2011 CTS V Coupe paint correction

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A friend of a friend contacted me curious to know if I could help him out. I happily accepted the job knowing the GM black is pretty hard and he said it wasn't in "the best of shape". This thing was a daily driver, rode hard and put up wet by the previous owner. Although low mileage, this things showed heavy wear and tear with, what I'm sure were countless, automatic wash cycles in its past life. With around 21k miles on the odometer, you will see the serious damage that automatic wash cycles and improper care that occurred.

Clean:
Wash/Decon - Heavy foam Citrus Wash-N-Gloss & CG AllClean+
2BM - Citrus Wash-N-Gloss & CG AllClean+
Wheels - CG Signature Series Wheel Cleaner & Griots Heavy Duty Wheel Cleaner
Tires - CG AllClean+ w/ TuFShine brush
Glass - UWW+ @ 1:40 ratio
Exhaust tips - Optimum Metal Polish

Compound - M105 and D300 mixture w/ Megs MF cut pad (PC7424XP)
Polish - Menzerna SF4000 w/ LC Hybrid white (Flex 3401)
Small areas and pillars hit w/ PC7424 3" and Harbor Freight 2" air polisher

Sealing/Protection:
Paint - 2 coats Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant
Wheels - CarPro Reload
Glass- CarPro Reload
Interior - 303 Aerospace

Heavy RIDS on passenger side rear quarter panel.
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Heavy swirls throughout the entire vehicle, taillamp assembles, etc.
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Bad sanding marks and scuffs from auto-wash cycles.
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Rear deck lid had severe swirls and RIDS. You can even see how dull the 3rd brake lamp assembly is.
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Up close and personal on the hood. The entire hood looked like this.
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Finger swipe test on the wheels. Luckily the caked on brake dust was easy to remove, no need for a heavy cleaner.
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First 50/50 of the hood.
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Pretty big difference in depth and clarity!
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50/50 of driver side front fender. Yes, the rest of the RIDS on top were chased down. (I don't like to get too close to the tape line w/ MF pads)
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Clearcoat failure on the entire roof assembly and parts of the rear quarter panels. Does anyone know if this is a common problem on the CTS coupes? I suggested him seeing his local GM dealership to see if it was under warranty, turns out it is. The customer received approval for repaint and once that is completed and cured, I will be correcting the DISO early next year!
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And just a few of the many final pictures I took waiting for the customer to pick it up.

Anybody else read the fine print?
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Rear deck lid fully corrected.
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Driver rear quarter panel. Focused in on the paint.
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I didn't forget to polish the license plate frame or the taillamp assemblies.
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Exhaust tips and heat deflector polished up nicely.
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A few sun shots.
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Hood left 1 or 2 deep RIDS and you can also see where some bird droppings etched the paint.
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Gloss and reflections? Yes, we got 'em.
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Couldn't help but sneak in 1 last picture as the customer pulled up.
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Thanks for looking!!
 
The CTS-V is a beast, awesome work!
 
Very good work, car 'was born' again!

Thanks for sharing,

Kind Regards.
 
Great job!!! The black paint of that caddy looks stunning!
 
The CTS-V is a beast, awesome work!

I really enjoyed working on this car. The owner runs a performance shop and his goal is 640+whp. Wow!

You nailed it COREY! Looks awesome:)

Thanks!

Very good work, car 'was born' again!

Thanks for sharing,

Kind Regards.

I was very satisfied with the turnaround.

Well done. Excellent work!

Great job!!! The black paint of that caddy looks stunning!

awesome recovery!!

Job well done bud!

Marvelous work on that caddy

Thanks guys!

Beautiful work on that black Cadillac Corey! Nicely done!

Thanks Mike! The Flex and Menzerna combo never let me down.
 
Great work on the V coupe Corey! I adore those cars. Bloody shame about the cc failure. What the Hell could cause that? Strange indeed for such a young car. You definitely got her looking the way she deserves to though!!
 
Great work on that CTS-V!

Thanks, I really enjoyed doing it.

Amazing job Corey !!!

Amazing work!

Thank you!

Great work on the V coupe Corey! I adore those cars. Bloody shame about the cc failure. What the Hell could cause that? Strange indeed for such a young car. You definitely got her looking the way she deserves to though!!

Unknown to me, I was sure it was NOT a common issue with the coupes. The car was originally from California, and the owner questioned any type of acid rain. Which by looking further into it, could not have been the problem.

Amazing job!! What model air compressor are you running with the HF 2 inch?

Craftsman 1.1hp 17 gallon, rates @ 4.3scfm @ 40psi. My first "big" compressor and it's never done me wrong.

Great job Corey!

Thanks!

Once the owner gets it back from repaint (hood, roof, rear quarters), I will be seeing the car again to complete another decon, clay the entire car from overspray, and 2-step the repainted areas.
 
So what was going to be a partial repaint (hood, roof, part of the A/B pillars) turned into an ENTIRE repaint. He paid a little more than his required deductible, asked them to spray a lot of the chrome trim to match, and boom, new paint job. The local Cadillac dealer truly did their part and did an A+ job on this car. Looks 100% factory, from the orange peel to the thickness, they really took care of my customer. The defects were minimal to say the least, with only a few rotary installed holograms (and I mean 1 or 2) and a few sanding marks that weren't buffed down that well. Only after pictures were taken because the very few defects that were present weren't worth taking photos of.

The customer called me and requested it look the same or better than when it left the last time. No problems!!

Correction process:
Foam bath
Clay
Rupes 21 w/ 5" BP utilizing LC Orbital orange pad and M205
2 coats Wolfgang DGPS

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Thanks for looking again!
 
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