'09 Pontiac G8 GT - swirl removal

[dnoraker]

This car had 20k on it. The first owner was rumored to have lived on a dirt road... The current owner bought from a dealership and told them specifically NOT to touch it, even if it was dirty. He pulled in to the dealership to pick it up after purchasing and saw someone wiping the dust off with a big towel. :doh: He brought it to me looking for total swirl removal, stopping short of trying to make it "perfect".

Process:
- wash with WG, rinse using CR Spotless (just got...LOVE!)
- DP clay
- tape off sharp body lines, places where I didn't want splatter or dust
- rotary/M105/LC orange kompressor; second lap in more heavily swirl areas (car wash brush marks)
- rotary/M205/LC orange kompressor
- rotary/85RD/LC blue CCS
- Wolfgang DGPS via PC/Megs black finishing pad

This detail was torturous for me, as this is my dream car (that I could feasibly own, as opposed to a Ferrari or something). It's stupid fast, sounds cool, looks sharp, and has a super-comfortable, cavernous interior. Important when I'm 6'4" and my wife is also tall. The only problem is my hair still brushes the ceiling brace on the left side.

Critique of my process, results, camera work, etc. are always appreciated.

I have more pictures, but I'm having problems uploading them into the gallery. It says they're uploaded, but they aren't there.

Before:

After:

 

[dnoraker]

Other products used:
- ARO for cleaning tires and wells
- P21S wheel cleaner
- Wolfgang tire dressing
- Megs hyper Dressing for wells
- Megs detailer line glass cleaner

 

[Matt'sMobile]

How much did you charge?

 

[Scarelane]

Looks nice, but it didn't look too bad to start with??

 

[MDetail]

Those G8s looks really sleek, especially all shined up

 

[dnoraker]

How much did you charge?

He got a steal at $400 including interior. It was very clean, just ultra-swirled. I gave him a deal in exchange for a testimonial, extra time to take a ton of pictures (though I forgot the interior again...darnit), a quick spin up and down the street (totally worth it!) And he didn't want to spend another dime, but I wanted it done right. I've gotten firmer on my prices the last couple years, but I'm a sucker for this car. I have to say I wish I would have dug my heels in a bit more because I had a lot more taping on this car than usual. A lot of sharp body lines, plus all the vents/scoops/grilles.

Pictures don't do justice to how swirled this thing was. It was a hazy sun and didn't show the swirls as well. M105/orange pad still lefts behind some RIDS, but he drives it every day and washes (correctly) frequently, so we didn't want to remove too much paint.

 

[dnoraker]

How much did you charge?

I just read where you are from, and what I charge is probably irrelevant to what you would charge. I'm in Minnesota and in a fairly low income metro area. Our suburb was once said to have the most dead cars per capita sitting in their driveways. It's hard to make what some make in other parts of the city, or what people make in sunny states where you can get work year-round a lot easier. You can send me a PM if you want to know how I charge for jobs, though I'm not a FT pro. I've been weekends and summers and have only just started advertising two years ago and got insured last year.

 

[Slate G8 GT]

Looks great!! We just got ours in March and love it. The interior is HUGE, we had a Solstice before and me being 6' and not the smallest person in the world is was a tight squeeze, in the G8 I have plenty of room even in the back seat with the fronts all the way back!!

The only draw back is I could wash, wax, and do the interior of the Solstice in the same amount of time it takes me to just wash and dry the G8 .

Ours was full of swirls just like that one when we got it, it's got really soft clear. That's actually how i found this site and got addicted to detailing .