2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, The owner contacted me a few weeks ago about this Cherokee he had recently picked up. He was interested in having the swirls removed and Optimum Coating to protect it. He e-mailed me again to let me know after looking it over in the sun, I should be prepared for a lot of work, it was worse than he thought. Originally we set it up for the last weekend in January but between a leaking fuel line in the Cherokee and a ominous weather forecast (that turned out to be mostly spotty drizzle) we had to put it off until this weekend.
The Jeep was pretty dirty, his subdivision has some construction still going on so that's understandable. It was apparent when washing the previous owner hadn't waxed it in a long time, towels were really grabby on the paint so once it was clean, I wasn't particularly surprised to see this:
I also knew that I needed to spend more time polishing than I did taking pictures.
I'm pretty sure the previous owner took the car to a coin-op car wash regularly and used the foaming brush-tell tale sign was the lack of swirls on the roof except above the windshield. I see people all the time at them (my bank's drive-thru is next to one) with SUVs scrub the crap out of the sides, hood, back and windshield and then lightly drag (assuming they can reach) the brush over the roof.
I did do a half and half shot though:
Took a good 3-3.5 hours to compound it, the driver's side didn't seem to want to allow #105 to wipe off cleanly, plus the Meguiars microfiber cutting pad was leaving a lot of hazing. On the hood and roof though, it was a different story. The paint was noticeably harder and there was some defects like solvent pop, nibs, etc. Maybe some hail damage repair? Then, halfway through the first polishing step, my PC 7424 XP died. Started speeding up and slowing down, then only working on speed 6, then just flat dying. I switched to my Dewalt rotary, but the paint was too soft on the sides to finish out hologram free, even with 3M Ultrafina using a blue Ultrafina foam waffle pad. Had to call it a day because the only place I could find another DA (Meguiars g110 v2) on a weekend was a Walmart a good 25 miles away through three freeway construction zones. :frusty:
Headed back the next morning to finish up, really didn't take too long to finish the final two polishing steps, wash it and apply Optimum Coating. Of course, by the time it was done, the bright sunny morning turned into a mostly cloudy early afternoon.
Full process:
ONR wash, Optimum Opti-Raser mild to clay
Meguiars #105 using a Meguiars microfiber cutting pad, quickly switched to an Optimum microfiber cutting pad (Meguiars pad was too aggressive for the soft paint) using my Porter Cable 7424 XP
Optimum Hyper Polish using an Optimum microfiber cutting pad using my PC for half, my new Meguiars G110 v2 for the rest
3D HD Polish using an Optimum microfiber polishing pad and my G110 v2
ONR wash (2nd wash was much easier!)
Optimum Coating on the paint, wheels and back glass-just to test on the back glass, since that was the filthiest area on the SUV
Armor All on tires/fenderwells
The Jeep was pretty dirty, his subdivision has some construction still going on so that's understandable. It was apparent when washing the previous owner hadn't waxed it in a long time, towels were really grabby on the paint so once it was clean, I wasn't particularly surprised to see this:
I also knew that I needed to spend more time polishing than I did taking pictures.
I'm pretty sure the previous owner took the car to a coin-op car wash regularly and used the foaming brush-tell tale sign was the lack of swirls on the roof except above the windshield. I see people all the time at them (my bank's drive-thru is next to one) with SUVs scrub the crap out of the sides, hood, back and windshield and then lightly drag (assuming they can reach) the brush over the roof.
I did do a half and half shot though:
Took a good 3-3.5 hours to compound it, the driver's side didn't seem to want to allow #105 to wipe off cleanly, plus the Meguiars microfiber cutting pad was leaving a lot of hazing. On the hood and roof though, it was a different story. The paint was noticeably harder and there was some defects like solvent pop, nibs, etc. Maybe some hail damage repair? Then, halfway through the first polishing step, my PC 7424 XP died. Started speeding up and slowing down, then only working on speed 6, then just flat dying. I switched to my Dewalt rotary, but the paint was too soft on the sides to finish out hologram free, even with 3M Ultrafina using a blue Ultrafina foam waffle pad. Had to call it a day because the only place I could find another DA (Meguiars g110 v2) on a weekend was a Walmart a good 25 miles away through three freeway construction zones. :frusty:
Headed back the next morning to finish up, really didn't take too long to finish the final two polishing steps, wash it and apply Optimum Coating. Of course, by the time it was done, the bright sunny morning turned into a mostly cloudy early afternoon.
Full process:
ONR wash, Optimum Opti-Raser mild to clay
Meguiars #105 using a Meguiars microfiber cutting pad, quickly switched to an Optimum microfiber cutting pad (Meguiars pad was too aggressive for the soft paint) using my Porter Cable 7424 XP
Optimum Hyper Polish using an Optimum microfiber cutting pad using my PC for half, my new Meguiars G110 v2 for the rest
3D HD Polish using an Optimum microfiber polishing pad and my G110 v2
ONR wash (2nd wash was much easier!)
Optimum Coating on the paint, wheels and back glass-just to test on the back glass, since that was the filthiest area on the SUV
Armor All on tires/fenderwells
