The Guz
Mike
With my brother being on vacation with his wife, he left his 99 Tahoe that he purchased from one of our uncles a few months back after selling his 03 Grand Prix with me as he was taken to airport in it. He had talked about wanting to polish it because it looked sad and my uncle did not do a good job taking care of it. My uncle blamed his wife because she was the one to drive it haha.
This was a good time for me to polish it because I did not know when I would get the chance. My bro had no idea I was going to do this to make it more of a surprise.
I did not take too many photos. I spent one Saturday to wash, prep and correct it. The rest I was doing a little each day after I got home from work.
First up was a wash with an iron decontamination. In this instance Optimum Ferrex. This thing turned purple so fast.
After I was done washing it, I pulled it into the garage and mechanically decontaminated it using CarPro Immolube at 1:5 and a Griot’s Garage Fine Surface Prep Mitt. Lot’s of contaminants on the paint. One thing about Immolube is that it gets really sudsy (espeically with a clay alternative, not so much with actual clay) so lots of towels are needed to mop up the residue. I followed that up with the Blackfire Paint Prep Spray to remove any remaining Immolube residue.
With this being an older vehicle and a daily driver my intent was to get as much of the defects out in one step versus compounding and removing more than I need to as this is not a show car. This was true for all parts of the of it other than the hood which actually needed to be compounded.
On the hood I used Sonax Cut Max on a Rupes Blue cutting pad. I did not take photos of this. But this is the first time I used Cut Max and it worked well. I had no dusting, good correction and a nice working time. I did find it a little difficult to remove but I believe there is a new version that is coming out to address this.
For the rest of the paint the combination that worked was Sonax Cut & Finish on a Rupes UHS pad. Hard to capture defects on light paint.
As I don’t have many UHS pads, I would use a Rupes Green Pad with Sonax Cut & Finish and that worked as well.
Again I was left with the deep stuff that I am not planning to remove. It helps that the paint hides defects.
After I was done with the correction step, I followed up with a prep wipe using the Blackfire Paint Prep Spray. I then used CarPro Essence on CarPro Gloss pads to give the paint a little more pop. CarPro also claims increased longevity by using Essence. I let Essence cure for 24 hours. This lets the SiO2 cure and a majority of the polishing oils evaporate. I did do a light prep wipe once again with https://www.autogeekonline.net/foru...lackfire-pro-detailers-choice-paint-prep.html to remove any light dust and then proceeded to coat.
I went with Cquartz Classic/TiO2 for this particular paint for the main reason of it containing TiO2 within it. It has a higher reflectivity than UK. It may not be as hard as UK but that is ok. I personally like TiO2 on lighter paints. I went with the recommended 2 coats of TiO2. Followed that up the next day with CarPro Gliss. I also tested out the butter soft suede applicators from The Rag Company. They worked out pretty well and a good alternative to the included suede applicators.
NOTE: If someone wants to do this in one day here are the CarPro recommendations. 45-60 minutes between Cquartz (TiO2 or UK). Wait 4 hours to apply Gliss.
TiO2 went on easy for me and works good for the temperatures hear in Southern California. I did find it to have some slight issues as the temps dropped. By issues I mean flash times and how the coating spreads out. With Gliss it also worked out well when using it. It does flash faster so it’s a good idea to be mindful of where one has already applied it to.
If anything Gliss was on the paint for less than 30 seconds before I wiped it off. I will say that Gliss is not as slick as Gyeon Skin (part of the Gyeon Syncro kit). Similar feel to Exo V3. Gliss feels tacky at first and gets slicker as it cures. To me it feels a hint slicker than Cquartz TiO2. Not by much. Also to note that Gliss does not add hardness but it adds more chemical resistance. So keep that in mind as one can easily marr Gliss.
The end result is a nice glossy finish. In the right light this light colored paint has some nice gloss to it.
The finishing touch so I know what I put on it as I have been playing around with various coatings.
I also restored the trim with Solution Finish (ie door handles, front grille, rear bumper). Except the side molding which we are going to remove since he does not like them. The rear trim came out nice with a couple coats of solution finish. Sealed with Wolfgang Exterior Trim Sealant.
Other things done were:
Chrome bumpers polished with Optimum Metal Polish
Glass clayed (during decon process), polished with McKee’s 37 Glass Restorer and a cutting foam pad and coated with McKee’s Glass Coating. Trying out a double coat on the front glass to see if that adds durability. Waited a few hours between coats.
Engine bay cleaned as shown in this review.
https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/product-reviews/118364-review-blackfire-pro-detailers-choice-engine-degreaser.html
My brother was excited when I picked him up at the airport and then the following day when he saw it in the daylight.
The Tahoe looks much better after he replaced the ugly aftermarket wheels my uncle had on it, lowered it and purchased new headlights that I put Xpel on.
Wheels and tires were coated a few weeks back with Gtechniq C5 + Exo V3 and Tuff Shine Tire Coating.
Thanks for reading
This was a good time for me to polish it because I did not know when I would get the chance. My bro had no idea I was going to do this to make it more of a surprise.
I did not take too many photos. I spent one Saturday to wash, prep and correct it. The rest I was doing a little each day after I got home from work.
First up was a wash with an iron decontamination. In this instance Optimum Ferrex. This thing turned purple so fast.
After I was done washing it, I pulled it into the garage and mechanically decontaminated it using CarPro Immolube at 1:5 and a Griot’s Garage Fine Surface Prep Mitt. Lot’s of contaminants on the paint. One thing about Immolube is that it gets really sudsy (espeically with a clay alternative, not so much with actual clay) so lots of towels are needed to mop up the residue. I followed that up with the Blackfire Paint Prep Spray to remove any remaining Immolube residue.
With this being an older vehicle and a daily driver my intent was to get as much of the defects out in one step versus compounding and removing more than I need to as this is not a show car. This was true for all parts of the of it other than the hood which actually needed to be compounded.
On the hood I used Sonax Cut Max on a Rupes Blue cutting pad. I did not take photos of this. But this is the first time I used Cut Max and it worked well. I had no dusting, good correction and a nice working time. I did find it a little difficult to remove but I believe there is a new version that is coming out to address this.
For the rest of the paint the combination that worked was Sonax Cut & Finish on a Rupes UHS pad. Hard to capture defects on light paint.
As I don’t have many UHS pads, I would use a Rupes Green Pad with Sonax Cut & Finish and that worked as well.
Again I was left with the deep stuff that I am not planning to remove. It helps that the paint hides defects.
After I was done with the correction step, I followed up with a prep wipe using the Blackfire Paint Prep Spray. I then used CarPro Essence on CarPro Gloss pads to give the paint a little more pop. CarPro also claims increased longevity by using Essence. I let Essence cure for 24 hours. This lets the SiO2 cure and a majority of the polishing oils evaporate. I did do a light prep wipe once again with https://www.autogeekonline.net/foru...lackfire-pro-detailers-choice-paint-prep.html to remove any light dust and then proceeded to coat.
I went with Cquartz Classic/TiO2 for this particular paint for the main reason of it containing TiO2 within it. It has a higher reflectivity than UK. It may not be as hard as UK but that is ok. I personally like TiO2 on lighter paints. I went with the recommended 2 coats of TiO2. Followed that up the next day with CarPro Gliss. I also tested out the butter soft suede applicators from The Rag Company. They worked out pretty well and a good alternative to the included suede applicators.
NOTE: If someone wants to do this in one day here are the CarPro recommendations. 45-60 minutes between Cquartz (TiO2 or UK). Wait 4 hours to apply Gliss.
TiO2 went on easy for me and works good for the temperatures hear in Southern California. I did find it to have some slight issues as the temps dropped. By issues I mean flash times and how the coating spreads out. With Gliss it also worked out well when using it. It does flash faster so it’s a good idea to be mindful of where one has already applied it to.
If anything Gliss was on the paint for less than 30 seconds before I wiped it off. I will say that Gliss is not as slick as Gyeon Skin (part of the Gyeon Syncro kit). Similar feel to Exo V3. Gliss feels tacky at first and gets slicker as it cures. To me it feels a hint slicker than Cquartz TiO2. Not by much. Also to note that Gliss does not add hardness but it adds more chemical resistance. So keep that in mind as one can easily marr Gliss.
The end result is a nice glossy finish. In the right light this light colored paint has some nice gloss to it.
The finishing touch so I know what I put on it as I have been playing around with various coatings.
I also restored the trim with Solution Finish (ie door handles, front grille, rear bumper). Except the side molding which we are going to remove since he does not like them. The rear trim came out nice with a couple coats of solution finish. Sealed with Wolfgang Exterior Trim Sealant.
Other things done were:
Chrome bumpers polished with Optimum Metal Polish
Glass clayed (during decon process), polished with McKee’s 37 Glass Restorer and a cutting foam pad and coated with McKee’s Glass Coating. Trying out a double coat on the front glass to see if that adds durability. Waited a few hours between coats.
Engine bay cleaned as shown in this review.
https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/product-reviews/118364-review-blackfire-pro-detailers-choice-engine-degreaser.html
My brother was excited when I picked him up at the airport and then the following day when he saw it in the daylight.
The Tahoe looks much better after he replaced the ugly aftermarket wheels my uncle had on it, lowered it and purchased new headlights that I put Xpel on.
Wheels and tires were coated a few weeks back with Gtechniq C5 + Exo V3 and Tuff Shine Tire Coating.
Thanks for reading
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