Madison Motorsports - Appearance/Cosmetic

New Tires on the Explorer Sport

Wed, 26 Oct 2016 15:22:31 +0000

Hello again MM!

It's been a while since I have posted. I put on some new tires on the 2014 Explorer Sport I got back in February 2016. The stock ones were 255/50R20 Hankook Optimo H426. Picked up a set of Nitto NT420S 265/50R20 for $144.99 a tire at Discount Tire. A great thing they did was price match for me, the price at TireBuyer.com :thumbup:

Stockers had about 29,000 miles and were in the yellow in terms of treadwear. I just love the tread design.

How do you wash your car?

Mon, 01 Aug 2016 17:46:59 +0000

So, growing up in a house hold that couldn't car less about cars, I never really learned how to wash a car properly. I've used dish soap my entire life, and I've learned that using that is a heinous crime against cars. Whenever I wash my cars, they turn out pretty bad. I just recently learned to wax and I managed to wax over a ton of water spots on the Miata.

What is your process for washing? What do you use? How can I strip the car of wax and start over besides a clay bar?

Monterey Car Week / Pebble Beach 2015

Tue, 25 Aug 2015 02:28:45 +0000

This year I was fortunate enough to make it out to Monterey for Thursday to Sunday of Car Week. It has been on the vacation list for a couple years, and with my cousin living out in San Francisco for the summer, the pieces fit together just enough to make it work!

I flew out on Wednesday night, and spent Thursday and Friday bouncing between shows, drives and auction houses in Carmel and Monterey. First thing to note about the trip... for the week of Pebble, Monterey Peninsula becomes playground for America's richest car guys. Cars are trucked in from all over the US for their owners to rip around town - Literally every open field in town is packed full of car carriers and closed trailers. As a result, seemingly every third car you see on the roads is some sort of exotic... it is obscene. At one point, while I was innocently eating lunch on a bench in central Carmel, a black LaFerrari absolutely tore ass up the central avenue in town... with a white McLaren F1 right behind him. Its really hard to avoid getting jaded. Oh, a red F430? Sorry you are so poor...

Thursday morning was the Tour D'Elegance, where most of Sunday's show field drives a loop out from Pebble to Laguna Seca and back through Carmel. It's quite the experience to see some of the world's most prestigious show cars cruising around 17 Mile Drive.... a lot of the participants like to dress in period correct clothing as well, which is pretty awesome. I checked out RM Sothebys auction lot on Thursday after the Tour - they had a ridiculous collection of cars to go across the block in the weekend. An F50, Enzo, XJ220, 959, McLaren F1 LM (sold for something like $14m?), MC12, Reventon etc etc, not to mention the bevy of obscenely priced 60s Ferraris... Also, I found a familiar-looking bald headed man checking out the Koenigsegg they had for sale - turns out Christian likes some summer California vacations like the rest of us!

Friday was the Porsche Werks Reunion, put on by the PCA. Pretty much any Porsche you could possible imagine was in attendance. At the same time, just a couple miles down the road they held the Quail Gathering - another one of the multiple shows held over the weekend. Tickets were a little pricey for the Quail, but I had heard the parking lot was show enough... it did not disappoint.

Here are some of the highlights from Thursday and Friday.... More to come on Saturday at Laguna Seca and Sunday at Pebble.

Matte Black Care

Mon, 12 Jan 2015 01:19:09 +0000

The ZX6R I just picked up has some matte black finishes on some of the fairings. I know any surface abrasions would be more obvious on this finish, so I'm wondering if anybody has had any experience with a specific product for cleaning/caring for these finishes. I think that products made for cleaning black plastic trim pieces would make some magic happen, but I am a bit hesitant to give that a shot. ZX6R forums have a few suggestions, but most say soap and water. Thoughts?

Need a place to wash my car

Fri, 26 Sep 2014 20:23:42 +0000

Anyone live somewhere with a hose and bucket I could use? This pollen on my car is driving me nuts. I would be willing to do yours at the same time. I'm pretty damn good at it. Shoot me a text if you do.

Thanks,
Mark Corkery
fivefourzero-204-1785

Tesla Roadster Correctional

Sun, 24 Aug 2014 13:29:13 +0000

Small car, lots of problems.

Hey all,

Up here is a Tesla roadster receiving a correctional and a coating application- aim was as close to 100% as safely possible- lots of defects found on this one. Opti 2.0 was applied and a majority of the panels received a 3-5 step process due to some deep RIDS- especially near the rear quarters and rear deck lid.

Film installed by Tesla was applied to the front bumper, mirrors, rockers, rear quarters, front fenders, and the front hood. The front hood portion was removed to attend to some nasty rotary burn- more pics on that later. The remaining pieces were left applied and corrected appropriately as the area where this Roadster lives is quite mountainous.

The interior was blown out, dusted down with various brushes, leatherique applied and left to dwell over 5 hours. Auto Finesse Hyde was used to follow up and a highly diluted bottle of OPT APC used to hit all the various plastic items.

After removal of the film on both the front fenders and hood portion, the roadster received a decon wash.

Correctional process was a mixture of Rupes Zephir, M105, and Sonax PF. Although the roadster had paint on the softer side, the defects were very deep- requiring some heavy cutting.

Onto the pics

After the first pass:

Removal of the spoiler

The damage underneath

The rear decklid had numerous RIDS, among other defect including two areas where D/A hooks were present and a slight area of whool burn.....the after shot

Another heavily damaged area- the plug in cap area- thank you to whomever decided to damage this area!

The hood- removal of the film on this portion and the associated upper areas was necessary- one, the film had yellows slightly, two because there was an apparent sworm of rotary burn underneath the film- not only did this portion of the hood show rough edges that were scuffed away due to a misaligned panel (evidence of it once being in repair) but the work done with the rotary after it being freshly painted seemed to affect the state of the paint itself. Heavy sanding scratches found under intense LED light + D/A hooks made this panel of highest concern.

All of the work was of course wiped with a 90% IPA solution inbetween each step- Opti 2.0 being applied via a CarPro application block/ mf suede patch

All the electrical and battery items located in the front and rear bonnet werre degreased with APC and dressed with 303/ Black Wow, glass cleaned inside and out and the rear diffuser was hand cleaned again and dressed.

Afters:

Thanks for looking!
Dan

Move over Dan.

Fri, 01 Aug 2014 15:49:59 +0000

My first time trying to bring back a cars paint, still working on it but thought I'd throw up some photos since it'll probably be another month before I finish it.

Picked up an air orbital and some pads. No clue on products so I tried a Maguire's cutting compound stuff.

Taped a line on the back end, pretty noticeable difference.

More progress

One all-over pass completed with the cutting compound.

I'm sure it'd make Dan cry if he looked at it, but I was pretty impressed on the transformation so far.

Think there's some other products to get next so we'll see what happens.

The Shaguar XFR Correctional

Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:22:06 +0000

http://www.detailingbliss.com/topic/292 ... /?p=373800

'14 Ford Nationals or: Goodspeed plays with all of the GTs

Sun, 08 Jun 2014 19:59:56 +0000

Yeah, I know I made the "random events" thread, but this was a little bit more special to me than the usual C&C. Yesterday Matt (fiveoh2go) and I went up to Carlisle, PA for the 2014 Ford Nationals which promised to be quite an event due to not only the 50th anniversary of the Mustang, but the unveiling of the four FIA GT1 Matech Racing Ford GTs. And it definitely didn't disappoint.

We saw the '15 Mustang for about three seconds as it made it's way through the crowd to the main stage, but I was too focused on the GTs to really mind - the owners of the street/race versions were all very accommodating and let me put my paws all over them. I've long said it'd be the first car I'd buy if I hit the lotto, but this was only the second time (first was at this show a few years ago) I've been up close to one - and only one would've been cool, but having about six street cars and 4 race versions to play with was pretty incredible.

Full album here, including a couple sound clips of a street and one of the GT1 GT's:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/64363855@N...075161944/

The Cars & Coffee, Etc. Pic Thread

Sun, 18 May 2014 18:01:00 +0000

Rather than clutter the H&B'ed thread, I figured I'd start a separate one for snaps taken at C&C and other random events that people can post in. Just about every other weekend I'm out at one of the NoVA C&C's, and I'll probably attend more often once I have another fun car so I'll be putting a bunch of shots in here. I'm still a rank amateur behind the lens but I'm looking to improve - the more events I attend, the more practice I get.

Anyways, I went to the Fair Lakes C&C this morning - perfect weather, and a great assortment of cars. I met my old Miata's near-doppelganger, owned by a guy who lives probably half a mile from me funnily enough. He had actually contacted me about buying mine last year just after it sold, so he knew who I was and showed me a bunch of similar mods he had done which was pretty awesome. Hit me right in the feels as I miss that car.

Also of note is the yellow Lotus Sport Elise (Evan, I can't recall which wheels you bought for your Exige, but I thought you might appreciate seeing these), and the stock, 52k-mile TT 6-speed Supra. I chatted with the owner who has had it for 9 years, a total creampuff example that is actually for sale. Subtract a few grand from the mileage and you've arrived at the price. The VW Type 3 had a WRX EJ25 I believe, and had a big crowd around it almost the whole time.

Full Album

How to remove gear oil spilled in bed?

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 23:11:08 +0000

Hey guys! I was changing my diff oil out when Sam called me needing a jump. I finished up and threw the drain jug in the bed. Didn't think about it.

It turned over and spilled everywhere coating my entire bed with 1/2 an inch of oil. I spent like 20 minutes pressure washing it and it just won't come out.

I can't stand the smell. You can smell it from like 10 feet away from my truck and it's a mess. I can't put anything back there now.

What the hell will get rid of it? I can't use water because water just rolls off of the oil and it's like glued to my bedliner.

Eyelids on the Ram?

Sun, 12 Jan 2014 18:05:31 +0000

So does MM like the idea of a set of eyelids on the Ram? I always thought they make it look a little meaner. They make them fiberglass that you paint or they make them as vinyl that probably won't match 100%. This is the truck now with the new cab lights.

I think these are the fiberglass variety lids.

Thinking eyelids and/of a different grille insert. Suggestions welcome.

Ferrari 458 Correctional

Sat, 30 Nov 2013 21:07:31 +0000

Here is a 458 which I performed a single/ double step (some areas) + Opti Coat app- client uses the machine for what its for and tracks it regularly. On top of the numerous areas which have ppf I went ahead and applied Opti Coat 2 to finish this one off.

Not many process pics as time was limited, just looking to document and share!

Thanks for looking!

Working through the interior- mostly vacuumed and brushed down as the entire interior is primarily alcantara

Tips were hurting- hit with ironx + #0000 steel wool and Opt metal polish to get them perfect

The business end was foamed down with APC and various brushes used, here it is before showing lots of soil from numerous trips + hours on track

Given a full decon wash + clay treatment

Dried...you can see the fine line marring and swirls, not too bad, but for the most part very fine defects

Good ole gift from Maranello- thank you for the pig tailing and rotary defects on the roof, for example:

After 10 hours of correcting- Opti coat the next morning

And the afters:

Thanks for looking!

Dan

Panamera 4 Correctional

Fri, 29 Nov 2013 17:27:36 +0000

Hey all,

Getting caught up here on a few write-ups I performed not too long ago...between relocating and starting a new job back down in VA I haven't had much time to dedicated to throwin pics together.

Up here is a black Panamera 4 loaded with options- it was jacked up pretty bad with virtually every type of defect not to mention the worst pre-cut dealer installed clear film I have ever seen.

Correctional was a mix between a 2 and 3 step, opti coat 2 thrown on as LSP.

No correctional pics but for documentation I included a handful of finished pics below

Thanks for lookin!

Dan

996 Turbo Correctional

Thu, 28 Nov 2013 16:18:39 +0000

996 Turbo in for a single step correctional + sealant applicaton- although this Turbo was maintained decently over the past several years, it still needed much attention- Rupes/ Flex/ PC and Sonax PF made a great dent in the defects.

I've worked on numerous 996's, mostly C4's but never had the opportunity to work on the Turbo- lots of fun!

Before:

Removed the rear seat bottoms

Interior was vacuumed, carpets extracted, hard plastic areas cleaned, brushed etc.
Leatherique treatment

After the interior was left nearly wrapped up, decon wash time
Heavy dose of Sonax PF/ Megs APC here

Clayed, blown dry, brought inside and taped up

Some befores: apologies for the lack of clarity- only had the point and shoot today =/

50/50- hard to see, thanks to the camera

Small areas of stray tails

Afters:

After sealant application

Thanks for looking!
Dan K.