1996 Buick Regal w/ PBL V2

The Guz

Mike
I did this one three weeks ago. This is my mom's daily driver. I got it ready for the impending El Nino rains that are supposed to happen.

This paint hides defects very well. The car is champagne in color. It is the original paint.

Was not after a show car finish as it is a daily driver that gets it's fair sure of abuse.

Here are the products used:

Wash- Adams Car Shampoo

Paint Decon - Ironx, Clay with Megiuar's D155

Compound -
M100 on a Meguiar's Burgundy thin foam pad. This was done only on the hood, roof, trunk and front fenders.
Pinnacle Advanced Compound on a 3" Lake Country Cyan Hydrotech foam pad. Side Pillars only

Polish -
M205 on a Meguiar's Yellow thin foam pad. This was done only on the hood, roof, trunk and front fenders.
Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish on a 3" Lake Country Tangerine Hydrotech foam pad. Side Pillars only

Surface Prep - Pinnacle Black Label Surface Cleaninsing Polish. Meguiar's Black thin foam pad on the hood, roof, trunk and front fenders. Lake Country Tangerine Polishing pad on the bumpers, rear quarters and doors.

Paint Protection - Pinnacle Black Label Version 2

Wheels - Dub Wheel Cleaner

Tires - D143, Dressed with Pinnacle Black Onyx Tire Gel

Glass - Clayed, Detailer's Pro Glass Restorer Polish (Front Glass only), Detailer's Pro Coating Prep Polish (all glass), Detailer's Pro Glass Coating (all glass)


Started things off using this wash method.

The Aggressive Approach to Washing a Car

IronX doing it's thing. This car has never had any type of iron remover applied.


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I tested out a new compound and polish from the Pinnacle line. This is my initial test spot on the side pillars. I started off with Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish on a polishing pad. See above for more info. I think it's obvious which pillar was corrected

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I then moved to the left pillar this time going more aggressive and going with Pinnacle Advanced Compound followed by Advanced finishing polish. Again the right side was only polished.

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I didn't take too many photos. I ended up switching to M100 and M205 for the hood, roof, trunk and front fenders. Those areas had some oxidation that needed to be removed. I also did not correct the rear quarters, bumpers, and doors. Those just got the surface cleaning polish with a Lake Country Tangerine Hydrotect pad to remove any embedded dirt and prep the surface for the paint coating. See above for more info.

Here are the finished photos

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Nice Job, until I saw the California plates I was wondering if you did my neighbors car. Same.

Nice job, looks great.

Be happy your preparing for rain, I needed to scrape my windshield this morning.
 
Great work Guz. You really can't go wrong with PBL V2 as a coating. It is super easy to use and looks great. I think its the perfect coating for someone just jumping into the coating game.
 
This is a quick follow up. So PBL V2 has been on my mom`s car for 9 months now. Happy to report back that the coating is holding up just fine.

I have used PBL coating booster twice at roughly 6 months apart. One in February (2/25/2016) and the second time was this past weekend in August (8/6/2016). The paint didn`t need it. But the coating booster did enhance the gloss.

The car sits outside 24/7 in the Southern California sun. It has had some pretty sever bird bombs and I can report back that there are no etchings in the paint. Also no water spots. Although it hasn`t rained here for quite some time. So PBL V2 gets high remarks from me.

Maintenance for this has been my dad washing it with Meguiar`s Gold Class. I did use CarPro Reset here and there. That is about it. Other than that the two times I used the coating booster on it. Overall the car is easier to clean. My dad has told me that a few times. I do dry the car with the DP Turbo Car Dryer when I get to wash it. My dad uses some plush towels that I gave him to dry the paint. I have taught my dad well in proper washing techniques :)

I don`t see any defects in the direct sun which is a good sign as well.

I will see how long I leave it alone until I recoat it.

Here are a few photos from this weekend as I was able to wash it. I did not take any photos of the beading and sheeting. But it does both really well.

Washed with CarPro Reset, dried with the DP Turbo Car Dryer and finished up with PBL Coating Booster

Foamed up using a foam gun with 3 oz`s of Reset. Went with a stronger mixture. Foamed up pretty well with the Blackfire foam gun.

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The end result after a wipedown of PBL Coating Booster

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For those looking into a coating, PBL V2 would be a good candidate. This would be Pinnacle Black Label V2.
 
I use a lot of PBLv2 paired with CarPro Essence and am always very happy with the results and the ease of use. Used it on my Mothers 2003 Buick LeSabre, looked better than new. Buick used some very hard clear coat back then.
 
Well it`s been 1 year and 11 days. Decided to give the car a decon wash.

Products used

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It was in need of an iron remover. I haven`t done any kind of decon wash with PBL on it. It sits outside 24/7 and is parked on the street under the trees in the neighborhood. They drop the nagging red needles everywhere as one can see in the photo.

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Followed up with a foam bath using Reset and a 1 bucket wash with Reset in a bucket.

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Rinsed it off. The beading still looks strong.

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Sheeting still looks strong as well


Went ahead and added a coat of coating booster. Wasn`t really needed but it added some gloss and slickness. Sorry for topping it Zubair lol.

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For over a year PBL V2 has held up nicely. The question is do I leave it on for another year or move onto another coating that I have in my possession
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I say leave it, what is the claim...2 years? I`d go with whatever the MFG claims and see what happens.
 
Leave it. It looks great. I left it on my Mother`s car and in the spring I think all I will do is use the new CarPro Essence Plus to renew the coating.
 
I say leave it, what is the claim...2 years? I`d go with whatever the MFG claims and see what happens.

Leave it. It looks great. I left it on my Mother`s car and in the spring I think all I will do is use the new CarPro Essence Plus to renew the coating.

I just checked. It`s claimed to have an up to 3 year longevity. I think I will leave it as is just as you guys have recommended. The paint looks fine with almost no marring. It is also easy for my dad to wash it which is also important. He enjoys the easy maintenance.
 
This is going to be the final update. I will be polishing the paint to clean it up a bit.

It`s just over 19 months into the 20 month time frame since PBL V2 was applied to the paint. Decided to chemically decontaminate the paint one last time prior to claying and polishing.

McKee`s 37 Xtreme Iron Remover doing work

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Followed up by a foam bath using GTechniq W4 Citrus Wash in a foam gun. Bucket had Adams shampoo in it for a bucket wash.

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After a bucket wash I rinsed off the paint and was left with some great beading.

Hood

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Roof

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Trunk

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Short video of the water behavior




Final thoughts:

I am giving PBL V2 the thumbs up. It is rated as an up to 3 year coating. I could have easily gone longer than 20 months as it was performing quite well on all painted surfaces that it was applied to.

This car sits outside 24/7 and is parked under a tree. It has seen bird bombs and tree sap. Neither one caused etching to go through the coating.

I had thought the coating had failed around the 17 month time frame but the car was just covered under so much grime that it was masking the performance of it. After a couple washes with CarPro reset, the performance returned.

Another thing is that the paint has little to no wash induced marring/swirls. That is a testament to good washing technique as well as how hard of a shell the coating formed around the paint. It was not washed on a weekly basis. On average it was washed twice a month.

I did use the PBL coating booster here and there. That is a good way to maintain the base layer coating.

One thing to remember is that I am in Southern California by the beach cities of the South Bay. The weather here is not as harsh as those that deal with snow and the harsh chemicals used on the roads.

I would recommend this to those looking for a coating.


Pinnacle Black Label Diamond Paint Coating
 
How did the lower panels hold up? I`m glad you had great results & thanks for reporting...

It`s obvious this stuff was invented & tested in FL - cuz up North it don`t hold up...

Maybe I need to invent my own coating...Hmmm...Wheels are turning...
 
How did the lower panels hold up? I`m glad you had great results & thanks for reporting...

It`s obvious this stuff was invented & tested in FL - cuz up North it don`t hold up...

Maybe I need to invent my own coating...Hmmm...Wheels are turning...

Held up fine. Check out the video.
 
TheGuz- Thanks for both the update and this thread in general (somehow must`ve missed it previously..). You`re sure doing great work for your Mom, and I think it`s great that she`s sticking with her `96.

I`m so impressed with how that coating is holding up that I too think you should just leave it for now.
 
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