Hell has a G8 GT and it's HOT!

TTQ B4U

TTQ B4U

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So a Friend of mine and his wife brought over a 2009 G8 GT that is newer to them for some clean up work. Originally they were thinking just a strong clean up and buff but after re-thinking it and seeing that beautiful red metallic paint covered up by swirl-city from tunnel washes, they thankfully moved to my Option 2: Premium Enhancement package which is a 75%+ correction.

These cell pics in the sun do it no justice at all given it really is a few shades darker and the metallic flake is outstanding. Next time I'll have actually break out a real camera
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After a good wash and full decontamination I dried her off and got her ready for the buffer.


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Before: Filled with swirls: The entire body was covered. Years of tunnel washes took their toll on the clear. Needless to say, the entire car looked like this:

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After: Goodbye Brillo Look. The great news is the paint is decent quality and cleans up nice. Here it is after just 3 passes with CarPro Clear Cut Compound on a purple wool pad mated to my Flex 3401 Buffer.

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Again, the flake in the paint is outstanding and really catches the light nicely. So much so that outside, my phone couldn't pick it up. Polishing was done with CarPro Essence and a White Lake Country Hybrid Force Pad. This serves as a great base/primer for the ceramic coating.

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Gotta love when the lights clean up as well as the paint:


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Overall they should be set for quite a while as the vehicle is at about 90% correction level and protected by two coats of McKee's 37 v2 SiO2 Ceramic Coating.
 
Awesome work! The Clear Cut did an amazing job. Can almost imagine the gloss in the sun when the metallic flakes pops. Nice save from a swirlomatic life.
 
Wow---That's perfection!

Bet the owners were glad with opting for Option 2: Premium Enhancement package.

Love it when a plan goes well!

Tom
 
Misterpaul said:
Stunning! Great work. Besides wheels, any mods?
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It was bone stock when he got it. Added basic bolt ons and is enjoying it as a daily. Headers, exhaust, cam, intake and a tune. Moves out decent for its size.

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Stunning results!

I need to look into these new, wool pads. My wife's car would make for a great test bed for sure. It looks like you knew you had to go for the wool but I'm sure you did a test spot anyways.

Btw, love those wheels and if they wanna give them a nice touch, an OEM look, I have a guy who can make decal overlays for the centercaps, a nice Pontiac arrowhead logo would be a nice little touch for not too much money, drop me a PM if they're interested.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
Klasse Act said:
Stunning results! I need to look into these new, wool pads. My wife's car would make for a great test bed for sure. It looks like you knew you had to go for the wool but I'm sure you did a test spot anyways.
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Thank you sir! The newer Clear Cut is a game-changer IMO. It really does cut FAST. I though M101 cut fast...but not like this stuff. AND the kicker is it finishes out dang near 100% perfect!! That shot of the fender directly after the before shot was after 3 passes and that very minor haze.....cleared up in 3 very fast passes with a white polishing pad. I didn't track the compounding time but I'm not at all exaggerating if I state that Clear Cut saved me 1hr over the entire car. Less compounding and less polishing time overall.

Pad wise, yes the purple and blue wool have been my go-to for compounding. At the end of the day, I no longer use anything but. The goal of using the least aggressive to me applies but the reality is so long as you cut through the swirls and level it out, it really makes no difference if you're using an medium cut foam pad and 6-8 passes or a wool pad and half as many passes as you end up at the same finishing point/goal. One still has to follow it up with a polish for best results so that's the process I now follow for cars that are medium to heavily swirled out.

Btw, love those wheels and if they wanna give them a nice touch, an OEM look, I have a guy who can make decal overlays for the centercaps, a nice Pontiac arrowhead logo would be a nice little touch for not too much money, drop me a PM if they're interested.
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I'll be sure to let him know. Not sure what his plans are. He had the wheels put on the day before so he may not have sourced new center caps yet. I know he'll be replacing these for sure.
 
TTQ B4U said:
Thank you sir! The newer Clear Cut is a game-changer IMO. It really does cut FAST. I though M101 cut fast...but not like this stuff. AND the kicker is it finishes out dang near 100% perfect!! That shot of the fender directly after the before shot was after 3 passes and that very minor haze.....cleared up in 3 very fast passes with a white polishing pad. I didn't track the compounding time but I'm not at all exaggerating if I state that Clear Cut saved me 1hr over the entire car. Less compounding and less polishing time overall.

Pad wise, yes the purple and blue wool have been my go-to for compounding. At the end of the day, I no longer use anything but. The goal of using the least aggressive to me applies but the reality is so long as you cut through the swirls and level it out, it really makes no difference if you're using an medium cut foam pad and 6-8 passes or a wool pad and half as many passes as you end up at the same finishing point/goal. One still has to follow it up with a polish for best results so that's the process I now follow for cars that are medium to heavily swirled out.



I'll be sure to let him know. Not sure what his plans are. He had the wheels put on the day before so he may not have sourced new center caps yet. I know he'll be replacing these for sure.
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I tried to PM you but the mailbox is full, who makes Clear Cut?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
(((Pad wise, yes the purple and blue wool have been my go-to for compounding)))

Where did you get the purple and blue wool pads from?

Tom
 
Is that the Clear Cut or the wool pads that allows you to remove such bad swirls in just three passes?

And one more thing,, it's March, take down the Christmas lights ;)

Dave
 
Klasse Act said:
I tried to PM you but the mailbox is full, who makes Clear Cut?
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CarPro. Will clear out my PM's.

TMQ said:
(((Pad wise, yes the purple and blue wool have been my go-to for compounding)))

Where did you get the purple and blue wool pads from?
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Lake Country. I buy them from various places based on pricing and deals in motion at the time of purchase.

crovello said:
Is that the Clear Cut or the wool pads that allows you to remove such bad swirls in just three passes?
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IMO compounds and products come first as they are what's contacting the finish. Pads come next in-line in terms of cutting and finishing. In this case, both. I'm sure Clear Cut would do well with a foam pad, but to me it really makes no difference as I'm going to polish afterwards and the level of clarity with Clear Cut and wool is really spectacular. I don't say that lightly either. It really was a huge time saver on this one. Can't wait to do the next vehicle in need with it.

And one more thing,, it's March, take down the Christmas lights ;)
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Took them down today. :) Had to wait for the ground to dry out after so so many days of rain. I tried last week but the ladder just sunk into the ground by the front windows and was just too unstable.
 
Outstanding results right there. :props:

I'm not 100% of the specs of this G8 GT but at a guess its a Holden Calais here in NZ.

I too have been impressed with Clear Cut, the way it cuts & definitely the way it finishes down. Also a fan of the Hybrid foamed wool pads fro Lake Country too. Super nice turn around on this, a great colour indeed, fantastic work & thank you for sharing. :props:

Aaryn NZ. :dblthumb2:
 
^ Aaryn, G8 GT was Holden Commodore VE SS if memory serves me correct. ^
 
Great job and the color of that paint is amazing. I love some of the darker read paints on cars these days.
 
Desertnate said:
Great job and the color of that paint is amazing. I love some of the darker read paints on cars these days.
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Agree on the reds today. I was looking at a Sunrise Red Metallic for my Q50 because of the sparkle but I couldn't pull myself away from black. Dark Blue metallics are awesome too.
 
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