Monte Nats Judging and detailing tips
 

Here are a few suggestions based on my experiance with the Monte Nats last year. Amy feel free to add as you have experiance judging.

FIRE EXTINGISHERS ARE REQUIRED you will not be allowed on the show field with out them

Empty your trunk! Your trunk must be open during judging and it better be clean. If it is closed, they will judge your car still, but you will lose points

Your hood must be open during judging again you lose points if it is not. Clean every nook and crannie under the hood. Use a stick and rag for areas you can not reach. doesn't hurt to dress out the plastic and rubber with back to black or simular

Clean under your car mats. they make you take em out temperarly to look underneath.

Clean under your wheel wells they will look there too this includes wheels, and tires make sure the treads do not have stones or mud in them. Dress out your tires

In case of a tie, they will wheel a mirror under your car. If you compete in gold class they will wheel a mirror under your car no matter what.

Get yourself a "california duster" keep your car dust free
take plenty of car rags, window cleaner, car wash soap, bucket, spray detailer, Back to Black and spray wax.

If you have broken parts that are visable replace them not jury rig them

If you got a car cover bring it to cover it at night (the morning of the judging day the Deuce was covered in yellow pollen, wish I had brought mine)

Clean, clean is the word. if they see dirt you will lose points

The park and party class is the easiest class to compete in. It had Montes of all conditions in it.

Hope this helps

LOL, this sounds like and out and out real car show. Nice tips, could save some owners an embarrasing moment pulling out a floor mat and finding something unusual resting there. The car cover suggestion should be a must if you leave your car overnight. One year with no cover I had the morning dew all over and this forced a total wipedown of the car to avoid spotting.... Thanks for the clues on having a more sucessful event...:)

Had to laugh hard on this one Zippy :rotfl:

If you think the car is "clean enough". It's not, keep going :rotfl:

I want to show my car one day but there's a lot of work to be done! Being ex military I understand the need for every nook and cranny. If you can't see it, it's probably dirty, when it's clean get a clean rag and clean it some more.

I've got lots and lots of cleaning to do! :D I'm undercoating my car's belly with a flat black and making sure my exhaust looks purdy. I have to get a car cover yet, and I was thinking about a car bra since my front end was all repainted and fixed this past summer.

Any suggestions on how to really deep clean the engine bay? I typically do a rinse with hot water then spray a degreaser on it after the engine has run and is warm, then clean it with a stiff brush (like you would use for dishes) and then do a rinse, but I feel like I don't clean it well enough. What does everyone else use!? :D

Thanks Tadd for this awesome post!

i use simple green my self

Haven't seen you around the forums lately Ashley... or I've just skimmed past you. Anyway are you getting the undercoating done professionally or are you doing it your self?

Tad:
Great pointers!

Sure would be nice if you could drop by and give me a hand getting mine in shape....

Looks like I definately have my work cutout for me!

I'm debating on doing it myself to save some money, but I work at a body shop so I might be able to get it done pretty cheap. :)