First a little background on the car. My GF bought this car about 4 months ago with 11k miles. We have since put another 9k on it with summer road trips. I went with her to get it and could see some serious wash marks and buffer swirls. It had just been "detailed" to go on the lot. Once we got the car home I had a chance to really look over it and noticed it was covered in white over spray..and I mean COVERED. Every square inch. Everything from the wheels to the rearview mirrors. The rear bumper was the worst. I knew it would take more time than I had to give to remove the overspray so I just gave the car a quick clay with blue mild and finished the car with #83/rotary, #80/DA and a coat of 21 for protection. I finally found the time to give it the makeover it deserves over the past week or so.
Here was my process and some pics.
Wash with GC soap, Wheel brightner, body solvent on the lower portions with heavy tar.
APC + underhood, tires, and in the wheel wells.
Red Aggresive clay with Last Touch cut 1:1 for lube...for 6-7 hours!
Razor blade to remove over spray from corners of glass (Thanks for the idea Kevin B!)
105/1500-1600rpm/SOLO wool yellow on deeper defects
105/1000rpm/7006 cutting pad
80/Speed 5/8006 polishing pad
9/Speed 5/finishing pad 2.0
21/Speed 3/9006 finishing pad
PlatiX on all lights, and 3M clear mask which covers ALL of the front bumper, 24" of hood and front fenders, A-Pillars, and 8" on roof...I know it's a lot but we have a ton of sand up here in the winter!
Glass recieved NXT Glass Cleaner
Tires wear #40
Hyper Dressing in wheel wells
I'd say I have 18-22 hours of work into it total on paint alone.
Here is a before of the right rear door. This reflects the condition of the car overall. No depth or reflectivity, buffer swirls, halograms, and VERY deep wash marks which don't show up real well under this light. Also notice the RIDS on the upper crease of the door. This was one of the areas spot treated with 105 and the SOLO wool pad. Most where removed and the ones that remain are only seen if you know where to look.
This is shot with a Halogen and better shows the lack of any depth or richness the color had. It also shows the deep wash scour mark left with a stiff brush. Lastly, you can also see some overspray. It looks like part of the metallic but is bigger. Look under the door handle where the like starts to fade.
After the car was clayed and compounded with 105 it was then washed again to remove dust and wool and leave a nicer finish to polish. The paint has finally come alive and is now free of any deep halograms, scratches, haze, and those deep brush marks. It also has some slight halograms that I put in compounding.
You can see the more matte finish of the areas covered in clear mask. That was fixed with PlatiX
And finally this car has some shine and depth to it!
The car was then polished with #80. It was good enough to go to wax but I wanted to refine the finish a little more so I did a final polishing step with #9.
Pre-LSP
Here was my process and some pics.
Wash with GC soap, Wheel brightner, body solvent on the lower portions with heavy tar.
APC + underhood, tires, and in the wheel wells.
Red Aggresive clay with Last Touch cut 1:1 for lube...for 6-7 hours!
Razor blade to remove over spray from corners of glass (Thanks for the idea Kevin B!)
105/1500-1600rpm/SOLO wool yellow on deeper defects
105/1000rpm/7006 cutting pad
80/Speed 5/8006 polishing pad
9/Speed 5/finishing pad 2.0
21/Speed 3/9006 finishing pad
PlatiX on all lights, and 3M clear mask which covers ALL of the front bumper, 24" of hood and front fenders, A-Pillars, and 8" on roof...I know it's a lot but we have a ton of sand up here in the winter!
Glass recieved NXT Glass Cleaner
Tires wear #40
Hyper Dressing in wheel wells
I'd say I have 18-22 hours of work into it total on paint alone.
Here is a before of the right rear door. This reflects the condition of the car overall. No depth or reflectivity, buffer swirls, halograms, and VERY deep wash marks which don't show up real well under this light. Also notice the RIDS on the upper crease of the door. This was one of the areas spot treated with 105 and the SOLO wool pad. Most where removed and the ones that remain are only seen if you know where to look.
This is shot with a Halogen and better shows the lack of any depth or richness the color had. It also shows the deep wash scour mark left with a stiff brush. Lastly, you can also see some overspray. It looks like part of the metallic but is bigger. Look under the door handle where the like starts to fade.
After the car was clayed and compounded with 105 it was then washed again to remove dust and wool and leave a nicer finish to polish. The paint has finally come alive and is now free of any deep halograms, scratches, haze, and those deep brush marks. It also has some slight halograms that I put in compounding.
You can see the more matte finish of the areas covered in clear mask. That was fixed with PlatiX
And finally this car has some shine and depth to it!
The car was then polished with #80. It was good enough to go to wax but I wanted to refine the finish a little more so I did a final polishing step with #9.
Pre-LSP
