2003 Pontiac Grand Prix Ameriseal + Ameriwax

Wow, looks awesome, I used to have a 2001 with the supercharged engine, LOVED that car!!!!


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i have a black 2dr with a ramair also, so sexy when they're clean. i'll be doing mine shortly. that came out good.
 
The Guz said:
My brother left me with his car while he went on vacation for a week. I took the opportunity to correct it. I kept putting it off until my Meguiar's MT300 showed up so that I can try it with the new Meguiar's thin foam discs.

Some time last year he had this aftermarket hood painted and I have no idea what the body shop did to it. Other than scratching it and swirling up the paint very bad. After working on the car I am starting to suspect that maybe they took a rotary to the car. There is still some deep sanding marks that I was not able to get out of the hood. These would need to be wet sanded with a higher grit and polished out. The goal of this was to remove as much of the defects as possible. Not 100% since this is his daily driver. We just wanted the red color to pop.

This is how he got it back last year. Ouch.

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I took this sun shot after I got home from taking him to the airport.

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First thing I did was decon the paint with ironx. I followed this write up by Mike Phillips which indicates to apply ironx to the paint prior to washing. Saves a little time this way instead of washing, decon and rinsing. I gave it a go and it worked out great.

The Aggressive Approach to Washing a Car



I ended up using Meguiar's D110 Hyper Wash in an MTM foam cannon. I used a little over 2 oz's. I also used 1 oz in a bucket and did a 2 bucket wash as well while the foam was still on the paint.

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I then clayed the car using a clay magic clay bar and Meguiar's M34 as clay lube. Ironx removed a lot of the surface contaminants so claying was effortless and it did not take too long.

This one was going to need a good compounding with these deep defects. Prepped a new burgundy foam cutting disc with some Meguiar's D300 compound and proceeded onto a test spot on the hood. Here's the 50/50.

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50/50 on the trunk with D300 + foam cutting disc.

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The worst parts of the car were the front fenders and the rear bumper. The driver side fender needed Meguiar's M101 on a microfiber cutting disc. There are still some very slight RIDS but it looks much better. The fenders were eye sores.

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I used M101 on a foam cutting disc on the passenger side fender. Here's the 50/50

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Here's the passenger side rear quarter. Used D300 on a foam cutting disc. This gives a good view of how bad the rear bumper was. I had to use M101 on a MF cutting disc. This little Snap On LED light came in handy. Picked it up at costco for cheap.

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He had some water spots from his sprinklers. D300 + foam cutting disc took care of them with no problem.

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I took it outside and D300 on a foam cutting disc finished LSP ready. There was still some deeper defects but I went ahead to polishing to refine the finish more and gloss up the car even more. Looks so much better.

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I typically use M205 but the polish of choice was Americana Car Care's Ameridepth. Used it on a Lake Country flat finishing pad. I then used Americana Car Care Ameriseal as the sealant of choice. This is how the car looked after I pulled it out. Very good sealant. Easy to apply and easy to remove. Gives a great look.

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A week later I topped it off with a carnauba. This time with Americana Car Care Ameriwax 33. It just added that warm glow to his red paint. There is no metal flake in the paint but his car is deep red. I took these photos prior to picking him up from the airport. One thing to note is that I applied 2 coats of Ameriseal on the trunk and did not top it. I am curious to see how it holds up by itself.

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I had a set of these letters custom made for our Grand Prix's by a place called Emblem pros. They are black mirrored stainless. These were the finishing touch.

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His car came out great. I just like how his red paint looks. It looked dripping wet. A nice deep red color. I did smaller things during the week since I had to go back to work. Worked out pretty well spreading it out over a few days without me rushing. It was a lot of work but the end result was worth it. He had that wowed look in his eyes when I picked him up from the airport.

The MT300 with the new foam discs are awesome. It offered plenty of power and made short work compared to me using a PC.

Here's a product break down.

Friday: Interior work

Vaccum
Meguiar's D102 Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner on the carpets
Meguiar's Quik Interior wipe down on all rubber and plastics.
Meguiar's New Car Scent Protectant on all rubber and plastics.
Meguiar's Leather & Vinyl Cleaner on the leather seats and door panels
Wolfgang Leather Conditioner on the leather seats and door panels (courtesy of an Autopia giveaway)
Meguiar's D120 on all glass

Saturday: Wash, decon & compound

Ironx
Meguiar's D110 Hyper Wash
Clay with a clay magic clay bar and Meguiar's M34 as clay lube (paint and glass)
Compounds - Meguiar's D300 on 95% of the car, M101 on the rest
Pads - Meguiar's burgundy cutting disc, Meguiar's microfiber cutting disc
Tires - Cleaned with Meguiar's D143 Non-Acid Wheel & Tire Cleaner at 2:1, dressed with Meguiar's Ultimate Black Tire Coating
Wheels - DUB wheel cleaner
Wheel Wells - Cleaned with Meguiar's D103 APC+, dressed with Meguiar's D4510 Plastic & Vinyl Coating
Meguiar's MT300 with 5" pads
Porter Cable PC7424XP with 4" pads

Sunday: Polish & Seal
Polish - Ameridepth
Pads - Lake Country Flat Black Finishing pad
Sealant - Ameriseal
Meguiar's MT300 with 5" pads
Porter Cable PC7424XP with 4" pads

Wednesday: Wheel Coating
Detailer's Pro Coating Prep Polish
Pinnacle Black Label Diamond Wheel Coating

Thursday: Glass Coating & Trim
Glass :
Detailer's Pro High Performance Glass Restorer. Windshield only.
Detailer's Pro Coating Prep Polish to prep the glass for the coating. Used on all glass and side mirrors
Detailer's Pro Glass Coating on all glass and side mirrors.

Trim - Meguiar's D103 APC+, Wolfgang Exterior Trim Sealant

Friday: Wax & Exhaust tips

Wax - Ameriwax 33
Exhaust tips - Meguiar's Medium Cut Metal Polish, Meguiar's Final Cut Metal Polish, Wolfgang Metal Sealant

Saturday: Meguiar's New Car Scent Air-Refresher Odor Eliminator

Sunday: Meguiar's M34 Wipe down prior to delivery
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Awesome car, congrats!
Love those '96 - '04 GP's
 
ekennett said:
Wow, looks awesome, I used to have a 2001 with the supercharged engine, LOVED that car!!!!


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Thanks. This was originally not supercharged and we supercharged it.

yello430 said:
Awesome car, congrats!
Love those '96 - '04 GP's
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Thanks.

99monguse said:
B e a u t i f u l!
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Thanks.

Dereksdtail said:
Beautiful! Nice write up too
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Thanks. Glad I was able to write it up so clearly.
 
Awesome job! Now that is RED!!

My wife had a white 2000 GTP couple before she got her G8. It was a great car overall! It ran good,and rode awesome. Knocked down over 30 mpg on the highway easily also. I wish we could've kept it! It had 108k on the clock,and we sold it for 3k! We wanted to get rid of it quickly because we would've had 5 cars. Other than catching fits for washing my car,people give me grief for having 4 cars. Didn't want to listen to any bull. My Mom also had a red 2000 GT.
 
Thanks.

My brother has had this one for about 5 years now. I have had my 99 well since I got it new off the lot in 99. Both have been good cars. I have no real complaints.
 
Here is the last update. I originally did all the work back on March 28th of this year.

I am polishing and coating his car this weekend. It's been 8 months with this combo. I took a video of how slow the sheeting has become. There is still something there.

http://vimeo.com/146464508
 
Hi Guz, I'm curious, is the sheeting the same on the trunk of the car? The section that you didn't top with carnauba.

Btw, I think it's awesome how you used a ridiculous amount of products for this detail. You used 30 different products!
Can you imagine what a regular Joe, who washes with dishsoap and cotton towels would think if he saw this thread? Lmao.

Great job. I get a kick out of detailing my brothers cars as well:)
 
Eldorado2k said:
Hi Guz, I'm curious, is the sheeting the same on the trunk of the car? The section that you didn't top with carnauba.

Btw, I think it's awesome how you used a ridiculous amount of products for this detail. You used 30 different products!
Can you imagine what a regular Joe, who washes with dishsoap and cotton towels would think if he saw this thread? Lmao.

Great job. I get a kick out of detailing my brothers cars as well:)
Click to expand...

I did get a chance to pay attention the that area. I completely overlooked it.
 
... But that's no problem whatsoever. The amazing job you did on your brothers car is 1 of those times where having gathered all the products in your arsenal makes it all worth it. Spectacular detail, my friend.
 
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