2012 Silver Sentra Special Edition

[Migue]

So the GF got herself a newer used car (only 30k miles) and of course, i had to get my hands on the new ride of the Household.

Paint was not in horrible shape, it is silver, so it hides defects very well. There was definitely some room for improvement in some neglected areas and the paint needed an overall polish to make it pop. This was done during New Years Eve weekend and got finished right before midnight.

Procducts used:

Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish
3D Pink Soap
Megs APC
Sonax
3D Orange Degreaser
Ferrex
Red Nanoskin Sponge
Tarminator
HD Cut
HD Polish
FK1000P
Carpro Eraser
Carpro PERL
Black Magic(for dressing wells, nothing else i promise:))
HD Dress

Machine work done with Flex3401 & LC CCS/Flat Orange & White Pads , and PC with 4" LC CCS Yellow,Orange & White pads for small areas and spot scratch repair.

I did not compound the whole car, only certain areas where defects/swirls were pretty noticeable, the rest was just polished with HD Polish. It is a daily driver, and i want as much CC on the car as possible.Only the Roof,top of the trunk,top of 1/4 panels and scratches were compounded . I`ve decided, after inspecting the car further during the 1st post-paint polishing wash, that i will go ahead and compound the hood since polishing alone didn`t do much for me.


-License plates removed
-Wheels sprayed with sonax, no heavy brake dust, so they were in pretty good condition already.
-Tires sprayed with Megs APC 4:1 and agitated with a brush, repeated this step about 3 times since Carmax Sprayed the crap out of the tires with their version of a tire dressing, even though i had told the guy to NOT wash the car. I guess i should have specified that it included not slamming the tires with gunk that drips all over the place.
-Wells sprayed with 3D Orange Degreaser and agitated/scrubbed with wheel woolies.


Exhaust was scrubbed with some fine steel wool first, then polished using a MF towel with some metal polish.

http://www.autopia.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=29435&stc=1

Car was rinsed off with pressure washer, then foamed using a mixture of the 3D Soap and a bit of Megs APC. While i let the foam dwell on the car i took my brush and agitated the grill,gas cap area and other areas needing some extra attention.

http://www.autopia.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=29434&stc=1
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Car was then rinsed off and washed using 2B method and grit guards. Skirt areas behind each tire had road tar that did not come off during wash process, so i spent extra time on these and hit them with some Tarminator,bug sponge and plastic razor blade(using very gentle one-directional scraping motions to avoid scratching the paint). These were later compounded and polished to restore appearance from all the neglect.

http://www.autopia.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=29438&stc=1

Optimum Ferrex applied/sprayed on paint, not too many iron deposits, it was very minimal . After that, i decontaminated mechanically with Nanoskin`s red sponge( i was going to polish anyways, so i went with the aggressive sponge grit).

http://www.autopia.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=29439&stc=1
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Car was dried with DP Turbo Dryer and waffle weave towels, then moved into the garage for the next stage.Trim was taped up using 3M Green Tape and TapeCase thin painters tape. Paint readings were taken throughout the entire car and readings were steadily between 4.1 to upper 4.00s which i was glad to see, because there was a nasty scratch that needed attention on the trunk area.

http://www.autopia.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=29441&stc=1
http://www.autopia.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=29442&stc=1

Upper Quarter Panel area compounded then polished. (Before-After from left to right)
http://www.autopia.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=29443&stc=1

One of the tail lights had noticeable scratches on the top, so they were compounded and polished to remove them along with all the swirls.

[Migue]

Decal removed using heat gun, then polishing the area to remove any residual signs of the decal`s placement.

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Trunk scratches needed some wetsanding after realizing that compounding alone was not going to make them better. In the end, they can still be seen but only under sunlight and at an angle. I kept measuring the paint after each wet sanding session and stopped once the readings dropped some . 2000 then 3000 grit was used.

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Areas affected by the road tar were hand compounded then hand polished to restore clarity and make them pop once again.
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Scratch by gas cap was taken care of with the Yellow/orange/White Pad combo and HD Cut/Polish
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Keyhole area needed some TLC as well
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All wiped down with Eraser and ready for FK1000P
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Doorjambs were protected as well
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Tires and Wells dressed as the LSP was drying.
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[Migue]

I had to wait a week to get some sun shots since it was grey the day after i was finished and throughout the week, so these are after a Rinseless wash and another coat of FK1000P a week after.

http://www.autopia.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=29454&stc=1
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I realized the pic of the Tail Light scratch did not upload, so here it is...
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Thank you for watching/reading.

[donbeezy]

nice!

[Wing Commander]

This was a really nice show of your process and good explanation of what you did to the car. Your photos were excellent and clear,phone or camera?

[Migue]

This was a really nice show of your process and good explanation of what you did to the car. Your photos were excellent and clear,phone or camera?

Thank you for the kind words, this was with a phone. I do have an HD Camera(handheld cam corder/still shot) but i got it a few years ago and i guess newer phones have better resolution than my actual camera does at this point. It`s a Windows phone.

[xspwrstang]

Awesome job! My favorite pic is the one of the passenger fender, you can really see how that FK1000 sits right on top of the paint. You just convinced me to get me some FK1000P with my new order! Great job.

[Migue]

Awesome job! My favorite pic is the one of the passenger fender, you can really see how that FK1000 sits right on top of the paint. You just convinced me to get me some FK1000P with my new order! Great job.

Thank you! FK1000P is really great stuff and 100% worth trying out, i was all about Collinite 845 for years, but FK1kp is now my go to LSP thanks to people`s recommendations around here as well. It really makes the silver pop when the sun hits it, plus the High-Temp claim is a huge plus for us down here in TX. I plan on leaving it alone without topping anymore and see how long it lasts with weekly gentle washes.

[Stokdgs]

Migue -

Beautiful work, beautiful car, awesome attention to Detail !

Looks better than brand new !

Glad to see you caught all the door locks... A Lot of people miss that and they are always dirty...
Yes, a good Qtip and something that removes grease makes them always new again..

I always have my meter set to measure in Microns instead of Mils...
Its going to be much more sensitive to change to thickness in Microns..

Believe its 25.4 mils make 1 micron, so looks like you were working with 101 - 116+- total microns of material thickness there...

Of that total thickness the actual paint thickness is much, much, less, which is why I like to know the smallest amount removed and the Microns reading will give you that faster..

Congrats on a beautiful NEW car !!!
Dan F

[Migue]

Migue -

Beautiful work, beautiful car, awesome attention to Detail !

Looks better than brand new !

Glad to see you caught all the door locks... A Lot of people miss that and they are always dirty...
Yes, a good Qtip and something that removes grease makes them always new again..

I always have my meter set to measure in Microns instead of Mils...
Its going to be much more sensitive to change to thickness in Microns..

Believe its 25.4 mils make 1 micron, so looks like you were working with 101 - 116+- total microns of material thickness there...

Of that total thickness the actual paint thickness is much, much, less, which is why I like to know the smallest amount removed and the Microns reading will give you that faster..

Congrats on a beautiful NEW car !!!
Dan F


Thanks a lot Dan,

Thankfully, there is only one door lock on this vehicle instead of 4, so i didn`t have to spend too much time on the one B). I need to get into the habit of measuring in Microns, always slips my mind. I measured the inside of the gas cap and the reading was like 1 Mil.,so i knew i had plenty of clear to work with, yet since i keep my vehicles until they totally crap out on me, i know i`ll be doing a maintenance polish here and there in the upcoming years.

Unfortunately the car has small blemishes here and there (touch up on bumpers,1 nasty touched up scratch on one fender that i might focus on as the next task) but overall it looks in great shape and the GF loves it especially when the car is only dirty for a handful of days before i clean it up again.... must be nice for our significant others huh? just have the detailing xxxxx make the car look like day 1 every time haha