2002 Collectors Edition Trans Am (Ws6)

DetailnByDustn · 10-07-09, 07:25

Funny story, my friend (who is in the first picture) always tells me he can detail circles around me, even though he doesn't use a pc, he owns a el cheapo hand polisher from walmart and thinks hes hot stuff, haha he also uses cheap products with plenty of silicone and petroleum distillate, I told him after I got done not to put those things back on "on my finish" haha, but anyways back to the story after harassing me forever about my detailing career and how anyone could do it, I showed him a thing or two, on hows its done by someone with a little experience, polished on it for around 3 hours! Be in mind this was my first mobile detail and it was a 8pm so no sun shots worked on it to about 130 in the morning.

Here are the Products I used:

Washing Stages:
Chemical Guys Citrus Wash and Gloss (2oz, twice required to help strip previous layers of cheap silicone products)
Two Bucket Method
Grit Guards
Lowes Sponge

Polishing Stage:
Chemical Guys Pro Polish + (White CSS Pad, Speed 5 PC)
Chemical Guys Jetseal (Blue CSS Pad, Speed 4 PC)
Chemical Guys 50/50 Wax (Applied by Hand)

Before:

Polishing:

Continued Below In next Post

DetailnByDustn · 10-07-09, 07:37

Polishing Continued:

After Polishing:

Water Beading Shots

After Continued Below in Next Post!

TheMethod · 10-07-09, 07:38

Is it just me or is that pad realllllly saturated? Looks like that BP is coming real close to the paint.

DetailnByDustn · 10-07-09, 07:42

Afters:

Thanks for viewing! This color was very hard to capture defects, but had a lot of water spots and very slight swirl marks.

DetailnByDustn · 10-07-09, 07:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheMethod

Is it just me or is that pad realllllly saturated? Looks like that BP is coming real close to the paint.

Prob, who knows, I applied what the direction told me to apply, about a nickels amount for 2ft x 2ft area, I was putting a lot of pressure more than normal, not a ridiculous amount so the porter cable's head don't spin but just enough for the pad I was using, I also was angling the pad to help it cut better, without going for a more aggressive procedure.

DavidB · 10-07-09, 08:25

Proper pad and polish for the job don't require you to put that much force on the machine or use it at an angle.

Got_Leather · 10-07-09, 08:37

Looks good man! Crank it up to speed 6 and loosen up just a tad bit and keep the pad flat. The only time PC should see speed 3-4 is for protection application.

Guitarist302008 · 10-07-09, 08:42

looks like good work, but I absolutely HATE that car... the color, and the graphics are absolutely hideous !

ctrent86 · 10-07-09, 10:40

Man your white balance is all over the place with the different photos. I agree with other crank up the speed and less pressure.

shine · 10-07-09, 02:55

One of my favorite cars. Are the graphics painted or decals? If they aren't painted, how do they react to abrasive polishes?

DetailnByDustn · 10-07-09, 07:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidB

Proper pad and polish for the job don't require you to put that much force on the machine or use it at an angle.

You've got a point there David, thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by Got_Leather

Looks good man! Crank it up to speed 6 and loosen up just a tad bit and keep the pad flat. The only time PC should see speed 3-4 is for protection application.

Okay thanks DJ, I had the settings around 5 1/4 most of the time polishing, only time I used speed settings 4 was applying the sealant.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guitarist302008

looks like good work, but I absolutely HATE that car... the color, and the graphics are absolutely hideous !

hahahaha

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctrent86

Man your white balance is all over the place with the different photos. I agree with other crank up the speed and less pressure.

Yeah, ill be fixing that as soon as I can afford a new camera, I hate this camera, cant even take a non blurry shot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shine

One of my favorite cars. Are the graphics painted or decals? If they aren't painted, how do they react to abrasive polishes?

Decals, I just polished over them, It help bring back the color of the decals and removed some slight swirls from them, I did the same on a mach 1 a while back.

Setec Astronomy · 10-07-09, 07:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guitarist302008

looks like good work, but I absolutely HATE that car... the color, and the graphics are absolutely hideous !

Yeah, and to think in my day a "Smokey" T/A was considered tacky with the screaming chicken on the hood...what a caricature of of the '82 F-body the car had become 20 years later...of course Pontiac had become obsessed with the bulbous, tacked-on, clad look on all their cars thru the 90's.

That car may be a "Collector's Editon", but I wouldn't be caught dead in that car, if I was going to "collect" one it would be '78 T/A, a ('81?) turbo, or something in the mid-80's to mid-90's, before they messed up the nose. I remember looking at a used '95 or so Formula about 10 years ago (which had the same powertrain as the T/A without the "give me a ticket" look)...not that I would buy anything like that now (or then, really).

Sorry for the threadjack and trip down memory lane, looks like you did a real nice job on that thing. Tell your friend he should put some shoes on, the sandals don't really go with the image he's hoping that car will give him...