1969 Camaro 45 Hour Detail - by Mirror Reflections Auto Spa

1969 Camaro with a base coat clear coat paint system


Video of this work
https://youtu.be/pFg6wZEJiP0








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Kwaazar Super Foamer
Optimum Car Soap
Pinnacle All Purpose Cleaner
Mckee’s 37 N - 914 Rinseless Wash
Mckee’s 37 Iron Remover
Pinnacle Ultra Fine Clay Bar
Blackfire Paint Prep

Blackfire Tire and Wheel Cleaner
Mckee’s 37 Tire and Rubber Rejuvenator
Detailers Pro Series Tire Gel
Blackfire Tire and Rubber Rejuvenator
Mckee’s 37 Compound
Mckee’s 37 Jeweling Wax
Menzerna FG400
Menzerna PF 2500
Menzerna SF 3800
Menzerna SF 4000

Wolfgang Liquid Seal
Pinnacle Crystal Mist
Pinnacle Spray Wax
Pinnacle Paste Wax
Rupes Duetto
Porter Cable 7424XP w/ 5in and 3in backing plates
Rupes Blue, Green, and Yellow Pads
Lake Country CCS Orange, Black Pads (5 and 3inch)
Lake Country Yellow hand foam pads
3M tape
2000, 2500 grit sandpaper




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Round 1


When washing a car in this condition without the use of a hose, I am even more meticulous and exhaustive in my washing methods than usual. Even though I know I am cutting this paint up anyway, I never like to break my discipline of "how you do anything is how you do everything.” Going about this like a trashed wash clay and cleaner wax detail:

I moderately sprayed the car with 1:10 ratio off Pinnacle All Purpose Cleaner.
About 20 minutes later repeated with Pinnacle APC at full strength.
Then with the Kwaazar I foamed the car very good. A few minutes later reloaded with a little bit of rinseless. Foamed my mitt and spot foamed the panels I was washing.

2 Buckets (both with Rinseless Solution)
Using one of the buckets to specifically release dirt


It my tweak of the Junkman2000 technique.

For this car I believe I went through four mitts for the wash. And then a separate mitt to rinse the car off.

Mckees Iron Remover

Then with Mckees 37 N - 914 mixed as a clay lube, clayed the car.




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Fortunately, there was a lot of clear on this car.

Duetto and a foam hand applicator for small areas.


My aim when I was polishing was to get to a place where there was a clear and noticeable difference. I knew going in the horizontal panels would get the bulk of paint correction courtesy of water spotting left for a very long time.
Most of the hood itself received 2 compounding sessions with the blue pad and 1 with the green pad.



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The water spotting damage was actually worse than I thought. And I expected it to be really bad! But in addition the front horizontal panel (underneath the deposit etching) contained swirls, deep scratches, micro chipping, you name it beyond my imagination. It looked like an extreme classic case of the one time someone tried to take care of the paint, did things various things to this whole panel to make a bad situation dramatically worse.


This is one situation where I definitely applied tape in major part to protect the raised body lines. I felt that was essential for the front horizontal panel for future polishing and the side panel knowing in the future I will light sand the area I am touching up (the paint chip).


The vertical panels I was less aggressive on for the most part. I used a two step, but only one (FG400) compounding session or (medium cut (PF2500) with the just the gentler green pad followed by SF 3800.

I made an exception for a couple of areas in the rear where I found a couple of rids and even more aggressive in one section that was scraped up really bad.


Worked on making this less noticeable.

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Sealed the whole car with Wolfgang Liquid Seal.


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Round 2

Yes, I knew I was going to polish it some more in part because I wasn`t satisfied when he brought it in for the touch up paint.


But in that you`ve got to be kidding me.....


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So a.) b.) and c.) the plan was for him not to leave until we figure out a better way to wash his car. I gave him a goodie bag too!!




I went exclusively with the Porter Cable using the 3 and 5 inch backing plate with Lake Country pads.

My combination of choice was the Mckee’s 37 Compound followed by the Mckee’s 37 Jeweling Wax. My one exception was the back rear corner passenger side panel which I went at more aggressively than the side panels the 1^st time I polished the car to minimize very deep scratches. I used Menzerna SF3800 with an orange pad followed by Mckee’s Jeweling Wax with the black pad for that area.


For the Camaro lettering: I took a yellow foam hand applicator pad pinched it and added a dot of Jeweling Wax to get into that hard to reach area.



I kept everything strictly 2 step (well hybrid 2 step with the jeweling wax); everything with the exception of remote hard to reach area in the front of the vehicle. I went a couple rounds with Mckee’s compound using the 3inch pads in those areas. It was an area I was relatively less aggressive than the rest of the paint the 1^st time around. It was also some of the most scratched up area of the car.

Remember how I taped the raised body lines on the front panel the first time around. This gave me confidence to near perfect the front of the car this time around.

I will never know what was being attempted that led to this damage on the front of the car, and I might not want to know.



The Black Vinyl Stripes received Wolfgang Liquid Seal.
I initially topped the paint with Pinnacle Spray Wax then.




A day later to see how the touch up paint looked.

I admit after an extra day passed there was one spot I (personally wasn’t crazy about). I believe the cold front through me off a little bit as the paint shrunk more.

The two spots by the bumper I was most concerned about actually turned out better than I thought. It was a 1^st time doing this learning experience.





BEFORE
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AFTER


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After a couple of days, a waterless wash was followed with Pinnacle Souveran Paste Wax.
Crystal Mist for the dust because he picked it up a day later.


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Mirror Reflections Auto Spa

Awsome work, and awsome car.

Thanks for sharing.

Wow great save. When I saw that first picture I was sure you were going to have to wetsand those water spots off. So you buffed it out and gave it back to him and he brought it back swirled out again!? Ouch. I hope he learned how to properly wash that beauty, if not then you have a lifetime income. Lol

Beautiful save...

Wish you showed more of the car when done.

Thank you! I feel like I took a lot of pictures/video clips, yet at the same time as I was looking it over it didn`t feel like enough. And I didn`t want to hold him up too much. Sanding was a part of internal dialogue at the start. It is something I still tend to avoid when in doubt. In hindsight it would have been more efficient for the hood to receive 2500 maybe 2000 grit. I was also mindful of the contours of the paint (the raised body lines), that and knowing there are areas I was going to lightly sand when I eventually got the touch up paint; I just went straight to polishing. Also considering his efforts to take care of it in the meantime (oh he got lectured lol), I am really happy stayed true to least aggressive as necessary!

Nice work. Soap without a hose?!? I`d love to see an instructional video.

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Originally Posted by runrun411

Nice work. Soap without a hose?!? I`d love to see an instructional video.

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I do have a plan for that in the future. It is just part of my expanding to do list.