2017 Panamera E-Hybrid correction and coating - Pinnacle Auto Detail - CT

[PinnacleAutoCT]

Hey guys, this car belonged to a new customer who was referred to me via a friend in the local Porsche club. It`s a 2017 Panamera E-Hybrid, bought new a few weeks prior to the detail. Given that this will be a daily driver, the owner wanted a ceramic coating to keep maintenance to a minimum and protect the paint as much as possible. Unfortunately he contacted me after a few trips through a "Porsche approved" automatic car wash, so the paint had some marring that would require polishing prior to coating. Onto the pics:

Before:
DSC08267

DSC08257

The wheels had a surprising amount of embedded brake dust after just a few weeks of driving:

DSC08262

DSC08265

Sonax Wheel Cleaner Plus making short work of the brake dust:

DSC08269

After a wash and chemical decon with Iron-X, it became a little easier to get the camera to focus on the marring, though these rotary swirls stood out in any lighting:

DSC08276

DSC08308

DSC08309

Aside from the driver`s fender and part of the door the marring wasn`t terrible, but it still was a shame to see it on a car so new:
DSC08278 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/48678828@N04/]

Most panels showed straight, horizontal marring that must have been instilled via a vertical drum brush in the car wash:

DSC08285

DSC08286

DSC08290

DSC08300

Given the damage to the paint, the plan was to perform a one-step paint correction process to achieve ~95% correction, then coat the body and wheels with 22ple VX-1 Pro. After testing CarPro Essence, HD Polish, and HD Polish mixed with D300 on various finishing and polishing pads, I was forced to escalate to a mix of Meguiar`s M100 and D300 on Lake Country black foam finishing pads. This combo removed the defects after 4-6 passes with slow arm speed and moderate pressure at speed 6 on the Rupes 21 MKII (75E for the tight spots). Surprisingly, the paint was hard enough that this step left the paint almost perfectly refined, but a quick finishing step with HD Polish on LC black pads bumped up the gloss a little, so the whole car was then finished in this manner. After this, the paint was washed and rinsed, then given a double wipe-down with CarPro Eraser. Following this 22ple VX-1 Pro was applied, which really made the metallic flake pop and provided a lot more wetness. A portable heater was used to keep the garage up to temp while this was going on (ambient temps were in the mid-high 40s).

After:

VX-1Pro really made the paint glow without any darkening, so the metallic stood out quite a bit:

DSC08446

DSC08440

DSC08448

DSC08439

DSC08437

DSC08438

DSC08457

DSC08424

DSC08411

Fender and door sans rotary swirls:

DSC08406

DSC08404

I also took these shots outside, though it was a little too overcast to make the metallic visible:

DSC08507

DSC08512

DSC08514

DSC08520

DSC08527

DSC08528

DSC08531

DSC08533

DSC08539

DSC08542

Thanks for looking, comments and questions are welcome!

[trashmanssd]

Great work it looks dripping wet.

[bodidly22]

Agreed.. Just goes to show. Every paint has its unique compound/pad combo. Great job.

[dschribs]

Great work. Im in CT as well. I honestly don`t know how you pulled this off outside being as cold as its been.

Sent from my Galaxy Tab S2 using Tapatalk

[PinnacleAutoCT]

Thanks guys! Yeah, the weather cooperated for just long enough to get this done (having a portable heater helped too).

[Ronkh]

Beautiful work, cleaning up Hoffmans (I gather) detailing........

[Sizzle Chest]

Well done! Looks like glass now!

[WaxAddict]

Ohhh, so nice! And mobile at that. I`d need a week in my garage.

The owner should enjoy less brake dust than most because those are ceramic.

The profile of those tires just look wrong in this car. Sorry, random thoughts.