I highly doubt there's a Canadian garage with a cleaner floor than mine. Maintaining a spotless floor during the inhospitable Canadian winter isn't always an easy feat, but the Swisstrax floor and channel drain/catch basin system are a huge help. The weather threw me a bit of a bone this weekend, so I took the opportunity to clean the floor and empty the basin before another polar vortex hits! Check it out: 

A new friend approached me a while back about potentially spoiling his cherished AMG GLA45. This car is remarkable in so many ways. The South Seas Blue Metallic paint was an utter joy to work on. I gave this car a comprehensive 24-hour detail that culminated with the application of a glossy coat of GTechniq CSL topped with Gyeon's Q2 Wax. I got a lot of questions on the video about the wax topper. It is a new wax released by Gyeon that supposedly plays well with coated vehicles so I gave it a whirl. The final results on this car were absolutely stunning. Neither myself or the owner could believe how glossy it was. I hope you will take a minute (or 42) to check out the project: 

A new friend entrusted his 2002 Renault Clio V6 Sport to me for a weekend so I could give it the "full works". What a cool car. I have explained a little about this project in the video description along with a comprehensive list of what products and equipment I used to complete it. I hope you will check it out. 

My friend Nick entrusted me with his amazing 1992 Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evoluzione for the weekend. I gave it a maintenance wash using some Adam's, Lithium and Koch Chemie products. In addition to producing a video showcasing the wash process, I had Nick share some insights and information on this truly remarkable piece of automotive history. Be sure to catch both videos on my YouTube channel. You won't often see a car like this getting spoiled in the garage of a mild-mannered weekend warrior up here in Canada. 

The addition of the channel drain and catch basin enables me to conduct proper washes whenever I feel the need. I felt the need last weekend: 

I had a fun chat with two detailers in Northern California a few weeks ago. It is so fun to connect with likeminded people from all over the world. Here's the video, but I warn you, it's over 2 hours long! 

My friend parted ways with his cherished 1994 Audi RS2 Avant this past summer. It was a bittersweet decision for Dave, but it was made a bit sweeter by the fact that it was purchased by YouTube sensation car reviewer, Doug DeMuro. 

Doug has uploaded his reveal video on his very popular YouTube channel. I'm obviously hoping he will see my wash video from this past summer. I posted a comment on the video about being sure to check out my video and I have already seen a slight uptick in traffic. Who knows? Maybe this will be the break I've been looking for!

Here's the original video from last summer. As you can see, I have already changed the title of the video! 

Winter is the perfect time of year to shift my focus to the garage itself. I have always endured drainage challenges that come with snow and ice melting and then freezing just outside the garage door. This ice damning can occur often in the winter, so conceiving a drainage system that prevents water from escaping the garage and wrecking havoc on my driveway has always been a goal of mine.

I finally pulled the trigger and enlisted a concrete firm to install a channel drain/catch basin system. The installation process was labor intensive and required a 48" wide section of the existing floor to be demolished and removed by hand. Once the concrete was removed, four 1-meter sections of trench drain were precisely positioned one inch below the level of the existing floor and pitched towards a large catch basin with a 30-gallon capacity. The concrete was then poured and shaped in such a way that all water will be directed towards the channel sections. No water will now escape the garage and cause me headaches in the winter. 

While that job was in progress, I took it upon myself to paint the ceiling and install all new lighting. A company out of Saskatchewan called LevKom reached out to me and generously offered to supply me with all new LED lighting necessary to turn my space into an even more effective detailing environment. With the help of an electrician friend, we removed all nine existing fluorescent 2-bulb fixtures and installed four 60-watt "trilights" and eleven 30-watt 48" LED linkable tubes. The lighting install took six hours in total and turned out great. 

These three upgrades have breathed a lot of new life into my garage. I am still in the process of cleaning up all the dust from the concrete work and sanding of the ceiling, but it already looks even more amazing than before. In addition to just looking better, I am now able to conduct details year-round. The garage is now a much more comfortable and efficient place to do my thing! I have documented all of these changes in a 3-video series I call "Floor to Ceiling". 

This video demonstrates the demolition stage of the drainage project. The crew worked tirelessly for about six or seven hours removing a 48" wide portion of the existing slab. ​

I wasn't able to record the footage of the actual drain and basin placement, but this video shows how they were placed in the excavated portion of the floor. ​

This video demonstrates the final result after the concrete was poured to fill in the system. It also demonstrates the system in action as I perform a quick floor clean. ​

Performing a comprehensive exterior detail on this gorgeous 2008 Audi RS4 was one of the highlights of my summer. What made the project even more special was the fact that the team from Auto Shield Canada came to help out. I connected with the company a few weeks prior and was impressed to hear about the research and development that has gone into their new Graphene coating. There's a lot of controversy in the detailing world around the topic of graphene, but I have no problem experimenting with the new take on a paint coating. The results on this B7 Avus Silver RS4 say it all. Thanks to Wilson, Josh and Jyles for all their help and support and I look forward to using their coating on my car in the very near future. 

The video

The graphene

I have been buddies with Pan the Organizer for a long time. We regularly chat about detailing, YouTube and life in general and we have wanted to collaborate in some way, shape or form a while now. Pan contacted me about an idea he was cooking up in which I would do some work in my garage and he would feature the footage in a video on his channel while narrating the action for his viewers. I enlisted a gorgeous Misano Red Audi RS5 from my friend Dave and proceeded to give it a complete "wheels off" detail. The fabric wheel arch liners on Audis are notorious for absorbing copious amounts of dirt so the footage I shared with Pan demonstrated the process I follow to return the wheel arches and wheels to factory condition. I am so pleased with the way this project turned out and I have to thank Pan for the invitation and honor of being featured on his channel. I hope we can do more collabs in the future!  Here is the final video as featured on Pan's channel: 

The full project video can be viewed here: 

Towards the end of August, I had occasion to detail two amazing Audis. The first one is a very rare and special RS6 Avant and the other is a beautiful RS5 Coupe. Both are owned by guys I have come to know through my detailing escapades. The RS6 received a comprehensive maintenance wash while the RS5 got the full meal deal including a full paint correction and Ethos graphene coating. Both cars came out great and I am very proud of the videos I produced for each of them. 

I've been quite busy with life, but I wanted to make a quick post to share this project I completed back in August. The owners of this gorgeous Lexus IS300 contacted me through my website to see if I would be interested in detailing their cherished car. I jumped at the chance, and spent the better part of three days putting my touch on it. I washed, polished and coated this car and the results were substantial. This video includes the reaction of the owner when he picked it up. It was a great project. 

My Brother-in-law and I colluded behind my SIL's back to have her 2017 Audi Q3 detailed behind her back. She was under the impression her car was being "detailed" at a local car wash, when in actuality, it was with me for three days. I was able to wash correct, polish and ceramic coat her little commuter and the results were highly satisfying. This video illustrates the extent I went to in order to surprise her. 

This was such a unique project for me. A few weeks ago, a young man contacted me about detailing his 2008 VW Golf R32. This is a significant and rare piece of high performance VW machinery and he stated that he was a fan of my videos and wanted me to spend some quality time pampering it. So, we agreed. He drove it in from BC, where he has been living since August of last year. He arrived here around 1:00 on Friday afternoon and left it with me for the long weekend. He flew out of YYC to YYZ later that afternoon. Monday morning, it was picked up a car carrier and transported back to Toronto, where he is originally from. 

The owner had ceramic coated the vehicle last summer with a combination of GTechniq CSL and EXO. It hadn't seen a lot of use due to the C19 situation, so I decided to try something a bit new with this one. Instead of polishing the coating completely off and starting from scratch, I used a very light hand to clay and polish the very top layer of the existing coating and reapply a layer of EXO. It's impossible to really know (for me at least) just how much of the base layer of CSL was still remaining, but from speaking to the owner, we thought that it should still be in pretty good shape. I used Adam's Visco Elastic Clay and CarPro Essence with a yellow Rupes pad on my LHR75e DA polisher. 

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'm obviously a huge fan of Swisstrax flooring. Recently, there has been a lot of conversation in the comment section of my videos as well as on the Facebook forums I belong to. I felt it was necessary for me to share my experience with a Swisstrax floor in terms of function, practicality and maintenance. I have uploaded two videos to my channel that hopefully provide the information a person would need in order to make a decision regarding the suitability of this floor to their garage. 

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 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!