This 2002 Maserati coupe came to me from a longtime customer. He had bought it at an exotic car auction and rebuilt a pretty significant portion of the internals. The auction detailers and previous owner had definitely had their way with the paint - RIDS and holograms were all over the soft Maserati paint.
The paint was generally dull when I arrived:
The vehicle was washed with
Meguiar's Hyper Soap and a foam gun. Wheels were cleaned with a diluted solution of Top of the Line's wheel cleaner. They were then agitated with a variety of brushes to remove all brake dust from the faces, barrels, and around the lug nuts:
The paint was clayed with Chemical Guy's clay and
Meguiar's Hyper Soap as a lubricant. After claying and drying, the paint was inspected for defects:
RIDS were carefully reduced with Micro-Finish's 3600 and 6000 grit sandpapers. This provides a more controlled method of scratch reduction when compared to traditional wet papers or aggressive compounding:
A coat of Leatherique was applied to the seats, shifter boot, and door armrests:
While the Leatherique was soaking in, I began polishing. My first test spot with
Menzerna SIP/orange
LC CCS/1500rpms initially appeared perfect, but a wipedown with IPA and Prepsol revealed deep marring that survived and was filled by the carrier oils.
I then stepped up to 1Z's Paint Polish on a black lambswool pad. The black lambswool leaves very shallow marring, and is more aggressive than a foamed wool pad but less aggressive than a traditional wool pad. The hologramming left behind was significant:
I followed this with
Menzerna SIP on an orange
LC CCS pad at 1500->1000 rpm, and 3M's Ultrafina SE on a blue LC pad at 1800-> 900 RPM. I then wiped down the test panel multiple times with IPA and Prepsol to ensure that any carrier oils were removed and that the polishing results would last:
(note the streak on the right side is not a hologram)
I then proceeded to tape up and polish the rest of the car with 1Z PP. This left a dull but leveled finish. In my experience, Micro-Finish's wool pads leave a lot of shallow marring - it looks badly hologrammed, but any intermediate step will remove it without "tracer" hologramming.
I apologize for the lack of photos at this point, but I was hustling to finish before dark. All metal panels recieved
Menzerna SIP on an orange
LC CCS at 1500->1000 RPM. Plastic bumpers recieved SIP on a white LC CCS x2 (I avoid the use of an orange pad on plastics, as there is a real burn risk).
After an IPA wipedown and inspection, the car was finish polished with 3M's Ultrafina SE. I was able to check the Ultrafina in the very last of the day's sun and verify the vehicle's condition before final prep.
All tape was removed, and the vehicle was washed with Finish Kare's soil coating remover to remove all tape residue, sling, polishing dust, and polishing oils. The paint was gently agitated with a new sheepskin mitt and the cracks and crevices were brushed out with a soft horsehair brush. Care was taken not to re-introduce marring at this step.
The vehicle was pulled into the owner's garage, inspected under halogens and incandescent lighting, and we discussed LSP options. As the owner wanted to bring out the depth of black, rather than the metallic flake, I chose EZ Creme Glaze and Chemical Guys' 50:50 Paste Wax.
I finished up around 10:00 PM, and the owner, a hobby photographer, sent me these photos the next day. I apologize for the lack of sun afters, I will try to take some when I do a maintenance wash and seal on the car:
The after photos lost a lot of detail in resizing - I will try to resize them with lower compression and re-post tomorrow.
excellent work!
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