II. Why Reconditioning USED CARS

Used cars, whether they are traded in on a new car or sold outright, are reconditioned to enhance their value. It is a proven fact that the value of a used car is increased several hundred dollars through even a simple reconditioning process. Obviously, it makes good business sense to spend fifty dollars to make an additional one to five hundred dollars back. Even discounting the additional profit, there is little question that cars that have been reconditioned sell faster than those that have not.

The Engine Compartment 1. Let the engine run for 5 - 10 minutes to warm and loosen the grease on the block. 2. Wet the body area around the engine with soap and water to prevent possiblespotting of paint by the engine degreaser. 3. Spray the warm engine and compartment area with non-flammable engine . degreaser and let it soak for 5 - 10 minutes. 4. Rinse with pressure washer (scrub if necessary). 5. Examine engine to insure that all grease and dirt have been removed. 6. Wash under the hood and flat metal with soap and water if necessary. 7. Let the engine dry completely. 8. Repaint the engine block with the appropriate color of engine paint. 9. Repaint all the black areas with black paint. 10. Paint with Clear Lacquer to make the engine compartment look new.

The Trunk Area 1. Remove everything you can from the trunk (spare tire, carpet, etc.). 2. Clean trunk jams with H/O Cleaner Slam or Servisol on a rag. 3. Vacuum or sweep the trunk area. 4. Re-glue loose area or edges with (ASA-302) spray glue. 5. Clean the carpet and use Vinyl & Carpet spray if necessary. 6. Replace the carpet. 7. Clean and use Rubber Dressing on the spare tire. 8. Repaint the jack, etc., if necessary. 9. Put everything where it belongs in the trunk. 10. Treat the rubber molding with dressing.

The Inside Area 1. Remove the floor mats and ashtrays . 2. Blow out the excess dirt if a compressor is available, if not, vacuum the area well. 3. Clean all door jambs when pressure washing engine area by spraying non-flammable engine cleaner in jambs and all door edges and then spray off with a ressure washer. 4. Wipe the door edges and jambs with a terry towel to remove any dirt film left behind. If heavy dirt or grease remains apply Servisol with a rag and wipe dry. 5. Clean all vinyl and rubber areas in the interior using degreaser strong enough to remove dirt with light scrubbing vacuum off. 6. Wipe dry after vacuuming. Clean carpet and cloth areas using Universal Sanitize to clean with. Use a good stiff upholstery brush. If bad spots exist, you may want to pre-treat the area with a Spot Remover. Use Servisolor 402 All Purpose Cleaner. 7. If carpets and seats are stained or faded or if vinyl and plastics are faded or scuffed, treat with SEM carpet and vinyl spray dyes as required. 8. Treat all vinyl and rubber areas with Wipe On Vinyl Dressing or Super Stuff if. necessary (use sparingly). 9. Clean the mirrors and the inside of windows with glass cleaner H/D Green Glass. 9.Clean the ashtrays and paint if necessary with Dull Aluminum. 10. Clean the floor mats and treat with dressing and replace. 11. Spray the car with perfume, X-It, New Car Perfume or Clean Car Scent. 12. Allow the area to dry before closing car up.

The Exterior 1. Wet the car down. 2. While the car is still wet, clean the vinyl top using All Purpose Cleaner and scrub well. To speed up scrubbing time use 3781- Speedi Scrub Brush with H/SPolisher. Rinse immediately and avoid letting strong cleaners run on to the paint. 3. Using degreaser clean the whitewalls, then using All Purpose Cleaner clean the tires and wheel covers, use (676) Brass Whitewall Brush to remove curb marks. On wire wheels useX-L22Acid Cleaner (use diluted - do not use straight) or Brakeaway is used on clear coated aluminum wheels. Spray on and use soft brush and rinse. Caution: Never use acid on clear aluminum wheels. 4. Use Servisol on a rag to remove light tar, grease, or undercoating. If heavy, spray on Tar & Wax Service, wipe with soapy rug and wash off. 5. If the vehicle is covered in tree sap use Brakeaway (F-43) Fallout remover orServisol. Pick the product that works the best on the tree sap on the vehicle you are cleaning. Also try methyl hydrate. 6. Using fine steel wool, scrub wheel well edges. If heavy caked on dirt, spray on cleaner on steel wool then scrub. If tar, spray on tar remover on steel wool and scrub, wash off. 7. Wash the car using a wash mitt to remove excess dirt. 8. Chamois dry with a Super Dry Wiping Cloth. 9. Determine what has to be done to the paint. See next section "The Painted Surface".For the purpose of this checklist, we will assume that the car needs compounding with a compound and is a black car .10. Apply compound on buff pad, then surface (compound can spot the finish if squirted directly on the surface). Work small areas at a time. Use cutting pad CLZEABV. Apply pressure if needed. Avoid prolonged buffing of edges. 11. Apply finishing wax to finish and buff with mild pressure. 12. Detail the car, removing polish from cracks with a (#3) Detail Brush. 13. With 000 steel wool, lightly scrub all chrome, plastic chrome, and aluminum exterior parts to remove any water spots and any other marks spotting the moldings. 14. Clean the outside of windows and mirrors with H.D. Green Concentrated Glass Cleaner. 15. Apply rubber dressing Super Stuff to tires, Bingo Vinyl Dressing or Prime. Use Prime Dress on the vinyl.

The Painted Surface As mentioned in the previous section, the only area of reconditioning that is complex at
all is the exterior surface of an automobile, and even this is made more complex than it
actually is. This process consists of making two basic decisions:
'{ Deciding what stage of deterioration the finish is in
'V Deciding what class of products to begin the reconditioning process with
hr trying to make the first decision, it helps to understand how a car is painted. You
begin with bare metal which is then covered by a primer coat, which is then covered by
several layers of paint.
hr deciding what stage of deterioration the finish is in, you must look at two factors:
'V The degree of oxidation; and
'V The depth of scratches
As paint deteriorates from weathering (oxidation), the first level of paint is attacked, if
left untreated the second level is attacked and then the third and finally the primer. As
each level of paint is attacked, it loses its oil and becomes white and flaky or dull and
dry looking.
A car's finish can be scratched in many ways, but what's important is trying to
determine the depth of these scratches. Th"y range from simple surface scratches to
scratches that go down to bare metal. The stages of deterioration can be categorized as
follows:


Scratches or oxidation, can place the finish in a higher stage of deterioration. For
example, you might have no oxidation with deep scratches and your finish would be in
Stage Three.
Once you have placed the finish into a stage of deterioration, you must decide what
type of product to begin with. The key to your choice lies in knowing what each
product you have actually does. Every buffing product that has any abrasive in it
(almost all have some) does two things:
'V Replaces the lost oils in the paint or restores color (sometimes called feeding the
paint).
^/ Removes and smoothes paint.
To deal with any problem other than Stage One - no scratches and no oxidation/ you
must work with a product that replaces the oils (restores color) and removes some
paint. Since all bu-ffing products restore oil, the only choice lies in the degree of
abrasiveness or to put it another walt how much paint the product will remove.
From this discussion, it is obvious that the most important information that you ctu:t
know about any product is its degree of abrasiveness. You can break all buffing and
polishing products into the following categories, according to their cutting power:
Class I: Products which remove little or no paint are usual$ called waxes,
polishes, glazes, or sealers - usually reconunended for hand application or
orbital polishers.
Class II: Mild and Medium Cutters which remove a fair amount of paint - usually
called cleaners, cleaner arrd glazes, color brighteners, one shots, machine
glazes, and machine cleaners - usually recommended for orbital polishers
or polishers of a slow speed.
Class Itr: Heavy Cutters which remove a lot of paint are usually called compounds,
heavy or extra heavy duty cleaners and fast cut - usually recommended
for high speed polishers.
Once you have categorized your products, you can match up the stage of deterioration
with the degree of abrasiveness you need to solve the problem, i.e. the product you
need to start with.


DETERMINE CHOICE
Ir making your choice of what product to start with, remember the following:
1. A car has a limited amount of paint and you never want to remove more paint than
is necessary to get the job done. If you err, do so on the side of choosing a product
with not enough cutting power to do the job, you can always move up if you have
to.
If you have a Stage Three car with only one or two deep scratches, you probably
want to use a Class tr product that will remove a limited amount of paint and try to
blend the deep scratches instead of trying to remove them.
It is very difficult to tell by looking whether or not you are at Level Three of the
paint. If you go through Level Three, you are at the primer level and the car has to
be repainted. If repainting is not an option and you are just trying to d"o the best job
you ctrn with the paint that is left, then you must be careful not to go tfuough Level
Three.
Assume that you have correctly assessed the condition of the finish and chosen the
correct product class. After this everythi.g else is predetermined. For example if you
determined that your finish was Stage Three finish - heavy oxidation and deep
scratches, you would have a two or three step process, depending on the color of the car
and whether or not the product you used in Step tr provided a protective coating.

STAGE III FINISH
Step I Use a heavy duty cleaner or rubbing componnd - Class III - Heavy Cutters
- to cut paint down below heavy oxidation and deep scratches.
Step tr Use a Class II product to remove light scratches left by Class III products, . and to produce a high shine on the finish.
Step trI The purpose of Step Itr is two fold:
L. To provide a protective coating where the product used in Step II did
not contain wax or silicone.
2. To remove buffer marks on dark colored cars caused by buffing in Step
tr.
Step Itr is not necessary if you are working on a light colored car (as they
do not show buffer marks as much) as you used a product in Step tr which
provided a protective coating.
hr summarf ,youbegrn the whole process by looking at the finish to decide whether or
not it needs compoundiog. Once this decision is made, everything else follows and
only differs depending on your choice of products or the color of the car.