Scottwax
01-28-2012, 08:00 PM
Super busy month, probably going to end up my busiest month ever. Really odd for January but I`ll take it.
2008 Nissan GTR. Main customer complaint was that the soft black Nissan paint was just too hard to wash without marring and swirling. After reading through several forums and talking to a few people, he felt that Optimum Opti-Coat would be his best bet to put a hard enough finish on his car to resist swirling and marring.
He`s had the GTR detailed about a year ago, there were some buffer holograms from that and what appeared to be drying streaks in the sides. Big problem with black cars down here, by the time you get the top dried, the sides are mostly dry and starting to spot. So you wipe them harder to remove the spots and end up with streaking and marring. I did go over ONR washing with the owner, I`ve found that pretty much eliminates any issues with the car drying out and spotting before you get a chance to dry it.
A few before shots-terrible trying to get good ones in the winter with the low sun angle.
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_before4.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_before3.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_before2.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_before1.jpg
Took a while to figure out what was going to work best. The back end of the car took Optimum Hyper Compound using an Optimum microfiber cutting pad (all polishing done with my Porter Cable 7424 XP) but it was definitely hazing the paint, a bit too aggressive for this car except for the worst areas. I then switched to Meguiars #105 mixed 50/50 with D300 using a Meguiars microfiber cutting pad and went over the whole car. Still getting some hazing from that combo but it was removing or greatly minimizing the swirls, marring and other defects. This was not going to be an all out correction so I needed to balance how hard I hit the paint with how much hazing I could remove in two more polishing steps so #105/D300 seemed to do that the best.
I then switched to Meguiars #205 using an orange Optimum cutting pad which really did a great job removing the hazing from the previous step. We then let the car sit in the sun to help bake out the oils (nearly 70 on a bright sunny January day!) while we grabbed lunch. When we got back, I inspected the car again in the sun, looking for any potential problem areas after the sun flashed off the polishing oils. Not finding any, again using #205, I went over the whole car with a yellow Meguiars polishing pad.
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_after1.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_after2.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_after3.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_after4.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_polished2.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_polished1.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_polished3.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_polished4.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_polished5.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_polished6.jpg
I then washed the whole car down with straight water and isophoric alcohol (two quarts alcohol, 4 quarts water). As expected, the water/alcohol blend laid flat on the paint, no beading. Gently finished washing it down using my softest MF towels to avoid marring the paint.
I then carefully applied Opti-Coat 2.0 (I prefer the slightly slower curing time, more margin for error) to the entire car, including the wheels. By then, it was late afternoon and we`d lost any chance of direct sun. The paint had a very wet, almost glassy look to it. Every customer whose car I have used the coating on has commented on how nice it looks. They hear on the forums about the protection but not too much on the appearance so all have been quite pleased with how it looks.
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_front1.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_frontend1.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_rear1.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_side1.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_frontend1.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_rear2.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_front2.jpg
2008 Nissan GTR. Main customer complaint was that the soft black Nissan paint was just too hard to wash without marring and swirling. After reading through several forums and talking to a few people, he felt that Optimum Opti-Coat would be his best bet to put a hard enough finish on his car to resist swirling and marring.
He`s had the GTR detailed about a year ago, there were some buffer holograms from that and what appeared to be drying streaks in the sides. Big problem with black cars down here, by the time you get the top dried, the sides are mostly dry and starting to spot. So you wipe them harder to remove the spots and end up with streaking and marring. I did go over ONR washing with the owner, I`ve found that pretty much eliminates any issues with the car drying out and spotting before you get a chance to dry it.
A few before shots-terrible trying to get good ones in the winter with the low sun angle.
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_before4.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_before3.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_before2.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_before1.jpg
Took a while to figure out what was going to work best. The back end of the car took Optimum Hyper Compound using an Optimum microfiber cutting pad (all polishing done with my Porter Cable 7424 XP) but it was definitely hazing the paint, a bit too aggressive for this car except for the worst areas. I then switched to Meguiars #105 mixed 50/50 with D300 using a Meguiars microfiber cutting pad and went over the whole car. Still getting some hazing from that combo but it was removing or greatly minimizing the swirls, marring and other defects. This was not going to be an all out correction so I needed to balance how hard I hit the paint with how much hazing I could remove in two more polishing steps so #105/D300 seemed to do that the best.
I then switched to Meguiars #205 using an orange Optimum cutting pad which really did a great job removing the hazing from the previous step. We then let the car sit in the sun to help bake out the oils (nearly 70 on a bright sunny January day!) while we grabbed lunch. When we got back, I inspected the car again in the sun, looking for any potential problem areas after the sun flashed off the polishing oils. Not finding any, again using #205, I went over the whole car with a yellow Meguiars polishing pad.
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_after1.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_after2.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_after3.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_after4.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_polished2.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_polished1.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_polished3.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_polished4.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_polished5.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_polished6.jpg
I then washed the whole car down with straight water and isophoric alcohol (two quarts alcohol, 4 quarts water). As expected, the water/alcohol blend laid flat on the paint, no beading. Gently finished washing it down using my softest MF towels to avoid marring the paint.
I then carefully applied Opti-Coat 2.0 (I prefer the slightly slower curing time, more margin for error) to the entire car, including the wheels. By then, it was late afternoon and we`d lost any chance of direct sun. The paint had a very wet, almost glassy look to it. Every customer whose car I have used the coating on has commented on how nice it looks. They hear on the forums about the protection but not too much on the appearance so all have been quite pleased with how it looks.
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_front1.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_frontend1.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_rear1.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_side1.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_frontend1.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_rear2.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ScottwaxH/2008_Nissan_GTR_front2.jpg