2004 SRT-4 Electric Blue Detail Results

[dwaleke]

I detailed my SRT4 and posted a write-up on Meguiar's Online Forums.


2004 SRT-4 Electric Blue Detail - Car Care Forums: Meguiar's Online

[AnsareStg0]

nice & clean!

[KristenSRT4]

Car looks great, you did a nice job! What about them wheels tho lol

[wehewon]

nice. my car needs an overhaul

[16Boosted]

Clean. I like the wheels!

[KristenSRT4]

Quote: Originally Posted by 16Boosted

Clean. I like the wheels!

I like the wheels too, I was jus pointing out they were dirty haha

[Banging_Blue_04]

what kinda wheels are those look good on the car

[dwaleke]

Thanks everyone for the comments.

KristenSRT4 - I will clean the OEM wheels with snow tires. I wanted to get the new shoes on first!


The wheels are Rota Torque in Gunmetal finish. They have a glossy clearcoat finish to them. I'm running my old Khumo Ecsta SPT 225/45R17 tires on them.

17x8" 35mm offset. I picked them up from WheelDude.com.

I had Centerline RPM forged aluminium wheels on there (13.2lbs / rim), but one of the spokes cracked (they removed too much metal behind the spoke for lightening) so I picked these up. Not nearly as light, but not nearly as expensive.


The car has Mopar Stage 3 Coilovers with 60-200mm springs (~355lbs/in) in the front and 50-250mm (~258lbs/in) spring in the rear. I removed the stop-rings because I am the second owner and didn't realize the lifetime warranty could work for me (I guess it's not really verified??). I can go at least another inch lower in the back. I didn't purchase the helper springs for the front so I didn't want the springs to be loose. Right now I'm at 0 preload, but could probably drop it even lower.

I don't want to go too low. Michigan roads are terrible and if you guessed it by my OEM wheels with snow tires I do drive the car in the winter (occassionally).

Car rides great.

[atenzany62]

detailing job looks great!

[Srtkr]

so if i use Meguiar's my stock rims will become rotas???? im gonna go get some now!!!
but seriously car looks fantastic and i love reading before and after stories

[dwaleke]

Quote: Originally Posted by Srtkr

so if i use Meguiar's my stock rims will become rotas???? im gonna go get some now!!!
but seriously car looks fantastic and i love reading before and after stories

LOL! That's great. I don't think you'll get Rotas, but your paint would look great! I couldn't believe the difference it made. I have a Flex XC 3401 VRG forced rotation dual action polisher. It's $299. The same results can be achieved with a Meguiar's G110 or PorterCable 7424XP. Those are quite a bit cheaper, but are still both dual action polishers.

I priced out the minimum necessary products to do a similiar correction job on just the paint for a coworker and the price came out to less than $250 shipped from autodetailingsolutions.net.

Basically you would need this from AutoDetailingSolutions.net:

Meguiar's G110 Dual-Action Polisher Express Kit - $169.99
- Includes pads and M205 finishing polish.
Meguiar's M105 Ultra Cut (DA Approved Version) Sample Size - $9.99
- Read up on how to use this on Meguiar's forums.
- Aggressive stuff, but finishes off awesome if you use it correctly.
- You may not need this product. I used Ultimate Compound which is an over the counter product by Meguiar's and is a little less aggressive than M105. If you're paint is in good condition skip this step and just use M205.
(2) Meguiar's Soft Buff 2.0 Foam Polishing Pads W8207 - $23.90
- The kit comes with two of these for the M205 pass. I get two more for the M105 or Ultimate Compound pass. You machine wash these with laundry detergent (no softener) afterward and they can be reused.
Meguiar's M21 2.0 Synthetic Sealant - $17.99
- This is pretty much the same thing as NXT Tech Wax 2.0 in the store.


You will also need a Clay Bar kit. Extrememly easy to clay a car if you've never done it and absolutely necessary to get the nice smooth surface. Meg's has a Smooth Surface Clay Kit that comes with clay, Quick Detailer (for clay lubricant), and a Supreme Shine Microfibier towel (and cleaner wax, but I use mine for door jambs, etc) for $20. I used a more aggressive Meg's clay since I have never done it before and already had towels and clay lubricant (quick detailer) (200g Aggressive Clay Bar only - $24).

I'm sure other folks on here will post their suggestions and preferred products. The above stuff will perform permanent paint correction (not just hide swirls with polishing oils, etc). It's pretty safe to use by almost anyone (we're not talking rotary polishers here), but still do some reading on the proper techniques.


I only post this information not to push Meguiar's products (i have nothing to gain), but to let everyone know what I used to get the results I did. I had to do a ton of research to find what would give me the results I wanted. You can see in my post at MOL all of the products I used on my car.

EDIT: I should mention that I have only ever waxed a car once or twice in my life before doing everything I did above. I did do a ton a reading before I did it though. Don't think you need any kind of experience to get great results. I had none. It did take me a couple weekends to do everything, but I work very slow, stop after every panel and admire my work for 10-20 minutes, and then continue.

[HiSpeed48]

great correction

i bought a PC months ago, but the pads and compounds are really pricey if you want to do it right. hopefully next spring i'll finally be able to do a good correction.

one thing, how is the reflectivity with the M21? i noticed you didn't add a coat of wax

[dwaleke]

Quote: Originally Posted by HiSpeed48

great correction

i bought a PC months ago, but the pads and compounds are really pricey if you want to do it right. hopefully next spring i'll finally be able to do a good correction.

one thing, how is the reflectivity with the M21? i noticed you didn't add a coat of wax

I would say the reflectivity is great. Did you see the reflections of the clouds and trees in some of the pictures?

M21 is a synthetic sealant. The words sealant and wax can be used almost interchangeably. Synthetic sealants usually provide better durability for protection. Waxes are typically natural Carnauba wax. Both are applied to provide protection for the paint.

I could have applied M26 Hi-Tech Yellow Wax after M21. M26 is a pure Carnauba wax, but I didn't see the need. After polishing with Ultimate Compound and M205 the paint was in near perfect condition. I just needed to protect it. I could have applied a pure polish after M205 and before M21 (something like M07 or M05 or DC2). That would have given the car a more wet look to it since a pure polish is basically just polishing oils - nothing else.

If you buy NXT Tech Wax 2.0 it is basically the same thing as M21. Only difference between the consumer NXT and professional M21 is that M21 can be applied with a rotary (meaning will work better in high temp situations). One product is called a sealant and the other is called a wax. Marketing terms seem to drive this industry. You need to get the information beyond the marketing to really know what products you are putting on your car.

As for product cost. Ultimate compound costs $9.99 over the counter and a consumer product near equivalent to M205 would be SwirlX for $8.99. I don’t think that’s very expensive. Pads are about $9-13 depending on where you buy them.

[SILVERN]

Hey, great job once again.
(Hemin8r).

[COY]

your hired.