First up is an 09 GT-R. The owner had posted up wanting a detail for is GT-R in Turlock, CA. Turlock is about 2ish hours away from where I live, but I have a friend who lives about 20 mins from his house so the date was set! It was set about 2 weeks ago.. What I didn't know.. is it was Valentines day weekend!! My girlfriend wasn't too happy.. but $90 if flowers later.. she wasn't as mad :LOL:
Anyways.. on to the car! The owner had picked it up when it first came ashore a few months back (had it on order for 18 months). It's my favorite combo too: Pearl White with Black interior. He has taken really good care of it, and it's seen only 1800 miles in the past months. Quite tastefully modded too: decats, and cobb access port (for now
). It was in generally good shape when I arrived (in the overcast skies). I had figured it should've been a decently easy day.
I couldn't capture the paint condition very well, as it was cloudy almost all day, with very few breaks in the sun. And when there was, his house is situated on the corner as such so even at high noon, the garage/driveway always gets shade. Which is good for keep heat and sun exposure down while outside.. but bad for capturing defects!!
Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) the wheels were in ok shape. Had some rode grime, and brake dust from the giant 6 piston brembos up front, and 4 piston brembos in the rear. But due to the color of the wheels, in a gunmetal metallic flake finish, it was hard to capture it.
But I went on about it with my usual process of P21S Wheel Gel, TAW, swissvax wheel brush, boars hair brush, spoke brush, and fender well brush. I even got to the nitty-gritty on the brake calipers:
I was quite nervous about doing the engine bay.. as it's got more money in to it, than my S2000 is even worth!! But I was very careful in what I spray with chemical, and what I did/didn't agitate. I also dude use the pressure washer, just the hose on the "mist" setting to keep from doing any damage. Because of the lovely hard water we have here in california (and especially out in the valley) the engine bay needed some TLC as the plastics were already showing signs of fading, and water spotting!
So I then misted the engine bay down, and pre-soaked with P21S TAW, and agitated with a swissvax wheel brush.
The next step was the initial washing of the car. I pressure washed it down to get rid of the loose dirt, then foamed it with a paint cleansing dilution of CG Citrus Wash and Clear:
Oh yes, I forgot to say. It was also a bit nippy outside at around 45*F at 9:30am that morning!
The car was then blown dry, and pulled inside for claying. It only needed to be spot clayed on the roof, and on the rear bumper/trunk area. Due to the way air flows over the rear of the car, and the wing/rear diffuser create a swirling effect off the rear bumper, kicking up lots of soot in the process, leaving behind some pretty little black specs of dirt all over the rear of the car!
That is after 1/2 the roof.. not terrible, but it did need it!
And after I had blown the engine bay dry with a craftsmen leaf blower, I dressed it with 303 Protectant to restore the plastics to their nature satin shine, as well as reduce static cling, increasing the life of the plastics, and reducing dusting in the process:
On to the wheels, I wiped them down first with DI Water, and a MF towel. I then waxed them with a coat of JETseal109, topped with Lusso Oro to give it the protection, and look they deserve. The wheel wells and tires were dressed with
Meg's HyperDressing cut 3:1 for a satin finish.
Before:
After:
I then moved on around the car to the exhaust tips. They needed a good cleaning as the decats make it so there is more soot coming out of the exhausts. They were cleaned with OTC Mothers Polish:
50/50:
Moving on to the interior, it was in really great shape, as it should be with only 1800 miles on the odo. I just did a thorough vacuum, cleaned the plastics with 1z Cockpit Premium,condition the plastics/vinyl with 303 protectant, condition the leather with Gloss-It Leather conditioner, and then treated the weather seals with 1z Gummi Pfledge.
For correction we decided a one step would be the best choice for the time being. The only time I had direct sun on the car, I was speaking with the owner about the swirls, so I forgot to take pics!! But it was slightly marred, but nothing too major. I had a feeling a decent pad/polish combo would net about 90-95% correction. With that in mind, I brought out my
Flex DA, White LC Pad, and Gloss-It Evolution polish. I chose this combo because the gloss-it line was designed for DA use, so I knew it'd be superior to my
menzerna/meguiars products. Also, the Evolution polish is a great one step product because it has a decent about of bite, but finishes down extremely well! I caught a glimpse of the front bumper in the sun when it was peaking through the door in the garage, and there was almost perfect correction.. but without anything to compare it to, I decided not to take pics. Unfortunately, that was the last of the sun for the day, so I didn't get an "in sun" shots. But I, as well as the owner, were quite please with the outcome.
The wax of choice for this car was to seal it with JETseal109, and then top it with Chemical Guys' E-Zyme. I chose this wax combo for the durability it will achieve, as well as I feel the e-zyme gives off a very warm and wet shine, which I felt would look better on the white.. than the sharp and crisp shine concorso gives off.
And when everything was said and done:
say the least.Btw learn to spell sometime in the near future.
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