2009 Challenger SRT8 - Two Stage Paint Correction & Engine Detail

[zmcgovern45]

This customer contacted me on Facebook regarding his Challenger SRT8. It is not his daily driven vehicle, and he wanted it cleaned up so it would look it's best when he got to take it out on nice days. The paint had rather deep swirls and scratches, as well as etched water spots and bug splatter. I was battling some ridiculously hot weather (2 days of 97 degrees, heat index of 103) and I gave it everything I could for a two step correction, but there were still some heavier defects that I was unable to correct within the time I had to work on this vehicle. Overall I'd say I achieved around an 85% correction, and it looked great when it was completed.

Process

Engine
- Wash underside of hood
- Rinse Engine Bay
- Meguiar's D103 agitated with various brushes
- Thoroughly Rinse
- Dry with leaf blower
- Trim and plastic panels dressed with 303
- Hoses and harnesses dressed with CG Black on Black Spray


Exterior
- Wheels: Sonax Full Effect agitated with soft wheel brush and sponge, barrels cleaned with wheel woolies
- Tires: Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner and Brush
- Foam Pre-Soak: CG Citrus Wash and Gloss
- Bug & Tar Remover: CG Bug Bugger and Tar Remover (5:1 I think?)
- Wash: CG Citrus Wash and Gloss w/ sheep skin wash mitt (2 bucket method)
- Dry: DI Waffle Weave MF Towels
- Clay: DI Fine Grade Clay
- Tape: 3M Blue Painters Tape
- Paint Thickness Readings Taken
- Compound: Meguiar's D300/M105 Mix (D305?) on 5.5" Meguiar's MF Cutting Pads via Rupes LHR21ES and 3" Meguiar's MF Cutting Pads via PC7424XP
- Polish: Meguiar's M205 on 5.5" LC White Polishing Pad via Rupes LHR21ES and 3" White Polishing pad via PC7424XP
- Wash: ONR (GD method)
- Sealant: CG Black Light
- Wax: CG Pete's 53
- Exhaust: CG Metal Polish + Protection (by hand with MF towel)
- Glass: Meguiar's D120
- Tires: Optimum Opti-Bond Tire Gel

Total Time: ~15 Hours (heat slowed me down a little)



Before

The car was dropped off and I had some time to get some pictures before the driveway was in full shade and I could begin washing.

Even though the car was dirty, I could clearly see the swirls and scratches. Also the car had plenty of water spots on the paint which always makes me assume there will be some etching in the clear coat.

Here's a new one... a spider had made its home in the corner of the rear window.

The faces of the wheels were not too dirty, but the barrels of the wheels needed a good cleaning.

Exhaust tips were in pretty good shape, but again, there were more water spots.

Engine wasn't too dirty, but there were tons of water spots on all of the plastic trim, as well as a layer of dirt and dust.

 

[zmcgovern45]

During

I began by cleaning the engine compartment. Notice the exposed air filter was covered before I started so it would not get wet. While I know it is unlikely for a little water to cause any problems... always better safe than sorry.

After a good rinsing, the engine was sprayed liberally with Meguiar's D103 APC+ (mixed 10:1) and scrubbed down with a soft brush. The engine was then rinsed and dried with a blower.

Next the wheels were cleaned using Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner. This product starts as a neon green color and turns to purple as it reacts with brake dust, dirt, and grime.

You can see that there is not much of a reaction on the face of the wheels since they were pretty clean, however there is a river of dirt flowing from the barrels of the wheels.

The wheel cleaner was then agitated with a soft wheel brush and the barrels were cleaned with wheel woolies. Notice how clean the wheels are (both the faces and the barrels). The tires were then scrubbed down with Tuff shine tire cleaner and tire brush until the suds remained white (as shown), indicating the dirt had been removed.

With the wheels clean, I proceeded to foam the car, rinse, and then wash the vehicle using a proper 2 bucket washing method. The car was then dried with quality waffle weave microfiber and a blower to help get water out of all of the hard to reach places.

After the paint was washed and decontaminated (using fine grade clay) I was able to thoroughly inspect the paint. The metallic paint made it somewhat difficult to capture all of the finer defects in the camera, so you'll have to believe me when I tell you that it was worse than what you see here.

I was now ready to begin my test spot on the hood.
https://sphotos-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/999469_295787833892676_1439745918_n.jpg



Due to the fact that there were a lot of deeper defects, it was determined that a heavy cutting compound (mix of D300 and M105) with a MF cutting pad would be required to remove that majority of the imperfections.

Door Before Correction (one of my light bulbs burned out so what was supposed to be a 50/50 turned into just a before and after).

Door After Compounding

I took this 50/50 shot to show the difference final finish polishing makes. This is the section of the door shown in the previous photo... I put a piece of tape through that section and used a finishing polish (m205) on the upper portion. You can clearly see that the upper area is a much deeper, darker color... while the lower area has a considerable amount of marring/haze remaining from the heavy cutting compound.

This is that same section out in the sunlight. The rest of the area has been compounded, but only the small section in the middle has been polished. What a dramatic difference!

You can see how the haze looks in the sunlight. It creates a greyish, hazy finish on the paint. This is why it is crucial to follow up with a finishing polish on black paint after using an aggressive cutting compound/pad combo.

Door Before Correction

Door After Compounding

Fender before correction

Fender after compounding

Again, another side by side shot showing the difference that finish polishing makes. The left side has been polished and the right side has only been compounded. You can see the improved clarity in the left side compared to the right.

Door Before Correction

Door after compounding

Door after polishing

50/50 shot of the door... you can see the farthest portion of the door is a dramatically improved. Swirls, Scratches, and some pretty bad holograms are all present on the uncorrected area.

Door Before Correction

Door After Compounding

Rear Quarter Panel Before Correction

and after compounding

Inspecting the results in the sunlight after all of the correction work was completed.

All that compounding and polishing created quite a mess. Dust was everywhere. The paint was then washed again to remove the dust and any existing polishing oils.

After

The car was coated with Black Light Sealant and then Pete's 53 Wax, a great combo for dark paint. The paint looked fantastic after all of that hard work!

Look at that metallic flake! No Swirls here! (I like to see how many sun stars I can put on the paint at one time - only count 2 in this picture)

^Winner... I count 7 sun stars in that pic. No visible swirls.

Great reflections

Engine and trim was properly dressed. Everyone knows a clean engine is more powerful than a dirty one.

Exhaust tips were polished up... showing off the mirror like paint, too.

Looking good! Awesome, deep, dark black paint. Gorgeous.

 

[zmcgovern45]

Waiting to be picked up... Guess I should do a photo shoot with some time to spare!

Had to lay in the itchy grass to get this angle... totally worth it.

This one could belong in a magazine if I do say so myself (my favorite)

As always, thanks for looking! Questions and/or comments are greatly appreciated!

 

[vet]

Great job!

 

[PA DETAILER]

my dream car. great job!

 

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Beautiful work Zach. I admire your photography.

 

[Iron400]

Awesome write up as always! I love the pic down the drivers side reflecting the fence.

 

[GenesisCoupe]

Looks great!!! And since the whole forum is a an Anti-Chemical Guys bandwagon these days I gotta say; Great work with the CG products!

 

[DeviousDetail]

Like always amazing work.

 

[Dr_Pain]

Very,VERY nice!, actually AWESOME work! (as usual)

What did you do to the hood vinyl decal?

 

[Corey@OptimalDetailing]

Outstanding work, looks great!

 

[SR99]

Great job and thanks for the writeup and photos.

Just wondering, do you instruct the owners on better wash techniques and/or sell them maintenance products?

 

[parttimer]

Looks awesome! No post cleaning engine bay shots? I LOL'ed, I have the same tires on my 300SRT!

 

[Caleb@ImpeccableImage]

Great job as usual!

 

[LatinFG2]

That came out amazing!

 

[JSou]

Great job Zach.

 

[WRX02227]

Very,VERY nice!, actually AWESOME work! (as usual)

What did you do to the hood vinyl decal?

I'm curious about this as well.

 

[zmcgovern45]

Great job!

Thank you!

my dream car. great job!

Thanks!

Beautiful work Zach. I admire your photography.

Thanks Mike!

Awesome write up as always! I love the pic down the drivers side reflecting the fence.

Ha, thanks! I've had several people tell me they like that one :xyxthumbs:

Looks great!!! And since the whole forum is a an Anti-Chemical Guys bandwagon these days I gotta say; Great work with the CG products!

Thanks! ... Anti-CG? Since when?

Like always amazing work.

:dblthumb2:

Very,VERY nice!, actually AWESOME work! (as usual)

What did you do to the hood vinyl decal?

Thanks!! Nothing was really done to the vinyl, it was washed and clayed, but that was it. It was actually in pretty poor shape, but you need to be super close to see it. The vinyl is starting to crack all over the place.

Outstanding work, looks great!

Thank you!

Great job and thanks for the writeup and photos.

Just wondering, do you instruct the owners on better wash techniques and/or sell them maintenance products?

^Thanks! Yes - I do both! I always send them a "thank you"/follow up email with a link to Todd Cooperider's "How to wash your car without causing swirl marks" and also provide them with a list that I created of what I consider "essential routine maintenance products" and tell them if they ever need to purchase anything then I can provide a discount on whatever they need... surprisingly not many people take me up on that offer though.

Looks awesome! No post cleaning engine bay shots? I LOL'ed, I have the same tires on my 300SRT!

Thanks!

There is most definitely a post-engine bay shot... here it is again

Great job as usual!

Thank you! :xyxthumbs:

That came out amazing!

I agree! Nothing better than shiny metallic black paint!

Great job Zach.

Thanks! :dblthumb2:

I'm curious about this as well.

See above response

 

[HateSwirls]

Great job and yes it could be in a car magazine.
Question.

How well does Meg's MF cutting pads work compared to others and do they hold up?
I've always thought about trying them.

The car looks stunning dude

 

[zmcgovern45]

Great job and yes it could be in a car magazine.
Question.

How well does Meg's MF cutting pads work compared to others and do they hold up?
I've always thought about trying them.

The car looks stunning dude

Thanks!

MF Cutting pads are the best cutting pad I have used... compared to a foam cutting pad, they cut better, faster, and finish down better. There are some tricks to help increase their life, but overall they are pretty darn durable. One small annoyance is that you have to clean them after each section (note section, not panel). I have never used MF finishing pads, I feel like foam provides a perfect finish so I haven't felt the need to try anything else.