My Saab All Done!

[christian900se]

Firstly, sorry for throwing all these detailing threads at you guys... This is the last I think, I finished the drivers side.

There was a variety of defects I had to deal with. I never polished the paint under the trim line (I did the bumpers however), and the condition is indicative of what the whole car was like when I got it. Long story short, it was BAD. The pictures do it no justice, there were swirls, scratches, and rock chips. The rest of the paint was fine, just some light marring from the past year of washing and quick detailing.

Products Used:

Porter Cable 7424
Pinnacle #2, #3 (on the bad stuff)
Menzerna po87mc- for final jeweling stage
XMT machine glaze
Lake Country CCS white pad- for the polishes
CCS Grey pad- for jeweling and glaze

My LSPs to be used- Collinite 915 wax, Pinnacle Signature Series 2 wax (my go to beauty wax)

Remember, the finished pictures have no wax on it yet!

What I had to start with:

The bottom :shock:

Quarter panel done-

Some of the bad stuff-

And Done- no wax, and some have a little polishing dust

 

[christian900se]

My artsy shots

It was 11.00pm and my dad was yelling at me to stop buffing, so I called it a night. I will put a base coat of Collinite 915 on it tomorrow, clean the trim and re-install it. This the last one I promise!

 

[Brian_Brice]

Excellent worksmanship Christian, I've always liked most Saabs, and have yet to polish one. Yours looks great and here's to keeping it that way!

 

[lensch09]

Looks fantastic. I'm assuming this paint was post-GM meaning it was a clear coat paint and not a laquer?
-Dan

 

[OGauge4Me]

Looks great Christian. When you finish would you post the process steps you used? I have a bud with a SAAB and I might be able to talk him into doing his car, with a little help from friends.

 

[woo0f1]

You did a good job, love the artsy shots :cheers:

 

[mrGolfRider]

good job for going that extra mile to take the trim off, looks good!

 

[christian900se]

Brian: thanks! Im constantly working on different techniques, mainly because Im inspired to get the maximum results after seeing peoples work on here.

Lensch09: It is a laquer based paint. I believe it is single stage as well.

0Gauge4me: I edited my original post, added in the products + what I intend to use as LSPs.

Woo0f1, mrGolfRider: thanks for the compliments, the trim just pops off so I figured; why the heck not

 

[OGauge4Me]

Christian:
TY

I sure I can talk/empower my bud into polishing his SAAB. Nice to know what worked well for other members. :righton:

 

[gto19]

it looks great .you and others have convinced me to try the pinnacle product line.

 

[christian900se]

it looks great .you and others have convinced me to try the pinnacle product line.

Well, to be honest the XMT machine glaze is awesome, but when I run out of my XMT #2+3, I will move on. That stuff dusts like crazy, and it seems like #3 leaves some marring no matter what I do. I tried heavy pressure easing up and then turning the speed down on the last passes, letting the weight of the machine work. I used a white CCS pad on my hood, which was repainted and is super hard, and it still marred. Then I used number two, it wouldnt take the marring out!

Oh well, sorry for my rant, I will basically look to try new things. Im going menzerna; I got po87mc for this car just to jewel, and I love it.

 

[Brian_Brice]

Sad to hear that christian, xmt only dusted on me when I used too much product or didn't use enough pads for the job. If you don't clean your pad completely or switch to another and prime accordingly, you will turn even the wettest polish into a dirt devil.

My advice before you give up on a product that has such an ease of use is to either...

Switch to a new clean pad after three panels

Completely clean the pad out after every three panels

Use less product after the pad is primed (you should start with maybe a quarter sized application initially) after initial priming to eliminate dust (with any polish) try using a few pea sized drops

If all of the above steps are taken you will end up with significant less dust. Its been a long time since I've seen dust from any polish, most of it comes with learning the ins and outs of polsihing, but I will never suggest to you that there is a product out there that requires zero cleanup after polishing. Dust is very easily cleaned up, and to some degree is a necessery evil.

I'd hate to see you give up on such a user friendly line when the possibility of tweaking your routine exists.

 

[gto19]

Well, to be honest the XMT machine glaze is awesome, but when I run out of my XMT #2+3, I will move on. That stuff dusts like crazy, and it seems like #3 leaves some marring no matter what I do. I tried heavy pressure easing up and then turning the speed down on the last passes, letting the weight of the machine work. I used a white CCS pad on my hood, which was repainted and is super hard, and it still marred. Then I used number two, it wouldnt take the marring out!

Oh well, sorry for my rant, I will basically look to try new things. Im going menzerna; I got po87mc for this car just to jewel, and I love it.

could you give me a link to the xmt machine glaze .i only see the xmt finish glaze

 

[Brian_Brice]

Xmt finish glaze is their machine glaze. I like that product alright, but I would rank it below xmt 4, 3, and 2 if the scale didn't require a genre.

 

[christian900se]

Actually Brian, I think it is my pads. I initially get alot of dusting from my orange pads, but my white pads are fine, especially after they are primed. I used QDs, and water misted on as well to try and break down the polishes as far as possible.

That being said, I have to say that when the XMT polishes are worked in completely, they are sooo much easier to remove than alot of others. I like them alot, maybe I will replace those and experiment with other polishes.

I also have been playing with product mixtures for different types of jobs and paints. For instance, on my dad's lexus RX400 (different thread), I tried XMT #3 (3 dots) and one dot of po87mc and not only did it correct well, the menzerna allowed it to finish so nicely and let me work it in longer as well. So you are certainly right with all the learning curves involved. But hey, thats what Im working on; absolute perfection

 

[Brian_Brice]

Perfection is the goal for sure!


The orange pads are definite dust storms by nature if they aren't almost saturated with anqd, they are dense, and designed to cut, so I agree they are the main culprit.

Might I suggest adding a pea sized drop of finishing glaze to keep the polish wet and minimize dust as opposed to menzerna. Don't get me wrong I love menzernas line as well, but aside from the polishes rich in calolen clay, menzerna via da has a much shorter working time than xmt. Just try some ip via orange pad and you'll see what I mean.

I don't intend on swaying you either way, I just want to help ensure you reasonings as I had the same experience, and sought a solution. I think you're doing very well, and only stand to become remarkable as you are obciously in it for the right reasons, and seem to be very passionate about this work. I'd hate to see you black mark a product based on a few slight tweaks that could be made.

Happy polishing!

 

[christian900se]

I agree, I wont write it off though, dont worry. Im feel like I need to experiment, but I will still restock my XMT line and add some new stuff.