Long day with a Thunderbird, plus 750Li, RX330, Camaro Z/28

[Scottwax]

2006 BMW 750Li. Weekly wash customer. Paint still pretty good, just wanted to test out the sample of ValuGard's Finishing Wax I got from Ron at Autoint.



The directions said to use 3-4 ounces per vehicle. Not sure how that is possible because I hardly used any of the 4oz sample size he sent:

Finishing Wax has a clear, wet look, seems most similar to Collinite 845.

 

[Scottwax]

2004 Lexus RX330. I wash one car, wax the other the first Saturday of every month. Paint still looks really good on this one, no noticable swirls. Paste Glaz after two months still looked decent, was beading and had moderate slickness. I figured I'd try Souveran this time. Seemed to slightly darken the white pearl paint, the pics really don't show how wet it really looks.

=============



2002 Camaro Z/28. Pretty rough car, hood and driver's side repainted, horrible swirls in the hood, rotary swirls on the passenger side. The detail was a bonus for one of my regular's employees. He knew it wasn't in great shape and said just do $XXX worth of work. Interior got a quick going over, had a lot of stains but I had to concentrate more on the exterior given the price limitation. Still looked a lot better when I finished though.



The exterior got Optimum's Hyper Compound using a Lake Country cutting pad and I notice no marring at all, this car definitely had some hard paint! HC did a great job on the sides and back but did only so-so on the repainted hood. I think a lot of the problems are under the clear though (and you can see in the front shot the color doesn't match too well) so not much can be done other than give it more shine. I then followed with Meguiars #80 Speed Glaze and a Lake Country polishing pad. I went with #80 for its light filling properties, definitely made the hood look better. I finished with Poorboy's Natty's Blue Paste by hand.



Only 2 shots left on this roll, so that is why there are no before shots and just two afters. I have more on the roll in my camera. Anyway, turned out pretty good considering the hood was in such bad shape initially.

 

[Scottwax]

1997 Ford Thunderbird. Original owner, really likes the car but lives on a road that is packed gravel and he and his wife recently had their 6th kid (oldest is only 10) so the interior was very dusty and had a lot of spills.



Quick before:

After cleaning with Woolite/water mixture:

A couple after interior shots-Armor All on vinyl and weather stripping, Turtle Wax Leather Conditioner (don't laugh, it is a really good product!) on the leather.

A couple before exterior shots, as you can see, the paint was pretty dull looking and the front end is a repaint.

 

[Scottwax]

After washing with Optimum No Rinse (and also dressing the tires and fenderwells):

After polishing with Optimum Polishing using a Lake Country cutting pad on the hood and trunk lid, then using OP with a Meguiars polishing pad:

I then followed with Jeff's Werkstatt Prime with a blue Propel finishing pad and Acrylic Jett by hand...and by the changing light, you can see the time I put into this car!

 

[01bluecls]

B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!!! All the vehicles look stellar!!! Love that 750.

 

[ScubaStevo]

Whoa, the lens you were using on that thunderbird really made me dizzy. Too focused on one part of the car, and everything else looks like its out 10 miles away. Turned out great though. Impressed once again.

 

[Mad iX]

I always say your work on paint looks great, your interior work is underrated too.

White lexus is looking really nice and wet for its color.

 

[imported_ajbarnes]

Awesome job Scott! That 750 is beautiful!

 

[ceiol]

love that 750Li.

 

[mav63]

Beautiful work. I don't like the silver trimmed bumpers on the 750Li. Makes it look cheap, if that's possible.

Nice improvement on the Thunderbird.

Do you get many onlookers doing work at busy intersections like that?

 

[adept]

Good job on them all Scott!

 

[SilverLexus]

:bow to the best hood pics in the business.

 

[Scottwax]

Whoa, the lens you were using on that thunderbird really made me dizzy. Too focused on one part of the car, and everything else looks like its out 10 miles away. Turned out great though. Impressed once again.

Well, once I had a before shot, I wanted the after shots to be the same. The changing sun angle and the clouds that rolled in just before sunset made it hard to get true before and afters though. I don't have time to position lights either, I don't want a mad customer who has to wait on me.

 

[1 Clean WS6]

Heeheehee...4th gen. f-bod paint is just like Vette paint = SOB!!!!



Awsome work as always Scott!! :xyxthumbs

 

[lbls1]

Good work there Scottwax! Very nice recovery on the z28 as well! Our paint isn't the most cooperative, but if its hit right..........like your client!! Wow...

 

[Brian_Brice]

you do good work scott, ive checked out alot of your customers cars and i like the way you diagnose the problems. ive stayed pretty stationary with my diags seen how i only carry a few different products per step. i often use hi temps levellers because if its not broke dont fix it. i wouldnt mind picking your brain on a few problem vehicles i have coming up in the near future. anyhow do you think i could get better results with different products than....



four star clay

ht cutters

klasse aio

klasse sg

trade secret carnuaba





not to question my own work id just like to hear from another considering thats basically the steps i take on almost every full job i do. thanks for your time in advance

 

[Anthony O.]

Great work Scott!



We have been dealing with heavy winds here and right after you detail a car it is covered in a thick dust :hairpull



Anthony

 

[Scottwax]

you do good work scott, ive checked out alot of your customers cars and i like the way you diagnose the problems. ive stayed pretty stationary with my diags seen how i only carry a few different products per step. i often use hi temps levellers because if its not broke dont fix it. i wouldnt mind picking your brain on a few problem vehicles i have coming up in the near future. anyhow do you think i could get better results with different products than....



four star clay

ht cutters

klasse aio

klasse sg

trade secret carnuaba





not to question my own work id just like to hear from another considering thats basically the steps i take on almost every full job i do. thanks for your time in advance

I'd try the Werkstatt twins, I think you will like them more than Klasse-basically a nanotech version of Klasse actually.



You might just want to read through the detailing discussion forum and see if anything interests you and try those products out. When I first came to Autopia, I only used Meguiars 80 series products and #26 wax. I discovered Clearkote on my own (local speed/ricer shop carried the product line), but the rest I found out about here.

 

[Scottwax]

Great work Scott!



We have been dealing with heavy winds here and right after you detail a car it is covered in a thick dust :hairpull



Anthony

No kidding! The Camaro was a load of joy-right near Lake Ray Hubbard, higher point than the area the wind was blowing from, plus temps mostly in the low 50s. I kept having to pin my towels under the wiper blades!



The dust has also been horrible, probably made worse by the lack of rain...but not losing days to rain has been nice, worked all buy one day in January!

 

[brokentelephone]

I always say your work on paint looks great, your interior work is underrated too.

White lexus is looking really nice and wet for its color.

Since when is it underrated? I think its pretty common knowledge around here that Scottwax does some of the best interior/exterior details.............! Great work as usual