2000 Pontiac Grand Prix (red)

I

imported_paradigm

New member
here is a detail i did for a coworker this weekend. 2000 pontiac grand prix. exterior had moderate to heavy swirls and scratches that come with a six year old daily driver. a few more severe scratches and paint transfer on the rear quarter panels, lots of rock chips on the front facing areas. the interior was in decent shape...one of the cleaner interiors i’ve dealt with so far (finally a break!). windows had terrible water spots and looked like they had never been cleaned on the inside.



process:



--pretreat bugs/tar with TW bug & tar remover

--clean rims/tires with Duragloss wheel cleaner

--wash with Duragloss CWC

--clay with Sonus brand clay (gray)...TONS of goo removed...huge impact on appearance (lots of tiny tar specs and baked on bugs)

--rinse and wipe down with PB S&W

--OC w/ orange LC @6 ...didn’t do much

--OHC w/ orange LC @6 ...85-95% removal (6� BP w/ 6.5� pads)

--3.5� BP w/ 4� propel pads and OC (orange and green) used for tough areas (under wing, near mirrors, etc)

--OP w/ white LC @4-5

--final wipedown w/ PB S&G (love this stuff!)

--vinegar used on exterior glass to removed water spots...excellent results

--sealed w/ 4* UPP and UPPS

--final wipedown with DG Aquawax



interior process was your basic damp MF...then treated dash w/ 303...leather got Z-10. mats cleaned with Woolite solution (1:6 or so)...then sprayed clean w/ hose...drip-dry in the sun.



before pics:



front...nice swirls and distortion in the sunshine, eh?

pontiac_before_front1.jpg




hood:

pontiac_before_hood1.jpg




quarter panel:

pontiac_before_quarter1.jpg




grill area:

pontiac_before_grill1.jpg




misc:

pontiac_before_misc1.jpg




pontiac_before_driver1.jpg
 
thanks! i'd say i was able to remove >95% of the swirls...there were still a few sections that i could not remove the deeper scratches/marring. one of the quarter panels (rear driver side) was terrible...i finally went to a yellow LC and OC...all that did was haze the finish terribly...took a while to get it back to acceptable levels. i forgot to ask the owner, but it's almost like that panel was repainted w/ a different paint or something. it didn't appear visually to be different, but sure polished differently!



i also wish i had more sun for the afters...stupid weather here...i rarely get good after pics lately! :(



the owner gave me a compliment by saying: "wow...i should sell it NOW!". hehehe
 
Car is lookin wonderful. So how effective is the vinegar on the glass? i'd like to give it a try before buying more stuff.
 
evo77 - no polishing of the lights...the rears were in decent shape...the front mains were actually pretty bad, but i didn't do much beyond hit them w/ the PC as i polished the rest. that didn't do much and i don't have any products to do plastic restoration like that (i only have Plexus, but no abrassive products like steel wool, etc)



mr. ikon - the vinegar worked perfectly...i was amazed at the ease. not sure if it works that well on ALL water spots (i'm guessing no, otherwise everyone would be using it?)...but it was basically a WOWO application...no need for much elbow grease and the spots came right out.
 
Amazing how much deeper and wetter it looks now. Very glossy and wet. How long did this all take you? Would have taken me like 12 hours.
 
Bigpoppa3346 - the interior was about 1-1.5 hours...exterior around 5.5 hours. what slowed me down was the claying...it had a lot of tiny tar pieces embedded and i had to take my time on that. the polishing went fairly quickly except on the one quarter panel that i mentioned earlier.
 
Good work :2thumbs:

So what is the background story?

I always wonder why a person takes no interest in automotive car and then finally snaps ans gets a car done all of a sudden. :think:
 
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