1991 Porsche 928GT, quickie on an ML430-56k, read War and Peace

Scottwax · 04-26-06, 08:06

1999 Mercedes ML430, I wash this one every other Monday. It was last polished and waxed with Collinite 845 in mid October if I remember right. Paint still looked decent but slickness was mostly gone and the beading was larger than I like. 6 months for a carnauba, I'm not complaining! Anyway, I just hit it with Optimum Car Wax because of this:

There are a couple more areas that need some bodywork, but it may be a couple months before they put in the shop. Still needs protection but any polishing (maybe a light glaze at this point) is probably a waste.

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1991 Porsche 928 GT. 3rd owner, car was repainted about 5 years ago (a couple years before the current owner bought it). He has a Porter Cable 7424 with some odd looking fuzzy pad, looks like a wool wash mitt. No other pads so he wasn't getting the results he wanted. The paint was remarkably orange peel free, too bad I couldn't say the same about the swirls. There were also some really dull areas on part of the hood and the front right fender-should be obvious in the pics.

Before:

After an Optimum No Rinse Wash and dressing the tires and fenderwells:

Scottwax · 04-26-06, 08:14

This is after using Optimum Hyper Compound and a yellow LC cutting pad, The dullness was replaced by some light hazing....

I then followed with Hyper Compound using a green Propel lite cut pad, removed most of the hazing and vastly reduced the halo swirls. The paint was remarkably clear for a still aggressive polishing step.

Real progress! I switched to my Optimum Polish/Compound 50/50 mix and a white LC polishing pad, the paint became even more clear and deep...and of course, the sun began moving behind the trees.

I stepped down to Prime Carnauba, again using a white LC polishing pad.

Remember what I said about minimal orange peel?

Scottwax · 04-26-06, 08:18

I then finished the car off with Werkstatt's Caranuba Jett by hand and topped with Pinnacle Souveran by hand. Meguiars #38 Tire and Trim Gel on the spoiler. By this time, it was near dusk, so picture quality isn't as good as I hoped. The car looks far better in person.

Mitchubishievo · 04-26-06, 08:18

SICK!!! Scott you are a master!!!

tailwind · 04-26-06, 08:48

Incredible change on the 928. Great job.

Did you know exactly what that dullness was, or did you just polish over it hoping for the best? I've gotten to that point quite a few times.

Scottwax · 04-26-06, 08:52

I think the dullness was the owner using that funky wool pad with the PC he has. No idea what polish he tried but he was using RejeX as his LSP. Said he used to use Zaino but hated the mixing. Said RejeX gave him a very similar look and low dust attraction but was easier to use. He seems to know a little bit about detailing, but didn't feel confident enough with the PC and weird pad to tackle his car.

r12rex · 04-26-06, 08:54

As always...Awesome work Scott! The detail on the Porsche is amazing! Was that all done by PC? Also what size LC pads are you using and backing plate? Thanks!