5th Generation Cleaning, Detailing, Waxing. #CleanCarDay - Show off your cleaned Ex | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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5th Generation Cleaning, Detailing, Waxing. #CleanCarDay - Show off your cleaned Ex

NickyB

Active Member
Joined
January 13, 2016
Messages
59
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City, State
Massachusetts
Year, Model & Trim Level
2016 Ford Explorer Sport
I didn't see anything about the 5th Gen Ex and those who love to wash, detail, and wax it to show it off as we cruse down the road. The weather up here in the Northeast has been more than favorable and I've taken advantage to do my annual super in depth detail of my 2016 Ex. Feel free to show yours off or add in your advice. I'm going to tell you guys the products I use just incase everyone is wondering. Most are available in stores, some I had to order online.

  1. Quick Cleaning of Windows with Windex
  2. RainX applied via a random orbital buffer to all exterior windows including sunroofs
  3. Cleaned rims with Mothers Wheel and Tire Cleaner. I had just purchased Sonax Wheel Cleaner Plus but it did not arrive yet. Cannot wait to try this stuff out. Will give feedback once I use it.
  4. Wash the Exterior - Meguiars Ultimate Wash and Wax
  5. Dry it off (don't forget to clean your door jambs)
  6. Interior Detailing of all the leather components - Meguiars Ultimate Leather Balm
  7. Interior Detailing of all the plastic components - Meguiars Supreme Shine
  8. Interior Windows Cleaned with Ammonia free Windex
  9. Vacuumed all carpeting
  10. Little Tree Black Ice Vent wrap for all front vents
  11. Full clay bar treatment of the exterior. This year I used the Mothers kit as it was on sale and more clay is included. I probably will not go back to the Meguires clay kit. Meguires clay is very hard and I found it would rub off and would be a pain to remove it from the body. I was very impressed with the Mothers Clay Bar Kit. Only down side is that it didn't come with a case to put the clay in afterwards.
  12. Meguiars Ultimate Compound was treated in areas with scratches. Nothing too deep fortunately. I use a random orbital buffer to apply this, I find it works well although some find it "unconventional".
  13. Thankfully the 2016 is looking good, no need to apply SwirlX or ColorX.
  14. Polished all exterior with Meguiars Ultimate Polish using a random orbital buffer.
  15. First coat of wax applied with the random orbital buffer using Meguiars Ultimate Liquid Wax. First time using this product; I used to use the paste. Highly prefer the liquid because if you happened to make contact with any of the black rubber or plastic trim, it didn't turn it white; in fact it was neutral in terms of the effect on it.
  16. Waited just over 24 hours and applied a second coat of wax using Meguiar's Hi-Tech Yellow Wax #26. This was my first time doing two coats of wax. For those who don't know, all of the Meguires Ultimate products are full synthetic which means it will last longer and most agree that it gives a "better" appearance. (Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder). I believe that the two coats did give the vehicle a really nice shine and makes the metallic paint really pop.
  17. All of the exterior rubber was treated with Mothers Back to Black. I think I will be fading out this product only because it leaves a sheen if it touches the body. I was uncertain about the rubber at the during the test of my new product. See next bullet.
  18. All exterior, unpainted plastic trim was treated with Sonax Plastic Care. First time using this product and I think it looks great. I don't know of its longevity at this point but will update at some point. On the large areas I applied with a random orbital buffer, hand applied everywhere else. This product is really nice. Highly impressed so far.
  19. A light coat of Mothers Power Plastic 4lights was hand applied to maintain the lights supreme appearance.
  20. I'm not sure why I did this but decided to apply two different coats of tire shine. First one was Meguires Gold Class Tire Gel. Once that dried I applied a coat of spray on Meguiar's Ultimate Tire Shine (make sure to use your card board to keep the spray from hitting the trim after cleaning like this lol).
  21. Yup, have to do it after the winter. Pop the hood and clean the engine compartment. First step I do is use hot water with a splash of Dawn to clean the heavy dirt off everything. I'm not a fan of power washing the engine compartment because I have had a work vehicle damaged due to the intensity of the spray.
  22. Once again, highly impressed with Sonax's products. I would be willing to buy a few more. Used Sonax Engine Cleaner and let sit for the recommended 3-5 mins. Used hot water to wipe off the engine cleaner and continued. Extremely clean! Could have stopped there because the cleaner did give a slight shine to the plastic components under the hood.
  23. Last, I used Meguires Quik Detailer and shined the plastic components. Never have done this before to be honest. Didn't think it would be a bad idea. I just hope dirt and grime doesn't stick more aggressively to it. Will update with that.
Most people have their rituals on how they clean their car. I love keeping my car clean to show it off. Maybe this was advice to someone, maybe not. Just felt like contributing lol.

 



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There are several existing threads/posts on what products members use to clean, wax and treat their Explorers. These cover wheel and tire cleaning, cleaning and treating leather seats, cleaning the black plastic cladding as well as glass. Granted they are not all listed in one thread

Peter
 






There are several existing threads/posts on what products members use to clean, wax, treat their Explorers.

Peter
Hi Peter, I did a few different searches and I was unable to find anything specific to the 5th gen. I found a few that were for some of the older explorers. Part of it is that I might not have used the same tags as someone else, for that I apologize.
 






Hi Peter, I did a few different searches and I was unable to find anything specific to the 5th gen. I found a few that were for some of the older explorers. Part of it is that I might not have used the same tags as someone else, for that I apologize.
No problem. The ones I was talking about are all in this 5th gen forum, but like I said, they are in different threads. It might be advantageous to have a single thread.
 






I did much of this a couple of months ago. Washed, clayed, polished, and two coats of wax, though I used paste for both, Rain-X on all glass, including sunroof, tire shine, exterior trim, leather cleaner & treatment, vac, and all interior trim cleaned and treated. I didn't do the engine compartment, but it was just detailed by the dealer before I picked it up in January.

The worst part of it was the channels underneath the roof rack. It will get gross.

I didn't take pics. I'll have to do that next time, which will be in four or five months, though I don't know that it will be quite that intense.
 






I did much of this a couple of months ago. Washed, clayed, polished, and two coats of wax, though I used paste for both, Rain-X on all glass, including sunroof, tire shine, exterior trim, leather cleaner & treatment, vac, and all interior trim cleaned and treated. I didn't do the engine compartment, but it was just detailed by the dealer before I picked it up in January.

The worst part of it was the channels underneath the roof rack. It will get gross.

I didn't take pics. I'll have to do that next time, which will be in four or five months, though I don't know that it will be quite that intense.
Do you remove the black trim to do under the channels, I've never thought to do that. I'm not going to lie, I don't put much focus on the roof, I usually go over it quite quickly lol. I looked through a couple of your pics, how do you like your Aries Floor Liners. I've never heard of them but they look like they will clean off quite easily. I have the rubber ones that came with the truck and they do not clean off nicely. Those I still struggle to find a way to make them look new again.
 






Is it bad that I absolutely hate cleaning vehicles....even my motorcycle which literally takes 20minutes....haha

I'll have to follow this thread more closely and see what the general products are that most people use.

P.S. where in mass are you and how much would you charge for basic detailing...you know for future reference lol :p
 






Is it bad that I absolutely hate cleaning vehicles....even my motorcycle which literally takes 20minutes....haha

I'll have to follow this thread more closely and see what the general products are that most people use.

P.S. where in mass are you and how much would you charge for basic detailing...you know for future reference lol :p
I feel you, for the most part I dont mind cleaning. I loath the clay bar though lol. Closest city is Haverhill, I'm about 10 mins east. I've never detailed for anyone else so its hard to come up with a cost, I probably would be interested for some extra cash if it was convenient. If your ever interested PM me and we can talk specifics of the condition the vehicle is in and what you were looking to have done.
 






Do you remove the black trim to do under the channels, I've never thought to do that. I'm not going to lie, I don't put much focus on the roof, I usually go over it quite quickly lol. I looked through a couple of your pics, how do you like your Aries Floor Liners. I've never heard of them but they look like they will clean off quite easily. I have the rubber ones that came with the truck and they do not clean off nicely. Those I still struggle to find a way to make them look new again.

The roof on mine was pretty bad. I clayed it and waxed it, just like the rest. I didn't remove anything, because I couldn't see how to do that, so I just did the best I could to clean them.

The Ares floor mats are awesome. They are easy to clean, they don't move, and I think they look better than the other options; less utilitarian.
 






The roof on mine was pretty bad. I clayed it and waxed it, just like the rest. I didn't remove anything, because I couldn't see how to do that, so I just did the best I could to clean them.

The Ares floor mats are awesome. They are easy to clean, they don't move, and I think they look better than the other options; less utilitarian.
Nice, I think I wanna check those out.
 






@NickyB - looks great! I didn't do everything you listed but did spend a good amount of time and a few cold ones cleaning mine yesterday. I have looked but I don't think I have seen any in my color posted - I probably just missed them...


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I don't think I've seen that colour on an Explorer before. Without checking out the Order Guide I'm guessing it is new for 2017 like my White Gold is. :thumbsup:

Peter
 












Peter I think you are right - it's new for 17. The color is Canyon Ridge. I went to the dealer set on buying a Ruby Red and ended up liking this one...
 






Looks good! I'm jealous, there's hard water spots allover my windows and black trim, as well as the Chrome trim across the back of the car, that no one can seem to get off. I doubt anyone but me notices it, but looking at how clean yours is made me a little jealous.
 






NickyB I'm glad to see someone who is more OCD than me......we need to form some sort of Explorer Sport OCD Owners Sub Forum!

I also just discovered the Meguires Ultimate Cut M105 myself and it is nothing short of amazing when removing scratches, especially on Shadow Black.

I'm really interested in the new product you're trying for the plastic trim, Sonax Plastic Care, up here it rains a lot and when I detail eventually the rain shows run marks all down. the plastic trim. It would be nice to have a product that soaks into that trim rather than sit on top and get washed off by rain.
 






Looks good! I'm jealous, there's hard water spots allover my windows and black trim, as well as the Chrome trim across the back of the car, that no one can seem to get off. I doubt anyone but me notices it, but looking at how clean yours is made me a little jealous.

Mine had some spots too from the car lot. I actually got them all off the paint and trim using Liquid Glass car polish. I used the Liquid Glass cleaner first then the Liquid Glass polish. It worked well on the black plastic trim and the paint.
 






I feel you, for the most part I dont mind cleaning. I loath the clay bar though lol. Closest city is Haverhill, I'm about 10 mins east. I've never detailed for anyone else so its hard to come up with a cost, I probably would be interested for some extra cash if it was convenient. If your ever interested PM me and we can talk specifics of the condition the vehicle is in and what you were looking to have done.

I have a clay bar "disc" by Chemical Guys that attaches to a random orbital that I use. Cuts down time tremendously!!! It's harder to use in tight spots, but it does great on the doors and hood. Definitely recommend if you hate clay baring like me lol and its reusable (which is also great if you happen to drop it)!!!

https://www.chemicalguys.com/Clay_Eraser_Disc_Blue_Fine_6_inch_p/cly_511.htm
 






I would love to put that much time into my EX, but having a fleet of 4 vehicles; I'm forced to pay a detail shop to keep mine in top condition.
 



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I have a clay bar "disc" by Chemical Guys that attaches to a random orbital that I use. Cuts down time tremendously!!! It's harder to use in tight spots, but it does great on the doors and hood. Definitely recommend if you hate clay baring like me lol and its reusable (which is also great if you happen to drop it)!!!

https://www.chemicalguys.com/Clay_Eraser_Disc_Blue_Fine_6_inch_p/cly_511.htm

$40 for a clay disc?...........that's expensive, you can get a lot of clay bars for that $$$$
 






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