I dropped the piece I had and kept kneading it into a new rectangle after I finished each panel.
5. Dried it with another microfiber towel but I'm not sure if all the detailer came off. I got off what I could with the towel.
6. Rubbed on an excessive amount of NXT Tech Wax over the entire car, took about 20 minutes. The bottle said to let it dry to a haze so I walked across the street and got a Coke. Came back and rubbed it off with another microfiber towel but I think it was a little too dry. It did give it quite a good shine though. I used that towel to clean off every body panel of wax and get it out of all the little crevaces like the headlights and door jams. Then I took it out in the sun and made sure I got off every little bit. It didn't actually turn out like glass, maybe I left it on too long. Or maybe it's the metallic type paint.
7. Sprayed the tires with Eagle Wet Jet on the sides, getting it all over the rims in the process. Let it run onto the ground.
8. Sprayed the rims with Meguiar's Hot Wheels, keeping it from getting on the tires. Used a facecloth (ran out of towels) to wipe the entire rim without touching the tire. Should have used a chrome polisher as well but didn't have it.
9. Used Windex to clean the windows outside and the tint inside with one of the already used microfiber towels. It's just windows right?
10. Armour All wipes on the dash, pillars, console, rear deck, anything plastic. Did everything but the steering wheel, made that mistake before. Also did the door sills.
11. Vacuum on the carpet and summer mats. Also seats.
12. Drove to the show and ran over it one final time with Meguiar's detailer and some paper towels.
13. Rubbed more Eagle Wet Jet all around the entire tire so it was the same shade of black right inside the wheel well, not just the outer edge.
14. Turn key, open door and step back.

What do you think? I know there's some room for improvement like having more towels on hand and less time between waxing and removing the wax, but it turned out okay. I wasn't showing the stock engine or crap in the trunk so they stayed closed, I'm going to fiberglass the entire trunk near the end of the summer. Here are some pictures of my car at the show, some are blurry because I was trying to leave the flash off to make the pictures brighter. And at the end I threw in some of the other cars.



























And all you guys in the USA might be used to seeing the newer Skylines by now but in Canada you can't import anything from Japan unless it's 15 years old. So all we have right now are the R32s, the R33s become legal in August. Here's a line of R32s.

cato1978

No suggestions ATT, but it looks like the car show was pretty impressive. Nice pics.

cato1978

Actually just read all your steps again... One thing you can do that several guys have shown me is to take that tire cleaning foam and spray it on the wheel well liner to get off the most obstinate of dirt. Then spray that tire foam (not the silicon) on the visible tire tread as far back as you can without hosing your suspension. This will get the tread looking really black as well, but when you first start driving take it slow the first 100 yards or so. Also, if you do hose your suspension with the tire foam, don't sweat it, just wipe it off (if you can wiggle your hand back there and get everything). Anyhow, hope you did well.

AmbulanceMonkee

iTrader: (5)

Looks good. The pics aren't bad, and there were some nice cars there.

bigainabuilt

iTrader: (3)

That is 1 Clean *** ride bro! If you really plan on competing in car shows then I defiantely would recommend you investing in a charger or some other source of power, Nothing like seeing other rides still lit up and having to look at your setup without it. Gl on future shows.

TRIZ

iTrader: (14)

OKay...

12. Drove to the show and ran over it one final time with Meguiar's detailer and some paper towels.

Dont ever use paper towles... on any body panel... on your tires okay... but on body panels- not okay, not even windows- makes scratches.

Hmm, Looks pretty good. I'd say do more polishing, one coat of one product isnt nearly enough. Although i'm no expert at detailing, my friend is- he has a business.. if you plan on getting in a few more shows, invest in a buffer- makes a world of difference- and try doing the buffing indoors- dont want airborne particles getting on the pad and into the product layers.

When I see cars that are showing off in show rooms and stuff, they have them plugged in, and dont run off the battery- not exactly sure what the set up is, but its basically running off an outlet somewhere, and not off the battery.

The cars are cool.. but really, who is the chick? Just the average model chick that walks around and poses with each car for a few minutes? If its your gf, high five!!

How do shows work like this- do you pay to enter or what?

Goodluck with future shows!

DeX

I do plan on doing more shows, thanks for the suggestions so far. I haven't touched the engine yet and don't know if I will, more interested in building an exterior show car first. But I am definitely going to look into a power source for next year.
So does a buffer do a better job than doing it by hand?
The model was brought in from Toronto by Toyo Tires, a bunch of guys were asking if she could get freaky with her friend on their car until I pulled her away to make her mark on my hood! She wasn't going for it anyway. She was just walking around and I snagged her near the end of the show.
This show was $45 to enter your car but it was my first show so I had fun. Everybody pays to enter and usually if you're with a club, they'll cover some or all of the entry fee. Roll in Friday night, show Saturday, roll out Saturday night. Surprisingly I didn't see one cop when we rolled out either.

mogwai

iTrader: (4)

I'm with Triz. The paper towel statement made me cringe. I don't let anything but microfibers towels touch my paint. Paper towels will scratch the crap out of your paint.

Now... my observations on Meg's NXT. In my experience with this wax, even if I left it on for 5 minutes... it was a pain to take off. So even though Meg's recommends to let it sit for a while, I just wipe it on and take it off 30 seconds to a minute later. Just do panel at a time. It still comes out pretty good.

Also, putting it on in excess will only make it that much more of a pain to take off. One thing to consider as well, wax is can only go on so thick. So in essence, you're just wasting product because it's just gonna get wiped off in the end.

Anyways, your car looks good. The models doesn't look too bad either...

Ebay Master

Looks like the show was really fun!

Someday I will show up at one with my MR2.

DaMadScientist

iTrader: (10)

Spoon S2K is fooking sexy as hell

drew22mader

iTrader: (9)

Neither are Spoon S2k's, the first has the J's racing hood and kit on it, as well as Volk wheels. That top isn't Spoon either, may be the OEM hardtop or the Mugen one. 2nd one appear to have the J's quarter panels and front as well as hood. Top appears to be OEM or Mugen too.

As far as detailing, u might check the detailing section. Or go to www.autopia.org and check it out. If you didn't know a buffer does a better job than hand then you def need to start reading on autopia.