Rickrack & Rydawg: Breaking the Gloss Barrier! (lots of pics!)

jsatek said:
1500, 2000, all by hand, then followed by 3000 on the Trizact D/A? That shop really set it up for perfection! Got to love those door reflection shots.
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I think they used 1000, 1500, 3000 trizact, but I will have ask to make sure. The paintwork came out superb. The sanding was just OK, but not that great. They did have a lot of pigtails from not cleaning their sanding pads enough. It would have been easier if we had worked on the next day after it was painted, but we had a lot of work in our shop and could not get to it soon enough.



The paint was harder than anything we have ever touched. It makes Corvette paint seem like melted butter. We used 32 plus oz. of just compound on this car, 2 full bottles of 90% straight alcohol, 40 new microfibres, worn out a bunch of new Megs polishing pads. Washed out the wool and foam pads over 40 times just to keep the dust down and the perfection at it's peak.
 
Rick, can I ask a fundamental (perhaps dumb) question? I have been under the impression that when a car rolls out of the spray booth that it's almost ready to hit the street. Is that not the case? Was there something significantly different about this job/car? This almost looks like the process one would have to go thru with a single stage finish (no clearcoat) and all the post work that would be needed to level the paint and create a high gloss.



I have a hard time believing that a body shop has to go thru this labor-intensive process with every crashed car they repair - - whether it's a Benz or a Kia. Can you address that?



Thx.
 
tom p. said:
Rick, can I ask a fundamental (perhaps dumb) question? I have been under the impression that when a car rolls out of the spray booth that it's almost ready to hit the street. Is that not the case? Was there something significantly different about this job/car? This almost looks like the process one would have to go thru with a single stage finish (no clearcoat) and all the post work that would be needed to level the paint and create a high gloss.



I have a hard time believing that a body shop has to go thru this labor-intensive process with every crashed car they repair - - whether it's a Benz or a Kia. Can you address that?



Thx.
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Well, in most cases you are correct, but this paint paint was unlike any other I have EVER dealt with! Like Ryan stated, this paint makes Corvette clear look like melted butter.



I forget the brand name of paint (I'm sure Ryan will chime in), but it is a high quality, super rock hard paint that is meant to be wetsanded and polished within a few days. We were busy at the shop and missed this window which made it much more difficult to correct.



Here is how bad the sanding scratches were after 2 full passes with Extra Cut using a yellow wool pad:



InfinitiG354042.jpg
 
OK, thanks for clarifying. So, in some cases this level of post-finishing work is known and anticipated?



Is the finished product that much better in terms of appearance and durability over the next 5 yrs, for example? I'd be curious to hear the product name if Ryan knows it. I'd expect the owner to pay quite a premium with such a labor-intensive paint/clear.



Thx.
 
great work guys! Just wondering how you liked those yellow megs so1o pads compared to lc white or green?
 
rydawg said:
I believe they used Spies-Hecker.
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That's the product they used on my wife's car 2 weeks ago. This shop has been using it for years at that company is one of Benz's suppliers.
 
TH0001 said:
You have to love how wetsanded and orange peel free paint is just so true and reflective. Very nice work guys and great pictures. Seriously great work!!!
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Seconded! I find it ironic that the body shop was able to wetsand the entire car, but was intimidated by the polishing process. :chuckle:



Edit: What kind of camera did you buy?
 
Thats literally amazing! Cannot get better than a fully wetsanded beast! Looks like a mirror now with virtually no orange peel! Color looks so deep its crazy!



I hope you both were compensated greatly and had made a big profit for this tremendous work you've both done!!!!!:nana:
 
tom p. said:
OK, thanks for clarifying. So, in some cases this level of post-finishing work is known and anticipated?



Is the finished product that much better in terms of appearance and durability over the next 5 yrs, for example? I'd be curious to hear the product name if Ryan knows it. I'd expect the owner to pay quite a premium with such a labor-intensive paint/clear.



Thx.
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Well, most of the time they do not even wetsand and compound the cars after paint. They are just painted and delivered to the customer. The owner of the car wanted it perfect, which is why it was fully wetsanded and sent to us to bring the finish back to perfection. The difference in appearance is unbelievable when it is done correctly. Wetsanding does not add to the durability at all, just the overall appearance. A total of 4 coats of clear were applied to this car.



The owner of the body shop is going to start telling his customers about our services and charge an extra fee. The results are far superior versus a car that has not been wetsanded and polished like this car has.





DinoV-



Thanks!



The yellow So1o pads work pretty well, but they do not last that long. If I were to place another order, I would go for the green ones.





Moutee-



Yes, the owner of the body shop did not want his guys to polish the car because they have burned through paint in the past and leave lots of swirl marks. After working on this car, I can totally see why they didn't want to do it themselves. It was probably one of the toughest jobs I have ever worked on. Not looking forward to the next one!





My93Civic-



Thanks for the kind words.



The pay was alright considering it was a wholesale job. Probably not something I would want to do all the time. Just the materials alone was a pretty penny (compared to other jobs). Seeing the end result made it a little more worth it in the end.





tdekany-



Yup, I bought myself a D60. I went to the store to buy a D40 and walked out with a D60! Now I just have to learn how to use it!
 
I honestly can say that the only two words I think of when I see the incredible work done here is "Holy" and "****". Nothing else comes to mind really, I am shocked by the finish produced and the clarity as well, with no LSP I might add. Just incredible.:2thumbs:
 
RickRack said:
Yup, I bought myself a D60. I went to the store to buy a D40 and walked out with a D60! Now I just have to learn how to use it!
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I'm debating whether or not I should get the D40x, or shell out a bit more and get the D60. What are the main differences that you noticed?
 
Excellent work on the paint! Infiniti paint is pretty hard so no suprise it was tough to polish out. The car looks absolutely amazing in the after shots! :bow
 
I dont even know what to say - stunned? You guys do correction work that is amazing.



BTW - D60 is a nice camera. What lens do you use? I shoot with the D200 and photography is another expensive habit.
 
Simply incredible!



That has to be some of the flattest paint I've seen. You guys did a killer job on making that look top notch.
 
Ryan and Rick, Let me just say that I am very impressed and humbled with the quality of the work that you guys put out.



I think that I would of started :hairpull if the paint looked like below after a few passes with ECC. :nervous2:





RickRack said:
Here is how bad the sanding scratches were after 2 full passes with Extra Cut using a yellow wool pad:



InfinitiG354042.jpg
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Simply amazing work guys! I have what will probably be a really stupid question but does a larger pad really help when your cutting an area like that? I have some 8" edge pads while i've only tired the blue pad seem to take longer to get the same results as compared to the 6" Did it work better on the G35 because the door is so flat?



Like the D60, I just upgraded to a 40D canon, I've found many people who like to detail have or develop the camera bug as well.
 
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