After three weeks of suffering with a bare concrete floor, my Swisstrax floor arrived this weekend. Here are some photos of the install process and final result. I am very pleased with how things have come together. I need two Pearl Grey tiles and the edges weren't included with the order, so it's about 98% complete at this point. I am looking forward to putting it to good use and sharing my insights into its performance. 

Here's a video I put together:

Here's a collection of photos that represent the current state of my garage. No major changes, just little tweaks here and there. I'm pretty much satisfied with how I have things laid out. Time to just use and enjoy it. 

I put a good twelve hours into this gorgeous FX 35.  I just love these cars. I was extremely happy with the end result. Here's the video: 

Following on the heels of the black R8, an Edmonton R8 owner popped down for a detail. I spent the entire day obsessing over this car and just before I was about to post the video, my MacBook crashed. For days I thought I had lost all the footage, but I was able to salvage it in the end. Here's the video and I hope you enjoy it: 

If you click, on "Automotive and Tires" on the main page of the Costco website, you will see a large advertisement for the QuickJack portable lift featuring a stunning photo of my old SQ5 in my garage. Over the years, I have been fortunate to have formed some wonderful relationships with some of my favorite retailers. The team at QuickJack and I have enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship since I first added a QuickJack to my garage back in the Spring of 2016 and I am pleased to see these amazing shots getting some good press.  

My two weeks of holidays have come to an end. I really enjoy the vacation time we teachers get, and I was able to accomplish quite a bit in terms of the garage and SQ5. I performed an extensive detail on two friends' cars as well as a thorough detail on my own. I had the opportunity to experiment with almost all the products sent to me from Jay Leno's Garage and I have to admit, they are spectacular. I am still in the process of collecting my thoughts on their performance and I will be posting my review shortly, so stay tuned for that. I helped a friend swap over to his summer wheels using my QuickJack, and I also swapped over to my Spring/Fall setup.  

The extra time allowed me to create videos that comprehensively demonstrate the extent I go to when maintaining my ride.  Check them out if you have the time:

I finished up a 8-hour detail of a friend's Kia Sorento.  I am quite pleased with the results.  I was a bit pressed for time, so there's no video for this one.  Just a few photos.  This SUV is used to transport a dog so lots of time was spent vacuuming.  I have a Sonax pet hair brush that does a pretty effective job of loosening the hair, so the vacuuming went well.  This SUV is not garaged, so there was a lot of tree debris on the inside and outside which took up a bit of extra time.  Enjoy the slideshow.

Products Used
Leather | Leatherique Rejuvenator Oil 
Carpet | Tornador Foam Gun loaded with diluted Griot's Garage Carpet Cleaner 
Doors | Jay Leno's Garage Interior Detailer
Dash and Console | Jay Leno's Garage Interior Detailer
Wash | Jay Leno's Garage Vehicle Wash
Wheels | Griot's Garage Heavy Duty Wheel Cleaner
Tires | Jay Leno's Garage Tire and Trim Care
Plastic | Jay Leno's Garage Tire and Trim Care
Glass | Jay Leno's Glass Cleaner
Wipe-down | Zaino Gloss Enhancer

I performed an epic detail on a friend's Volvo XC90 this week.  I was able to put almost all the products I received from the team at Jay Leno's Garage.  They performed remarkably well.  I am still trying some of them out and I will be sure to share my impressions on the JLG line up in a few days.  In the meantime, here's the video I made showing the Volvo transformation.  

I have three sets of winter liners for my SQ5, and none of them are able to prevent salty water from staining my black carpet.  Using a variety of products and equipment, I am always able to restore the carpet but it is such a drag having salt residue on my floor for so many months of the year.  How do ordinary people cope?  I don't even want to know.  

The process involves a thorough vacuum followed by a liberal dousing of Blitz all-purpose cleaner.  I let that dwell and then use my Rupes iBrid to work the APC deep into the fibres.  Then, I just use a microfibre cloth to dry the area.  If any salt has really hardened, I use my Mytee steamer to loosen it up.  

I was tired of having my polisher arsenal stored away and out of sight, so I mounted them on the Craftsman pegboard above my workbench.  I want to add one more polisher to my collection, but that will have to wait until Father's Day.  I also moved my pad collection from my 56" Craftsman to two of the drawers beneath my workbench.  Here's a few pics: 

A few weeks ago, the Director of Business Development for Jay Leno's Garage contacted me and offered to supply me with some detailing products to see what I thought of them.  I am going to be detailing two SUV's next week, so these products are going to be put to the true test come Monday.  I plan on doing a video of both jobs.  I am really looking forward to it.  In the meantime, I have to say I'm quite impressed with the packaging of these items.  They look real good on my main shelf!  Stay tuned for next week's Sorrento and XC90 details using these Jay Leno's Garage products.  

Package contents:

Quick Detailer
Hand Wax
Vehicle Wash
Tire and Trim Care
Interior Detailer
All-Purpose Cleaner
Glass Cleaner

Microfiber Super Drying Towel
Plush Microfiber Towel

Microfiber Wax Applicator
Blue YoYo Wax Applicator 
2 x Black YoYo Applicator 

Honestly, I don't  know how any retailer can be so consistent as Auto Obsessed.  I made my online order late in the day on Saturday, and the package arrived Tuesday before lunch.  That's just incredible.  I am giving their OBSSSSD line of microfibre towels a try.  I ordered twelve and I expect big things!  One thing I really appreciated about these towels right out of the box, is the tags are not sewn into the edges, rather they are easy-to-remove stickers.  Slick!  I also ordered some bags for my Metro Vac 'n Blo vacuum cleaner.  I had totally forgotten you need to replace vacuum bags.  The new bag has doubled the suction power of my awesome little vacuum.  Here's a shot of what I ended up ordering.  

Headed over to my favourite local detailing retailer, Carzilla today.  Picked these items up.  I have two detailing projects lined up for next week.  Both of them are family haulers.  I have an order from Auto Obsessed scheduled to arrive very soon also.  Now that I look at this photo, I wonder if that yellow Rupes pad is too small for my Rupes Mini.  I'll have to check on that.  

I now have three complete sets of floor liners for the SQ5.  The latest addition is a set of 3D Maxpiders.  I am loving them.  They don't offer 100% protection from salty water overrun, but they, by far, look the slickest.  Here's a video of me cleaning my new Maxpiders.  

I have added a Rupes LHR15 Mark II to my collection of polishers. This one came from Carzilla and it was a demo model. I saved a good chunk of change picking up the floor model and the owner of Carzilla assured me it had less than one hour of use on it.  I picked up a few other supplies. I am looking forward to doing some paint polish and corrections on friends' cars this Spring/Summer.  

The people over at QuickJack put a video together demonstrating how their lift can withstand soap and water.  They included some footage from a video I shot in the early summer.  Worth a look: 

Currently, I own a Rupes LHR 75E Mini Orbital Polisher and the long-neck iBrid. I have been so impressed with both of these machines, that I am now interested in expanding my arsenal to include the LHR 15 Mark II. This new version of the 15 has a 2500-5300 RPM range and a few convenient features over the previous model. I can either order one online through autoobsessed.com or stop by Carzilla. Of course, this will mean I'll need to shell out for some new pads and I really like the Rupes polishes that came with my iBrid, so I'll need a few bigger bottles of that stuff. Stay tuned.  

If you follow my YouTube channel, you will have seen that I posted a video demonstrating my wheel swap process. The weather has been extraordinarily mild this year, but I don't like getting caught off guard, so I installed my winter setup which consists of Blizzak LM-60's on 20" Hartmann wheels. This was the first time I swapped wheels on the SQ5 without having to use my floor jack at each corner. My QuickJack BL-5000 SLX made quick work of lifting the SQ off the ground. If you want to see a guy having a lot of fun playing with his car, check out the video below:  

With my permission, Quickjack is using photos of my garage for their online marketing of the QuickJack lift system.  It is pretty cool to see my garage getting this kind of exposure.  Here's a screen shot from the Quickjack.com website.  They have introduced a character named "Jack" to answer questions about the system.  I wonder if Jack's physical appearance should have been based on me, but I'll leave that for you to decide.  

Since purchasing my BL-5000SLX QuickJack lift, I have been putting it to the test quite regularly.  I have taken the wheels off a number of times to gain access to the wheel wells and I have been able to perform some touch ups on the paint around the rotor hats.  It has been a helpful tool as well as a cool one.  My friend, Geoff popped by a little while ago with his camera gear to snap some shots of the QuickJack in action and here's a little slideshow that demonstrates how it has helped me raise my detailing game.  The photos give you an idea of how I have the system set up. Like I have said before, it works great for my needs and it is a purchase I am very happy with.  

I bribed my photographer friend, Geoff to snap some more shots of my garage.  This time, I wanted to focus on some of the work I perform in the garage (detailing, wheel swaps) as well as some of the main equipment I use.  The QuickJack got quite a bit of camera time, and I'm very eager to see how the shots turned out.  Geoff sent me this teaser pic, so I hope the rest are just as cool.  Stay tuned.  

I try to focus on a new detail every time I wash my SQ5.  This time, I really focused on the door jambs.  I was so inspired by the work I was doing, I decided to do a video and I titled it the Decadent Detail.  The SQ was pretty bad due to an out-of-town jaunt up to Red Deer to see my Grandmother over the weekend.  I think you'll like the video I threw together.  

Sidenote: my YouTube channel eclipsed the 700-subscribers mark. 

It wasn't cheap, but I'm worth it.  I picked up the iBrid from Carzilla on Monday.  What a slick little tool. While I was at Carzilla, I also picked up a new tire dressing that the owner recommended.  It's a spray foam that supposedly penetrates the rubber leaving a coating that should last a few weeks.  I also picked up a gallon of Chemical Guys' Citrus Wash & Gloss which is my go-to shampoo.  I purchased three microfibre polishing pads that will help me when correcting harder paint.  All the pads I currently own are foam, so this should be a neat experiment playing around with mf.  Here's some shots of my new acquisitions.  I forgot to get clay while I was there.  My next trip will hopefully be my last.  I'm going broke o'er here.  

This virtual tour should give you a great sense of how things are laid out in my garage.  I have to say, things are approaching perfection.  It's just a matter of fine tuning the little details at this point.  I hope you enjoy.