BLOG (2014-2021)
FOLLOW ALONG WITH WHAT I GOT GOING ON
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.
We took our puppy down to Riverdale Avenue to walk along the Elbow River to Stanley Park. The weather was dodgy, but we made it out unscathed. I snapped a few pics of my ride along with some of the magnificent homes that line this very prestigious inner city road. We ended the trip off with a stop at our favorite ice cream shop in Britannia.
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 dug up some old photos of family cars from the distant and not-so-distant past. I wish we had of taken more photos of cars back in the day.
I was flipping through some old photos and came across this one from 1987. I remember this day well. I had stayed home from school that day because I wasn't feeling well and a massive package arrived at my door from Porsche Canada. I used to type up letters to car companies requesting literature and mail them off in hopes of getting a response. The box that arrived on this day contained three individual black boxes. Each box contained a die cast of a Porsche model along with the corresponding glossy brochure. I shared photos of these boxes and brochures on my blog a few months ago. This photo harkens back to the days when you needed to read to learn about cars. No YouTube and no Velocity channel on TV. You had to read magazines and brochures to learn about the cars.
I hand-painted a grey stripe to play off the new decal on my door. I am now considering having some lettering printed out. Below, I have a photo of the garage door as it stands today, and next to that, I have a rendering of what I an considering doing.
I refreshed the design on the back of the garage door. I had the team at Custom Decals YYC print me up a 9" decal and I then I painted a corresponding stripe. I went with grey for the decal and the stripe as to tie into the existing grey colour theme. I am quite happy with the results.
* S O L D *This is such a great jack, but I just have no occasion to use it since I have the Quickjack. Rather than having it occupy valuable real estate under my stairs, I am looking to sell it. I'm asking $130. It was easily double that brand new. Let me know if you are interested. Local pick-up only. Click here to view the specifications for this awesome jack.
I was feeling pretty good about the state of the garage the other day so I threw some photos on two different car/garage enthusiast Facebook groups I belong to. Obsessed Garage and DetailWise are private pages, but worth joining if you are interested in seeing the car and garage-related craziness other people are up to.
I'm still in the research phase of this project, but I am starting to connect with potential contractors because I do have a vision for a system that would "catch" water before it leaves my garage. If you know someone who would be interested in helping me bring my vision to life, please shoot me a DM here.
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'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.
As with pretty much every aspect of my garage design, I am changing up the look of the inside of my garage door. I've enjoyed the red stripe in the Audi motif, but I thought it was time for a bit of an overhaul. I recently repainted the entire interior side of the door with a white eggshell paint from Rona. Now, what will I do with it? I guess you'll just have to check back in a few weeks to see.
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 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! The ten metal rollers on the garage door were starting to make a lot of noise so I contacted a garage door technician to see if it was possible to replace them with something quieter. I now have these nylon rollers that have dramatically quieted things down. I am now planning on doing a few upgrades to the door opener. Stay tuned.
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. After almost ten years, my first fluorescent bulb burnt out in the garage. I went down to the local Lowe's to source a new one but ended up leaving with 18 LED bulbs to replace all of my remaining fluorescents.
I chose GE 15W LED T8 48-in Daylight bulbs that work seamlessly with my existing fixtures. The difference this had made to the overall amount of light in the garage is absolutely night and day. These bulbs are rated to last 36,000 hours. They emit light that measures 6500 on the Kelvin Color Temperature Chart. This temperature of light is often referred to as crisp and invigorating. It does give the garage a much more clinical tone, which I appreciate. These bulbs are rated at 1800 Lumens and rate 80 on the color rendering index (CRI). I admit, I don't know exactly what all of this technical jargon means, but what I do know is that my garage is way brighter than it used to be. Capturing the difference on camera isn't easy, but here are some pics I snapped during the replacement process. In addition to installing the new bulbs, I took some time to clean the diffusers and some of the dust that accumulated on the fixtures. I picked up a "contractor's box" of 16 bulbs ($127.49) plus an additional 2-pack ($28.04). I lucked out and found them on sale which left me with savings of almost $30. In the end, this was a very economical way of improving the overall amount and temperature of light in the garage and I couldn't be more pleased. I used up the entire contents of my 18.9 litre bucket of high gloss concrete sealer on the driveway and rear patio, but my neighbor had some left over from his project. He generously allowed me to have it so I put it to good use on my garage floor. I do this every couple of years to add a layer of protection to the garage floor. The amount of road salt mixed with muddy water the floor sees in a given year is substantial, and by coating the floor it makes me feel better about the floor's condition and longevity. I have yet to see any signs of damage to the floor and I think the use of the sealer is the major contributor to its condition. Sealing the floor was easy. I just pressure washed the floor and allowed it to air dry before painting on the sealer with a standard paint roller. The whole coating process took less than fifteen minutes. I anticipate the sealer will last about a year. I found it comical that a professional concrete sealing company would leave a "door knocker" considering how good my driveway and walkway look. I guess they thought it was worth a shot! The amount of money these pros are asking is just ridiculous. For a job ANYONE with a paint roller can perform, I don't know where they get off charging what they charge.
It wasn't the easiest of jobs, and I spent a few hours wiping the dust off every surface of the garage's interior, but the job is complete and I am more than pleased with the results. My initial plan was to reapply a coat of Cabot's Australian Timber Oil, but I went with Thompson's Water Seal instead. The red cedar looks absolutely decadent. I'm hoping the Thompson's lasts longer than the Timber Oil did. I only got two years out of that stuff. These photos show the progression of this rewarding project.
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. |
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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