2 Day Makeover (complete vehicle rejuvenation)

[Rickrack]

This Pontiac Grand Am was brought to me for a complete detail. It was being sold to one of the owners family members, so the owner requested that I did the best I could considering the poor condition it was in. I had a total of two days to perform the work, so I decided to go for as close to 100% paint correction as I could in the time allotted. I know the owner very well, so I decided to really step it up on this car, no matter what I was getting paid for the job. Normally on a car of this caliber and considering what kind of condition it was in when brought to me, a “typical� detailer would have never gone through the steps I did, but lately I have not been interested in detailing unless I can spend at least two days on a vehicle bringing it to as close to perfection as possible.



As you can see, this car was dire need of a complete vehicle rejuvenation. Both the interior and exterior were severely neglected. The exterior was very dirty due to the lovely weather we have been encountering here in New England. Underneath the coating of filth, it had its fair share of heavy scratches, rock chips, swirls, buffer trails, etc..



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/54f4b88a.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/06e09d90.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/2aa2e98f.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/6a67d843.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/f5986008.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/bb004721.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/9a49f26e.jpg

[Rickrack]

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/62f26cfc.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/a947f689.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/32bddb98.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/00393f7b.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/07e68663.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/be1d708b.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/8d556faf.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/7a2caa02.jpg

[Rickrack]

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/eec42267.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/f4cb6737.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/834a6c68.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/96e6d7d9.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/443dcd85.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/20bec042.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/993cb4d6.jpg

[Rickrack]

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/f18367b8.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/9d17ab58.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/99af20fe.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/6a82ac4b.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/bca99fe7.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/f8209cfd.jpg

[Rickrack]

After the vehicle was clayed and prepped for polishing, I tried a variety of products and pads and decided to use Meguiars M105 Ultra Cut Compound for the defect removal.



The picture below shows just how much cut M105 has. These are the results with just 2 passes using a yellow Edge wool pad at 1500rpm. By a pass, I mean two full passes across the paint, not a polishing set (which is a set of passes consisting of overlapping left/right or up/down movements required to cover the whole area). Most people get confused about what a “pass� consists of.



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/f5dfeb40.jpg



As you can see, there were still some defects present after just 2 passes, so each panel was compounded a total of three to four times (sets) and I was able to remove 99% of the defects.



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/000f19df.jpg



^Above is me compounding with M105 using a yellow Edge wool pad.





After the compounding was complete I polished the complete exterior with Menzerna Intensive Polish mixed with a bit of Red Moose Glaze using a yellow foam polishing pad at 1400rpm.



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/49579ec1.jpg



^Above is me polishing the bottom areas with 3M Ultrafina using a black 5 inch polishing pad at 1400rpm





http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/9032e168.jpg



^Me polishing with 3M Ultrafina using an 8 inch UF pad at 1500rpm to the rest of the vehicle.





http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/418072fa.jpg



^This was the weather outside while I was working...





Here are some pictures after all of the polishing was complete. The gloss achieved was incredible and I was disappointed that I was not able to get any full sun pictures, but these pictures under the halogens give you a pretty good idea how well it came out.



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/a82d9b28.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/dc7b3367.jpg

[Rickrack]

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/a4e60929.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/052e641e.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/bc3772a9.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/2111ca0e.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/8d6b04e5.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/aebfc251.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/64b2c5cd.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/a6609735.jpg

[Rickrack]

I took it outside to get a few decent pictures before the darkness set in. After I took the pictures outside, I pulled it back in and spent over an hour touching up all of the stone chips with some factory touch up paint.



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/9f55d1e4.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/ffc590d9.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/02507d10.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/2ba3d164.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/e126a6d1.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/adfc426e.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/26f17469.jpg

[Rickrack]

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/a973a94f.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/843f2bc3.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/97ceb079.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/2b4b4d3f.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/76a215f0.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/b3fa2b49.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/492aabf7.jpg



http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/rickrack/Red%20Grand-Am/4ef0d130.jpg





The total process:



Washed, cleaned wheels, tires and wheel wells



Clayed with green Kar Kraft clay bar



Compounded complete exterior with M105 a total of 4 times in most areas using a yellow Edge wool pad at 1500rpm



Polished complete exterior with Intensive Polish using a bit of RMG using a yellow foam polishing pad at 1400rpm



Polished complete exterior with Ultrafina using a black 5 inch polishing pad at 1400rpm for the lower panels and used an 8 inch UF pad for the rest



Compounded headlights and tail light with M105 followed by 106ff.



Rewashed, removed excess polish from nooks and crannies



Z6 wipedown



Gtechniq hydrophobic glass treatment on all windows



Hand application of Lusso Oro



Super Blue Dressing on tires and wheel wells



Opti-Seal on wheels



Complete interior detail



Edit: Interior Pictures Added on Page 7



.

[imported_Dave1]

"It`s alive"........!



Doesn`t even look like the same car......



Excellent work......:xyxthumbs

[Rickrack]

I have a couple interior before and after picture that I will post up tonight.

[imported_spielnicht]

Holly crap nice job :xyxthumbs



This car reminds me of my first car, 1994 Pontiac Grand AM GT coupe.

[imported_etml12]

Wow, looks great! If only vehicle could come of the lot this nice.



Quick question. Did you use Super Blue dressing on the side mirrors as well? Whatever you did really brought them back to life.

[Rickrack]

Wow, looks great! If only vehicle could come of the lot this nice.



Quick question. Did you use Super Blue dressing on the side mirrors as well? Whatever you did really brought them back to life.



I used the same process on the mirrors that I did on the paint. M105, IP with RMG and UF. I had to do some of the areas by hand because i was not able to get the buffer in there.

[imported_spielnicht]

Quick question. Did you use Super Blue dressing on the side mirrors as well? Whatever you did really brought them back to life.



On that same subject, how do you maintain that? I go over my parent`s Olds Intrigue`s mirrors with a pass of Scratch X, turns out great, but 2 months later, back to what it was.

[Rickrack]

On that same subject, how do you maintain that? I go over my parent`s Olds Intrigue`s mirrors with a pass of Scratch X, turns out great, but 2 months later, back to what it was.



I recommend applying a wax or sealant to the mirrors after the Scratch X to maintain the look.