Process for seal grey 911 Turbo

[imported_Mik]

I have a Seal Grey 2001 911Turbo that only gets driven ~3000miles per year and lives in the garage. It only really gets dealed once per year (other than a quick wax). The paint is still in good condition with only a very minor swirl, light scratch here and there. I plan to spend a day or so on it over the holidays and am lookin for your opinions on a process. This is what I have at my disposal:



PC 7424

Flex 3401

Rupes Rotary



Lake country DA pads

Orange, White, green, black and red



Lake country VC rotary pads

Wool, Yellow, Orange, green, White



PB SSR3

PB SSR2.5

PB SSR2

PB SSR1

PB PP (although I don`t like this - too hard to remove)

PB PwC

PB Natty`s wax

PB clay



Klasse AIO

Klasse SG



P21S Canauba - The better one that comes in the box

Mothers liquid wax

Collinite fleetwax (I use for my boat)

Collinite fibreglass cleaner

Collinite boatwax



This is my plan for attack:

1. Wash car

2. Clay where necessary

3. PB SSR2 with Flex and Orange pad (only on panels where needed) - or should I do the whole car?

4. PB SSR1 with green CCS pad and flex

5. Klasse AIO with white pad and PC 7424

6. Klasse SG with black pad and PC7424

- Leave overnight -

7. P21s Canauba by hand - leave dry for an hour then remove

- leave overnight -

8. P21s Canauba by hand - leave dry for an hour then remove



What does everyone think about this? Would anyone do anything differently?



Thanks in advance.

[craigdt]

Sounds like a good plan to me. Have you like the results of your yearly details?

[HowardPearson]

One proven product for silver and gray is Danase Wet Glaze. You could use the DWG in place of the AIO and SG steps. Its one of the few products I have seen improve the look of a properly prep`ed surface. It really makes silvers POP.

[Legacy]

I would get some Menzerna 85rd with a gray pad as your paint is in good condition. You can always use ssr2 if needed using your Flex. For final polishing I would get some 3M Ultrafina with a blue pad for jeweling the paint with your rotary @ 1500-1800rpms. Too me P21s or any good grade nuba will do...it`s the prep that counts. Don`t know what Seal Grey on a 911 looks like, but here`s a gray that you can compare with. I do the above system maybe every 3-4 months as this is a daily driver with no garage.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x229/rsurfer1/002-6.jpg

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x229/rsurfer1/005-4.jpg

[imported_Mik]

Sounds like a good plan to me. Have you like the results of your yearly details?



I have been pleased. I have never used the Klasse twins though, I normally use the PB PwC, but I thought I would give them a shot this time around.

[Legacy]

One proven product for silver and gray is Danase Wet Glaze. You could use the DWG in place of the AIO and SG steps. Its one of the few products I have seen improve the look of a properly prep`ed surface. It really makes silvers POP.

What have you been topping DWG with?

[Rob Tomlin]

It probably isn`t a huge deal since your paint is already in pretty good condition, but I am not a particularly big fan of the Poorboys SSR line of polishes.

[HowardPearson]

What have you been topping DWG with?



UPGP, yields the best look I have seen from a sealant, very deep and wet. And thats coming from more of a `Nuba guy.

[Legacy]

UPGP, yields the best look I have seen from a sealant, very deep and wet. And thats coming from more of a `Nuba guy.



I hear you Duke...been using DWG and UPGP for some time till I discovered the warm glow from Concorso.

[Cleaning Fool]

Sounds like a good plan, just make sure you apply Klasse SG thin.

[dennn]

I thought that the point of seal grey is that you don`t have to detail it. Even after being detailed and the best wax applied, seal grey doesn`t look very dramatic. Seal grey just doesn`t have the WOW factor to it even when hours are spent on detailing it. You may not want to invest too much time making it perfect if time is of the essence in your personal life. This is why I chose solid black for my 911 ;)



Anyhow, it`s hard to judge what product is best for the job at hand. You may need to use SSR3 around the door handle areas and maybe SSR1 on the roof. The beauty with the seal grey is that even with the swirl gun, it`s really hard to find some lighter scratches unless you are hunting for them. In that case lighter polishes such as SSR1 and SSR2 are optimal.



The Porsche Seal Grey is very similar to the Infiniti G35 Diamond Graphite. That`s the color I chose for my G35 sedan because defects tend to hide themselves really well in that color. =)

[imported_Mik]

I`m not sure you are thinking of seal grey. Maybe you are confusing it for atlas grey. Seal grey is a very complex multi-layer pearl. Looks almost charcol in low light and deep silver in bright white light. It shows absolutely every mark and spec of dust.



Its funny you say that actually. I have always thought that black 996/997s look kind of dull. I searched high and low for a good seal grey car. And down here in oz, you generally need to spend 10k more for a grey or silver late porsche....the are german after all.

[Mike_Phillips]

Just posted the below on CF but it applies here too...







Lots of good advice so far in this thread, here`s little suggestion you might want to try when you`re product get here...



Before going over the entire car or even a panel, do a Test Spot





How to do a Test Spot

Copyright ©PBMA - Autogeekonline.net® All Rights Reserved.



Take and place a single piece of painters tape down on a horizontal surface and then test out your product and process just to one side of the tape line. Wipe off the residue and inspect the results.



If the results look great and they are what you were hoping for, then duplicate this process over the rest of the car. If they don`t then come back here and describe what you`re seeing and the forum members here will help you to tweak your technique or adjust your pad and chemical recipe until you get the results you`re looking for.



The idea behind a Test Spot is to dial-in a process that gives you the results you you`re hoping for and once you`ve proven the system then you can duplicate it over the rest of the car with confidence.



The last thing you want to do is to apply some kind of product over the entire car or just a single panel and then wipe off the residue only to find out the paint doesn`t look good and might even look worse than when you started.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



I remember the first time I posted this to the Internet back in 1994 after a member or rec.autos.misc applies some kind of rubbing compound over the entire finish of his car and then after wiping off the residue he discovered he just put scratches throughout the entire finish on his car. Been sharing this common sense approach ever since then and it`s still working today.



A single tape line really makes it easy for your eyes to see a difference versus just having a foggy section between the area that was buffed and the area that was not buffed. I`m going to guess I`ve probably placed more single strips of tape on car hoods and buffed than anyone in history so I speak from experience.





Always do a Test Spot.





:)