What has The Guz been up to? Big Brakes & Coatings

[The Guz]

I have not posted reviews or other write ups as of late. Besides being busy at work, I had the project of getting the Grand Prix just right.

Back in May of 2021 I decided it was time to take care of some clear coat issues that wasn’t properly take care of years ago when I had it repainted. It had the appearance of the oxidation but it was more like overspray. It was only on certain parts of the car such as the roof, trunk, hood, rear spoiler and the lower portions of the doors. A compound was not able to remove it.

Rather than trying to learn how to wet sand I figured why not give the CarPro denim and velvet pads a try. Would make for some good content on my channel. At the same time JustJesus picked up a brand new CBEAST which he let me borrow to test out.

Before I continue I have to thank him and say that the CBEAST is a great polisher. Made working on this project smooth and of course saving me lots of time.

As far as the CarPro denim and velvet pads, for those interested in trying them be sure to have plenty of them as they load up fast. They also generate a lot of heat so that is another thing to keep an eye on. And last but not least have a good compound.

I used CarPro UltraCut as I was sent this to review at the time by Avi of CarPro. What a great compound. I had zero dusting during this entire process which is impressive. Here are the results of the leveled clear.









Don’t worry I have a paint gauge and this car has plenty of paint on it. I would not recommend doing this on factory paint as it is already thin. But for a respray it is worth a shot if one is not confident in learning how to wet sand and leaving sanding marks everywhere.

I did have to follow up with UltraCut on a foam cutting pad to clear up some induced defects. I ended up polishing with CarPro Reflect after that to further refine the finish.

Before



After



Finally was the coating. I had purchased some IGL Kenzo Graphene Reinforced which further enhanced the end result. Coating was overall straight forward to apply or so I thought. The base coat is indeed slicker than the top coat. I was expecting the complete opposite. Kenzo comes in 20ml bottles. Keep this in mind.










Walkaround outside. The car was looking fantastic with the leveled clear.



At the time I thought I was done until the first wash. That is when I noticed inconsistent results on half of the car. I could immediately tell that something didn’t look right during the first wash. I started by coating the hood and the passenger side and this side hadwater sticking to it while the driver side was repelling water beautifully. I started off on the passenger side and of course I got better at applying the coatings.

Kind of a bummer given that Kenzo is not cheap. It was application error on my part and the top coat more than likely wiped off too soon plus it was hot and humid at the time of application. I made a video stating that it takes a couple times to really get to know a coating and mistakes often happen. See it still happens to the best of us. Kenzo did look great and the water behavior was rather impressive.

Unfortunately I could not go back and reapply the coating as they only come in 20mlbottles and I did not have enough. So I was just playing around with toppers until it was time to polish and re-coat with something else that I had on hand.

I ended up going with P&S Legend topped with P&S Sole. Both new products onto the market.

I gave the car a decon once again and this time I polished the car with Dr. Beasley’s NSP 95 followed by NSP 45. These primer polishes are great. No need for a panel wipe as there are no oils per Dr. Beasley’s. A huge time saver. NSP 150 was not used as I had no need to use it.

Here is the correcting ability of NSP 95 which is a medium cut polish. Some slight micro-marring on the soft pillar using the orange HDO pad on the PXE 80.






One thing to keep in mind when using NSP 45 is that there is a ghosting effect that returns after wipe off. This is completely normal. Simply wipe the area with a towel and then coat right over it. It will not come back. See the right pillar of what I am referring to.





I ended up re-coating the side glass with CarPro FlyByForte V4 which is the newest version from CarPro.



Proceeded with coating the paint with P&S Legend. This coating will make you work for it as it is dependent on humidity and temperature. It can flash as fast roughly 30 seconds up to a minute. For me it was around 30 seconds. I can see this creating some issues for newbies who have never applied a coating. Two layers is recommended for this coating and it hardens up rather quickly on the applicator.



P&S Sole on the other hand is a dream to work with. Very user friendly. And it has a peppermint scent to it. Long working time and will rainbow.






In the meantime I came across a set of caliper off a 2007 Pontiac Grand Prix GXP calipers at my local salvage yard. So that meant it was a brake upgrade for the 1999 Grand Prix. So off I went to rebuild the calipers and purchase the two front brake lines and repaint the calipers to red (keeping them period correct) and picking up a set of rotors.

At this time Adams released their new Advanced Graphene Ceramic Coating. I ended up polishing the wheels with Shine Supply Slick Back Primer Polish, let them sit for an hour after wipe off and proceeded to coat the wheels with 2 layers of the coating. Slick Back does not require panel wipe if given an hour to cure after wipe off.






I also replaced the center cap overlay with a replica of the center cap emblem that came on the OEM 16’s for this model.



Once the brakes were done and the wheels reinstalled, I was able to get a look at the car after all this work.





The new brakes fill out the rear of the 18’s so much better. Not to mention the increase in stopping power going to a dual piston caliper in the front compared to factory single piston.



Front



Rear



First wash and I used Bead Maker as a drying aid. Bead Maker is designed and recommended as the maintenance topper for the P&S coatings. Bead Maker leaving that nice amplified gloss.



Great gloss after using Bead Maker.




Walk Around with the P&S Legend + Sole combination.



First Wash topped with Bead Maker

[The Guz]

Wash and topped with the new gloss enhancer Dream Maker

[Coatings=crack]

Wash and topped with the new gloss enhancer Dream Maker

Seams like not much different between P&S products in your video.

Seemed you liked ShowStopper more per your showstopper video. How do they compare?

Lastly Knowing your not a “topper”..... does bead maker ad gloss to the coating for you?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[The Guz]

Seams like not much different between P&S products in your video.

Seemed you liked ShowStopper more per your showstopper video. How do they compare?

Lastly Knowing your not a “topper”..... does bead maker ad gloss to the coating for you?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here is my take on both products. I won`t be purchasing either one of these again. They are products that I don`t need or have a fit in my arsenal. Now this does not mean they are not bad products. If you have have interest then buy it. It is cheap in terms of cost.

Show Stopper had some drawbacks due to streaking and it definitely altered the hydrophobic behavior. Can`t say if Dream Maker does or not.

I will let you be the judge on whether or not bead maker left gloss by looking at the last photo.

[atbalfour]

Great progress on the car. Cheers for the updates

Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk

[Sizzle Chest]

Wow Guz, thanks for taking the time to post all this. WELL done. Car looks fantastic now. The clarity of the light after the denim pads is MAJOR! What a difference. Again, super job on both the car and the write up!

[bad penny]

Really nice write up. Your car looks fantastic. Great job!

[tom p.]

Yeah, the change in the silver paint appearance is nothing less than fantastic !! Awesome stuff, Mike!

[William_Wallace]

This one snuck by me…..the GUZ looking good nice product selection to tinker with.

[Desertnate]

The car looks great!

You say big brakes and coatings, but did you coat the brake calipers? I`m debating coating the calipers on my car when I mount the winter wheels. Not sure if it is worth the effort.

[noorth]

Enjoyed the read Mike. I might try one of the Dr. Beasley`s primer polishes next year and i was told carpro`s ultarcut is really good. Possibly even finishing down on many paints with a foam pad. Since they sell 250ml at a cheap price i might try that next year too lol

I recently tried Nv precision compound with a blue SDO pad + 3D one on opposite sides of my bonnet. Both sides look the same to me but 3D was actually easier to clean up in this case. It was a very humid day in the 90% range. No dust. I can deal with a tougher wipeoff but really don`t like dust. Seems my paint it closer to medium, its not hard to finish. Next year i might try to "compound" my car with the blue SDO, great looking pad. And i have a blue car.

[atgonzales]

You are a mad man Guz, nicely don

[Lonnie]

Guz:
What is the manufacturer and model of the CBEAST polisher you used? I am not familiar with that "nickname". Cordless Flex XCE 8 125 18.0? Which I assume is the cordless version of the BEAST XC 3401 VGR.

Are the CarPro denim and Velvet pads designed to remove the ever-present orange peel in today`s finishes?? And should they be paired with CarPro`s compounds and polishes because they work "best" with those pads??


And thanks for the info on the Dr.Beasley`s NSP 45 polish about its "ghosting" effect. THAT would freak me out, thinking something is wrong with my technique using it. Are these polishes worth it, considering the cost and tube size? IE, is the no-panel-cleaner-needed worth the extra cost AND are these compound/polishes effective compares to the CarPro offerings, or am I comparing "apples-to-oranges"??

Do you HAVE to use the two P&S coatings (Legend, first and Sole, second) together or was this just your choice?? The Sole coating sounds better suited to a first-time-user/coating novice IF it could be used by itself. Seems like you are using (and liking?) a lot of P&S products... Just an observation.

Nice work on your Pontiac Grand Prix! Looks fantastic. REALLY like your brake work! Must be nice to be "mechanically inclined".



.

[crg001]

Fantastic results. Thanks for sharing the info on the P&S coatings (and with me on that FB group too!). That`s gotta be the cleanest Grand Prix I`ve ever seen.

[The Guz]

Wow Guz, thanks for taking the time to post all this. WELL done. Car looks fantastic now. The clarity of the light after the denim pads is MAJOR! What a difference. Again, super job on both the car and the write up!

Thanks Scott.

Really nice write up. Your car looks fantastic. Great job!

Thanks.

This one snuck by me…..the GUZ looking good nice product selection to tinker with.

Thanks. Good thing you caught it.

The car looks great!

You say big brakes and coatings, but did you coat the brake calipers? I`m debating coating the calipers on my car when I mount the winter wheels. Not sure if it is worth the effort.

Is that even a serious question lol. Of course they were coated.

Enjoyed the read Mike. I might try one of the Dr. Beasley`s primer polishes next year and i was told carpro`s ultarcut is really good. Possibly even finishing down on many paints with a foam pad. Since they sell 250ml at a cheap price i might try that next year too lol

I recently tried Nv precision compound with a blue SDO pad + 3D one on opposite sides of my bonnet. Both sides look the same to me but 3D was actually easier to clean up in this case. It was a very humid day in the 90% range. No dust. I can deal with a tougher wipeoff but really don`t like dust. Seems my paint it closer to medium, its not hard to finish. Next year i might try to "compound" my car with the blue SDO, great looking pad. And i have a blue car.

Thanks. Only thing I don`t like on the Dr. B`s primers is the bottle.

Guz:
What is the manufacturer and model of the CBEAST polisher you used? I am not familiar with that "nickname". Cordless Flex XCE 8 125 18.0? Which I assume is the cordless version of the BEAST XC 3401 VGR.

Flex cordless forced rotation. I don`t know the model number. CBEAST is the name given to the tool by Mike Phillips.

Guz:

Are the CarPro denim and Velvet pads designed to remove the ever-present orange peel in today`s finishes?? And should they be paired with CarPro`s compounds and polishes because they work "best" with those pads??

Wouldn`t touch OEM paint as its thin enough. Save them for a repaint where there is more paint. And no any compound can be used. I was testing UltraCut at the time as Avi sent it to me for testing and review.

And thanks for the info on the Dr.Beasley`s NSP 45 polish about its "ghosting" effect. THAT would freak me out, thinking something is wrong with my technique using it. Are these polishes worth it, considering the cost and tube size? IE, is the no-panel-cleaner-needed worth the extra cost AND are these compound/polishes effective compares to the CarPro offerings, or am I comparing "apples-to-oranges"??

I think they are worth it. They offer 3 variations so there is more versatility and correction than just CarPro Essence or Gyeon Q2 Primer.

Guz:

Do you HAVE to use the two P&S coatings (Legend, first and Sole, second) together or was this just your choice?? The Sole coating sounds better suited to a first-time-user/coating novice IF it could be used by itself. Seems like you are using (and liking?) a lot of P&S products... Just an observation.

No. Sole is optional but it can be used 1 hour after Legend or Inspiration rather than waiting 4 hours before topping it with Bead Maker. I have been testing some things out to see if they are good or not. Legend could be a bit more user friendly like Sole.

Nice work on your Pontiac Grand Prix! Looks fantastic. REALLY like your brake work! Must be nice to be "mechanically inclined".

Thanks. It is good to know how to work on certain things. A little bit of time but money saved in my pocket for other things.

Fantastic results. Thanks for sharing the info on the P&S coatings (and with me on that FB group too!). That`s gotta be the cleanest Grand Prix I`ve ever seen.

Thanks. I finally got the paint in the best condition for me.