1993 Nissan Altima (Rough one)

[01bluecls]

[IMG] [/IMG]

Sorry guys, no exotic or high end car for you today. The detail is of a 1993 Nissan Altima. The car is a daily driver/commuter car that was acquired not too long ago from my client. I will have to say this had to be the roughest exterior on a car I have ever worked on. You name it, it had it, swirls, dullness, deep scratches, etc. Its kind of nice to work on a car of this condition because the turnaround is usually DRAMATIC. Obviously, perfection was out of the question, but I tried my hardest to make it look its best for the time I had it. Car was dropped off on Thursday around 4:30ish in which I completed the interior in 2.5 hours. The next day I started on the exterior and worked 8.5 hours STRAIGHT (no lunch, eating, etc.) The car was far from perfect in many aspects after I was done, but the owner seemed pleased, and that is all that matters to me.

Process:
Wash and clay and clay and clay lol
EC via Yellow LC Cut Pad @1700rpms
EC/FPII via White Polish Pad @ 1500rpms
FPII via Green LC CSS Polish/Finish Pad @1500rpms
106FF via blue finesse pad @1500->1000rpms
Re-washed due to all the polishing dust
LSP = Collinite IW 845

Interior:
All vinyl/plastic cleaned with APC.
Carpets and cloth seats cleaned with Folex/APC with brushes and extracted.
All vinyl/plastic treated with 303.
Vacuumed

Total Time: 11 hours

Pics: I didn’t document as well as I wanted due to time restrictions I was faced. I did manage to get pretty good half/half shots. The time I finished the sun was obscured by clouds and going down. SORRY, I forgot to take interior shots


Before touching the exterior:


MMMmmmm….. yummy bugs!!!


Rear Passenger Quarter Panel BEFORE:



Rear Passenger Quarter Panel AFTER:


BEFORE


AFTER:


BEFORE:


AFTER:


AFTER of Passenger Door:


AFTER of Passenger fender and door. Forgot to take before.


Half and Half shot of Hood in Sun


Another:


TRUNK BEFORE:


TRUNK AFTER: (Obviously all the scratches didn’t come out):


BEFORE:


AFTER:


Another AFTER:




Completed Pics After Everything: (Sun was behind clouds and going down )

[01bluecls]

Questions or comments welcomed as always!

[GregCavi]

Stunning!!!!! Hell of a transformation.

Greg

[Scottwax]

A $2000 detail on a $500 car!

Amazing improvement.

[mblgjr]

Car looks outstanding now!

Great job!

[guan_shine]

not that bad, but good try,susceefully.

[guan_shine]

oh yeah,i saw gunk on the front bumper left side, if not paint chip off, you can try aggresive compound to buff that out, because i did that many of time,you might impress you coustomer if u take that out

[01bluecls]

Originally Posted by guan_shine

oh yeah,i saw gunk on the front bumper left side, if not paint chip off, you can try aggresive compound to buff that out, because i did that many of time,you might impress you coustomer if u take that out

The two marks on the front bumper are deep scratches and white primer showing. I did remove some paint transfer but buffing will do nothing for the rest of it.

[audicoupej]

Looks great Chris!
It was really rough and looks 1000X better than before. The deep scratches look like most of the cars I have been getting lately, it is just not safe to try and remove them completely

Why so many polishing steps?

How do you like the Green LC pad?

[Greg Nichols]

You might not want to post the answer here, but will you tell me about how much you charged for 11 hrs of work? I know the price people charge depends upon many factors.

Cheers,

[01bluecls]

Originally Posted by audicoupej

Looks great Chris!
It was really rough and looks 1000X better than before. The deep scratches look like most of the cars I have been getting lately, it is just not safe to try and remove them completely

Why so many polishing steps?

How do you like the Green LC pad?

Well EC with Yellow pad, especially the yellow pad, leaves tons of marring of its own. EC/FPII cleaned up the deep left over marring from the previous combo and FPII with green LC cleaned up the holograms and remaing marring. I was getting very faint and slight holograms with FPII and green pad so I went with blue pad and 106FF. I could have saved time if I had skipped the green pad and FPII.

The green pad isnt bad but I will prefer always using the blue pad as the last step. What I dont like about the CSS pads is the "pockets" extend all the way to the edge of the pad and cut off leaving half circles in the pad's edges. I think this is causing more chances of holograms or slight micromarring the finish.

[01bluecls]

Originally Posted by Greg Nichols

You might not want to post the answer here, but will you tell me about how much you charged for 11 hrs of work? I know the price people charge depends upon many factors.

Cheers,

I charge a flat rate of $50 an hour (starting June 10th Im going to $60 an hour)

Instead of $550 i only asked the owner for $500. He ended up giving me $550. He was very generous and kind gentleman. He actually stuck around for a hour as I was rinsing the car and applying wax on it.