tssdetailing
New member
Back when Pauly Shore was cool, Bill N Ted were flying through time and big-hair bands were still in everyone's cassette deck, these super rad rides were in their prime. Decades later, these cars are in serious need of some Autopian TLC. Both of these vehicle owners contacted me with hopes to recondition their cars so as to get the most return in market value when they put them up for sale. First up, a 1992 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 and from the other side of the world, a 1989 red on red Corvette.
This 3000 GT VR4 has over 100k miles on her. A single owner car which spent most of its life outside leaving the single stage paint dull in many areas and the trim nearly non-existant. When I first met the owner I hoped he would be willing to let me really restore the car to full potential over the course of a few days. His budget was somewhat limited though.
Process:
Floormats (which are green?) were vac'd and shampooed with a CG carpet scrubber attached to my Flex D/A and a solution of Detail Kings carpet foam then extracted. Car interior was vacuumed, using a small detailing brush to get debris out of tight spaces (ie: buttons and dash components). I found on 2 door coupes it's best to start the chemical cleaning in the back seat and work outward, so I haunched myself into the rear seating compartment and cleaned the plastics with a MF and Megs APC Plus mixed 10:1, the leather was cleaned using Adams leather cleaner and a horse hair brush, then wiped dry with an MF. Once the back was complete, i used the same solutions for the front. Finally I spot treated the cabin carpet with a spray bottle mix of shampoo and water, agitating the areas with a stiff brush, then daubing the chemicals with a terry cloth towel. Initially I did not expect the interior to take so long which is why there was no before shot, but I ended up spending nearly 2.5 hours on it. After a quick lunch, I regrouped myself and began work on the exterior, pressure washing the car, making sure to blast heavy dirt build up out of water-tracks and from the door/hatch jambs. Wheels, tires and fender wells were degreased with CG's Grime Reaper @ 6:1 and scrubbed with an array of brushes. You could literally see years of build up streaking away after a few sprits of the degreaser. The body was then foamed down with CG's Wash N Gloss mixed with Grime Reaper (i do this to help thoroughly degrease the car of any wax or saps) washing the car with a chenille mit and a boars hair detailing brush in the crevices. After her bath, I clayed the car with CG's medium bar and ONR for lube, after ward a 2nd foaming and bath followed then I dried the car and begin assessing the paint more closely. I had expected the single stage paint to be soft and easy to correct-particularly the oxidized areas on the quarter panel. Such was not the case as my MFDA pads and 300 combo was ruled out after it seemed to "stick" to the paint. I decided to use a purple foam wool pad (PFW) with M105. Wow, the gloss instantly returned. So I did a polishing pass using D301 on a CG Hexlogic Green pad (this is a killer one step combo). The panels were rich and glossy red again. The remainder of the car was polished with the Green pad and 301. Heavily oxidized areas were hit with the PFW/105 combo first. Tight areas in the rear bumper and B-pillar triangles were corrected with the Griots 3" and MFDA 3" cut/polish pads. Tighter areas (under the wing) were done by hand using some Wolfgang orange pads followed by white polishing pads. The result was a gleaming bright red car!
Up next is a 14,000 mile young 1989 C4 Corvette. This owner dropped the vehicle off with me on a wednesday, handed me the keys with one direction, "Make it look good." I was happy to hear I virtually had a blank check to work and commenced work. The vehicle over all was in good shape. Just a few scuffs on the interior carpet which came out 100% with a spray of some Megs APC and a stiff brush. The plastic dash/trim elements were all cleaned with a MF and Megs APC too. Knowing the car would be mine for a few days, I decided to leatherique the seats-spraying the rejuvenator oil on and working it into each seat by hand, kneading the leather over and over again to ensure a uniform coverage. I did the same application to the shifter boot and steering wheel. I popped the hood and closed the car. The engine was just as the rest of the car-in great shape. I still wanted to put some effort into it, so I foamed it down and agitated the nooks and crannies with my Daytona Speed brushes and some Grime Reaper mixed 6:1. I rinsed down the engine, then towel and blow-dried all I could reach. I shut the hood and turned on the car to let the engine/fan dry any other water out. The body was foamed down, washed and then clayed. After I dried the car, I put her in the garage so she could drip dry over night. On day two, I removed the Leatherique rejuvenator oil with pristine clean and applied 303 aerospace protectant to all of the dash, doors and interior trim. I closed the doors and started taping off all the exterior trim and rubber. As usual, I started with my MFDA pad and D300. This actually cleared up A LOT of the swirls, however i think i used too much compound on the first pass b/c the second pass gave me some drama, as did the 3rd and even on another panel. So I pulled out my favorite cutting combo; the PFW and M105. This combo cut much deeper reducing all of the swirls and even burnished a few pesky RIDs. The front clip had some bad pitting and water spot etchings on it so I wet sanded that using 2000 grit by hand, followed with a Trizact 3000. The gloss was restored with PFW/105 and an H20 Cyan/105 combo. Once all the heavy compounding was done, I removed all the tape and washed the Vette a final time. I loaded a CG Green Hex pad with D301 and performed the final polishing work to remove micro-marring and really make the red paint sizzle. Total time involved was 16 hours.
This 3000 GT VR4 has over 100k miles on her. A single owner car which spent most of its life outside leaving the single stage paint dull in many areas and the trim nearly non-existant. When I first met the owner I hoped he would be willing to let me really restore the car to full potential over the course of a few days. His budget was somewhat limited though.
Process:
Floormats (which are green?) were vac'd and shampooed with a CG carpet scrubber attached to my Flex D/A and a solution of Detail Kings carpet foam then extracted. Car interior was vacuumed, using a small detailing brush to get debris out of tight spaces (ie: buttons and dash components). I found on 2 door coupes it's best to start the chemical cleaning in the back seat and work outward, so I haunched myself into the rear seating compartment and cleaned the plastics with a MF and Megs APC Plus mixed 10:1, the leather was cleaned using Adams leather cleaner and a horse hair brush, then wiped dry with an MF. Once the back was complete, i used the same solutions for the front. Finally I spot treated the cabin carpet with a spray bottle mix of shampoo and water, agitating the areas with a stiff brush, then daubing the chemicals with a terry cloth towel. Initially I did not expect the interior to take so long which is why there was no before shot, but I ended up spending nearly 2.5 hours on it. After a quick lunch, I regrouped myself and began work on the exterior, pressure washing the car, making sure to blast heavy dirt build up out of water-tracks and from the door/hatch jambs. Wheels, tires and fender wells were degreased with CG's Grime Reaper @ 6:1 and scrubbed with an array of brushes. You could literally see years of build up streaking away after a few sprits of the degreaser. The body was then foamed down with CG's Wash N Gloss mixed with Grime Reaper (i do this to help thoroughly degrease the car of any wax or saps) washing the car with a chenille mit and a boars hair detailing brush in the crevices. After her bath, I clayed the car with CG's medium bar and ONR for lube, after ward a 2nd foaming and bath followed then I dried the car and begin assessing the paint more closely. I had expected the single stage paint to be soft and easy to correct-particularly the oxidized areas on the quarter panel. Such was not the case as my MFDA pads and 300 combo was ruled out after it seemed to "stick" to the paint. I decided to use a purple foam wool pad (PFW) with M105. Wow, the gloss instantly returned. So I did a polishing pass using D301 on a CG Hexlogic Green pad (this is a killer one step combo). The panels were rich and glossy red again. The remainder of the car was polished with the Green pad and 301. Heavily oxidized areas were hit with the PFW/105 combo first. Tight areas in the rear bumper and B-pillar triangles were corrected with the Griots 3" and MFDA 3" cut/polish pads. Tighter areas (under the wing) were done by hand using some Wolfgang orange pads followed by white polishing pads. The result was a gleaming bright red car!
Up next is a 14,000 mile young 1989 C4 Corvette. This owner dropped the vehicle off with me on a wednesday, handed me the keys with one direction, "Make it look good." I was happy to hear I virtually had a blank check to work and commenced work. The vehicle over all was in good shape. Just a few scuffs on the interior carpet which came out 100% with a spray of some Megs APC and a stiff brush. The plastic dash/trim elements were all cleaned with a MF and Megs APC too. Knowing the car would be mine for a few days, I decided to leatherique the seats-spraying the rejuvenator oil on and working it into each seat by hand, kneading the leather over and over again to ensure a uniform coverage. I did the same application to the shifter boot and steering wheel. I popped the hood and closed the car. The engine was just as the rest of the car-in great shape. I still wanted to put some effort into it, so I foamed it down and agitated the nooks and crannies with my Daytona Speed brushes and some Grime Reaper mixed 6:1. I rinsed down the engine, then towel and blow-dried all I could reach. I shut the hood and turned on the car to let the engine/fan dry any other water out. The body was foamed down, washed and then clayed. After I dried the car, I put her in the garage so she could drip dry over night. On day two, I removed the Leatherique rejuvenator oil with pristine clean and applied 303 aerospace protectant to all of the dash, doors and interior trim. I closed the doors and started taping off all the exterior trim and rubber. As usual, I started with my MFDA pad and D300. This actually cleared up A LOT of the swirls, however i think i used too much compound on the first pass b/c the second pass gave me some drama, as did the 3rd and even on another panel. So I pulled out my favorite cutting combo; the PFW and M105. This combo cut much deeper reducing all of the swirls and even burnished a few pesky RIDs. The front clip had some bad pitting and water spot etchings on it so I wet sanded that using 2000 grit by hand, followed with a Trizact 3000. The gloss was restored with PFW/105 and an H20 Cyan/105 combo. Once all the heavy compounding was done, I removed all the tape and washed the Vette a final time. I loaded a CG Green Hex pad with D301 and performed the final polishing work to remove micro-marring and really make the red paint sizzle. Total time involved was 16 hours.
