lokerola
New member
- May 11, 2011
- 512
- 0
I knew I wanted to get my Dodge Charger R/T cleaned up this weekend. Being a black car, daily driver, with no garage, I knew there were swirls that needed to be polished out. It was also in the body shop last fall to replace the front passenger fender due to little fender bender I had. And there are some good buffer trails in the paint surrounding the fender from the body shop.
But...I didn't want to take 2 days to clay, tape, compound, polish, etc. I'm slow - what can I say?
I wanted to see how clean I could get the paint, how many swirls I could hide without polishing, and get a great shine and some LSP protection on her, all within 1 afternoon. Let's see what happened!
Let's look at some before shots. It was DIRTY. Hadn't been washed in, oh about a month. And we had taken a trip for spring break that sent us through bad weather. Needless to say - it was dirty city.
Salt and grime
Wash me!
Step 1: 2 bucket wash with Megs D111. I finally ran out of D111 this wash and I won't be buying it again. I actually prefer the Megs Gold wash. The D111 is odd - it's sort of "sticky" and doesn't like to rinse off very well. Anyway - it did get the job for me today.
Body washed. I always save the wheels for last. Opposite of what most people do - but oh well...at least most of the grime is gone.
Step 2: Klasse AIO on Orange pads with my GG. This really made the paint start to pop. I can't believe how much dirt and grime was pulled off onto the pads.
Now we're starting to see some reflections!
Man these things were dirty!
Step 3: I could have quit after the Klasse. This stuff just rocks. But, my goal was to not only get it shiny, but hide as many swirls as I could. So next step was Poorboy's Black Hole Glaze applied with GG and black 6.5" pads.
The reflections are getting deeper and swirls are hiding away!
Step 4: Collinite 915. The final step. This was my first time using 915 and my first time attempting to apply Carnuba wax with a DA and the first time trying to remove wax with a DA polisher. First of all - you can see the wonderful, cool garage I was working in LOL! I was working in direct sunlight on a BIG black car. Although instructions say to only apply in cooler temps, sometimes you just gotta get the job done. I found that the best method with the 915 was to use a smaller 5" flat pad and apply the wax to a small area and immediately wipe it off by hand. I tried switching the 5" pad to another 5" pad that had a bonnet on it - but it was too much of a pain in the rear. By the time I switched the pads out the 915 was solid as a rock. Doing the removal by hand just went a lot faster.
Wax on, wax off
Wait - whats' this? More Collinite wax? Yes! 476 for the chrome wheels.
Some final pics.
Interior got a quick once over too.
Even the ground is reflecting the 476 coated chrome wheels!
Well, that's it. The combo of Klasse, PB's BH Glaze, and the 915 hid a great number of swirls, cleaned up the paint, and made it pop like crazy. Is it perfect? Heck no! When I have 2 days to spare instead of one later this spring I'm going to hit the fender and surrounding areas with M105/M205. But in the meantime, the 1 day spring clean is done! Hope you liked!
But...I didn't want to take 2 days to clay, tape, compound, polish, etc. I'm slow - what can I say?
I wanted to see how clean I could get the paint, how many swirls I could hide without polishing, and get a great shine and some LSP protection on her, all within 1 afternoon. Let's see what happened!
Let's look at some before shots. It was DIRTY. Hadn't been washed in, oh about a month. And we had taken a trip for spring break that sent us through bad weather. Needless to say - it was dirty city.
Salt and grime
Wash me!
Step 1: 2 bucket wash with Megs D111. I finally ran out of D111 this wash and I won't be buying it again. I actually prefer the Megs Gold wash. The D111 is odd - it's sort of "sticky" and doesn't like to rinse off very well. Anyway - it did get the job for me today.
Body washed. I always save the wheels for last. Opposite of what most people do - but oh well...at least most of the grime is gone.
Step 2: Klasse AIO on Orange pads with my GG. This really made the paint start to pop. I can't believe how much dirt and grime was pulled off onto the pads.
Now we're starting to see some reflections!
Man these things were dirty!
Step 3: I could have quit after the Klasse. This stuff just rocks. But, my goal was to not only get it shiny, but hide as many swirls as I could. So next step was Poorboy's Black Hole Glaze applied with GG and black 6.5" pads.
The reflections are getting deeper and swirls are hiding away!
Step 4: Collinite 915. The final step. This was my first time using 915 and my first time attempting to apply Carnuba wax with a DA and the first time trying to remove wax with a DA polisher. First of all - you can see the wonderful, cool garage I was working in LOL! I was working in direct sunlight on a BIG black car. Although instructions say to only apply in cooler temps, sometimes you just gotta get the job done. I found that the best method with the 915 was to use a smaller 5" flat pad and apply the wax to a small area and immediately wipe it off by hand. I tried switching the 5" pad to another 5" pad that had a bonnet on it - but it was too much of a pain in the rear. By the time I switched the pads out the 915 was solid as a rock. Doing the removal by hand just went a lot faster.
Wax on, wax off
Wait - whats' this? More Collinite wax? Yes! 476 for the chrome wheels.
Some final pics.
Interior got a quick once over too.
Even the ground is reflecting the 476 coated chrome wheels!
Well, that's it. The combo of Klasse, PB's BH Glaze, and the 915 hid a great number of swirls, cleaned up the paint, and made it pop like crazy. Is it perfect? Heck no! When I have 2 days to spare instead of one later this spring I'm going to hit the fender and surrounding areas with M105/M205. But in the meantime, the 1 day spring clean is done! Hope you liked!
