Cleaning My Uncles Midlife Crisis

A naked 981 Boxster in the middle of winter, what's my uncle thinking? Well that he'd rather leave his newly acquired midlife crisis with his car cleaning guru nephew for the day than pay the dealership to protect it, and who can blame him? Now I know on my last video a lot of you said that you'd like to see more everyday cars being cleaned and I get that, but to be fair this is a Boxster not a Bugatti and it was pretty grubby for something sporting a Stuttgart badge so decided it was still worthy of being cleaned on camera. A nippy morning meant that aside from my long johns seeing some action the dirt was mostly frozen on the surface but it'd be well above zero by the time I'd finished faffing around off camera so gave Jack Frost the old single finger salute. I'd be using a trio of products from the Last Coat to wash and protect the paintwork here which I hoped would be a better solution than a dealership applied protectant but either way the car was desperate for something to seal in the shine as it had been daily driven with zero protection for a few months now. As per usual I kicked things off with a relatively thorough wheel clean starting with a simple citrus pre-wash and pre-rinse which seemed to remove the bulk of the dirt from the lovely looking 20-inch Carrera wheels which I suspect had been refurbished by Porsche prior to sale hence the lack of any ingrained brake dust. Now despite that fact a relatively strong wheel cleaner was still applied and worked in with a few shampoo primed detailing brushes and wash mitt as in my experience it's still always worth going through the motions on a car you've never tended to before to prevent potentially being tripped up and then having to go back and re-clean dirt that you wrongly presumed wasn't there. Once the other wheels had been individually cleaned and rinsed off camera then the defrosting body was also treated to a strong citrus pre-wash to help safely bite through any superficial dirt and winter road grime. Once applied it was left to soak in for a couple of minutes to break up the dirt before being thoroughly rinsed off to remove it and any remaining frosty sludge. Due to the fact the unprotected car hadn't been cleaned for months there was understandably still a fair bit of traffic film on the surface following the pre-wash so my wash buckets were then filled using a healthy amount of the last soap shampoo which would hopefully help cut through any remaining muck. Before making any physical contact the car was blanketed in a nice thick layer of suds courtesy of the same product as it's versatile enough to be used as both a shampoo and snow foam. Once the car had been covered and using the extra suds applied as a buffer between my microfiber mitt and the dirty paintwork I got straight to work washing it. It's quite rare to find a soap that works well as both a snow foam and shampoo so when you do it makes sense to take advantage of the fact and use it as such. The idea here was that the snowy suds applied first would soak into the nooks and crannies that the wash mitt might miss while simultaneously providing some extra lubricity and swirl prevention for the more accessible soil panels. The priority was the paintwork here so for the most part the convertible top was overlooked as while deep cleaning and protecting it would have been nice that's sort of a separate job in my mind however it really wasn't that dirty so I didn't feel too guilty about overlooking it. Now I was probably a bit too generous with the shampoo especially considering I was utilizing the foamed up suds to wash too but the last soap with its super slick ceramic infused suds was really up my streets so much show that I'd tried it out on my own car off camera without foaming first and it was pretty much the same slick story there too. So once I felt the car being given a quality enough contact wash the silky smooth suds were then thoroughly rinsed off with a 40 degree nozzle so I could see exactly where I stood in terms of any remaining bonded contamination. Following the rinse I couldn't really detect any tar on the box does white paint work but there was a fair amount of visible orange fallout so decided to hit all the painted panels with an iron remover something I reckon this car had probably never seen before. Now there wasn't quite as much bleeding and dissolving of embedded bits of metal as I'd expected but still enough to justify the treatment. Now because I didn't have time to polish the car here I was also reluctant to clay it so instead of simply rinsing the bleeding fallout remover off worked a clean damp general purpose towel over the surface first to help agitate the cleaner and exfoliate the paintwork a bit and so long as you don't apply too much pressure this can work well for any post-wash decon chemical. Once the chemical decontamination was complete the car was given one final thorough rinse from top to bottom to remove all of the potent residue and prepare it for drying and for those of you watching from a weird part of the world where you're not free to do as you please on your own property know this isn't against the rules and any long-term effect that diluted runoff has on the environment of a country where it rains every other day is negligible at best. So with pretty much the morning gone then I had to quickly get the car sufficiently dried off so that I could get to grips with the other products before the cool damp afternoon air inevitably set in. A simple drying towel was used for this and seemed to work quite well at absorbing the blanket of rinse water although a mini blower was used to drive out any trapped pressure washer water from the wheels cracks and crevices as per. So before moving on to protecting the car an aerosol based panel prep type product was used to completely strip them back and ensure there was no residue of any kind left behind so the protectant would have a decent chance to properly bond. It was simply sprayed directly onto the surface before being gently wiped over with a clean dry general purpose towel to leave a nice naked and residue free finish. With the car all dried off and stripped back then it was finally time to protect the freshly decontaminated paintwork with the dedicated last coat spray which I was hoping would leave the body of the Boxster as well protected and silky smooth as it promised to on the bottle. To help evenly apply the stuff which does go a long way you should preferably prime a towel instead of spraying it directly onto the paintwork before spreading it over the surface in a crosshatch like pattern. Once applied it's simply a case of grabbing a fresh towel and removing the thin layer of clear residue in much the same manner although I did also choose to flip the second towel for one final traditional buff which quickly left the surface streak free and super slick. Despite being used in chilly conditions the last coat seemed to go on and buff off with relative ease. I could still feel a slight bit of roughness on application due to the fact the paintwork hadn't been clayed or polished but once buffed over the slickness quickly set in and left the surface feeling like it had been fully prepped which was pretty impressive. It's also versatile enough to be used on glass and plastics which is super convenient and means that when working on or around these areas you don't have to worry about overlap and can in fact jump straight from one material to another. Once applied the protectant will continue to cure for up to 24 hours but you can technically use your car directly after and even get it wet without having to worry which is reassuring for those who like myself don't have access to a garage. Now while I was in the rhythm of spreading and buffing I also wanted to illustrate the AMP topper spray designed to periodically amplify gloss and maintain the dedicated layer of protection underneath. Obviously it's intended to be used following a subsequent maintenance wash but I didn't have much choice here so just gave a few select areas a wipe and buff in pretty much the same manner as before. While I couldn't necessarily feel any increase in slickness the dedicated protectants had just been applied but judging by how well that and the shampoo worked I'm sure this does a damn good job when used properly too. So with the damp air now beginning to get in the way I downed coating towels and quickly grabbed a few water repellency shots to try and illustrate the last coat's hydrophobic properties which on the surface at least seemed pretty impressive. So while the paintwork felt slick and clearly repelled water it also appeared a lot sharper than it did before. I could only imagine how much better it would have looked and felt if the last coat had been applied to thoroughly clayed and polished paintwork. Now obviously white isn't the best colour to illustrate deep and glossy reflections but the fact it looks so fresh and shiny while still being a bit rough underneath said a lot about the product's capabilities. Despite the dedicated protectant being the flagship formulation the soap was actually my favourite as it was just so satisfying to use. Granted it's not the cheapest available but it's likely up there with the best. Big thanks to the guys behind the last coat for sponsoring the video as it allowed me to spend a day on my uncle's Boxster for free turning it from midlife crisis to cared for enthusiast's car which I wouldn't have realistically been able to do otherwise. As always cheers for tuning in. If you're interested in the products featured they can currently be had for 20% off via the link below using the discount code CARGURU20. But if you're skint or all stocked up no worries just be sure to share your preferred midlife crisis car in the comments instead.