Exterior correction on my own 98' VW GTI (Pic Heavy)

clordj12

New member
Joined
Jun 10, 2010
Messages
26
Reaction score
0
This is my personal vehicle that I've owned since I was 16. I bought the car used with 60,xxx miles on it as my first vehicle completely stock. I had taken decent care of the finish with what knowledge I had with just washing and waxing. The last few years as I started to get into detailing I started to see what my paints finish really looked like. This cars finish is what originally got me into doing paint correction as I wanted the car to be perfect. Since starting to detail and do correction jobs I just have not had time to do my own vehicle which has been killing me. I haven’t driven the car all winter and it was sitting outside and as you will see it was in need of a serious correction. The entire finish of the car looked horrible. I will let the pics speak for themselves. Hope everyone enjoys!

Process


Wash/clay
-Two bucket wash w/ heavy mix of dawn
-DP Extreme Auto foam/heavy Dawn mix via AG Foam cannon
-Red LC wash mitt
-Dried with LC HD WW towels
-Pinnacle Clay bar
-Pinnacle clay lube

Wheels/Tires
-Various Brushes w/ P21s Wheel Gel
-Meg's Gold class tire gel
-Wheel wells received some Aerospace 303

Correction
-PCXP 7424
-Megs 105 w/ LC Orange pad (2 Passes)
-Megs 205 w/ LC White pad (2 Passes)

LSP
-Black Fire Wet Diamond Paint Sealant
-Pinnacle Souverän

All exterior textured trim received some Aerospace 303 protectant

Total Time: 12 hours

Started with the car being extremely dirty.
MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-7.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-5.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-4.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-6.jpg


After I washed and clayed the car I took it out into the sun to see the real defects. It wasnt pretty. Actually it was really really bad.

MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpics03.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-47.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-46.jpg


Under the lights it was much worse.

MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-51.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-53.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-52.jpg


The entire cars finish looked like this. Very disappointing as I had a lot of work ahead of me.

Fender area

MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-54.jpg

Rear quarter

MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-10.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-9.jpg


I did a test section and found that 2 passes with LC orange and m105 and 2 passes of LC white with m205 would do the trick.

Here is the rear quarter after both passes

MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-13.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-14.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-12.jpg

and a semi 50/50

MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpics02.jpg


I followed this process the entire car. Here is the hood section 50/50 with just one pass of orange with m105

MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-59.jpg


Batteries died and didn’t have anymore at the house so I didn’t get anymore during process shots. After I did the entire vehicle I took it outside to check my work and before LSP and after an IPA wipe down and another heavily mixed dawn wash.

MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-80.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-78.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-76.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-79.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-75.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-77.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-73.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-22.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-21.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-20.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-19.jpg
 
Needless to say I was very happy with the outcome Pre LSP. I brought the car back in the garage and added a layer of Blackfire wet diamond paint sealant and let cure for a few hours. Wiped it down and layered on a coat of Pinnacle Souverän. Here are the finished pics from my hard work.

MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-49.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-45.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-27.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-40.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-36.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-32.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-30.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-25.jpg


MyGTICorrectionduringandafterpic-85.jpg
 
Uh oh, I see an intercooler tucked away behind that bumper. ;)

Great looking car, those are definately timeless designs and you did it justice!
 
Thanks for the compliments. The car is great fun weekend warrior and I can actually drive it around now that its been polished.
 
That's a nice looking car. I like the stance. Too bad Virginia makes you wear a front license plate.
 
Great work Bro! Let me ask a question. How did you know to do 2 sections of the 105 and 205. I'm almost ready to detail my car for the first time and I wasn't sure what steps to take.

For example, I was gonna start with 205 with a white pad. Why not just do 6 section passes of this or should I do less section passes with a more aggressive combo?
 
Nice work, your car looks great. Also good job w/ your pictures!
 
Wow, great car and fantastic results. Your last steps really added depth and gloss to the paint.

I think I will be adding some Blackfire and Souverän to my next order as it seems to be a deadly combo on black. :xyxthumbs:
 
Great work Bro! Let me ask a question. How did you know to do 2 sections of the 105 and 205. I'm almost ready to detail my car for the first time and I wasn't sure what steps to take.

For example, I was gonna start with 205 with a white pad. Why not just do 6 section passes of this or should I do less section passes with a more aggressive combo?


While doing my test section I started with the least aggressive method. I tried using M205 w/ white LC pad and it wasnt cutting through the swirls. I then stepped up to m205 on orange and it still wasnt giving me the correction that I wanted. Finally I stepped up to M105 on an orange pad and it was aggressive enough to be able to get out all the swirls I wanted gone in 2 passes. This was the reason I went with the combo I did. 2 passes of m205 on a white LC pad took out everything that the LC orange w/m105 put in. So that is how I came up with my process for this car. Test out a few pad/compound/polish combo's to get the correction you want. Rememer least aggressive method is always best but sometimes you just have to be a bit aggresive to get the correction you are looking for.

Thanks for the nice comments from everyone else, they are very much appreciated!!
 
Wow, great car and fantastic results. Your last steps really added depth and gloss to the paint.

I think I will be adding some Blackfire and Souverän to my next order as it seems to be a deadly combo on black. :xyxthumbs:


It is an absolute killer on Black. Thanks!
 
Back
Top