Saleen actually paints all of the Vipers for Dodge. You can read all about it in
this thread from the VCA forum.
The paint work is very nice and is wetsanded after, the level of orange peel is very low. Unfortunately the polishing work that is done after leaves much to be desired.
Finally 1 month later I was able to start working on the real detail.
I started with the Valugard ABC paint decontamination wash in hopes of removing the remaining lovebug etching, plus this always makes for the smoothest polishing.
Followed with a quick clay using zaino clay and Z6 as a lube.
All body panels except for the lower rockers are plastic/composite. I was getting paint thickness readings in the 4.1-4.3 range on the metal rocker panels.
I started out with SIP and a green german CCS on the rotary. This combo was getting the plastic panels too hot too quick, plus it was not removing the deeper defects from the wool polishing that Saleen did.
Rydawg suggested that I use 3M ECC with a white
CCS pad. No more then 1300 he said. I tried that and it worked better then the SIP combo, but it taking forever to do a small area. Plus I still could not get the area 100% defect free.
I tried some edge blue wool with presta 1500. The edge blue wool is very soft, but this combo would really muck up the paint. I would follow with 3M ECC/white CCS at a low speed 4-5 applications to get it close to prefect. PFW with SIP was no better.
I had to detail a few other cars, so the ACR would sit in my garage for a while. I order a
flex 3401 to give that a try with SIP and a white CCS. Again the panel would get way too hot. I tried my new
flex with the P0203S that I received with my
flex order and a white CCS. This did a very nice job, but I could still see wool marks in the paint upon close inspection. This was not going to be good enough for this car or my good friend.
Bret came down and joined in on the fun. Ryan then suggested that I try the Tufbuf black lambswool with P0203S on the rotary. I could not believe my eyes as this combo worked like it was made for this PITA paint.
Here is a good example of what I was dealing with.
Looks ugly, but in person in was worse as you could see the pigtails that where not removed by Saleen after the wetsand.
I taped off half of the pillar and did the following:
Black lambswool/menzerna P0203s rotary at 1500
White CCS/P0203s flex 3401 speed 5
So the final combo we used on the car was:
Black lambswool/menzerna P0203s rotary at 1500
White CCS/P0203s flex 3401 speed 5
Green CCS/Zaino ZPC/Flex 3401 speed 5
Bug etching as talked about earlier was evident on many surfaces of this ACR:
Hood:
Rear deck area:
Here I am using
Menzerna P0203s w/ black lambswool to remove the bug etching:
Here is Bret using
Menzerna P0203s by hand to remove any bug etching that was not accessible via machine polishing. I think Bret spent close to 2 hours removing the bug etching from those hard to reach areas.
The ACR was then foamed (Zaino Z7), rinsed, foamed w/ Z7 again, washed w 2BM and sheepskin mitts.
Wheels where cleaned with P21s wheel cleaning gel and various brushes.
Tires and wells cleaned with AM 777 APC 1:6.
All surfaces where dried with quality WW drying towels.
Bret started working on the wheels and tires. The wheels got prepped with Zaino AIO, that was followed with 2x of ZFX'd Z5pro. Tires got Zaino Z-16.
Exterior glass was polished with Zaino AIO by hand and had 2x of ZFX'd Z2pro applied.
Paint was prepped w/ Zaino AIO via PC5 and a blue
CCS pad.
3x of Zaino ZFX'd Z5pro was applied to the paint.
Paint, glass, wheels got Zaino Z8.
Bret worked on the interior giving all the hard surfaces a wipedown with 1Z cockpit premium.
All leather surfaces where cleaned with Zaino Z9 and conditioned with Zaino Z10.
Carpet where vac'd and interior glass was cleaned with a quality MF and Stoners IG.
After 1050 miles we arrived back in Atlanta.
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