zmcgovern45
New member
The owner of this car was referred to me by a member of a local forum. They wanted the car cleaned up because it had clearly lost some of its luster over the years. It was clear that the owners really cared for their vehicles - the inside was nearly spotless, the engine bay was in overall good shape, and the paint wasn't terrible, it showed the typical signs of normal wear that you would expect on an 8 year old car. After some discussion with the owner via email, he settled on a one-stage correction, which I promised would help to restore the lost clarity and gloss, but it would most likely leave any moderate to deeper defects.) He was OK with that since the vehicle is daily driven and is used to haul the kids around. He also decided to go with a premium paint coating (Opti-Coat 2.0) in order to provide years of protection for this great vehicle. I was very happy he decided to go with a coating, they are truly the best decision I have ever made for my personal vehicles!
The car turned out great - Gloss and clarity were restored as promised, and the car is now an entirely different shade of blue. The metallic flake really pops, and the car looks 5 years younger! Another happy customer, and I hope to work with them again. Extremely nice people, as the vast majority of my customers are!
Process
Exterior
- Wheels: Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner. Faces cleaned with soft wheel brush and wheel sponge. Barrels cleaned with EZ Detail Brush and Wheel Woolies.
- Tires: Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner and Brush
- Pre-Wash: CG Citrus Wash & Gloss via Gilmour Foammaster II Foam Gun
- Wash: CG Citrus Wash & Gloss via Sheepskin Wash Mitt (Two Bucket Method)
- Dry: DI Waffle Weave Towels
- Decontamination: Iron X and Medium Grade Clay with NanoSkin Glide (7:1) as Lube
- Tape: 3M Blue Painters Tape
- Paint Thickness Readings Taken
- Polish: Sonax Perfect Finish on LC Orange Light Cutting Pads - 5.5" via Rupes LHR21ES and 3",4" via PC7424XP
- IPA Wipedown: 15% IPA Solution
- Wash: ONR (GD Wash Method)
- Dry: DI Waffle Weave Towels
- IPA Wipedown: 15% IPA Solution
- Coating: Optimum Opti-Coat 2.0
- Trim: 303 Optimum Opti Bond Tire Gel
- Exhaust Tip: CG Metal Polish + Protection applied by hand with MF towel
- Glass: Meguiar's D120
- Wheels: Poorboy's Wheel Sealant
- Tires: 303 Aerospace Protectant
Engine
- Cleaning: ONR
- Plastic Covers: 303 Aerospace Protectant
- Hoses/Harnesses: CG Black on Black
Interior
(Leather Seat)
- Meguiar's D103 (10:1) agitated with leather/vinyl brush
- Conditioner: Griot's Garage Leather Care
Before
Quick inspection before washing... some heavy damage on the front bumper where it appears the car might have hit the garage.
Paint looked dull and appeared to be stained or have a film covering up that gorgeous metallic flake
Plastic trim was dull and faded due to significant water spotting
Not much sun peaking through the trees, but you can still see the swirls and scratches in the paint
Tire showed remnants of old, greasy tire shine on them.
Wheels showed the usual brake dust and dirt buildup.
During
As always, I started with the wheels and tires. You can see quite a bit of filth coming off of the wheels
the wheel wells and tires were also cleaned. You can see the amount of dirt and old, cheap tire shine that was coming off of the tires. It took several rounds of cleaning to remove the majority of the dirt.
After washing, I moved the car into the sun to have a better look at the paint... nothing that I wasn't inspecting since I had already taken a look at the car prior to scheduling the appointment.
The paint was then inspected under the halogen lights which displayed stains all over the paint that were dulling the finish and drastically muting the vibrant metallic finish.
For those who have never used detailing clay, it is used to remove bonded contaminates from the surface of the vehicle. While washing removes a great deal of dirt and contamination, there are always particles that have truly bonded to the paint and cannot be removed with washing - detailing clay is used to remove these bonded particles.
The paint was extremely contaminated. This is what the clay looked like after just 1/4 of the hood.
The paint was extremely contaminated. This is what the clay looked like after just one section of the lower section of a door.
Test spot before any correction. Look at how dull and lifeless the paint is. Notice how you can hardly even see the stand that the lights are mounted on.
Test spot after correction. Look at how much clarity and depth has been restored to the right hand side. Notice the nice reflections compared to the left hand side. What a dramatic difference.
A closer look at the 50/50 of the test spot. That metallic flake just POPS!
After polishing the front door. Look at that brilliant shine. Even without direct lighting, you can see that the rear door is not as glossy as the front.
50/50 of rear door (no tape line on this one, just 'freehand')
50/50 shot on trim molding on the door. Again, an excellent difference.
Next, I turned my attention to the damage on the side of the bumper. This is before any correction.
this is the damage after heavy compounding and then a finish polish. Looks much better, right?
Well it was improved greatly, but the light shows the true story. As expected, the scratches were too heavy to remove, but they are definitely less noticeable.
50/50 shot on the mirror
The car turned out great - Gloss and clarity were restored as promised, and the car is now an entirely different shade of blue. The metallic flake really pops, and the car looks 5 years younger! Another happy customer, and I hope to work with them again. Extremely nice people, as the vast majority of my customers are!
Process
Exterior
- Wheels: Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner. Faces cleaned with soft wheel brush and wheel sponge. Barrels cleaned with EZ Detail Brush and Wheel Woolies.
- Tires: Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner and Brush
- Pre-Wash: CG Citrus Wash & Gloss via Gilmour Foammaster II Foam Gun
- Wash: CG Citrus Wash & Gloss via Sheepskin Wash Mitt (Two Bucket Method)
- Dry: DI Waffle Weave Towels
- Decontamination: Iron X and Medium Grade Clay with NanoSkin Glide (7:1) as Lube
- Tape: 3M Blue Painters Tape
- Paint Thickness Readings Taken
- Polish: Sonax Perfect Finish on LC Orange Light Cutting Pads - 5.5" via Rupes LHR21ES and 3",4" via PC7424XP
- IPA Wipedown: 15% IPA Solution
- Wash: ONR (GD Wash Method)
- Dry: DI Waffle Weave Towels
- IPA Wipedown: 15% IPA Solution
- Coating: Optimum Opti-Coat 2.0
- Trim: 303 Optimum Opti Bond Tire Gel
- Exhaust Tip: CG Metal Polish + Protection applied by hand with MF towel
- Glass: Meguiar's D120
- Wheels: Poorboy's Wheel Sealant
- Tires: 303 Aerospace Protectant
Engine
- Cleaning: ONR
- Plastic Covers: 303 Aerospace Protectant
- Hoses/Harnesses: CG Black on Black
Interior
(Leather Seat)
- Meguiar's D103 (10:1) agitated with leather/vinyl brush
- Conditioner: Griot's Garage Leather Care
Before
Quick inspection before washing... some heavy damage on the front bumper where it appears the car might have hit the garage.
Paint looked dull and appeared to be stained or have a film covering up that gorgeous metallic flake
Plastic trim was dull and faded due to significant water spotting
Not much sun peaking through the trees, but you can still see the swirls and scratches in the paint
Tire showed remnants of old, greasy tire shine on them.
Wheels showed the usual brake dust and dirt buildup.
During
As always, I started with the wheels and tires. You can see quite a bit of filth coming off of the wheels
the wheel wells and tires were also cleaned. You can see the amount of dirt and old, cheap tire shine that was coming off of the tires. It took several rounds of cleaning to remove the majority of the dirt.
After washing, I moved the car into the sun to have a better look at the paint... nothing that I wasn't inspecting since I had already taken a look at the car prior to scheduling the appointment.
The paint was then inspected under the halogen lights which displayed stains all over the paint that were dulling the finish and drastically muting the vibrant metallic finish.
For those who have never used detailing clay, it is used to remove bonded contaminates from the surface of the vehicle. While washing removes a great deal of dirt and contamination, there are always particles that have truly bonded to the paint and cannot be removed with washing - detailing clay is used to remove these bonded particles.
The paint was extremely contaminated. This is what the clay looked like after just 1/4 of the hood.
The paint was extremely contaminated. This is what the clay looked like after just one section of the lower section of a door.
Test spot before any correction. Look at how dull and lifeless the paint is. Notice how you can hardly even see the stand that the lights are mounted on.
Test spot after correction. Look at how much clarity and depth has been restored to the right hand side. Notice the nice reflections compared to the left hand side. What a dramatic difference.
A closer look at the 50/50 of the test spot. That metallic flake just POPS!
After polishing the front door. Look at that brilliant shine. Even without direct lighting, you can see that the rear door is not as glossy as the front.
50/50 of rear door (no tape line on this one, just 'freehand')
50/50 shot on trim molding on the door. Again, an excellent difference.
Next, I turned my attention to the damage on the side of the bumper. This is before any correction.
this is the damage after heavy compounding and then a finish polish. Looks much better, right?
Well it was improved greatly, but the light shows the true story. As expected, the scratches were too heavy to remove, but they are definitely less noticeable.
50/50 shot on the mirror
)
