2007 Mazdaspeed3

Sevenrd

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Detailed this 2007 MazdaSpeed3 yesterday. I thought this was going to be a simple wash, possible clay, AIO and seal. The car is only about 3 weeks old and had yet to be washed, so I didn't think there'd be too much going on with the paint. And apologies in advance for limited full-shot afters. it was completely dark when I finished...

Here are some befores. The car was very dirty.

Speed3Before1.jpg


Speed3Before3.jpg


Speed3Before4.jpg



After the wash, I checked the finish...the car was covered in swirls. I couldn't believe a car delivered from the dealership looked this bad. The pics here are representative of the entire car. I realized my simple detail was no longer going to be so simple...

Speed3Before.jpg


Speed3Before6.jpg


The finish was actually very smooth, so I skipped claying. I may clay the next time I detail this car. For now I just wanted to concentrate on getting rid of the swirls.

I initially started by using OP on a yellow Propel pad via PC at 6. This didn't seem to have enough cut, so I tried some Meg's 83 with the yellow Propel, also at speed 6. This seemed to do the trick. Here's the area above after one pass...

Speed3After1.jpg


And some before/after comparisons...

Before...
Speed3Before7.jpg


After...
Speed3After2.jpg


Before...
Speed3Before8.jpg


After...
Speed3After3.jpg



After doing a pass of 83, I did a pass of 80 with a white pad. After applying some AIO, the sun was beginning to get low, so I snapped off some pictures of the car. These are the only afters I have. I probably got the car about 90%. There were some areas that needed more attention than I had time for. Not the best pics, but I was still working on the car, so I just didn't take the time for better ones.

Speed3AfterPolish.jpg


Speed3AfterAIO3.jpg


Speed3AfterAIO4.jpg


Speed3AfterAIO5.jpg


After these pics were taken I applied UPP, then topped with Souveran paste and dressed the tires, cleaned the windows...basically wrapped things up. It was completely dark when I was done, so no pics. I hate the short days of winter! :mad:
 
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Those before and after pics is just what i enjoy looking at, swirls gone and the car looks repainted. WWD on that one sevenrd.
 
Looks awesome man... Looks very wet and I bet the owner was happy. Is the paint hardness similar to your SPEED6?
 
very nice! Those are awesome cars! FOr just under 23 grand you can have a 263HP rocket :D
 
Wow those are really good pictures, I really love the before and after shots. In addition, have you used XMT product line? Would you recommend it? Just curious, I'm about to purchase the entire line up and one more feed back would do me good.

Thank you,
 
Awesome work man, I love that color. Did you really get all those swirls out with aio, what pad did you use. Great work man. Does that car have the same engine setup you got in yours.
 
Thans for the feedback, everyone!

abrcrombe said:
Looks awesome man... Looks very wet and I bet the owner was happy. Is the paint hardness similar to your SPEED6?
The paint seemed to be about the same as my car.

Nica said:
Wow those are really good pictures, I really love the before and after shots. In addition, have you used XMT product line? Would you recommend it? Just curious, I'm about to purchase the entire line up and one more feed back would do me good.

Thank you,
I haven't tried the XMT line simply because I already have many polishes and haven't had to order for a while. But from all I've read about it it is a very good lineup.

Excessive Detail said:
Awesome work man, I love that color. Did you really get all those swirls out with aio, what pad did you use. Great work man. Does that car have the same engine setup you got in yours.
Not with AIO. I used AIO as a base after polishing. The swirls were removed using Meg's 83 on a yellow Propel pad. And yes, I believe it's the same engine as the Speed6, only de-tuned a bit. BTW, the Speed3 has an awesome sound - slightly unrestricted with a nice burble. I wish the Speed6 sounded similar. :(
 
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That car looks great after you finished with it. Nice job!What's up with the paint being in that condition while it is still essentially a new car? Did the dealer beat the %$&$* out of it or what??
 
Look at the wetness of that red paint! Amazing work!
 
Huge improvement. Very nice work. The car almost looked orange in the before pictures.
 
Thanks for the feed back, awesome job.
 
Great work!! Those dealer installed swirls were unbelievable.

A question: since the UPP sealant did not have time to cure before you applied the Souveran, do you expect any durability issues?.....would it have been better to just stop after the UPP or were you not happy with that look? Just curious.
 
Great turn-around. It amazes me that cars can come from the dealership looking that bad. Being an owner of an '05 Mazda3, I'm jealous of the owner! That is one hot, fast, car!

Nice work!
 
Waxmax said:
Great work!! Those dealer installed swirls were unbelievable.

A question: since the UPP sealant did not have time to cure before you applied the Souveran, do you expect any durability issues?.....would it have been better to just stop after the UPP or were you not happy with that look? Just curious.

Possibly. That's an issue I run into with detailing cars - I have one day to detail, so no time for overnight curing/bonding. I could've, and possibly should've, stopped after the UPP, but I really wanted the pop that Souveran supplies.

I will be maintaining this car, so I'll be able to tell how the UPP is holding up through washes - and whether the application of Souveran affected the UPP's bonding.
 
Amazing that a new car had such bad swirls, but man did you ever knock em out! Great job. :applause:
 
Sevenrd said:

I got a question (important one too). How do you get rid of the swirls or scratches on the door handle? I got a Volvo that has lots of scratches just inside the door handles and I have no idea how to get rid of them...can't use the PC? Can you?
 
Nica said:
I got a question (important one too). How do you get rid of the swirls or scratches on the door handle? I got a Volvo that has lots of scratches just inside the door handles and I have no idea how to get rid of them...can't use the PC? Can you?

For scratches underneath the door handle you need to polish by hand. I usually keep a tube of Meguiar's Scratch-X around just for that purpose. I've found Scratch-X makes REALLY short work of the fingernail scrathes found under most people's door handles.
 
MikeyC said:
For scratches underneath the door handle you need to polish by hand. I usually keep a tube of Meguiar's Scratch-X around just for that purpose. I've found Scratch-X makes REALLY short work of the fingernail scrathes found under most people's door handles.

+1

ScratchX is great for under the door handles!
 
Thank you both for the feed back I will look for it at the AG store and order lots because that area is magnet for scratches
 
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