BLOG (2014-2021)
FOLLOW ALONG WITH WHAT I GOT GOING ON
A YouTube viewer contacted me about putting my touch on his prized Golf R. I love these little rockets so I jumped at the opportunity. I performed a very thorough exterior detail and did my best to rid the paint of some tiny tar deposits. You'll have to watch the video to see how things turned out. It's a bit of a long video so I suggest grabbing a snack first! I am so pleased to offer Canadian followers a chance at one of three Gyeon prize packs valued between $200 and $50! Go to my Instagram post and check out the giveaway rules. I will be making the draw for three winners on Tuesday, July 28th. Good luck to those of you who enter.
I had an absolute blast putting my touch on this classy M car. Nick is a massive car enthusiast and entrusted his cherished M Coupe to me for a few days for I could absolutely spoil it. I performed an enhanced wash of the exterior. Nick keeps this car in tip top condition, but he had gone on a Southern Alberta cruise Sunday morning, so the car was substantially covered in insect debris. In all, I spent approximately eight hours giving this rare and majestic beast the washing of its life. Along with my trademark cinematic footage, this video features some commentary from Nick about the car and about some its special features and background. I hope you will enjoy. I had the opportunity to perform an in/out detail on a truly remarkable piece of Audi history this past week. On Thursday, I spent the entire day pampering a pristine 1994 Audi RS2 Avant. This car was never available in North America. They are finally starting to trickle in from Japan and Europe. Dave was gracious enough to help me with the video on this project. He is a veritable fountain of knowledge when it comes to all things fast and European. This car was a collaborative effort between Audi and Porsche and marks the first of the illustrious RS cars. It is finished in what is now known as "Nogaro" blue, but it was originally called "RS" blue. When they started using the colour on non-RS cars, they changed the name to Nogaro. Dave taught me this. I'm proud of the video so please take a minute to enjoy it. I'll admit I didn't know much about this car until recent years. As a kid, I was hyper focused on Fiero's and Firebirds. These cars are now garnering the global attention they rightfully deserve on this side of the pond. In fact, a "Bring a Trailer" auction for a similar RS2 just went live the other day. Check it out here. There's lots of information available online, but I liked this article that details the history, significance and technical features of the car.
I am constantly making minor tweaks to the organization of my garage. Here are some recent photos that illustrate how and where I store my tools, products and equipment that enhance the efficiency of my garage.
I made the trek to the other side of city to pop in on Chris at Carzilla. The shop was buzzing and there were so many boxes ready to ship out. I'm so glad things are busy for him because his shop is my favorite place to visit. I picked up a few things: I spent the better portion of three days dialing in my brother-in-law's 2014 Audi S4. Initially, I planned on performing a pretty basic 4-6 hour interior/exterior detail with an "enhancement" polish, but the project just grew and grew until I had invested over 20 hours of my time. It was a chore, but it came out great. Here's the video: I had an amazing Father's Day Weekend hanging out in my garage detailing two amazing supercars. I spent over eight hours on the interior and exterior of this Ara Blue R8. This car is simply breathtaking. The new Vorsteiner carbon wing gives it that "performante" look and I just love it. Once I was finished with the R8, I spent eight hours dialing in a very unique Mercedes AMG GTS in a matte silver colour. The official name of the paint is designo selenite grey magno. I was highly satisfied with the final results of each project and I am equally proud of the videos I made for each of them.
I am excited about the projects that await me this summer. I am starting to make many connections with people in the high end car community so you never know what will be coming by RAD Garage. I'll keep you posted!
I am excited about this project because I used a number of car care products sent to me by Tim, the mastermind behind Ethos Car Care Products. Tim has been someone I have looked up to over the years and to see him gaining such success and recognition within the detailing industry comes as no surprise. I put the Ethos products to the test by performing a complete interior/exterior detail of my buddy's gorgeous Audi Allroad. Watch the video, and I am sure you will agree the results were stunning. By far, the best part of this garage hobby is having the opportunity to connect with people from all over the world. I spend a lot of time responding to comments and questions on YouTube as well as carrying on behind-the-scenes conversations via Instagram and email.
Recently, a viewer from Belgium reached out to me to share some photos of his garage space. Geoffrey admits many design and organizational elements of his Belgian garage were inspired by my garage and the similarities in layout, organization and style are clearly apparent. Even more humbling is the fact that Geoffrey attributes the creation of his detailing business to watching my YouTube detailing videos! Learning what I have done with my standard suburban garage in Calgary has inspired a fellow detailing enthusiast living 7000 kilometers away is just remarkable. You can check out Geoffrey's "Masters of Shine" website here. I am sure you will agree he has created a top notch site. I wish him all the best as he chases his dream and I truly appreciate him taking the time to share his story with me. I have posted a gallery of images showcasing the evolution of Geoffrey's professional detailing theatre. As you pursue the gallery, I am sure you will identify a number of common features of our two garages. I admit I am cheap when it comes to pressure washers. I'm on my third or fourth portable big box brand electric pressure washer. Currently, I am using a Kobalt pressure washer I picked up at Lowe's about three years ago. It gets the job done but it doesn't enhance the detailing process in the way the majority of my tools do. I have been eyeing a more professional setup and my research leads me to the Comet Static 1700. It would be awesome to put a system together that is mounted to my wall and remains hooked up to the water system so I don't have to set up the portable unit every time I want to do some washing. If you are interested, you can see the package I am saving up for here. As an affiliate member of the Obsessed Garage community, I encourage you to click here to learn more about all the pressure washer systems that have been created by Matt and his team at Obsessed Garage.
I am so glad the weather has turned Spring-like. Not because I want to tiptoe through the tulips, but because I want to finally give my SQ5 the spring cleaning it so richly deserves. The outside and inside are immaculate, but the undercarriage and wheel wells are still coated with a thick layer of winter muck. I spent the better part of two days giving the neglected regions of my car some attention. With the QuickJack, I was able to pull the wheels off and perform over twelve hours of care to the car with it safely perched in the air. This makes getting to the undercarriage and wheel wells incredibly easy and satisfying. I put a lot of work into capturing the art of this process and I hope you will find the video as satisfying as I do. I will include links to most of the products and tools I used for this project below. Happy spring everyone! A D A M ' S P O L I S H E S P R O D U C T L I S T
Mega Foam Shampoo Strip Wash All Purpose Cleaner Iron Remover Glass Cleaner Rubber Mat and Liner Cleaner Ceramic Boost Ceramic Paint Coating E Q U I P M E N T L I S T Quickjack BL-5000 SLX Portable Lift Ryobi Water Broom MTM PF22 Foam Cannon Gloves CarPro Merino Wool Wash Mitt MetroVac Master Blaster Car Dryer Detail POPO "Ocean" Microfiber Towel Adam's Polishes Detailing Stool IK Continuous Sprayer I have a lot of microfiber towels. Too many to be honest. So, today I tackled the big job of paring my collection down. I did this to streamline and bring consistency to my collection, but also to make room for almost 80 new towels. I made a big purchase of Detail POPO towels from Carzilla on the recommendation of someone who I respect. I think these new towels will breath life into my towel collection and come in very handy as summer approaches. Here's a video of the process along with a list of the specific towels I picked up. If you are a Canadian detailing pro or enthusiast like me, and you're looking to expand your detailing product or equipment arsenal, be sure to apply my "RADGARAGE" discount code to your CARZILLA.CA order to receive a 5% discount! Hopefully, you had an opportunity to view my most recent YouTube upload titled, "Friday Night Wash" in which I busted out some products I hadn't used in a while. I thought I would share my impressions of these products and I welcome your input. I'll go in the order the products were used and remember that these were products I kept after purging my collection, so they were already high on my list. Leno's Garage All Purpose Cleaner Highly Satisfying Gets the Job Done On the Fence Not a Fan I only have Adam's rubber cleaning sprays, so when I went hunting for an alternative, the pickings were slim. I used the APC by Leno's and I don't think it is an ideal option for addressing tires, but it got the job done. I prefer more lather from my rubber cleaners and the Leno's just didn't provide the satisfying suds I was after. I see Leno's now offers a dedicated "Rubber and Whitewall Cleaner". Leno's Garage Wheel Cleaner Highly Satisfying Gets the Job Done On the Fence Not a Fan I am a fan of this wheel cleaner. It has a decent amount of bite needed to break down the brake dust and other aggressive road grime that comes with winter driving. It contains the chemicals that turn iron deposits purple which I find satisfying. It lathers well once activated by the water in the tire brush and always leaves my wheels clean, and it didn't disappoint this time. Hyde's Serum Rustopper Highly Satisfying Gets the Job Done On the Fence Not a Fan The name of this product along with the bottle's appearance reminds me of the products hawked by snake oil salesman in the olden days. It touts itself as a preventative remedy for rusty rotors that occur during the wash process. I sprayed the "serum" on the rotors at the conclusion of the wheel cleaning process. To say this product "stopped" the rusting would be disingenuous. I'd rather drive the car back and forth a couple of times and dust of the rusty fallout than waste my time and money with this product. Gyeon Q2M Foam Highly Satisfying Gets the Job Done On the Fence Not a Fan This was a lovely product to work with. It isn't the thickest foam I have ever had the pleasure of using, but it had strong cling and seemed to have the power necessary to lift the dirty layer of grime coating my car. Pressure washing the foam off the paint left the finish virtually clean. I think I could have probably ended the wash at this stage, but I always finish with a traditional bucket wash. I highly recommend Q2M foam for those that like the foam process. In an effort to mix things up a bit, I preformed a very thorough exterior detail of my SQ5 using some products I haven't used in a very long time. I dug deep into the cabinets and pulled out some great stuff. Here' the video: Shaun, is a friend of mine that I met through the garage/detailing world. For years, I have been encouraging him to share more of his garage and process with the world, because he is an impeccable detailer and master organizer. I was so pleased to see his first ever video go live tonight. I enjoyed watching the man in action, and I trust you will too. Check it out! I can pretty much guarantee no car in this city received the level of pampering my car enjoyed over the past two weeks. The engine compartment and undercarriage notwithstanding, the rest of the car is absolutely pristine. Here's so pics of her current condition.
On the final Saturday of my 2-week Spring Break, I took a few hours to address the interior of my SQ5. It wasn't filthy by any means since it hasn't been seeing much use as of late, but it needed a little refresh. In this video, I use the Interior Scrubbing Mitt from Adam's and it does a fantastic job of refreshing the leather on my seats and steering wheel. Here's the video: A viewer of my videos, Ryan reached out to me the other day to let me know that my name came up during a video/podcast hosted by Matt Moreman over at Obsessed Garage. Matt and I have known each other since the early days on the garagejournal.com forums. Since those early days, Matt has gone on to build himself an empire called "Obsessed Garage". He's a heavy hitter in the detailing world so to have him speak so highly of me on his channel was definitely encouraging and inspiring. I've embedded the YouTube video below and timestamped it to the part of the video where Matt offers me some encouragement and advice to "chase it harder". It meant a lot coming from him. I combined footage from over two years of using foam washes in the garage. I think it makes for a therapeutic viewing experience. Enjoy: Due to some dubious "third party match" claims on Youtube, I decided to take down the original version of my Allroad project and rearrange it. The music I originally added was marketed as "copyright free", but the artists have since gone ahead and copyrighted the material leaving me in a bind. The never version is cleaner, crisper and features the sounds of Silencyde who is an amazing copyright-free producer. I hope you will take minute to revisit this reworked version of one of my all-time favorite projects. It's an ongoing battle keeping the garage clean, but I enjoy the process. I was able to do a full wash of the floor yesterday and then my son and I filmed a guided tour video. Check them out: One of the best ways I have to manage stress in my life is to clean my car. That's what I did yesterday: I added some graphics at the end of this video showcasing the various Adam's Polishes products I used in this maintenance wash. My son and I braved the elements to make the cross-town trek to Carzilla. I picked up a few supplies to help ease my anxiety about all that is going on in the world. It's always nice to pop in the shop to see what's new. It doesn't seem like Spring is on the way, but I am starting to get amped up for the projects that come with the end of winter.
I picked up a gallon of Adam's Polishes Mega Foam, a can of Adam's Multi-Use Foaming Cleaner, an Adam's Interior Scrub Mitt, a new pressurized IK sprayer and a bottle of my favorite detail spray, "Cars 'n Cocoa" by Adam's. Not a massive haul but it helped relieve a bit of the pressure I've been feeling these past few days. |
RAD GARAGE is my personal detailing theatre. I am a teacher who finds immense pleasure in completing deeply therapeutic, thorough and highly satisfying detailing projects in my residential garage. I have converted my suburban double car garage into a world class detailing environment and I enjoy caring for my own car and select cars belonging to others. The garage and the work I complete in it have allowed me to connect with other detailing enthusiasts from around the world.
I have teamed up with Teespring to offer viewers an opportunity to grab some RAD gear! Click here to see the current inventory of RAD merchandise available at my Teespring store!
Use "RAD10" to save yourself 10% until the end of March, 2021.
Carzilla is a local detailing store that caters to the North American community of professional and enthusiast detailers. I have been a longtime customer and I am fortunate to call the owner a friend. Besides stocking a vast quantity of top quality detailing products, the owner has supported various garage and detailing projects of mine over the years.
5% discount code
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