Hi All;
I did this detail for my son today. I don't do this professionally, so be kind, but let me know what I've missed. I'll apologise in advance, there are no before pictures, I got so involved in getting the work done, I forgot to take them. I'll do better next time.
The story behind this detail is that my son, who works at a Saturn dealer decided he was ready for a "real" car rather than his 95 Mazda MX6-POS. After much looking and consternation, he was down to a GTO, or a G35, but after reading the horror stories about the GTO and the front struts and such, he made the decision to find a G35. We found a nice black 03 G35 coupe with only 26K miles on another dealers lot. He was able to buy the car for wholesale and made the deal. After the sale, the dealer said they would have it detailed and ready the next day. I said no thank you, I don't need any more work to do, and we took it home less than clean, but not that bad, or so I thought. There were a few holograms but nothing that concerned me at all. I've also got a black BMW 540, and have a reasonable system for caring for the black paint.
DAY 1
Any way, we get the car home about 6pm, and wash it still looks OK, but feels very rough. Out comes the polyclay from pinnacle and away we go. I had just finished the hood and my wife walks out and says "what in the hell did you do to the hood, it looks like you took sandpaper to it, and she was right, it looked like the hood had bee not so spot sanded. Remember that thread about the magical mystery detail that washed off after a few washes? Well you guessed it. The car had been detailed shortly after arriving on the lot and some touchup and other blemish treatments were done (poorly) using someting with a lot of fillers, and I mean a lot. The clay after just the hood was so bad I tossed it. The car was loaded with swirls, scratches, some not so micro, holograms, you name it, it was there.
I had the pleasure of working with Todd from Trop Detailing a few weeks ago on my BMW and even with the mess I found, I still felt confident I could figure out the right system, and if I couldn't, he would bail me out. So, starting with a "least agressive approach", and reading that the Infinity clear is fairly soft, I started with the XMT stuff, #3 with a white pad on my rotary and did a test spot, no luck, stepped up to an orange pad, some better, but no luck, tried #4, better still, but still would take many passes to get it right. Went back to the white pad and tried Menzerna SIP, and saw there was hope. Bumped back up to the orange pad with the SIP, and that got me there, I thought. I was runnning the rotary at about 1200 rpms and proceeded to do the hood last night. Called it a night wanting to wait for some sun to be sure.
DAY 2
This morning, son goes off to work (which was OK with me,as he has to make the car payment,) so I pulled the G35 out into the sun and decided that the SIP/Orange was about right for the rest of the car, but the hood still didn't satisfy me. I tried another pass with the SIP, but still wasn't satisfied. I pulled out the Menzerna PG and the white pad, and ultimately decided to stick with the orange pad. Two full passes with the PG/Orange and now we're talking some shine strating to emerge. I did the rest of the car with SIP and the orange (a different one) pad after it started getting hot so I pulled the car back into the garage to finish. One pass around the rest of the car and it was polish time. I used the Menzerna 106FF with a blue polish pad, and boy did I like the results. Two passes on the hood and once around the rest of the car and I was good to go.
I had taped off the car pretty heavily to avoid any more residue on the trim, but I spent the next 2 hours cleaning up after my precedessors. stuff everywhere. I used a series of small nylon, foam and soft bristle brushes and MF towels to work my way arountd the car to remove all the crap from every edge, nook, cranny and trim piece I could find. INFINITY has a lot of letters to clean around. The rear emblems alone took about 30 minutes. I polished all the light plastic with Novus 2 Fine scratch remover for plastic, and did the exhaust tips with simichrome metal polish.
At this point, I turned to the rubber trim, and the engine compartment so I could QD the car and get any residue off before sealing. The engine compartment was one thing the dealer did fairly well the first time, or the PO had done regularly, so not much was done there. I just used some 303 protectant to dress the cowl and the plastic under the hood. 303 all around on the rubber door trim and the trunk interior trim.
Finally, about 3:30 this afternoon (I started about 7:30am), I put the first of 2 coats of Wolfgang DG Sealant, let it haze for about 30 minutes and wiped it off. Polished the rims, dressed the tires (I use a foam brush, so no overspray on the paint, and the wheel wells were done the night before) and gave it a final wipe down or 2. Pulled it back out into the sun and was pretty pleased with the final result. This is only one coat of the Wolfgang product. Another is planned followed by a coat of souveran. Son arrives home about 5:45pm just as I finished taking the pictures. He was thrilled, now he has to keep it the way he got it!
Exhaust Tips Polished with Simichrome Polish-there are 2 obviously, but I thought 1 pic sufficient.
All told, this project took about 14 hours, including maybe 3 hours for accumulated breaks (it was only 98 here today), and watching a smattering of Tiger lapping the field again. Thanks for looking, let me know if I've missed anything... like you wouldn't anyway (LOL).
Don
I did this detail for my son today. I don't do this professionally, so be kind, but let me know what I've missed. I'll apologise in advance, there are no before pictures, I got so involved in getting the work done, I forgot to take them. I'll do better next time.
The story behind this detail is that my son, who works at a Saturn dealer decided he was ready for a "real" car rather than his 95 Mazda MX6-POS. After much looking and consternation, he was down to a GTO, or a G35, but after reading the horror stories about the GTO and the front struts and such, he made the decision to find a G35. We found a nice black 03 G35 coupe with only 26K miles on another dealers lot. He was able to buy the car for wholesale and made the deal. After the sale, the dealer said they would have it detailed and ready the next day. I said no thank you, I don't need any more work to do, and we took it home less than clean, but not that bad, or so I thought. There were a few holograms but nothing that concerned me at all. I've also got a black BMW 540, and have a reasonable system for caring for the black paint.
DAY 1
Any way, we get the car home about 6pm, and wash it still looks OK, but feels very rough. Out comes the polyclay from pinnacle and away we go. I had just finished the hood and my wife walks out and says "what in the hell did you do to the hood, it looks like you took sandpaper to it, and she was right, it looked like the hood had bee not so spot sanded. Remember that thread about the magical mystery detail that washed off after a few washes? Well you guessed it. The car had been detailed shortly after arriving on the lot and some touchup and other blemish treatments were done (poorly) using someting with a lot of fillers, and I mean a lot. The clay after just the hood was so bad I tossed it. The car was loaded with swirls, scratches, some not so micro, holograms, you name it, it was there.
I had the pleasure of working with Todd from Trop Detailing a few weeks ago on my BMW and even with the mess I found, I still felt confident I could figure out the right system, and if I couldn't, he would bail me out. So, starting with a "least agressive approach", and reading that the Infinity clear is fairly soft, I started with the XMT stuff, #3 with a white pad on my rotary and did a test spot, no luck, stepped up to an orange pad, some better, but no luck, tried #4, better still, but still would take many passes to get it right. Went back to the white pad and tried Menzerna SIP, and saw there was hope. Bumped back up to the orange pad with the SIP, and that got me there, I thought. I was runnning the rotary at about 1200 rpms and proceeded to do the hood last night. Called it a night wanting to wait for some sun to be sure.
DAY 2
This morning, son goes off to work (which was OK with me,as he has to make the car payment,) so I pulled the G35 out into the sun and decided that the SIP/Orange was about right for the rest of the car, but the hood still didn't satisfy me. I tried another pass with the SIP, but still wasn't satisfied. I pulled out the Menzerna PG and the white pad, and ultimately decided to stick with the orange pad. Two full passes with the PG/Orange and now we're talking some shine strating to emerge. I did the rest of the car with SIP and the orange (a different one) pad after it started getting hot so I pulled the car back into the garage to finish. One pass around the rest of the car and it was polish time. I used the Menzerna 106FF with a blue polish pad, and boy did I like the results. Two passes on the hood and once around the rest of the car and I was good to go.
I had taped off the car pretty heavily to avoid any more residue on the trim, but I spent the next 2 hours cleaning up after my precedessors. stuff everywhere. I used a series of small nylon, foam and soft bristle brushes and MF towels to work my way arountd the car to remove all the crap from every edge, nook, cranny and trim piece I could find. INFINITY has a lot of letters to clean around. The rear emblems alone took about 30 minutes. I polished all the light plastic with Novus 2 Fine scratch remover for plastic, and did the exhaust tips with simichrome metal polish.
At this point, I turned to the rubber trim, and the engine compartment so I could QD the car and get any residue off before sealing. The engine compartment was one thing the dealer did fairly well the first time, or the PO had done regularly, so not much was done there. I just used some 303 protectant to dress the cowl and the plastic under the hood. 303 all around on the rubber door trim and the trunk interior trim.
Finally, about 3:30 this afternoon (I started about 7:30am), I put the first of 2 coats of Wolfgang DG Sealant, let it haze for about 30 minutes and wiped it off. Polished the rims, dressed the tires (I use a foam brush, so no overspray on the paint, and the wheel wells were done the night before) and gave it a final wipe down or 2. Pulled it back out into the sun and was pretty pleased with the final result. This is only one coat of the Wolfgang product. Another is planned followed by a coat of souveran. Son arrives home about 5:45pm just as I finished taking the pictures. He was thrilled, now he has to keep it the way he got it!
Front End
Rear End
Rear Deck - thats not hazing just in front of the spoiler, just bad photography
Exhaust Tips Polished with Simichrome Polish-there are 2 obviously, but I thought 1 pic sufficient.
You will notice some of the original holograms that I didn't get this time around. Before I put the second sealant coat on, I'll re treat this area and make sure they are gone and check in the sun again and then re seal the area and do the next sealant coat a day later.
Pretty good reflections for late in the afternoon
Nice Side View with a good clear reflection
Based on where it started, I know, I forgot the before pictures, the hood turned out pretty good. That's my son in the reflection, I'm much, well more mature
This is one of my favorite shots
All told, this project took about 14 hours, including maybe 3 hours for accumulated breaks (it was only 98 here today), and watching a smattering of Tiger lapping the field again. Thanks for looking, let me know if I've missed anything... like you wouldn't anyway (LOL).
Don
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very nice :righton: I like the side reflection of the bushes looks wicked, just wicked.
. I agree with 07ImpalaSS, the reflection on the passenger side is great.
