2009 Porsche Carrera S - Corrected and Coated with CQuartz Finest

[zmcgovern45]

The owner of this vehicle was referred to me by a previous customer who has had CQuartz Finest on his vehicle for about a year.  This owner requested the same service, as he was interested in enhancing the look of his vehicle while also protecting and preserving it's finish.  Although the paint looked great to begin with, there was plenty of room for improvement.  The highly metallic grey paint helps to hide minor imperfections, however once the paint is cleaned and viewed with specialized lighting, the defects became more apparent and were corrected properly.  After about 18 hours of work, the car turned out great.
 
 
Process
 
Exterior
Tires - Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner & Tire Brush
Wheels - Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner with Various Brushes & Tools
Convertible Top Cleaning - RaggTop Convertible Top Cleaner
Foam Presoak - Chemical Guys Citrus Wash via MTM Foam Lance & Karcher X-Series PW
Wash - Chemical Guys Citrus Wash with CarPro Merino Wool Wash Mitt
Iron/Fallout Removal - CarPro Iron X
Tar Removal - Stoner Tarminator
General Paint Decontamination - Speedy Prep Towel (medium) with NanoSkin Glide (7:1) 
Paint Thickness Readings Taken 
Tape off Trim and other areas of Concern
Compound - Menzerna FG400 on Meguiar's MF Cutting Pads via Rupes LHR21ES (5.5" and 6.5") and Rupes LHR75e (3")
Compounding Oil Residue Removal -  CarPro Eraser
Polish - CarPro Reflect on Rupes Yellow Pad via Rupes LHR21ES (6") and Rupes LHR75e (3")
Coating Prep - CarPro Eraser
Ceramic Paint Coating - CarPro CQuartz Finest (2 thick coats)
Other Paint Protection - CarPro Reload
Convertible Top Protection - 303 Fabric Guard
Glass - CarPro Fast Glass Towels
Tire Dressing - CarPro PERL (neat)
Exhaust Tips - Chemical Guys Metal Polish + Protection via #0000 Steel Wool and Microfiber Towel
Wheel Sealant - CarPro Reload
 
 
Interior
Thorough vacuum
Wiped down all leather and vinyl with ONR
Glass was cleaned with CarPro Fast Glass towels
 
Engine
Engine Compartment Rinsed
Sprayed with Meguiar's D103 All Purpose Cleaner (4:1)
Agitated with various brushes and then rinsed
Dressed with 303 and CG Black on Black
 
 
 
 
Before
 
The vehicle arrived in pretty good shape. There was light dirt and bugs visible, and the paint looked pretty glossy already. These lighter colored metallic paints do a very good job at hiding light defects such as swirl marks... but having previously inspected this vehicle, I knew there was plenty of room for improvement as you will see later.

 

 
 
 
The wheels were caked with brake dust and dirt, which is an unfortunate trade off for having a high performance vehicle with large brakes.

 
 
 
Notice that the faces of the wheels were not too terribly dirty, however the barrels of the wheels hadn't been cleaned in a very long time.

 
 
 
The area under the gas cap can often be very dirty, this car just needed a quick cleaning. Nothing nasty hiding under here.

 
 
 
The engine was not too bad either. Just normal dirt and dust on the engine covers.

 
 
 
During
 
 
As always, I began by cleaning the tires. The tire cleaner turns brown when agitated, indicating there is dirt present on the surface.

 
 
 
I will continue to apply tire cleaner, scrub, rinse, and repeat until the suds remain white which indicates the tires are clean.

 
 
 
Next, I turned my attention to the wheels. As you can see, there was a fair amount of brake dust buildup both on the faces and mostly on the barrels of the wheels (which are completely black in this photo)

 
 
 
Wheel cleaner is generously applied to the entire wheel and allowed to dwell for several minutes.

 
 
 
Throughout this period of time, the wheel cleaner begins to react with the dirt and brake dust and turns purple as it starts to break down and loosen the contamination.

 
 
 
Once the wheel cleaner had been given several minutes to start loosening the grime, I then proceeded with cleaning the barrels of the wheels. Notice the massive amount of dirt flooding from all areas of the wheel.

 
 
 
The face of the wheel was then cleaned, as were the lug nuts.

 
 
 
After rinsing, the wheel looks great. Notice that the barrels are not black anymore!

 
 
 
Once the wheels were cleaned, I scrubbed the convertible top with specialized cleaner, and then foamed the rest of the vehicle to help break down any remaining protection and loosen dirt on the surface prior to washing.

 
 
 
After the foam was rinsed away, the vehicle was carefully hand washed, blown dry, and then treated with CarPro Iron X to remove embedded iron particles (aka industrial fallout/rail dust). Iron X starts as a clear liquid and turns purple as it reacts with the iron and starts to dissolve it.

 
 
 
Iron X reacting with bonded iron contaminates

 

[zmcgovern45]

After the iron and tar removal process, the vehicle was then decontaminated using detailing clay and a speedy prep towel. The car was then washed again, dried, and brought inside for inspection. 
 
During - While defects are fairly difficult to photograph on light colored vehicles, you can see there are plenty of swirls and scratches visible on the paint that are diminishing the overall gloss and shine that the paint is capable of.

 
 
 
Inspecting the paint... plenty of swirls means plenty of room for improvement.

 

 

 
 
 
I began my testing process on the door, and after several combinations of products and pads, I settled on a combination that was yielding the best results. As you can see, the majority of the defects have been removed from the area on the right.

 
 
 
Throughout the correction process, I was removing a fair amount of contamination that had become embedded into the paint. Notice the pad on the bottom of the photo is much dirtier than the new pad.

 
 
 
This photo shows the dramatic difference that was taking place after just the compounding portion. The metallic flake is really coming to life after being corrected. It would later be refined even more with a fine finishing polish.

 
 
 
The rear of the Porsche has some intricate areas that are often difficult to polish. Here is the top of the tail before correction.

 
 
 
After compounding, it looked much better.

 
 
 
I then moved on to the small fins that are a trademark of the Porsche rear end. You can see there were plenty of defects on these small areas.

 
 
 
After some careful correction work, the fins were looking much better.

 
 
 
This 50/50 shot is more difficult to see. The area on the left has been finish polished, while the area on the right has not. It is often very difficult to notice the faint marring left behind after heavy compounding on light metallic paint, however following with a finishing polish will always yield more gloss and clarity as shown in this photo. The left side is noticeably clearer, and the metal flake is much more apparent.

 
 
 
A closer look at the area helps to show the enhancement made with finish polishing. The area on the left is noticeably clearer, and the metal flakes are much more apparent. While the improvement is subtle, it makes a big difference overall.

 
 
 
 
After the vehicle was corrected and polished, 2 thick coats of the premium ceramic paint coating, CQuartz Finest, were applied to all painted surfaces. The car was brought out into the sun for inspection and to allow the coating to bake to promote higher surface hardness. The paint looked stunning!

 

 
 
 
Later, I began to tend to more of the remaining details such as the glass. An often overlooked area is the inside of the windshield. This can be a very difficult area to clean properly, and I'll be the first to admit that it is one of my least favorite tasks. You can see the excellent improvement on the passenger side of the windshield compared to the foggy film that is still present on the driver side of the glass.

 
 
 
Convertibles often have hidden areas where dirt and debris like to collect. This vehicle was no different.

 
 
 
I made sure to clean it all up.

 
 
 
The interior was lightly cleaned, and it looked great.

 
 
 
Next, I turned my attention to the exhaust tips. This is an area that is often overlooked in normal routine cleaning, and the carbon buildup can become rather severe overtime... especially on high powered vehicles.

 
 
 
Making progress...

 
 
 
After a lot of polishing, the buildup was removed, and the brushed tips looked great.

 
 
 
Even from a distance, it was easy to see the bright finish on the polished tips versus the unpolished tips. A job is not complete unti lthe exhaust shines like the paint!

 
 
 
One of my favorite looking rear ends ever... love the curvy lines that define the Carrera.

 
 
 
The convertible top was protected with 303 Fabric Guard to help resist dirt and staining.

 
 
 
 
Official CQuartz Finest sticker was placed in the door jam as a warning that there is a special coating on the paint.

 

[zmcgovern45]

After
 
 
 
The engine was cleaned and dressed, it turned out nice.

 
 
 
The car turned out great!

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
The paint is much brighter and incredibly glossy now that the metallic flake really pops

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zerix]

Great job as usual Zach, that Carrera came out looking stunning! You attack a car very much how I feel I would do it if I were detailing professionally.

 

[jimmie jam]

Very nice result...great write-up.

 

[zmcgovern45]

Thanks guys

 

[fdresq4]

Nice work Zach. I enjoy your write ups.

 

[tom p.]

Zach, everything is looking great!  Are you typically finishing the Cquartz off with RELOAD (as your final step on the paintwork)?

 

[House of Wax]

What a great looking car.  Love that glossy goodness you've got on it

 

[96GreenPSD]

Excellent work including capturing the defects on camera (especially on the rear vents). It looks like you've got a nice setup to detail in; more than enough room to set the lights far away from the paint for optimal defect spotting. Do you know what the overall dimensions of your garage are? 


 


 


Mike

 

[zmcgovern45]

Nice work Zach. I enjoy your write ups.

^Thank you!


 


 

Zach, everything is looking great!  Are you typically finishing the Cquartz off with RELOAD (as your final step on the paintwork)?

^I tend to use ReLoad as the last step in all of my coating details.  I typically wipe the car down with Reload ~24-36 hours after the coating was initially applied just before the customer is coming to pick up their vehicle.  It is a quick and easy way to wipe away the dust that has settled on the car, and it also helps to provide a slicker surface and added protection for the coating while it is still somewhat vulnerable during the initial curing process.


 


 

What a great looking car.  Love that glossy goodness you've got on it

^Thank you.


 


 

Excellent work including capturing the defects on camera (especially on the rear vents). It looks like you've got a nice setup to detail in; more than enough room to set the lights far away from the paint for optimal defect spotting. Do you know what the overall dimensions of your garage are? 


 


 


Mike

The garage is rather small... it is about 18'x18', but it is just fine for this type of work.

 

[tom p.]

Zach, thanks for the comments on RELOAD.  I own the product but didn't initially use it over the recently-appliced coating... I kinda wanted to see how the Cquartz would endure on its own.  Per Corey's recommendation, I am applying it now after a couple of hours or next day assuming I still have access to vehicle.  Honestly, I've never found a product that offers the <u>long-lasting</u> slickness and gloss provided by the RELOAD.  It's a real surprise!

 

[someidiot]

Thank you for writing this up in such detail. It's educational and informative.


 


And the car looks fantastic.

 

[smither]

When you polished the car did you only use the microfiber cutting pad or did you also follow it up with a foam polishing pad?

 

[zmcgovern45]

Zach, thanks for the comments on RELOAD.  I own the product but didn't initially use it over the recently-appliced coating... I kinda wanted to see how the Cquartz would endure on its own.  Per Corey's recommendation, I am applying it now after a couple of hours or next day assuming I still have access to vehicle.  Honestly, I've never found a product that offers the <u>long-lasting</u> slickness and gloss provided by the RELOAD.  It's a real surprise!

^ Yep, I love Reload... I've done enough testing with the coatings on their own to know that they work.  Reload takes it up a notch in the slickness area, and I love that.


 


 

Thank you for writing this up in such detail. It's educational and informative.


 


And the car looks fantastic.

^Thanks for reading!


 


 

When you polished the car did you only use the microfiber cutting pad or did you also follow it up with a foam polishing pad?

The entire process was listed at the beginning of the write up.... here is a recap of the correction process.


 
<p style="font-size:12px;"><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:'helvetica neue', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Compound - Menzerna FG400 on Meguiar's MF Cutting Pads via Rupes LHR21ES (5.5" and 6.5") and Rupes LHR75e (3")
<div style="font-size:12px;margin:0px;color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:'helvetica neue', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Polish - CarPro Reflect on Rupes Yellow Pad via Rupes LHR21ES (6") and Rupes LHR75e (3")