2011 Citroen Aircross, Full Detail, Correction and Coating with Pinnacle Black Label

[Tato]

Dear Friends,

This weekend I had the pleasure to work on a 2011 Citroën AIRCROSS.

The car was very swirled and beaten, but luckily I was able to dial-in a procedure in order to restore it to a good condition - took a lot of time and effort, but was done. :buffing::buffing:

Let's take a look!

Car Arrived, not so bad from distance, right?

Getting closer, you may notice how scrubbed the paint was.

The Wheels were not only dirty but also scrubbed,

And washing alone was not going to be enough to make them look properly.
BEFORE:

AFTER (washed, decontaminated, polished (PF2500), and coated with Pinnacle Black Label Wheel Coating, 2 coats / 1 day apart.

Engine bay was also needing some attention

BEFORE:

AFTERs:

Interior
Although I don't have many pictures (interior was done by third-party very talented detailer who doesn't like to take pictures while working) - (read: My beloved wife!)

AFTERs:

To achieve a nice and clean interior, the steamer was used on all surfaces, then it was entirely retouched using dedicated cleaner (read carpet, upholstery, plastic, etc) for spotless look.

Some parts needed polishing as well, done by hand using a MF towel and PF2500 from Menzerna.

BEFORE:

AFTER: (not the best angle compared to above, but the only I have)

BEFORE:

AFTER:

---

Exterior
After former and intensive wash, I was left with huge amount of contamination.

Notice dark spots over the whole surface... Notice paint condition under proper light:

Definitively not a candidate for wash and wax in my book...

Working the exterior alone is really difficult to get some pics... The bellow is an example of the action of Iron-X decontamination over the spots shown before:

Nanoskin medium grade Mitt was used later for complete decontamination. CarPro Spotless was used on Glass for water spot removal.

Some Detailing

BEFORE:
Rearview mirror casing was suffering from the elements,

AFTER:

License plate bolts and washers (those shows like a sore thumb on a just detailed car):
BEFORE:

AFTER: washers switched, bolts restored, and tied for varnish application.

Lower parts, BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 

[Tato]

Paint Correction
After achieving a clean and decontaminated surface, it was time for the polishing step.

Swirls were heavy on this one:

Test Spot
To start dialing a system I like to start with a gentle approach, even (almost) knowing it will not be enough...

Flex 3401 + White Hybrid pad + Menzerna SF4000

Preliminary results of my test spot - still some room for improvement:

The results guided me towards a step up to an orange pad and FG400, using lower speeds (3-4). The Flex 3401 was used on the roof to start 'cutting corners'.

Please, do not criticize my Beige masking tape. It's 3M Automotive tape, which I prefer using in some occasions because it is a lot less adhesive than the green tape - which I see as an advantage where it fits.


Work Smarter, Not Harder

That roof was no only large but very thin and would bent easily.

Work a large, flat panel without needing to exert pressure and still getting a lot of correction (FAST) = Rupes 21. This is the main reason I've ordered it, and it works like a charm.

For those not familiarized with Rupes Pads, the Rupes Green Pad is ~somewhat ~equivalent to an orange cutting pad.

Results achieved:

The results shown are after the finishing step using Flex 3401 and white hybrid pad + SF4000. This 2 step approach was done on the entire car.

Lamps restored gives any car a clean, like new look. The opposite is also true.
BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTERs:

BEFORE:

AFTERs:

Headlamp, BEFORE:

AFTERs:

 

[Tato]

Front work
BEFORE:

AFTERs:

BEFORE:

AFTERs:

Rear Detailing
BEFOREs:

DURING:

AFTERs:

Side Work
In accordance to the rest of the car, swirled and beaten...

Work being performed and inspected under different lighting conditions

BEFORE:

AFTERs:

____

Coating

The car was coated for overnight curing, and Pinnacle Black Label Surface, Paint, Glass and Wheel coating were used on correspondent surfaces, applied twice to each surface to guarantee a thick and even coverage. Here is the car 12 hours after being coated, and ready for delivery.

Delivery
Customer arrived to get his car and was very satisfied with the outcome. We agreed on a monthly maintenance program, and I'm looking forward to keep this car looking it's best for the time to come.

Here it is, leaving the Garage:

And the outside, finished pics. Hope you enjoy!

Here you can notice a random scratch just bellow the sunlight, considered too deep to be safely removed.

Ready for leaving:

... leaving.

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That's it. I'd like to thank you in advance for watching.

If you have any critics, questions, comments, suggestions, you are always welcome to write down.

Kind Regards.

 

[EVOlved]

Beautiful as always!! That is one oddball ride we for sure don't see here in the states.

 

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

What a write up Rafael! I thoroughly enjoyed reading through it as well as the pictures. You left no stone unturned on this job. Even on the extreme lower parts of the vehicle. Like Mike Phillips says "If it has paint, it gets polished".

On a side not, the French really know how to make some ugly vehicles.

Thanks for sharing and the wife and I wish you continued success here in your new found work.

 

[Aaryn NZ]

:dblthumb2:
Stunning work Tato! Fantastic post to read & detailed photos. Very enjoyable! Sure is a strange car though huh? Hard to judge the size it but i'm guessing being a Citroen its about the same as a VW Touran?
Anyhow - Top job mate! :xyxthumbs:

 

[Tato]

Beautiful as always!! That is one oddball ride we for sure don't see here in the states.

Thank you! Citroen is becoming really popular in Brazil, and the quality of their cars rivals the concurrence and get great reviews.

What a write up Rafael! I thoroughly enjoyed reading through it as well as the pictures. You left no stone unturned on this job. Even on the extreme lower parts of the vehicle. Like Mike Phillips says "If it has paint, it gets polished".

On a side not, the French really know how to make some ugly vehicles.

Thanks for sharing and the wife and I wish you continued success here in your new found work.

Dear Mike, thanks for comment! Come on, it's not so ugly... it's like me: I look better in person than at the pics... icture: !

J/k apart, I really appreciate your comment and the early share of your technique which was used either to cut and finish this car entirely.

:dblthumb2:
Stunning work Tato! Fantastic post to read & detailed photos. Very enjoyable! Sure is a strange car though huh? Hard to judge the size it but i'm guessing being a Citroen its about the same as a VW Touran?
Anyhow - Top job mate! :xyxthumbs:

Thanks Aaryn, glad you enjoyed! For sure it's a different car... regarding the size, honestly, at first I saw it as a medium size car. After working, based on the amount of details and the time spent polishing, it challenged me as a 'grown up'. IMO it's slightly smaller than Touran...

Thank you all,

Kind Regards.

 

[Sicoupe]

Fantastic work my friend!

 

[laiss09]

Hi,Tato. your work flow is so detail,that is very helpfull for newers like me. Thanks.

 

[Klasse Act]

What a detailed write up, step by step and it was almost like we were there working on it with you:dblthumb2:

Its really hard to get white right and you nailed it, without a doubt, I'm sure the owner was very happy with the results, now the thing is to keep it from getting that bad again but I'm sure you've talked to them about that!

Now as far as the vehicle, we haven't had Citreon in the states in God knows how long but that is a wild vehicle, a gauge for pitch and roll, WOW! Is that a diesel by chance? I also like the fact that its got 3 pedals too and how about that wild piece of glass by the A-pillar, only the French could pull that off!

 

[larry33]

How did you restore the headlamps? I'm researching that right now. Thanks

 

[Tato]

Fantastic work my friend!

Thank you!

Hi,Tato. your work flow is so detail,that is very helpfull for newers like me. Thanks.

Hi Laiss09, glad to know it was helpful to you. Taking pictures while working is a time consuming task, so are the picture selection, upload to the site and thread preparation. Comments like yours make worth this huge effort, in double!

You are invited to take a look at my other threads and feel free to ask whenever you have a question. If I'm able to, it'll be my pleasure to help you out.

What a detailed write up, step by step and it was almost like we were there working on it with you:dblthumb2:

Its really hard to get white right and you nailed it, without a doubt, I'm sure the owner was very happy with the results, now the thing is to keep it from getting that bad again but I'm sure you've talked to them about that!

Now as far as the vehicle, we haven't had Citreon in the states in God knows how long but that is a wild vehicle, a gauge for pitch and roll, WOW! Is that a diesel by chance? I also like the fact that its got 3 pedals too and how about that wild piece of glass by the A-pillar, only the French could pull that off!

Thank you so much for the words. In fact, Citroen slogan is 'Créative Technologie', and they really risk innovations both on interior and exterior designs.

This one runs either on Gas or Ethanol (called Flex in Brazil), so, whenever you see the words 'FLEX' stamped on a Brazilian car (most likely 2010-up), this is what it means.

You can run full Gas, full ethanol, and even a mix of the two (not the best, but can be done). When running with ethanol, the car earns some horsepower (like 2-4hp, can't say it's noticeable at all), but the consumption is also higher (this is noticeable!).

We are always making calculations at the gas station while deciding to run gas or ethanol... and even though ethanol marketing is heavy here, almost always it's advantageous to use gas. Just shoot me a PM if you're interested in knowing more about it, and I hope I've answered your question.

How did you restore the headlamps? I'm researching that right now. Thanks

Hi, thanks for comment. Headlight restoration can range from a simple polish to a full sanding procedure, then polishing.

It's advisable always trying the least abrasive method first.

However, headlamp / taillamp seems to handle strongly to polishing than most paints (just beware of HEAT BUILDUP). I recommend you to work it more than once instead of trying to correct it heavily in a single step.

A good tip is to spread polish on both lamps: work one for some passes, then go to another, this to allow them to cool down for a while without wasting time waiting.

The taillamp is often easier to correct than headlamp, because it (generally) take less abuse from elements and is not getting frequent collision of flying things.

Now, to the procedure:

To work the lamps on this car I've used Rupes 21, MF disc, and FG400 compound. Work some passes and inspect your results to see if it's working. For me, it was enough to get the lamps looking a lot better, so, decided not to sand.

However, Rupes won't give me the desired evenness since lamps designs are mostly odd. So I followed it with the Flex 3401 and orange Hybrid pad, again with the compound.

You can notice I've followed the tip I gave you earlier, instead of trying to 'abuse the correction' with a single procedure, I did some passes with the Microfiber Disc, stopped, then I did some passes with the Foam cutting pad.

At the end, I've used SF4000 on a white polishing foam pad to finish them properly.

Always check your results using a swirl finder light. Although Rupes corrects fast with Microfiber, it's likely to leave a hazy finish (not a problem since it's easily corrected with few foam passes).

Here's an example of a taillamp (not from this car) after being corrected with Rupes 21 and Microfiber Disc:



Seems hazy, but it's expected to some extent when using a fiber pad. However, those are now 'controlled' defects, that are a few passes away from perfection with proper refinement using foam pads:

Crispy and Sharp, right?


If you don't have a lot of experience and want to follow a simpler path, my recommendation is for you to try the easy to find and inexpensive Meguiar's PLASTX.

Tape the surroundings, and work it for some passes, remove residue and inspect your results. Clean the pad, add more product as needed and redo the process until you achieve desired correction.

Although sound simple enough to be good, here are some results I got using only PlastX on lamps I thought would need low grit sanding (tried the least abrasive first, and got the results):

If you don't feel secure enough, I don't recommend you to wetsand at all. If you'd like to (after doing an extensive research and some testing), start at higher grits like 2500/3000, than 5000.

Most headlamps handle sanding ranging from as low as 600 grit, then you go further refining with 1200, 2000, etc... At the end you still need to polish and finish it properly.

Again, I do not recommend you to do any sanding at all if you're not comfortable with. And when sanding, always start a small area and assure you'll be able to get rid of sanding marks before sanding a whole piece.

I wish I could answer your question, and I appreciate your comment.

Kind Regards.

 

[Tato]

*edited for adding a comment to last reply:

- Always add protection after polishing lamps. PlastX offers it's own protection, 'but I've heard it may need ~frequent reapplication'.

That said, I rely on coatings (I use the Pinnacle Brand, but CarPro, Optimum, and many other brands offers interesting and very durable products you may choose from).

Although no product to date is perfect, I try to stick with market's best options - My customers wants the best. AG does the 'hard work' searching for those products, we work smarter, using them.

Let us know your outcome,

Kind Regards.

 

[larry33]

Thank you! Very helpful and thorough response

 

[Pinpoint_Precision]

And that's how it's done! Goaaaaaal! Stunning work as usual.

 

[FrankS]

Nice work as usual Tato! :dblthumb2:

 

[281]

Awesome work and documentation Rafael!

 

[DaveT435]

Fantastic work as usual!!

 

[Tato]

Thank you! Very helpful and thorough response

You're welcome. Some time ago someone (I say, more than one) did the same for me. You can ask as needed.

And that's how it's done! Goaaaaaal! Stunning work as usual.

Nice hearing from you Francisco!, I've wrote a comment in your thread about the Q5, I'll be looking for updates.

Nice work as usual Tato! :dblthumb2:

Thanks Frank, glad you enjoyed.

Awesome work and documentation Rafael!

Thanks a lot James, your opinion is very appreciated.

Fantastic work as usual!!

Evening Dave! This one received a double coat of PBL Paint Coating, and I must say I still have an almost full bottle! Very shiny and slick, thank you very much for all support.

Kind Regards.

 

[DaveT435]

That's great! ��