2010 Mustang gets treated with "The Finest"

[zmcgovern45]

This Mustang was recently purchased, and the new owner was looking to have it cleaned up and properly protected. He could tell it was `dull` and just didn`t look quite right. He has many plans for this vehicle, and wanted it to look its best, so we decided on our highest level of service to bring this gorgeous red paint back to life and add an incredible layer of protection to help maintain the finish afterwards. The owner requested a lot of photos, so I was happy to deliver


Process

Exterior
Tires: Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner and Tire Brush
Wheels: Meguiar`s D103 (10:1) and various tools and brushes
Foam Presoak: CarPro Iron X Snow Soap
Wash: CarPro Iron X Snow Soap
Iron/Fallout Removal: CarPro Iron X
Tar Removal: Stoner Tarminator (a lot of it!)
Road Paint Removal: Tarminator and Plastic Razor Blade
Surface Decontamination: Medium Grade Speedy Prep Towel
Paint Thickness Readings Taken
Taped trim and areas of concern
Compound/Cut: Meguiar`s M101 on 5.5" Orange LC pad via Rupes LHR21ES and 3" pads via Rupes LHR75e
Polish: Meguiar`s M205 on White LC Polishing Pads via GG 3rd Gen
Coating Prep Wash: IPA Presoak, then washed with ONR
Further Coating Prep: CarPro Eraser Wipe down
Ceramic Paint Coating: CarPro CQuartz Finest (2 coats)
Other Protection: CarPro Reload
Wheels: CarPro Reload
Tires: Optimum Opti-Bond Tire Gel
Exhaust: CG Metal Polish + Protection
Glass: Meguiar`s D120
Trim: Solution Finish


Interior
Blow Out Cracks & Crevices
Vacuum
Dust Dash and Trim
Dress Dash and Trim: 303
Glass: Meguiar`s D120


Engine
Rinse
Degrease/Clean: Meguiar`s D103, agitated with various brushes.
Rinse
Blown Dry: Master Blaster
Plastic: Dressed with 303
Rubber: Dressed with CG Black on Black




Before

The engine was not in bad shape. Just your normal light dirt and dust.




Bug guts




The wheels and tires were looking quite dull.




Heavy buildup behind the wheels





During

As usual, we started with cleaning the wheels and tires. You can see the amount of grime being removed from the tires even before I started scrubbing them.




Tires getting cleaner




I continue to scrub, rinse, apply cleaner and repeat until the cleaner remains white. This indicates there is no more dirt or old tire dressing to be removed from the surface.




The car was then foamed and hand washed.




After washing, a lot of time was taken to remove bonded contaminates such as Iron particles, road tar, etc. This ensures the vehicle is completely clean prior to polishing.




Dealership sticker was removed from the rear.




Adhesive remaining




Adhesive easily removed with Tarminator, but faint ghosting still remains... this was removed during the correction process.




Once the paint was completely clean, it was inspected under LED lighting. The surface was covered in defects ranging from light swirls to heavier scratches. All of these defects contribute to the duller appearance of the finish, and properly removing them and refining the surface will bring back a great amount of clarity and gloss.








My test spot showed very promising results. The vast majority of the defects were removed, and the red was MUCH deeper.






Checking my work in the sun... looking very nice!




Hood before correction




Hood after compounding




Matt began working on the more intricate areas with the Rupes Mini polisher while I started compounding the larger panels.




Fender before correction




After compounding




Door before correction




After compounding




50/50 shot on the door after compounding. look at the incredible color difference between the original side and the corrected side.

[zmcgovern45]

Top of the door before correction




After compounding




50/50 shot on the rear quarter panel. Again, a fantastic transformation.




Once the smaller areas were completed, Matt then started following behind me with the finishing polish to truly refine and perfect the surface to bring out maximum gloss! Look at his reflection in the paint... it`s like a mirror!





Trunk before correction




After compounding




Excellent 50/50 on the driver`s side rear quarter panel




My favorite shot... this 50/50 shot on the door shows the awesome color change as we were removing the damaged clear coat and exposing a fresh layer beneath it. This red is really coming to life!






Road paint on the rear trim




Removed




After the 2 correction steps were completed, the vehicle was sprayed heavily with IPA, then wiped down with a rinseless wash, and then wiped down with Eraser to ensure all polishing residue had been removed. The vehicle was then carefully inspected in the sun prior to coating installation.






2 thick coats of CQuartz Finest were applied, and the car looked stunning! The red was incredibly deep and it looked dripping wet. The car was left to sit in the remaining sunlight to help the coating harden before it was left to cure overnight.




The paint looked incredible... especially in the soft, golden setting sunlight.








The next day I began with restoring the trim. While this trim was not in terrible shape, you can clearly see there was room for improvement.






The owner had also mentioned this area of the convertible top that you can only see while you are in the process of lowering the roof.. it was quite dirty.




The fabric was cleaned, and it looks much nicer now.

[zmcgovern45]

After

The engine cleaned up nicely.




The car turned out amazing!








This deep, metallic red was just gorgeous. A nice change of pace from the `standard` flat red.











Putting the top down makes this car look much sportier.












A quick shot of the interior. Interior was lightly cleaned - all vinyl and leather was dressed and protected.




The skies finally cleared up right as the owner was on his way to pick up the car, so I snapped a couple more shots to show how amazing this thing looked in the sunlight







As always, thanks for reading!

[Pats300zx]

Beautiful work Zach !!!

[mnehls86]

I don`t even know what to say...............

[tropicsteve]

great work Zach !

[Bunky]

Very nice. It is good to work tag team.

For the overhead shot, did you just get a ladder out in the street to take it? It looks you went very wide (24mm focal length on full frame minimum).

[Ronkh]

Super job !!

[broker99]

Great job very nice and glossy

[zmcgovern45]

Thanks everyone!

Very nice. It is good to work tag team.

For the overhead shot, did you just get a ladder out in the street to take it? It looks you went very wide (24mm focal length on full frame minimum).

Camera magic I am using a D7000 (crop sensor body) and had my ultra-wide 12-24 f/4. I simply zoomed to the 12mm, held the camera over head, snapped the picture, and cropped to fill the frame a bit better No need to make things too complicated for quick snap shots afterwards.

[trashmanssd]

wow great work relay brought that paint to live.

[Todd@RUPES]

Wow!!! Great turn around that Mustang looks GREAT!!!!

[Angus]

All I can say is INCREDIBLE work. Simply amazing results.

[Klock]

Wow! Awesome turnaround!

[Capn Blackie]

Looks amazing.

I love that you did this color because that is the color of my Pony, a few years older and it isn`t quit as faded but that is pretty much what I was hoping it will look like when i get it totally cleaned and polished.