Scottwax
03-22-2010, 09:54 PM
I do wash and wax jobs at a local business for a few of the employees that the owners pay for. One of the employees recently purchased a used black Infiniti M45 from Crest Infiniti (the car is so hammered all over they deserve a mention) and their solution was to try and hide the swirls with a glaze. Anyway, he has saved up several of the wash/wax jobs and wants to put it towards getting his paint corrected. Today I went out to just do a wash/wax in his car and another employee`s car and to do a test section so I could give him a better estimate.
This is the trunk lid. The entire car is like this. How an Infiniti dealership can allow work like this to be done by their employees and sell a car (on apparently, a cloudy day) that looks like this absolutely stuns me.
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Infiniti_M45_before1.jpg
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Infiniti_M45_before2.jpg
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Infiniti_M45_before3.jpg
Not even messing around with KBM or maybe a polish via rotary first. Went right to #105, Meguiars yellow polishing pad and my Dewalt rotary @1400 rpms, finishing with light pressure at 1000 rpms. This was one car I know I am going to have to hit hard right off the bat. Worked great, really knocked out the holograms fast on the first passes, then more #105 and took out the rest of the spider swirls. The holograms left behind are so faint they really don`t even show up in these shots.
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Infiniti_M45_105_1.jpg
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Infiniti_M45_105_2.jpg
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Infiniti_M45_105_3.jpg
I then followed with #205 using a yellow Meguiars polishing pad at 1200 rpms, finishing with light pressure at 1000 rpms. I then switched to 3M Ultrafina using a blue Ultrafina pad at 1000-1800-1000 rpms and waxed with Carnauba Moose.
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Infiniti_M45_after1.jpg
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Infiniti_M45_after2.jpg
Since the most convenient place for my customer or me to take care of his car is at his office (great sun the whole day), we`ve decided to wait until live oak pollen season is over with. It is just beginning so it will be 3-4 weeks before I finish the car. I`m really looking forward to this one, going to be an awesome transformation. :)
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Toyota RAV4. Detailed the outside about 4-5 weeks ago and late last week, the owner drove through some house paint in the road.
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/3653RAV4_paint_before.jpg
Optimum Power Clean, ONR and then a quick hose down:
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/3653RAV4_paint_after.jpg
Here is OPC dwelling on the latex paint:
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/3653RAV4_paint_before2.jpg
A video of how well it works after 60 second dwell time (the knocking sound is the brush hitting the grips on the step tube). Saved me from destroying a clay bar on it. OPC was acting just like a paint stripper on the latex. Once it had some dwell time and a little scrubbing, I could peel huge chunks of the paint out of the fenderwells. You could actually see the latex paint lifting off the body of the car as it dwelled.
YouTube - Optimum Power Clean vs latex paint on a car
After removing all the paint (used clay to get the few remaining specs) and rewaxing with Carnauba Moose:
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/3653RAV4_paint_after2.jpg
There is still some paint in the tire tread but removing it all would have meant removing both tires and I`m not sure I could have got every bit of paint out of the tread regardless.
This is the trunk lid. The entire car is like this. How an Infiniti dealership can allow work like this to be done by their employees and sell a car (on apparently, a cloudy day) that looks like this absolutely stuns me.
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Infiniti_M45_before1.jpg
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Infiniti_M45_before2.jpg
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Infiniti_M45_before3.jpg
Not even messing around with KBM or maybe a polish via rotary first. Went right to #105, Meguiars yellow polishing pad and my Dewalt rotary @1400 rpms, finishing with light pressure at 1000 rpms. This was one car I know I am going to have to hit hard right off the bat. Worked great, really knocked out the holograms fast on the first passes, then more #105 and took out the rest of the spider swirls. The holograms left behind are so faint they really don`t even show up in these shots.
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Infiniti_M45_105_1.jpg
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Infiniti_M45_105_2.jpg
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Infiniti_M45_105_3.jpg
I then followed with #205 using a yellow Meguiars polishing pad at 1200 rpms, finishing with light pressure at 1000 rpms. I then switched to 3M Ultrafina using a blue Ultrafina pad at 1000-1800-1000 rpms and waxed with Carnauba Moose.
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Infiniti_M45_after1.jpg
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/36532007_Infiniti_M45_after2.jpg
Since the most convenient place for my customer or me to take care of his car is at his office (great sun the whole day), we`ve decided to wait until live oak pollen season is over with. It is just beginning so it will be 3-4 weeks before I finish the car. I`m really looking forward to this one, going to be an awesome transformation. :)
======================
Toyota RAV4. Detailed the outside about 4-5 weeks ago and late last week, the owner drove through some house paint in the road.
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/3653RAV4_paint_before.jpg
Optimum Power Clean, ONR and then a quick hose down:
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/3653RAV4_paint_after.jpg
Here is OPC dwelling on the latex paint:
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/3653RAV4_paint_before2.jpg
A video of how well it works after 60 second dwell time (the knocking sound is the brush hitting the grips on the step tube). Saved me from destroying a clay bar on it. OPC was acting just like a paint stripper on the latex. Once it had some dwell time and a little scrubbing, I could peel huge chunks of the paint out of the fenderwells. You could actually see the latex paint lifting off the body of the car as it dwelled.
YouTube - Optimum Power Clean vs latex paint on a car
After removing all the paint (used clay to get the few remaining specs) and rewaxing with Carnauba Moose:
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/3653RAV4_paint_after2.jpg
There is still some paint in the tire tread but removing it all would have meant removing both tires and I`m not sure I could have got every bit of paint out of the tread regardless.