dsms detail - 2009 Nissan GT-R w/Gloss It 85pics+Video

[dsms]

This was an enjoyable detail. Until last week when the owner brought this car by for me to look at I have had never seen the GT-R up close in person but after I did it changed my whole perspective on how I felt about its styling. At first I though the pictures looked terrible, which is funny because the owner originally though the same and had little interest in buying the car. In person this car really jumps at you, very masculine, bold styling but its not overdone. Before working on this one the owner, a good friend btw insisted he take me for a ride. With the car only have 360miles on it and the original fluids the owner didnt push it at all but still this thing blew me away. I have never felt grip like that in my life and the shifts were seamless.



This car just had a clear bra installed earlier on the first day before I got to working on it. All of the lower nose panels, half the hood and fenders and the lower side panels were all clear bra'd. I saw how clean the edges were and how the installer wrapped the bra into the gaps perfectly, this was by far the best bra job I have seen. He even removed the rubber strip between the gap on the front end and hood so he could cleanly wrap the bra inside and later he replaced the rubber strip, you cant tell where the hoods bra ends and the front nose piece begins.



As usual theres my lengthy intro, now onto the good stuff...icture:



Here is car when I got it, not bad upon arrival but it needed more work than I though and I was gald to hear it was NOT DEALER PREPPED! I saw al the tape lines and there was still some plastic on the interior.



The car only had 360 or so "break in" miles on it, so in general it was pretty clean but the paint wasnt very deep nor did it really glow like it should. The owner wanted the finish to be as deep as possible and loaded up with protection

First things first as usual I started with the wheels, for only 360miles or so they were suprisingly dirty, I guess a little extra brake dust is the price you pay for having 15" 6piston Brembos to stop you from getting into trouble at Watkins Glen:headbang:

Here is what I used to clean the wheels. I quickly grabbed the P21s gel instead of anything else in my arsenal because I wanted to ensure no damage was done to the wheel finish, and more importantly the braking system.

Here is the P21s gel dwelling, I let it sit for about 10minutes to further breakdown some of that tougher brake dust before agitating it

Swissvax brush was used to clean the wheel face

The DD spoke brush was used to clean the wheel inners, to help get behind the spokes better and in between the brakes I used the more flexible EZ brush

Tires were scrubbed with the Kleenol APC and an OXO brush, the wheel wells were also scrubbed via long handle brush

Brakes were scrubbed in every crack and crevice as well

Brakes after

Inners after

Finished product (front passenger)

Rinsing rears until water ran clean of suds

Now onto the wash process, knowing the GT-R's paint has a very soft clear coat I was very careful during the wash process as to not induce more swirls than were already on the car



After a thorough rinse I saw the car was beading pretty well, which was odd because there was no supposed to be no dealer prep done. My guess is a quick spray wax was used just before delivering the car to spruce up the paint, I know for sure the owner applied no LSP in the time since he took delivery because he was just waiting to give the car to me.



After seeing some light beading I choose to add an extra soap to my wash mix. I used Gloss It Gloss Shampoo for its suds, slickness and finish and then I added a small amount of CG's citrus wash and gloss to the bucket to help strip off any protection on the paint.

The two buckets, I used 2 white foam shmitts to wash the car, I added almost 2x the amount of Gloss Shampoo to give a very slick wash because I didnt want to induce any more swirls

I started on the roof and squeezed out the soap onto the paint, letting it dwell on there for about 2 minutes as like a quick pre wash before actual agitation (my foam gun was on the fritz during the detail)

After gently drying the car w/ 2 CG miracle dryers I inspected the finish in sunlight



After a good wash the finish started to show imporvment already, the Gloss Shampoo I used always leaves a nice finish behind. That shampoo has 5% of the same polymer used in the Gloss It sealant. So not only does it add a bit of gloss after a wash but it leaves the paint with some protection as well.



After only the wash

I saw a bit more defect than I would have liked on such a new car, the worst area was the rear bumper showing both light RIDS and holograms (could just be from the owners wash routine hopefully and not from the dealer)

Swirls and tape lines

I then moved the car inside for claying, I used Sonus fine green clay for its softness, its only picks up light contaminants which is fine for a new car, especially one with soft paint as this one which can easily be marred and scartched.



I used Megs Last touch QD 1:1 as lube for the clay

I then wiped the car down with IPA soltuion in preperation for polishing, I also taped off the neccesary areas and all the panels which were clear bra'd.



As I said before I got this car right after being clear bra'd , Half the hood, fenders and bottom portion of the lower panels were clear bra'd, every part of the front nose had be cleared as well. The installer told me to be cautious of the clear bra as it hasnt had enough time for the adhesives to settle on the paint yet.

I placed my tape about 1 inch off where the clear bra ended because didnt want the adhesives in the tape to screw up the adhesives in the clear bra, its only been on for about 12hrs. I also made sure not to polish the newly protected areas ( I had poished out the paint underneath those areas last week as per the owners reuqest)

Before polishing I took some paint readings, I was using a cyclo for all of my polishing work so I dont worry about strike through all that often, well never actually but I took some PTG readings for good measure anyway

Hood averaged about 160microns, suprisingly the PTG readings on most all areas of the hood were all within about 7-10microns. A few areas exceeded 180 however.



After doing a test spot I found the best combo to get rid of the swirls and finish out the paint nicely was this:



Gloss It 1 step machine polish via cyclo and green light polishing pads

Gloss It evolution polish via cyclo and blue finishing pads



Before polishing I washed out my Grit Guard pad washer and re-filled it with fresh water and some Snappy Clean pad cleaning solution

I started with the Gloss It 1 step polish and green double sided pads

You can see the paint under the Infratech pretty well, here are some fine swirls and haze

 

[dsms]

Hood before

During

Hood after

Here is the rear wing showing some fine scratches and hard water spots under the halogens

Better shot of the water spots

I used the Gloss It one step 2x on the wing and trunk area to fully remove the defects before moving onto the finishing polish.



After correction, no finishing polish yet



Here are the blue finishing pads working the Gloss It Evolution polish, this step really brought out a nice gloss after correction even after the IPA wipedown

The finished wing area

Now onto the very annoying area to polish, trunk section:shead:



Here is a close up of the defects, again fine scratches and hard water spots, you can see the tape line from when the car was shipped over and how one side has about 1/2 the defect compared to the other

Working the polishes until clear

After correction with the Gloss It 1 step and green pads

After finishing out the paint with the Evolution Polish, nice depth restored

Before

After polishing

Rear section before, this area had swirls, RIDS and holograms. Again the Gloss It 1 step was used to polish out the defects

After polishing, the paint got a bit deeper and the clarity imporves, note the green color of the trees is more visible

I used the Gloss It evolution polish with green pads to polish out the swirls on the plastic pillars



before

after

Some paints look only marginally better after polishing, assuming that not a ton of correction work needs to be done. This GT-R had some very soft paint to work with but in the end polishing really brough out its true potential

 

[dsms]

Here is my favorite before and after polishing photos



passenger door before, notice the sterile, unclear reflections of me and my equipment

after, although the orange peel is still pretty bad you can see a dramaitc difference polishing makes

After all the polishing was done I wiped down the car with 50/50 IPA once again to ensure no oils were left on the paint. I found on this soft paint that the Eurow shag MF towels were great to use. The deep plush pile I always finds helps on soft paints to ensure no marring when doing wipedowns and such.



There was some polishing dust on the car so I decided to bring it back outsuide and re-wash it but before I did I sprayed the car with a thorugh coating of Gloss It Gloss Enhancer QD spray and wiped it off. The QD also has some of the polymer that is in the Gloss It sealant so I basically used it as a quick coat of protection to put on the paint before rewashing it so I wouldnt induce any more swirls on the perfected finish



Re-washing the car using Gloss Shampoo

After drying, no LSP is applied yet

No LSP again, just the deep red all polished out

Now onto the final touches including what I like to call the LSP super stack



For a great look and great protection I used 3 Gloss It products



First I applied 1 coat of the Signature Gloss sealant via cyclo and white final finishing pads



Let it cure for about 10minutes and buffed off.



Here is the car wearing just the 1 coat of Signature Gloss Sealant (At this point im losing daylight by the second)

When the Signature gloss was curing I went and applied the Signature tire dressing from gloss it as well. I let it sit on the tires for about 5 mins before rubbing it in, IMO it leaves the perfect deep shine, not greasy at all and dry to the touch!

Here is a nice shot of the rear tire wearing the signature tire dressing

I then went and applied another coat of sealant, this time it was Gloss It Gloss Finish, this is there flagship consumer sealant which is similar to Zainos Z2pro, the only difference is that Gloss Finish is much deeper and has more of a glow like a carnauba would. Plus you dont need an additive to apply multiple coats. I did this coat in 5 minutes by hand and buffed it off about 8 mins later.



After gloss finish

After the gloss finish was buffed off I added one last "bling" product. Gloss It Concourso polish! This is mostly for looks and it really does bring out that last bit of shine and glow to the paint.



Here is the car all finished OF COURSE THERE IS LITTLE SUN LEFT!

I polished the exhaust with Adams metal polish 1 and 2 btw

I then pulled the car in the garage for the final wipedown using Gloss Enhancer QD. The owner came by at this time with his son to pick up the car, as usual he did his thorough inspection and looked over my work. I saw his eyes light up when I flicked on my garage lighting and he saw the paint pop.



I also applied the Gloss Finish sealant to the face and inner part of the wheels

The thing about the GT-R is that in first gear the throttle is super responsive, almost to responsive in times when you need to carefully modulate it. So as I did for the 2 days I worked on the car I once again switched over to manual mode and selected 2nd gear so I could control the power when pulling into my tight garage.

BTW here is the built in G meter, every car should have one I think

The owner and his son

My personal favorite

I will leave you with a video... the engine sound is a bit distorted but you get the idea of how the car look all finished up













Hope you enjoyed, this was a fun car to do.

 

[zxpwr]

godzilla barely fits in you garage! great work!

 

[imported_weekendwarrior]

Great Job!!!

 

[Pats300zx]

Amazing job and great pics :spot

 

[Thomas Dekany]

Fantastic!!!!

 

[KMHAWAIIDH]

Nice work! That red is awesome!

 

[imported_MBenz]

Sweet detail. That red looked amazing.

 

[nasdaq]

Very nice job. Love the pics.

 

[BigAl3]

nice write-up and pics, thanks for sharing!



p.s. did i see a green mf towel on the ground?

 

[dsms]

nice write-up and pics, thanks for sharing!



p.s. did i see a green mf towel on the ground?

Thanks Al!



Yes you did:shocked Those are my old cobra MF's that I use for wiping down wheel wells and such. I never thought they were good enough to touch paint so I sanctioned them for wheel well cleaning:chuckle:

 

[somebody]

Nice work I have yet to see a red GT-R in person, I like it! I just got back from Summit Point this weekend and there was a GT-R out on track with me and they are scary quick.



Brandon

 

[baseballlover1]

hey man, so where did you get the gloss it tire gloss?

 

[David Fermani]

Wow! So far, I think I've noticed 5 or so GT-R's on here getting new car prepped and 2(including this one) have had terrible acid rain etching damage. The other one that Todd did (that looked almost as bad as this one) required hours of wet-sanding and compounding to correct, yet this one was able to be done via a 1 step polish with a Cyclo polisher.

 

[dsms]

Wow! So far, I think I've noticed 5 or so GT-R's on here getting new car prepped and 2(including this one) have had terrible acid rain etching damage. The other one that Todd did (that looked almost as bad as this one) required hours of wet-sanding and compounding to correct, yet this one was able to be done via a 1 step polish with a Cyclo polisher.

Acid rain was not that bad at all, came out with light polishing on the cyclo using only the mildy agressive polish and pad combo. You cant compare the one Todd did and the one I did. His had some sever damage, even the level of swirls was far worse than this red one.



Here is why he had to do ton of wetsanding...

Very few cars in the history have caused such a reaction at model launch and introduction as does this Nissan GT-R. The new ‘bang for the bucket’ Super Car, the Nissan manages this feat while cramming the car full of cutting edge technology and more wizardry then any car in it’s class, at any price. In person this car is stunning, period. It is a uniquely Japanese twist on a market dominated by the graceful Italians, the proper English, and brute Americans. Not only does it best most competitors on the track at any price, it dethrones the current ‘bang for the buck’ Corvette Z06. The G-TR defeats its worthy opponent on all fronts despite having less power, more weight, and a front heavy weight distribution. Only the culture that brought us into the digital age could use that expertise to hone such physical limitations: When it doubt, use a computer. In this case the GT-R is iconic.



Corvettes struggle to be more European. European cars get heavier and more powerful, like a good American. The more these cars change, the closer they become. The GT-R is a fresh approach and makes no excuses. With an infusion of technology, physicals, and technical brilliance, Nissan has presented a modern Samurai who will proudly carry the flag of the Rising Sun, while bowing to no one.



Unfortunately Nissan did not have all of its technicians ready to service this technological marvel, and as such this Samurai had a few chinks in its armor. An alarming number of these cars sat at port, waiting to be shipped. Unfortunately the fresh, unprotected paint (especially the soft front, designed to resist rock chipping) is very sucsepticable to acid rain damage. This GT-R suffered as such. It already had 2000 miles on it when it arrived at 11:00 PM, Saturday night.



Because of the inclement weather, the GT-R arrived pretty dirty. I washed it using Optimum No-Rinse using two buckets. After drying, I noticed some pretty severe damage in different areas of the car, including light holograms, acid rain etching, R.ID.S. (Random isolated deep scratches), and light wash induced marring. I attempted to remove and loosen some of the calcium present in the water etching by using Meguiars’ Blue Clay and Chemical Guys’ Speed Shine as a lubricant.



There was no improvement in the surface; a vinegar natural bath removed some of the lighter marks and left the paint bare and smooth. The acid rain had penetrated the clear-coat, forming depressions in the paint. This damage was numerous and severe.



In the rear spoiler you can see the severe etching, as well “hologramming� on the edges, likely from the dealer trying to remove the etching (note that these pictures are taken in UV garage light).

The panels above the doors, out line of the roof, and any area that was not covered in shipping showed severe damage.

The areas of the body panels that where protected by the factory installed plastic where also notably darker in appearance and had not faded. Apparently the new GT-R’s paint system will be susceptible to fading. It looks like two different colors.

Looking at this picture you would think I just pulled the plastic off of the car in my garage. Several months with out protection has ruined the paint on this brand new Super Car!

It is very clear to see what had protection and what was left naked and damaged. The rear of the roof had some deeper scratches.

This area, in front of the rear spoiler, shows the difference in color as well as the damage.

Some light marring was visible on the both sides, likely installed by the dealer when the removed the plastic.

The roof had some streaky marks in the paint that looked almost like ‘runs’ in the top coat.

These run marks where also on each door, near the door handle. On the door ‘runs’ a texture difference could be felt by running your hand over the area.

The driver’s side rear quarter panel had evidence of the poor polishing in the terms of buffer trails or ‘hologramming’. There was also another defect above this area, which was an impression in the paint where the protective plastic had been.

This area was actually depressed into the paint and an edge could be felt where the tape was on the paint. As I would later learn when polishing the paint, the finish in this area was extremely soft. Combined with the buffer trails and texture, I would guess that this area was probably repainted on the factory line (perhaps a run or defect was present in the paint) then the polished. The car was the covered in the protective film for shipping before the paint had hardened. This would explain the buffer trails, softer paint (only in this area), and lip.

I finished the night be carefully measuring the paint thickness on the various panels that make up the G-TR’s armor. Because the body is made of aluminum, steel, and in some areas carbon fiber, it was impossible to measure every area. Nissan claims that the R35 G-TR features a “double clear coat� and the paint measuring bore this true. The paint averaged about 6.5 mils of the thickness, with the leading edge of the hood reading as high as 9.4 mils. At 3:00 am, with inspection finished, I called it a night.



I started four hours later, at 7:00 am on Sunday morning. I knew today would be solely dedicated to re-leveling the paint and removing as many defects as possible. I did not expect the day to run into early the next day, but there was a lot of work to be done. The car had to be finished by evening the next day, as the owner had business in South Florida, before shipping the Samurai to St. Croix in the Caribbean.



Despite dancing through the cones of a salmon course and turning an amazing 1.05gs (Motortrend) on a skid pad, the G-TR is a big car. At 183.2 inches long it barely fit into my garage, so I decided to perfect the rear bumper first (to allow me the luxury of closing the garage door and having enough room to work around the rest of the car comfortably).



The rear bumper had water etching, slightly more severe in depth then most of the car.

The Obsidian Black paint looked gray and noticeably lighter then paint squares of paint that had protective film.

The paint on the rear bumper was very soft and corrected with ease. It was a little difficult to finish out hologram free because of the softness. The process was similar to



-2500 grit Meguiars’ Unigrit paper was used to level the slight texture around the squares

-3M Extra Cut on a Meguiars’ Yellow Wool Pad for 2 to 5 passes, working each area until the water etching had been eliminated.

-Meguiars’ M105 on a Lake Country Foamed Wool Pad was used for 2 to 3 passes in the tighter areas that I could not re-level properly with the larger Meguiars’ Wool pad.

-Wipe areas with Prep-Sol after

-Menzerna PO83 on a Lake Country Green CCS pad (both 6.5 inch and 4 inch) for several passes to level out the wool marring. This was worked in until the paint looked perfect after a Prep-Sol wipe down. PO83 was lightly filling in some areas, but two passes would remove the final remaining marring, ensuring it would not come back.

-Menzerna PO85rd on a Meguiars So1o Finishing Pad worked in to jewel the finish.



Please note that the paint on the car was very prone to static charge was pulling the fibers from my microfibers. These little fibers stuck to the paint on the rear bumper and I did not remove then until after I took the pictures.

It took about 4 hours to work the rear bumper back to perfection and remove the squares while restoring the color.

The gas cap was noticeably darker then the rest of the faded paint.

After polishing (note defect removal visible in the halogens) the paint looked closer. In the sun and natural light the car gas cap now looks the same, but in the halogen lighting a small difference was still visible.

 

[David Fermani]

Out of the dozens of acid rain/fallout jobs I've done & seen done (minor / medium / severe), I've never seen anyone be able to totally remove it with a 1-step medium polish and a Cyclo. This Gloss-It product is either a revolutionary, second to none product or has some major magical properties.

 

[David Fermani]

I'm sorry if I'm coming off like I'm attacking your integrity in your own thread. I think the car looks amazing. Please don't take it the wrong way.

 

[dsms]

I'm sorry if I'm coming off like I'm attacking your integrity in your own thread. I think the car looks amazing. Please don't take it the wrong way.

Coming from a well respected detailer such as yourself I do appreciate your kind words. Now initially I did take it "the wrong way" and still I am a bit confused and I think you may be as well, I will try to clarify this best as I can.... This detail was nothing special and far from a "severe correction", my goal was simply to correct the "light" defects in the paint. From the looks of the defects shown in my pictures of the GT-R's trunk I dont believe those were deeply etched acid rain spots in the clear, I know this because of how easily they were removed using 3 steps on the cyclo, granted I did apply 20+lbs of pressure to the machine while correcting to ensure I achieved a full correction as I normally do when using the cyclo for paint correction. The whole car with the exception of the trunk and wing areas were polished with 2 steps (1 correction, 1 finishing) On the trunk and wing as I noted in my write up I needed to use the 1 step machine polish 2x in the area before moving onto a finishing polish so in total it was 3 steps, 2 of which were focused on correcting the swirls and water spots and 1 last one to finish out the paint.



I know the "Gloss It" products on this forum have a bad rep, in part due to Bryan's thread regarding Rich Light (the owner of Gloss It) calling him a few weeks back. Now seeing as very few people here actually used these products, I feel that its unfair for them to judge on the products performance. If you were under the impression that I posted these pictures of the GT-R to prove that I was able to correct etched acid rain by polishing only in 3steps than you are mistaken, I simply did the combo I felt would work best and the car came out as it did but as I said earlier those water spots were nothing sever and came out easily with polishing only (they may not have been acid rain for all I know).



Seeing as very few people here have actually spoken to Rich Light I also think its unfair for them to judge him and discredit his products based on 1 thread posted here regarding a phone call. I am speaking in generalities David as this is not directed strictly at you, please do not be offended. I titled this thread "Nissan GT-R w/ Gloss It" because I wanted people (mainly the Gloss It skeptics and those who may think little of the brand) to see that they really are quality products that are capable of achieving quality results and that they should not be discredited because of opinions regarding the products owner. Im not saying or implying in any way that a combo like Menzerna and 3M would not have done the GT-R justice or that Gloss It is a miracle product at all.



Again I am speaking in generalities to everyone so David please to not take this personally. I just feel that the air needs to be cleared around here regarding Gloss It. I spent the last 4 days in Las Vegas w/ Rich Light while at the SEMA show and I can tell from a personal and professional standpoint that he is a stand up guy and I consider him a friend. So in this case I am sticking up for my friend regarding a thread posted here by a well respected detailer/forum member. Please remember as always there is 2 sides to every story, but its not my place to get in the middle between the two guys. I will say I am not here to promote any brand, I simply give credit to the products which yield me fine results such as any thread here titled

" So and So car w/ Vintage!"



I hope your not under the impression that I am reading into this to much because I really feel some things needed to be said.



Thanks -

 

[autoconcierge]

David



I am finally here on Autopia,it was good hanging out with you at SEMA although the L4P party ended weird............. as far as the thread about Rich people will just have to try the products and make up thier own mind good or bad.Aaron will post the SEMA pics to photobucket when we get a chance,tell your folks I said hi and it was a pleasure meeting them.