showroom ready thunderbird 30+ hrs

[Morgan_W]

This is the same client that had me detail his ferrari 348. He was very pleased to say the least and was excited to get his beautiful thunderbird some love as well. This car does get driven but the owner likes wanted in looking pristine so we went for a basically showcar ready vehicle finished condition. From the get go it was in pretty decent shape, from the looks of pretty minor swirling and well that all changed very fast.



After getting the car stripped from any old previous products it looked a little bit worse but not to bad. I taped off a section and did a test spot with my pcxp/white constant pressure 5.5 pad, and some menzerna powerfinish. This didn`t even make a dent, so i got a little more aggressive with some menzerna sip. Still, reducing the swirling a bit but not even close to removed. So I brought the m105..After about 3 passes with an orange pad it finally was showing some good clarity. There was a lot of deeper RIDS sticking out after getting the paint leveled so a lot of spot buffing was done with a 4" pad. This was hands down the hardest paint I have ever worked on. Made the mercedes ceramic-clear look like childs play.





http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0061.jpg

Once again my camera let me down and low megapixel wasnt able to capture the true picture of the swirling in the sun. If anyone has tips as to get better pics let me know..

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0067.jpg

heres some 50/50`s..

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0069.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0070.jpg

here it is all masked up ready for polishing..I was very careful of all the adjacents and edges as always..Tape was removed as areas that had close edges were polished and then got a gentle polish. With so many curves and adjacents, having both polishers loaded with different sized pads(4" & 5.5") really came in handy.

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0081.jpg

Some more 50/50`s on the trunk, last ones were of the hood.

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0086.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0087.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0088.jpg

Heres a before and after of the upper section of the door.

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0094.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0095.jpg

door side polished, back section not.

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0097.jpg

b pillar before and after.. i found that on this paint in particular my hid worked better than the brinkman dual xenon

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0099.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0102.jpg



Before I show you the finished pics, heres some of the engine bay area that was pressure washed(low pressure), hand polished and sealed anything with paint.

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0105.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0106.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0107.jpg



And for the finale, the car all finished up...



http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0109.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0110.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0113.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0114.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0115.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0116.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0117.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0118.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0119.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0120.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0121.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0122.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0124.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0125.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0126.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0127.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0128.jpg

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj388/mlw1472/thunderbird/DCFC0129.jpg



Products used:



Exterior Paint-

Washed 2 bucket method grit guards and CG citrus wash and clear

CLaymagic blue clay

CG synthetic spray for lube

brinkman dual xenon and hid husky headlight(used while polishing)

2 pc`s with 4" and 5.5" pads

m105 on orange pads

menzerna powerfinish on green pads

CG ez creme glaze

Blackfire wet diamond



Wheels/tires/wheel wells-

CG diablo wheel gel

PUR Degreaser

Megs APC +

various brushes



Engine bay-

Zephyr all metal polish

Megs APC +

Megs #21 on all painted surfaces



Interior-

Megs APC +

Various brushes

IZ cockpit premium

1Z vinyl/rubber protectant

1Z gummi pfledge

Invisiglass



thanks all for looking! The pics really don`t do justice, just pulling the car outside to take some pics for 5 minutes I got at least 5 thumbs up and its not even that busy of a street!

[imported_advs1]

that car looks bad ***!! i would definitely give you a thumbs up. i like those engine shots.

[a_guerrajr]

thats a very nice car. looks restored really good.

[Morgan_W]

yes it was restored very nice..it was a pleasure to work on, minus the rock hard clear-coat..haha

[imported_JoshVette]

Nice work, it turned out very nice.



Underside of the hood looks great, glad you took the extra time to hand polish it all, it makes such a difference from just looking clean.



Josh

[Thomas Dekany]

What a car and great detail!



PS: get a tri pod.

[Morgan_W]

thanks guys, i appreciate it.



a nice camera and tri-pod is in the works, dont worry!

[alloutdetailing]

Car turn out great!!!!! I see what you mean on the camera end. 50/50 shots did not look all that great. But I could get the idea in some of the shots.





Post what kinda Cam you have maybe someone can help you with your settings???

[wmb67]

Great work on a beautiful car!

[DaGonz]

That`s a beautiful T-Bird! Nice work! :drool:

[JohnKleven]

Really really nice work. If the clear is as hard as you`re preaching, and by looking at the wet look of the paint, it probably has PPG 2021, probably the hardest, but most beautiful clear that I`ve ever worked on.





John

[Envious Eric]

dude, when I came over to get the XP, I was dead...but like I said in person, that car came out superb! Nice job buddy!

[Morgan_W]

thanks for the kind words guys, i appreciate it.



to alloutdetailing, its honestly just a 5mp polaroid point n` shoot..the settings probably could be adjusted a little but bottom line, need a nicer camera. haha



to johnkleven, thanks for the compliment, and yes the clear really was that hard. Even before I started it still had that wet look to it. It was definitely the nicest paints I have worked on so far.

[E300Diesel]

Great Job! Gorgeous color on the T-Bird... :2thumbs: