Pics from last year (56k warning!)

Looks pretty good to me, but the sun really brings in the defects on the hood in the one pic toward the end (watched the slideshow).



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Welcome to Autopia!
 
Thanks for the vote of confidence.



It was the engine bay treatment that really annoyed me ... just not very professional ... residue left here and there ...



I'm going to tackle some work this weekend ... and I've downloaded the e-book for hints and tips.



I'll take some new pics when I am done.
 
I just thought I would throw in a little update.



A couple of weeks ago I picked up a bunch on Meguires products; soap, clay bar, polish, and wax.

I have never used a clay bar or polish before.

Keep in mind that I have only done my hood so far ... I have yet to find the time to "finish what I started".:nixweiss



Here are the pics of what I did and the difference I found between the steps.

Needless to say, I am sold!:xyxthumbs





Just washed ... notice how bad the paint is.

Freshly_washed_1_small.jpg


Freshly_washed_2_small.jpg


Freshly_washed_3_small.jpg


Freshly_washed_4_small.jpg


Freshly_washed_5_small.jpg


Clay bar by itself on the left, clay bar and polish on the right.

Clay_bar_and_polish_vs_clay_bar_alone_2_small.jpg
 
And now for the "after" pics ...:D





Clay bar and polish ... talk about bringing the black back to my car!

And it looks as thought it has done a good job removing the swirls and stuff! :cheesy:

Clay_bar_and_polish_1_small.jpg


Clay_bar_and_polish_2_small.jpg


Clay_bar_and_polish_3_small.jpg


All_clay_bar_and_polish_small.jpg


Now I have waxed the right side ...

Clay_bar_polish_with_wax_on_the_right_1_small.jpg


Clay_bar_polish_with_wax_on_the_right_2_small.jpg


The whole hood is done now! 8) :cheesy:

Clay_bar_polish_and_wax_all_over_small.jpg
 
Great job minimizing the scratches and bringing the shine back. Now you just gotta get your washing technique down so you can keep it looking good. Those scratches were pretty bad.What were you washing with before? Hey, I hit my '03 car a couple of times with the brush at the coin-op, so don't take it the wrong way. I guess it's the IT'S MADE OF METAL thinking we're all in till we realize just how delicate the paint really is. Oh well, whatever. Atleast now you can obtain the results you want without forking out some loot to some "pro". Bet he didn't even give you tips on maintanance, huh?
 
jrocc1212 said:
Great job minimizing the scratches and bringing the shine back. Now you just gotta get your washing technique down so you can keep it looking good. Those scratches were pretty bad.What were you washing with before? Hey, I hit my '03 car a couple of times with the brush at the coin-op, so don't take it the wrong way. I guess it's the IT'S MADE OF METAL thinking we're all in till we realize just how delicate the paint really is. Oh well, whatever. Atleast now you can obtain the results you want without forking out some loot to some "pro". Bet he didn't even give you tips on maintanance, huh?
Click to expand...





Well, the car is a 1996 Saab 900SET ... I bought it a year ago in April ... it had 211,000 km's on it at the time (it now has 262K) ... so I really have no idea how it was taken care of.

Since I got it, I have either washed it by hand or taken it to a coin-op ... and in the winter I run it through the touchless washes.

I have never seen the inside of a regular car wash with it.



As for the pros ... they just took my money ... and didn't give me my money's worth.:sosad

Now I just have to find the time to finish the job ... I think I will have to try to break it up over the weekend ...

Maybe I will need a really early morning start to get a good chunk of it out of the way before the wife and kids wake up (not to mention that it is much cooler in the early morning).



Oh well, who needs to sleep anyway, right?:eek: :D
 
The reason I was mentioning your technique was that I supposed the scratches were introduced after the PRO had got it to a near flawless condition. Just keep doing what your doing. Looking great
 
whoa! nice transformation. at first i didn't think it looked too bad until i saw the passenger's side of the hood. yikes! but very nice job!
 
a job well done! Nice before and after photos - you can really see the difference.



:cool:
 
Added a "56k warning" to the title of this thread because of the HUGE number of pictures you linked! :eek:
 
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