2009 Cadillac

This was a really fun project to do. This is my friend Grant's 2009 Cadillac. He wanted me to really do a good job cleaning it because he was getting ready to sell it. This is the first time I have gotten a car ready to sell, so I tried to take extra care to make it look nice, especially since he was taking pictures to post online for potential sellers to see.

I forgot to get any pictures before I started this project, but the after pictures turned out great!

For the exterior, I used a pressure washer and soap and water to give the the paint a good cleaning. After that, I hand dried the car with my microfiber towels and made sure I got it completely dry before I applied the Turtle Wax coat. I actually have a drill-powered waxer that I recently got, so I got to use that to apply a really nice, thick, even coat of the liquid wax. It really made a difference and makes the car shine! I also used Windex on the windshield, mirrors, headlights, and tail lights.

Overall, the paint looks really good! There were not really very many dings or scratches on it, so that made it a lot easier to wax. The coat of wax will actually go a lot longer since there are no chips or scratches that it needs to protect. It is just covering the finish and keeping it sealed so there will not be any chips in the paint. Overall, the car looked decent before I started on it since Grant took pretty good care of it, but it looked even better after working so hard on it.

I really loved the color on this car. It is a really cool pearly white, which makes it look even nicer when the sun shines on it.

Since this car is newer, it has a lot more electronics in it. I had to be careful not to get engine degreaser anywhere it was not supposed to be. I also had to make sure I dried everything off really well once I was done pressure washing it.

After that whole process, the engine bay looks a lot cleaner and the motor is able to breathe a lot better. It turned out really well!

The tires were pretty dusty, so using the tire shine on them made them look a lot better! The tires were getting pretty old, so conditioning them with the tire shine will help them last a little longer.

The interior of this car was really nice! The seats were leather and there was a lot of wooden paneling to make it more luxurious. I vacuumed the floors and seats to get rid of any crumbs or dirt or rocks. There was not that much trash in the car, so I was able to focus on the cleaning itself. I was really careful with the vacuum so I did not stretch out the leather.

I wiped down the seats with leather wipes, and that conditioned the leather to make the seats last longer, and it also cleaned them really well!

Surprisingly, this is the only thing that Grant had in his trunk! Of course maybe he took everything out so I could clean it. Either way, it looked really good and all I really had to do was vacuum it out to get any debris or dirt out of it.

The floor mats were carpet, so I vacuumed them to get the loose dirt out, and then I carefully shampooed them and let them air dry to make sure they got dry enough before I put them back in the car. I also wiped off the gas and brake pedals, as well as the emergency brake pedal.

The interior looked like new after I was done with it! There were quite a few fingerprints and smudges from dirty hands on it before, but after I cleaned it all up, things looked great!

Especially with the wood paneling it was important that I wiped it down and got any smudges or residue off. It is amazing how far a little bit extra wiping down surfaces will make.

Conclusion

Grant was really happy with the final turnout of his car. This goes to show you that even on a budget, you can make any car look really nice and not let it get really dirty and go to waste. This car looks almost brand new. It took a little more elbow grease since it was getting ready to be sold, but it was worth it! Whoever gets this car, I hope they are really pleased with it!