This Mustang Cobra Saleen is a fairly rare car and belongs to a very good friend of mine. The car is constantly at the performance shop having modifications done to it and spends lots of time at the local track. It is currently pushing about 650 rwhp. The car has been well taken care of, but was in need of a little TLC to get it looking perfect again.
This was my first week at my new shop, so don’t mind the mess! It has come a long way since these pictures were taken. Since it was my first week at my new location, I was backed up with plenty of work as you can see…
Being white, the car always looks good from a distance, but up close you can see some surface scratches and light marring from improper washing techniques and wiping the car down when it’s dirty. My friend LOVES to constantly wipe his car down with detail spray, even when it’s dirty, which is why it looks the way it does.
I started by giving the car a thorough wash. As soon as I rinsed the car down with water, it beaded like crazy, which I was expecting due to the multiple layers of spray wax on the surface. I continued to wash the car with normal car wash soap, clayed the entire exterior, cleaned the wheels, scrubbed the tires and cleaned the engine compartment.
To remove the layer of spray wax and whatever else was on the paint, I sprayed Spray Nine degreaser on a microfiber towel, then scrubbed each panel until the water was no longer beading. As most of you already know, if the previous layer of wax, sealant, silicone, etc. is not fully removed, it will cause the polisher to “hydropane� above the surface, making defect removal much more difficult, not to mention the possible filling effects. As you can see in the picture below, the water is no longer beading, which means that the coating has been removed.
After the car was stripped free of all contaminants and previous coatings, I wiped down the complete exterior with 91% alcohol. This is what it looked like …
I masked off specific areas before any polishing was done…
After testing various products and combos, I chose to use Menzerna Power Finish (203S) on a black Tuf-Buf lambs wool pad, which has become one of my favorite combos. This combo cut right through the defects and made a very noticeable difference. In the 50/50 picture below, you can clearly see the difference between the two panels. It really brought out the true color of the paint and left only minor buffer trails from the wool pad, which is to be expected.
After the previous step was complete, I polished the complete exterior using 3M Extra Fine Compound (UK 80349) using a green german CCS pad.
This step dramatically increased the gloss and removed any buffer trails that were left behind from the PF/black wool combo. Below is what the paint looked like after this combo.
This was my first week at my new shop, so don’t mind the mess! It has come a long way since these pictures were taken. Since it was my first week at my new location, I was backed up with plenty of work as you can see…
Being white, the car always looks good from a distance, but up close you can see some surface scratches and light marring from improper washing techniques and wiping the car down when it’s dirty. My friend LOVES to constantly wipe his car down with detail spray, even when it’s dirty, which is why it looks the way it does.
I started by giving the car a thorough wash. As soon as I rinsed the car down with water, it beaded like crazy, which I was expecting due to the multiple layers of spray wax on the surface. I continued to wash the car with normal car wash soap, clayed the entire exterior, cleaned the wheels, scrubbed the tires and cleaned the engine compartment.
To remove the layer of spray wax and whatever else was on the paint, I sprayed Spray Nine degreaser on a microfiber towel, then scrubbed each panel until the water was no longer beading. As most of you already know, if the previous layer of wax, sealant, silicone, etc. is not fully removed, it will cause the polisher to “hydropane� above the surface, making defect removal much more difficult, not to mention the possible filling effects. As you can see in the picture below, the water is no longer beading, which means that the coating has been removed.
After the car was stripped free of all contaminants and previous coatings, I wiped down the complete exterior with 91% alcohol. This is what it looked like …
I masked off specific areas before any polishing was done…
After testing various products and combos, I chose to use Menzerna Power Finish (203S) on a black Tuf-Buf lambs wool pad, which has become one of my favorite combos. This combo cut right through the defects and made a very noticeable difference. In the 50/50 picture below, you can clearly see the difference between the two panels. It really brought out the true color of the paint and left only minor buffer trails from the wool pad, which is to be expected.
After the previous step was complete, I polished the complete exterior using 3M Extra Fine Compound (UK 80349) using a green german CCS pad.
This step dramatically increased the gloss and removed any buffer trails that were left behind from the PF/black wool combo. Below is what the paint looked like after this combo.
