Xtreme Vehicle Makeover – Saab 9000 Edition!

[G35stilez]

So, today I played Ty Pennington and worked on this “special” project; a 1996 Saab 9000 which had been repainted 2 years ago. The original color was black and it’s now maroon, but it was hard to tell when I arrived this morning. The car was caked in pollen and all around filth. The engine was very greasy and dirty and the interior had been moderately soiled over the year. The main problem with the lightly oxidized paint and HEAVY buffer holograms throughout. These two left for a dulled overall surface appearance. I tried to arrange a detail with this client a year ago, but being a weekend warrior, not a pro-fulltimer, we couldn’t connect. Anyways, he was fed up with swirls so he brought it to the car wash for the “$99 Special Detail”. They hacked the hell out of the car. It hurt my eyes, but made me work harder towards perfection.

Anyways, engine first. As I said, caked in grease and there were some areas that were REALLY bad. I ran the engine for 5-7 mins, turned off then rinsed thoroughly. I soaked the whole bay with Costco (Kirkland Brand) All Purpose Cleaner and let dwell for 3-5 minutes. I then mixed up 4 oz of All Purpose Cleaner and 2 oz of Meguiar’s NXT Car Wash Soap and 1.5 gallons of water. From there I proceeded to agitate with a Meguiar’s Gold Class Wheel Brush and Spoke Brush for the tight areas. From there I rinsed and noticed a problem area. I soaked with Eagle 1 Wheel Cleaner cut 50/50 with water, agitated and rinsed. The car was then started and idled for 10 minutes. I let the hood stay open while I completed the interior (~90 minutes) so it dried thoroughly. Meguiar’s Hyper Dressing cut 3:1 was then sprayed on generously and let to soak in for ~3 hours while I completed the exterior. I finished up by wiping away any excess dressing with a microfiber applicator. The results proved to be successful.


Cliffs
-Rinse
-Soak with Costco APC full strength
-With NXT and APC mixture I agitated with Meguiar’s Wheel and Spoke brushes
-Rinse and idle for 10 minutes
-After dry, soak with Meguiar’s Hyper Dressing cut 3:1, then wipe away residue after ~3 hours of soaking in


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[G35stilez]

Onto the interior… Standard soiling and wear for a near 10 year old vehicle. A few foreign substances in the cupholders and like compartments. No big secret for the interior techniques so here are the cliffs…

-Vacuum
-Carpets/mats pretreated with Folex, then scrubbed with APC/Hi-Temp Protein Stain Remover and finally extracted
-APC 10:1 to clean leather, vinyl, rubber, and plastic with an MF towel
-Adam’s VRT to protect/dress vinyl, rubber, and plastic with and MF applicator
-4* Leather Conditioner to protect/dress leather seating
-NXT Glass Cleaner for glass, clear plastic and wood trim
-Door jams degreased with APC 10:1 and QD’d with Race Glaze Gloss Highlighter

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Finally, the main event; the big bad exterior. A lot of trim means a lot of maneuvering so I had my work cut out for me. Like I said, lots of filth and lots of paint problems. After trying out a few different combo’s, I stuck with what worked and ended up with excellent results, in my opinion of course  . Final processes were as follows:


Rims, Tires, Wells
-Eagle One Wheel Cleaner cut 50/50 with water on tires and in wells, then agitated with respective brushes
-Eagle One Wheel Acid cut 50/50 with water on rims, then agitated with respective brushes
-APC full strength on rims, tires, and in wells to neutralize surface
-NXT Wash on rims to further neutralize
-Poorboy’s Bold ‘N Bright on tires x 2
-Meguiar’s Hyper Dressing cut 3:1 in wells
-Pinnacle Liquid Souveran on rims

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[G35stilez]

Main Exterior
-NXT Wash
-Poorboy’s Clay with NXT Wash as lube on paint and glass
-Rinse and dry
-Menzerna PowerGloss Compound via rotary and LC Light Cutting Pad @ 1500 rpm
-Optimum Car Polish via rotary and LC Polishing Pad @ 1500 rpm on all but the hood
-Menzerna Final Polish II via rotary and LC Finishing Pad @ 1500 rpm on hood
-Pinnacle Liquid Souveran by hand
-Race Glaze Gloss Highlighter to touch up

-Poorboy’s Trim Restorer on all trim
-Meguiar’s NXT Glass Cleaner on all Glass


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[G35stilez]

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Bunch of afters







Product Pic




Things I learned today
-Liquid Souveran dries quick, especially in the sun. Do a 2’x2’ section, then remove. A QD will remove any residue
-PowerGloss is a champ at removing swirls and defects of any type. It works great in the sun too, but does dust
-Folex chews through a lot of stains and really cuts down on carpet time
-Final Polish II can be finicky on VERY hot surfaces but when it works right, its amazing
-Pay the money to have a quality repaint. There were sanding tracers everywhere and chipping paint in the door jams which is why I only QD’d them.



Enjoy!

[ebpcivicsi]

Wow, looks awesome....looks like the paint changed colors!!!


What a hack job on the hood. Who can look at that and find it acceptable?

[Porkanbeans]

Beautiful work as always Sean. I love the first interior pic. That has got to be the most ghetto Saab out there. I mean, a steering wheel knob!? Hilarious!

[pt91]

Outstanding work!
No matter what you charged the owner, he/she got a deal.
How long was the detail?

[MongooseGA]

What's the big knob in the steering wheel?

[G35stilez]

The knob on the wheel is to help it turn easier. No idea why someone would have such a thing, but oh well.


Joe: Only makes us look better .



pt91: $200 and about 6 hours of working time.

[tdekany]

This picture shows excatly how great of a detailer you are.

Simply Awesome!!

[tdekany]

PS: What did the client say when you were done?

I hope he didn't complain about the exhaust tip. Just kidding.

[Ben Kenobi]

Excellent work as always Sean. The steering wheel knob looks dumb but to each his own! How were the roof and a bike racks (I'm guessing that's what's poking out the back) to work around?

I think you charge way too little for the work you do!