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FOLLOW ALONG WITH WHAT I GOT GOING ON
I was not happy with the performance of my aging garage door opener unit. It has served our family well for the past decade, but the entire system was dated and it was time for an upgrade. I connected with Mike Awada from Triton Door Services after a neighbor recommended him. He stopped by the garage and we chatted about all the possibilities and I settled on a Liftmaster 8500W side-mount "Jack Shaft" opener. The install process was somewhat complicated, but with the help of my amazing brother-in-law Ryan, we ran electrical service to the corner where the unit was mounted. We also rerouted the wall switch and sensor wires from the middle of the ceiling to the same corner. Then, we installed four slick little 4" LED pot lights (can lights) to provide some much needed task lighting to the lower ceiling portion of the garage. What an amazing difference these adjustable (3000-5000k) lights have made. This video isn't a complete step-by-step install guide, but more of a look into my thinking and how I integrated all the components into my already highly developed garage. If you are interested in upgrading your garage door opener, I highly recommend you find a qualified door technician in your area. It’s also a good idea to have a quality electrician on speed dial too! 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 didn't know how much I was looking forward to this milestone until it hit last week. I'm not saying there were tears, but I feel incredibly humbled by the support viewers have given me since I started my YT channel back in 2014. I am committed to creating as much content as my free time permits while always taking time to respond to viewer comments, questions and even the criticisms! Thanks to every one of you that ever spent time watching a RAD video! If you are in the mood to watch some videos right now, go ahead and head over to my videography page!
I'm not weird, you're weird. I love my driveway and applying an acrylic sealer to it every couple of years is something that gives me immense pleasure. Here's my attempt to capture the beauty of the process through cinematic videography. I think you will agree that my exposed aggregate driveway is the envy of the neighborhood. Be sure to stick around to the very end of the video to see the driveway glisten in the evening sun! I performed an undercarriage detail of my SQ5 last weekend and the floor paid a heavy price. The floor under the Swisstrax was absolutely caked in mud and filth from the wheel arches and undercarriage. I performed a very deep cleanse of the floor using some of my new tools. The process was cathartic and the video illustrates each one of the steps I followed to restore the garage floor to pristine cleanliness. Here's the video: 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: The weather conspired to keep me indoors all weekend, and I had nothing to detail or organize. So, I pulled out a few external hard drives and began reviewing photos of my garage spanning all the way back to when our home was under construction. I put a video together that demonstrates the evolutionary process that occurred in order for RAD Garage to become what it has become. Behold: 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. For years, I have been scouring the deep dark reaches of the Internet trying to source the kind of music that enhances the detailing experience for me. Recently, I have been hit with a spat of "third party match" claims on YouTube so I decided enough is enough. I reached out to the two artists that I have long admired the most. I am happy to report that they both agreed to allow the usage of their music in RAD Garage videos. You can look forward to the musical talents of Ambient Light and Aurora B. Polaris being featured in upcoming video projects. I will post links to the various platforms you can use to hear the music from each of these two incredibly talented artists. Ambient Light (Norway)
Aurora B. Polaris (Italy)
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. I've posted four episodes of my new series called, "Wash & Chat". It's a fun way to connect with viewers. I will still produce artsy videos with chill music, but this is another way for me to enjoy sharing my garage and the projects I complete with viewers. Feel free to check them out when you have the time. I will warn you, they are around the thirty-minute mark in length. I have been upping my game in the A/V department with a few new purchases. Recently, I purchased a Song A6100 camera along with a few little toys including a motorized dolly. Here's a look at my current equipment that I use for videos. I am contemplating a long slider, but haven't pulled the trigger yet because the dolly seems to accomplish most of what a slider can.
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. We have endured two solid days of blizzard weather here. The temps have dipped down to minus double-digits so performing bucket washes is not practical. It has been a stressful week due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus and I like to deal with my stress by detailing my car, so I will performing a rinseless wash tonight to sooth my frazzled nerves. If all goes well, I will be doing a video. I'm sure the project will look identical to this one, but people love videos and I could use some self therapy. I hope you are all finding ways to stay centered and relaxed during these challenging times.
Here are some "before" shots of the SQ5: What is a better way to unwind after a busy work week than spending time in your garage detailing the interior and exterior of your daily driver? I worked late into the night on this one and finished off the finer details on Saturday morning. I even was able to catch the Flames game. This video features some new title animations I put together using Keynote. I am looking forward to playing around with the design of the animations in future projects. Enjoy: I have washed my SQ5 countless times. I have documented many of them through the creation of videos, but I feel my most recent wash is as close to perfection as I have ever come. Here's the video: When you wash your car as often as I do, you have to enjoy the process and appreciate the beauty of that process. This video tries to capture the beauty behind the process. I hope you find it as satisfying and relaxing as I do. During the winter, it is not always practical or even possible to perform a traditional 2+1 bucket wash so I rely on "Rinseless Washes" to remove the winter salt and grime from my SQ5. This process always triggers some viewers, but I am 100% confident in my process and I have seen zero evidence of any damage to the finish of my SQ5's paint and I have conducted dozens of these washes. Here's a video that demonstrates how I go about performing a rinseless wash on those cold and miserable Canadian winter 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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