Detailed Designs Auto Spa [perpetual projects thread] Auto Detailing Atlanta, Clear Bra & Paint Protection Film Installation, CQuartz Finest and more

Jean-Claude

Jean-Claude

Keeper of the beautiful
This thread will replace the constant barrage of threads small and large for Detailed Designs Auto Spa. We have been slammed with auto detailing, clear bra and paint protection film, paint correction, wheel-off details, CQuartz Finest jobs, Opti-Coat PRO, Opti-Guard Leather and Fabic coating, glass coatings, window tinting, interior detailing and more. Hopefully, this will offer a good solution and reference point for folks to view.


 


Thanks for viewing and feel free to ask any questions you may have.


 


 
 
First up a 2014 Stingray convertible in Torch Red.


It had about 1500 miles on it when it arrived at the shop. The owner picked it up during the timeframe that the sucky weather engulfed the whole USA from Chicago and drove it back to Atlanta pretty much the whole way in ice and snow!


 


Cquartz Finest


Silver Package Paint Correction


Wheel-off detail and CQuartz Finest application


35% Ceramic Window Tint


Fabric top and wheel liners treated with 303 high tech fabric guard


Clear bra / paint protection film installation on full hood, full front fenders, front bumper, rocker panels, door cups, side mirrors, a-pillars and rear trunk ledge.


Full interior detail 


Seats treated with Opti-Guard Leather and Fabric coating


Carbon Fiber Vinyl accents added behind each seat and a stinger stripe. (he requested the piece for the bumper but after showing him pictures and us talking about it, neither of us liked it and it was removed to never be seen again)


 






















 
We performed this project over 2 days. Due to the client's schedule coming in from out of town we killed it to get it done. The weather <u>sucked</u> the whole time. It was bitter cold. We had to prep the car inside via ONR. Sorry for the dark shots.


 


This 2014 came over from Arkansas an exterior car detail, minor paint correction, CQuartz FINEST and clear bra / paint protection film installation on the full hood and full front fenders. There was clear bra on the leading edge of the hood and fenders but the owner wasn't happy with it. We found out the hood had razor blade cut marks on it in a few areas from the previous clear bra installer doing a poor job. Fortunately, they were on the edge and not towards the middle.


 











 
Here's a video to go with the Stingray project:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpB4DT4mWBo&feature=youtu.be
 
The owner of this 2009 HHR SS LLLLOVES this car. He has a lot of cars, many much more expensive, but this one has his heart. This car sits more than it gets driven. It only has 1900 miles on it.


 


The guy that installed the clear bra had done many of his other cars. When we first met he showed me the clear bra job and said he wasn't happy with it and the installer had more or less stopped returning his calls. Every single clear bra job looked bad. You have to understand that clear bra can sometimes have working marks where a lot of stretching is required and no one works in a clean room. If you look hard enough you will find where a piece of dust could get trapped during an install. But I am not talking about that. These jobs looked really bad....and the guy who installed these jobs does a ton of work for some luxury car dealerships in town. I shutter to think what folks are paying dealerships a premium for.


 


When the hood piece was removed, there was a 6 inch cut that went through the clear bra and into the clear coat. It was improved but sadly, too deep to completely repair. We were able to cover it up with the clear bra so that it was masked.


 


His "car wash guy" has been destroying the paint(along with a lot of his other cars). In short, everyone touching his cars were harming them.


 


At any rate, we removed the clear bra, corrected the paint(the roof looked as good as the sides) and capped it all off with CQuartz Finest.


 




























 
2010 Corvette ZR1

The existing clear bra had turned yellow and needed to be removed. The carbon fiber splitter, rocker panels, roof and b-pillars were in terrible condition. We corrected all of the carbon fiber and then wrapped it with clear bra. The front partial coverage was replaced with full hood, full front fender, mirrors and full front bumper. Being a car that is rarely ever driven, we capped it all off with a sealant.

 

There are issues with GM car's emblems not being in the same place on every produced car for a certain model. We removed the fender emblems so that the full coverage would be without concern for the emblem relief being off. He shipped me new emblems to replace the originals(I wish he'd have let me keep the originals :D )

 








 


The weather sucked the day we got started. Way colder than we prefer.


 



















 


Removing some cursed debris that found its way into the hood piece during the install.


 




 


Single wrap pieces like the roof and b-pillar(it wraps from the driver's side to the passenger's side) were beasts to install.


 







 


Detailed and clear bra completely installed. Time for the emblem to go back on.


 





 


Careful measurements meant it went back to the exact same spot it came from.


 




 


I like to tape up the emblem per my measurements and then make an outline/box for the emblem to fit into. When the backing tape comes off you get one shot to get it right. Screwing it up means a new $70 emblem and/or a ton of clear bra and time/effort to replace it.


 





 


Bam. ;)


 



 
When it was picked up on a Saturday I had forgotten my dslr. Camera phone HO!


 





 


 


Some video from the project:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taI94aq3PJE


 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN34B49KGyw
 
2013 Audi RS5 came in for removal of partial clear bra hood install and replacement with installation of a full hood wrap after polishing the hood paint. The rest of the car had been treated with Opti-Coat Pro previously. We applied Opti-Coat Pro to the full hood clear bra and one of the wheels that had been replaced since having OCP installed.


 


Interior was detailed(not pictured). The exterior was detailed and treated with Reload.


 


We performed our thorough non-intrusive engine bay detail and airbrush application of the rubber and vinyl seal. 


 


The front grills all required serious attention. They were hammered with hard water spots that were not washing out. 5 hours later, the grills were hand polished and amazing. We used a lot of ear swabs to get those grills right.


 













 
Before we got started on the grills they looked like this. The close up will tell the tale even better.
 

 
You can see where I got started in the top right portion.
 

 
The largest portion was done. The rings and inside the rings needed extra love and a ton of time to get right.
 

 
Ouch.
 

 
Bingo.
 






 
This client from Tennessee purchased a 2014 Lexus IS350 at Nally Lexus in Smyrna. We picked up the car from Nally Lexus the day it was delivered and brought it back to the shop so the owner could head back to Tennessee. I had told the owner to inform Lexus not to touch the shipping film or anything else on the car for the sake of keeping it as it came from the factory. They insisted they had to remove the film. It wasn't my choice...but they did it. They "prepped" the car by inducing marring on some of the areas they no doubt removed adhesive from and got some type of solvent on the rear tag light(pictured). 


 


New car prep(ish) -haha


Paint was restored to better than new condition.


CQuartz Finest application


Wheels removed for thorough detailing and CQuartz Finest application


35% ceramic tint installed by our 25 year window tinting vet. -you'll see we remove the door cards for tint installation to minimize slip solution finding its way into the doors.


Opti-Guard Leather coating


Opti-Guard Fabric coating


Self-healing clear bra / paint protection film installation on the full hood, full front fenders, front bumper, door cups, rocker panels, a-pillars and the leading edge of the roof. We also installed clear bra on the side mirrors. The pre-cut kits for the mirrors were terrible. Instead of using pre-cuts that were not pleasing to the eye, we took the time to make some custom mirror pieces.


Glass coating


 


 



































 
2013 Corvette 427 Convertible


Car Detail at our Atlanta shop.


Clear bra installation on the bulges behind each seat. These areas get worn out by some of the convertible top. Paint protection film installation keeps them protected. You can see the images where there is already damage/clear coat staining that polishing was not correcting.


Clear bra installed on the front carbon fiber splitter.


 


These pieces are some of the toughest clear bra installations I have made.


 








 
We've got 5 cars in the shop and all are having extensive work being done on them and are far too backed up. Monday I am starting the interview process for a second full time employee as we are likely to be staying very busy moving into summer. ...well, we were backed up before the ice storm this week. Not really sure what word describes what we will be losing a few days.


 


Anyways, we should be having some neat projects rolling through over the next 12 weeks. Lots of out of staters too. :D


 


Keep checking in for more of our extensive write ups!
 
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