Sapphire Blue Dodge Viper GTS - ACR ~ Exterior Detail by Unique Car Care!!

[Katiescar]

Just stripped some expensive detail shop sealant off my 01 black Yukon. (Got talked into it and it was a waste. LIve and learn.) It came off easily with 2 Dawn washes. Lots of light swirls underneath.



Been reading this board and got a lot of info. THis is our plan: We stripped sealant because it was really "smudgey" looking. Actually, we think the detail shop gave us just wax, but anyway... We would love to try Zaino or Blackfire but it is getting cold here in pittsburgh. SO, we were planning on claying, then using ScratchX for a few bad areas and then the Meguiars mirror glaze swirl remover 2.0. We have a Waxmaster but were planning on doing by hand. THen we were planning on using Meg. Gold Class LIquid and FInal INspection to top it off.



Our plan is to do that and then in the spring use one of the other products.



Does this sound ok? Any tips for using Swirl REmover by hand?



BTW, we purchased and properly cleaned wash mitts, towels, mf towels, etc.





Thanks,



Katie

[Katiescar]

[Katiescar]

Reread past posts - guess the swirl remover is considered a polish? Sorry for such newbie questions.

[ISLANDSBEST]

Hi Katiescar -- Welcome aboard the friendliness forum on the net. Glad to have you here. Oh, and as they say, "There are no stupid questions."



If your swirls are light, I would suggest trying 3M Swirl Remover. It`s very mild. The idea is to use the mildest product that gets the job done.



Then, you could use Zaino`s Z5 (after using the Z1 base coat), which fill reduce the visibility of any remaining swirls.



The above is a conservative approach (which may not get rid of all the swirling), but which is perhaps a good idea if you are just starting out.

[imported_RickRack]

It?s been quite a while since I?ve done any write-ups. It has been an absolutely crazy year so far at the shop (busiest year ever!), not to mention working 40 hours/week at my other job and planning a wedding in the meantime. Ryan and I have been so slammed with work this year, it has been impossible to find the time for write-ups, so I figured I would do a quick one on this ACR Viper I did a couple weeks back. I literally have over 100 cars to post up, so I will do my best to get some more posted in the near future.


The owner lives in my hometown and drives by the shop often and sees the type of cars we work on, so he stopped in to make an appointment for an exterior detail. Since he drives the car pretty hard and isn?t very picky, he gave me an estimate of what he wanted to spend and left the car for a couple weeks to work on in-between other details. Overall, the car was in fairly decent shape, but there was plenty of room for improvement. Some of the chrome wheels were starting to peel, among some paint chipping off on the front bumper, but he told me just to pay attention to the paint and nothing else.


Here is what it looked like after a thorough wash and prep, prior to any polishing:

































As you can see, there were some pretty good scratches scattered all over the car and some heavy swirling. I was hoping for a quick 2-stage polishing treatment, since the owner told me not to go crazy, but as soon as I started polishing, I quickly remembered how hard Viper paint was. Since a 2-stage wasn?t producing the results I was hoping for, I ended up moving up to a 3-stage polishing treatment to get the car looking its best.

[imported_RickRack]

I ended up polishing the complete exterior with Menzerna Power Gloss compound using an orange pad on the rotary, followed by Menzerna Super Intensive Polish using an orange pad to remove all of the heavy defects. For the last step, I used Menzerna Power Finish on an orange pad via PC7424XP. Blackfire Wet Diamond was used as the LSP.


Here are the final results?










































Thanks for looking!!

[Todd@RUPES]

Look`s like Ryan`s shop is doing great work, glad to here he is keeping you busy with work. Seriously another great job by the beast from the North East!

[imported_RickRack]

Look`s like Ryan`s shop is doing great work, glad to here he is keeping you busy with work. Seriously another great job by the beast from the North East!

Thanks Todd!

So what new? Haven`t talked to you in a while...

Must be brutal down there in that hot Florida sun!

Give me a call sometime when you get a spare minute.

[Todd@RUPES]

Thanks Todd!

So what new? Haven`t talked to you in a while...

Must be brutal down there in that hot Florida sun!

Give me a call sometime when you get a spare minute.

For shizzle my Rick whizzle! I`ll hits use ups on the late, fo shore...

[imported_RickRack]

For shizzle my Rick whizzle! I`ll hits use ups on the late, fo shore...

Word up yo...

[Street Dreams]

Outstanding work.. again.

Glad to see the shop is booming!

[imported_RickRack]

Outstanding work.. again.

Glad to see the shop is booming!

Thanks Dave!

I love staying busy, but it`s to the point that`s almost TOO busy...

I guess I can`t complain though, as it could be the other way around.

Just a tough business to find good help as I`m sure you know.

[bmw5541]

WOW, the viper loogs sweet!:drool5: I love that color.

One question though. How in god`s name do you let a ride like that get into that kind of condition?

Great turn around.

Are you now his regular go to detailer? You should be.

[Old Pirate]

Bad a$$ car there, always a pleasure to see your work Rick. Nice work garage ( full up with cars ).:clap:

[imported_Woob]

Awesome shop!