Weekend Details - v. High Def Lex, 12 yr old P/U, + Swirly CTS

[G35stilez]

First up is the Lexus.


1999 RX300 with only 16k miles!!! This car is a cherry. The owner (my client) has been my mechanic for most of my life. Everything works flawless on it. The paint is always in nice shape and the only problem it has had was acid rain etching on the glass which I removed 80% of it on the detail. When he sells this, the new owner is in for a treat! Anyways, the paint is called "High Definition" due to the plethora of metallic flake. Very nice color to work on. Finals on the interior:


-Folex to clean everything but the glass
-The Wax Shoppe LRT High-Gloss (client supplied/requested) for all vinyl, rubber, plastic, and leather
-Klasse AIO on wood
-NXT Glass Cleaner on windows

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/kappapsi497/2005/Summer%2005/DSC06656.jpg


On the exterior, only minor swirling and bonded contaminants. Also, like I said above, etched glass, so finals were:


-TOL Bubble Bath Wash
-Meguiar`s Aggressive Overspray Clay with TOL BB as lube
-Optimum Polish via rotary and LC Polishing Pad @ 1200 rpm
-Gliptone Clear Coat Wax & Paint Sealant with Clirilium® (client supplied/requested)
-OCW by hand
-FK1 #425 on wheels

-AIO via felt wheel and drill on the windows to remove etched water spots (removed 80% with no marring left behind)
-NXT Insane Shine on tires (client requested)
-Eagle One Water Based Dressing cut 50/50 in wells and on lower plastic panelling


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/kappapsi497/2005/Summer%2005/DSC06658.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/kappapsi497/2005/Summer%2005/DSC06660.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/kappapsi497/2005/Summer%2005/DSC06662.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/kappapsi497/2005/Summer%2005/DSC06664.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/kappapsi497/2005/Summer%2005/DSC06666.jpg





1994 Chevy Silverado, same client...


Everything, again, was in perfect working order. This paint needed some more work, but I didn`t want to go *too* crazy as the paint is almost 12 years old and all original. Only 58k miles on this sucker. The wheels were in really bad shape (10 yrs old and bare aluminum), but I didn`t grab any before shots. He said they take about 2 hours each to polish out correctly and he only wanted them to "shine" so I did what I could (10-15 mins each). I wish I also got befores of the paint because although it didn`t look that bad to begin with, once I started polishing, it looked like I was bleaching the paint back to new (ie: lots of uniform staining). Finals were:

-TOL Bubble Bath Wash
-Meguiar`s Aggressive Overspray Clay with TOL BB as lube
-Optimum Polish and Klasse AIO (lined the beads up next to each other) via rotary and LC Polishing Pad @ 1200 rpm
-OCW by hand


-Flitz via #0000 Steel Wool to polish wheels
-NXT Insane Shine on tires (client requested)
-Eagle One Water Based Dressing cut 50/50 in wells
-Gliptone Bumper Medic on all black trim (client supplied/requested)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/kappapsi497/2005/Summer%2005/DSC06670.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/kappapsi497/2005/Summer%2005/DSC06673.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/kappapsi497/2005/Summer%2005/DSC06679.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/kappapsi497/2005/Summer%2005/DSC06678.jpg



This Caddy made for some pretty nice pictures, I must say.


2003 CTS, never detailed. He hand washes it, but obviously not that well, so I instructed him on some quick ways to reduce swirling. Obviously the paint was pretty messy. It had a decent amount of fall-out and plenty of swirls. I would actually say there were double the swirls than the camera picked up. The sun was rising when I was taking them so they only highlighted the deeper ones, so anyways, use your imagination :).

This paint was a PITA to work with. I polished the hood about 6 times before I got all of the swirls out, then 2 more times to perfect it. I removed about 90+ % of the defects and the owner was thrilled. 6 hour total time for start to finish with about 15 minutes total of breaks. Finals:


-TOL Bubble Bath Wash
-Meguiar`s Aggressive Overspray Clay with TOL BB as lube
-Optimum Polish via rotary and LC Cutting Pad @ 1500 rpm (x3 on hood x 2 on other horizontals and x1 on verticals)
-FK1 303 via rotary and Wool Pad @ 1500 rpm on hood (damn deep swirls)
-Menzerna PO85RD via rotary and LC Finishing Pad @ 1500 rpm (x 2 on horizontals and x1 on verticals
-4* UPP by hand
-FK1 #425 by hand

-OCW on wheels
-BnB on tires
-Eagle 1 dressing cut 50/50 in wells/exhaust
-Poorboy`s Trim Restorer on all trim
-FK1 #425 on glass


Before
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/kappapsi497/2005/Summer%2005/DSC06683.jpg


During (after wool) :shocked
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/kappapsi497/2005/Summer%2005/DSC06686.jpg


After :D
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/kappapsi497/2005/Summer%2005/DSC06694.jpg


Before
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/kappapsi497/2005/Summer%2005/DSC06682.jpg

After
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/kappapsi497/2005/Summer%2005/DSC06692.jpg


Before
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/kappapsi497/2005/Summer%2005/DSC06685.jpg

After
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/kappapsi497/2005/Summer%2005/DSC06698.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/kappapsi497/2005/Summer%2005/DSC06701.jpg

Favorite one...


Any questions, comment, suggestions, feel free!

[Woob]

Interesteing combo with Opt + AIO followed with OCW that makes a perfect combo for those minor conditioned vehicles. Great work. I hope you charged accordingly.

[GregCavi]

Nice Job Sean!!

Greg

[mgm2003]

Amazing work Sean, especially on the CTS. You really brought that thing back!



The Lexus interior looks showroom.



The tires on the truck….. well, they look wet J I personally don’t like that dressing because it slings all over the place. But hey, you have to do what the customer wants, right?



I tried Flitz (for the first time) last night on the Tahoe exhaust. Unreal !!



I detailed the same color CTS earlier this year with my neighbor and it was a PITA! We had to keep the car over night because the swirls/scratches were stubborn! If I remember right, my neighbour and I spent 6+ hours (each) polishing & sealing it, and it didn’t even look close to the results you got. Well done!

[Big Leegr]

Looks good!

(But man.... that is one "wrinkled" license plate on the Caddy! :eek: )

[joe.p]

Nice Job! The flake on the RX 300 really pops in the pics and the work on the caddy is just as nice :cheers:

[prterra]

hey nice job on the cts..quick question how much does a job like that cost. meaning the CTS JOB..my car is black so its a pain to keep up

[G35stilez]

Thanks everyone :).


Woob: I`ve used it before with excellent results. It combines cleaning and polishing in 1 step with no micromarring :).

John: Told you Flitz is good :). It`s the deepest looking product I`ve used on metal.

The paint was a PITA, a big one. I really didn`t want to go woolie mammoth on it, but it was needed. I can see why it took you guys so long. Thankfully, the owner was soo impressed he wants it done every 3-5 months so hopefully I won`t face anything like that again.

prterra: I did a full interior job on it as well and the total price for that car is between $180-200.


Thanks again.

[mgm2003]

Sean,



What made you decide on #303 & "woolie mammoth" vs. something with a little more bite? I`ve never used #303 this way, and I`m curious to know why you did.

[G35stilez]

I didn`t think I`d need my Powergloss, John. Therefore I left it at home :(. I did, however, find 303 to have more bite than Opt Polish.

[bossplaya]

Sean,

I always find it difficult to hit the small area underneath the license plate. With the rotary, do you machine polish that area or do you use some other method? I`m just looking for some tips on how to safely get to that area.

[G35stilez]

bossplaya: Which vehicle are you referring to?

[bossplaya]

The Cadillac. The trunk area right beneath the license plate. It looks to be about a 4 inch area.

[G35stilez]

I kept the trunk closed, bossplaya, to prevent any polish getting it and just buffed it using a very light touch. I ended up having to wipe the polish residue from the cracks afterwards.

[91LSMAN]

Isn`t that the same lexus you tried the NXT/Natty`s Combo on a while back?

How do you think what you did this time compares?

Very Nice work as always!!!