2008 Mazda RX8 Paint Correction Detail

[Thomas Dekany]

Customer found me online. I went to look at the car 2 weeks ago or so and finally the car was dropped off at luxe Autohaus for 2 days for me to work on. First the color was hiding defects in my before pictures plus time was tight so I really didn`t bother with pictures throughout the detail. Naturally, I finished 90 minutes late and by the time we pulled out the car, the sun was long gone. (Same story, different day)



Day 1



Started with the interior by vacuuming it for a few hours as the dog hair (from the previous owner) didn`t want to budge - the carpet reminded me of subaru.



Next step was to clean the interior surface and for that I reached for 3D`s Interior APC cut 4:1.



Lastly, I steamed everything as well.



Protected the leather with 3D Leather Conditioner.



I left the windows for day 2 as the outside was really dirty.



























The trunk area wasn`t bad. Just needed a good vacuuming







Engine bay was ok as well. It was sprayed down with a degreaser and after a few minutes I used a soft brush to clean it and rinsed it with my pressure washer.







Once all this was done, I was able to turn my attention to the outside of the car.



As always, wheels & tires were degreased along with the wheel wells. Once done, I foamed the car twice with an apc before it was washed with 3D pink soap.



3D medium clay was used to decontaminate the paint. At this point it was getting pretty late but I wanted to do a test spot before I called it a day so I dried the car and started with an orange pad and HD UNO on the pcxp. This combo cleaned up the paint pretty well but it didn`t level the rids. I figured my go to combo should work so out with the flex 3401 and a grey wool pad. That worked just fine. That was day 1



Here are some pictures of the car as it was delivered.

[Thomas Dekany]

Here are the few after pictures



















To be continued........

[Thrillseeker]

Looks pretty wet. Some sun shots would be nice.

[Thomas Dekany]

lol!



We are in Oregon - still pretty cloudy, but the the sunny season is coming soon.

[Thrillseeker]

lol!



We are in Oregon - still pretty cloudy, but the the sunny season is coming soon.

Oregon.....got ya. Sun is a rarity in the Northwest.

[Jpostal]

lol!



We are in Oregon - still pretty cloudy, but the the sunny season is coming soon.

I am just outside of Vancouver, BC and the weather is similar to Oregon. Can`t wait for the sunshine! Last week was sunny and the phone was ringing off the hook!



Car looks great by the way. Mazda carpeting is probably my least favorite carpet to vac...it`s like velcro.

[mikenap]

Sweet turnaround. Really love that glossy charcoal paint. Not too sure about that hood though! :tongue2:

[Nopstnz8]

^^It`s an aftermarket Veilside hood. I agree though. On a stock Rx8, this looks kinda hideous. With a bodykit, it`d look way better

[Thomas Dekany]

Here are some of the imperfections that I did capture.







Here is an area that was corrected







AND HERE ARE THE READINGS



The highest was 659 microns on the passenger door, but didn`t take pictures of that.











































Overall I am aware of 5 RIDS that were too deep to remove due to the thinness of the paint but otherwise the car should look pretty good in the sun.



The engine was dressed with 3D ultra protectant.



Once the car was polished with HD UNO, Dodo Juice Lime Prime Lite was used and HD POXY to protect it. Tires received 3D Gel.



Thank you for looking.

[Junebug]

Looks great - thanks for sharing, I don`t see a lot of RX`s. They are unique amoung the masses!

[ShineTech]

Great job, that RX looks nice!

[KC@detailien]

ma ma mia



keep them coming

[Nopstnz8]

So what was your polishing process? Just curious because I need to redo mine this summer. When I first got my DA, my Rx8 was the test mule before I touched the other cars in our family. Although it looks good, I wanna get it to look as good as our Civic I did in the Winter, now that I finally have the DA down.



Did you find the paint rather hard, but not BMW hard? I read one guy said he found it to be soft, IDK where that came from because I found it like a medium between our Honda and our BMW 5 series.

[Thomas Dekany]

Thank you guys very much.



RX8 - I`d say the paint is fairly soft compared to bmw paint. However if the rids are deep then one may feel that the clear is hard as you are removing more paint. Which da do you have?



I always use HD UNO. What I`d suggest is that you get some 5.5" wool pads and use it with your choice of polish. Wool is much safer and cuts way faster than foam. I hope this answers your question.

[Scottwax]

Looks really good, love how great that color looks once cleaned up properly.