Pretty Kitty (And mean too!)

[richy]

This car belongs to the gentleman who did the polyaspartic coating on my garage floor. All he told me was that it was a black, 2006 Jag. Imagine my joy when I got home and saw a 2006 supercharged XJR waiting for me!!!! What a gorgeous car and with a 500 HP supercharged V-8, this is one mean kitty too!
Problem was, this kitty needed a lot of work. Lots. The hood had at least 100 small chips and every panel except for one had small scratches in them. The paint on this car was quite hard too; I went "old school" aggressive on it to get the correction I wanted. A 22 hour marathon, all told. Join me on the journey.....


As the car arrived, here were some of the many issues I was facing as far as scratches and chips. I didn't bother to photograph many of them as it would just be more pics of the same, but here's a few to give you the idea.

Hello special kitty:

The wheels looked pretty good, but they sure turned purple when I broke out the IronX later. The pipes needed a good cleaning too, but were in good shape at least.

The interior mostly was in need of a good vacuum and steam cleaning:

Wheels/Wells/Tires/Barrels:

First up was the wheels. A healthy spray of IX and agitation and then the same to the barrels with some IX gel soap to boost the strength.

The tires got cleaned with Zep Purple.
The wells got cleaned with Zep Citrus.
The exhaust tips got cleaned with Megs WB.

 

[richy]

Foam/Wash/Decontamination:

The car was foamed with a strong mix of DG 901 and Dawn and washed with a similar mix. There was absolutely no sheeting of water after these 2 steps!

Next came the clay. I used Riccardo yellow which was heated up in the microwave to make it more pliable. I could not believe the contamination coming off the paint surface! This is just 1/2 the roof!

There were so many chips in this car. I made the mistake of trying to fill them first not knowing how aggressive I would need to become to correct the paint. I ended up pulling the paint out of a lot of the ones that I filled. This gives a very small idea of how many chips there were:

Paint Correction/Scratch Removal/Chip filling:

To correct the paint on this car, I started off with my go-to combo of a yellow B & S pad and M105. Only on one fender was this sufficient. It did not have enough bite to correct all the marks that were all over the car. I then switched to my black Tuf Buff wool and M105. I ran this with my Dyna rotary at 1000 rom. I then found that feathering the trigger and running it even slower seemed to give better results. I was able to finish down pretty nicely with it. I tried following that up with a green B & S and M205 with the rotary but it did not finish down well under LED light scrutiny. I then switched to a white B & S with M205 with my Megs DA at 6. Ta-Da. That did it. That combo was used for most of the car. The hood was the worst and it got considerably more aggressive treatment than the rest. I saved it for last as I knew it was going to be a bugger and also to let the paint harden for as long as possible. The hood had 2 scratches that were deep enough to feel with your fingernail. I wet sanded those down. There were some other fairly deep ones as well. Thankfully, there was lots of clear to work with so no worries there. I ended up amping up to my burgandy Megs wool pad and upped the speed to about 1500-1800 rpm. Finally the marks were gone! I went over that stage with the yellow B & S pad on my DA with M105 at 6 and then followed that up with white and M205 as before. I then had to go back and carefully fill a lot of the chips again. Ugggghhhh! The chips on this thing were not going to get leveled nicely unfortunately. Even Langka was pulling it out on some other areas that I had to re-do. Here's a reflection shot of the Megs twins after being used on a door:

Interior:

Carpet Mats/Carpeting:

The mats were vacuumed with my powerful (stick the damned thing to your arm and see how hard it pulls!) PF51. That was followed up with being steamed by my GAIA steamer. The mats were then treated to 303 Fabric Guard to protect them. The carpeting was then vacuumed and steam cleaned as well.

Leather:

The leather seats were vacuumed using a horse hair attachment to get down into the crevices and then treated to UIGP which was allowed to soak in and then the excess was wiped off a few minutes later. The steering wheel leather was also treated to it.

Plastic bits & Wood:

These were treated to UIGP or PERL. The gorgeous wood trim was treated to DG Nano polish and topped with AW. Super slick, super shine.

Glass:

The glass was cleaned with Zep Glass and 2 mf's: normal and waffle weave.


Paint/Glass Protection:

Once all the correction was done, the car was cleaned with ONR. The jams were all cleaned with ONR too and then sprayed with AW. The paint and glass were then wiped clean with ERASER to ensure a suitable surface for OG. All exterior glass, head lights, tail lights, chrome (including the kitty) and of course all the paint were protected by OG using my favourite suede mf and block method.

Wheels/Tires:

The wheels were also sealed with Opti Guard and the tires were dressed with DP gel. The wells were sprayed with Crappy Tire Spray and wiped down afterward.

Trim:

The trim around the mirrors got UTTG.

Chrome Exhaust Tips:

These got 0000 steel wool and Collinite Metal wax.


FINAL PRODUCT:

Inside Shots:

 

[richy]

Outside Shots:

OK, be warned, I was very proud of how this came out, so I took a lot of pics, LOL.

Thanks very much for looking. Questions/comments appreciated.

 

[Alex Boyce]

I remember when I found out these had 399HP from the factory, I was shocked! What does he have done to this one? Great recovery on the car that thing needed your help!

 

[richy]

I remember when I found out these had 399HP from the factory, I was shocked! What does he have done to this one? Great recovery on the car that thing needed your help!

I don't know. He just said it had 500 HP and I took it on face value. The motor sounds intoxicating with its supercharger whine! Thanks for the feedback.:xyxthumbs:

 

[Paul Mitchell]

Beautiful job. Great reflective photos. I hope the job he did on your garage floor shows the same pride of workmanship.

 

[RoadRageDetail]

Only good comment I can think of would get me reported so I will just say meeeeeeeeeoowwwwwwwww

Good job!!! She looks great!

 

[richy]

Beautiful job. Great reflective photos. I hope the job he did on your garage floor shows the same pride of workmanship.

Thank you very much. Yes, he does great work. Here's a thread I posted when the job was completed prior to moving stuff back in and prior to painting:
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/off-topic/49384-rich-s-garage-makeover.html

And here's after painting:
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/off-topic/50269-update-richy-s-garage-makeover.html

 

[AutowerxDetailing]

Dang man, you worked that paint LIKE A BOSS! Very nice job.

 

[Spiney]

Incredible turn around of a neglected kitty. Some clarification please for a newbie.

When talking about the chips you said something like not even the Lankgar(sp?) could pull out? What does that mean?

In order to clean the barrels must you pull the wheels?

You initially cleaned the tips with Meg's WB. Is that Wheel Bright?

What paint did you use to touch up the chips? I have some, not that many thank God, I need to fix on my 96 Cobra black when I correct it. I bought the DR Colorchip system. I was told to wait a few weeks after touch up before I do a seal & wax.

Thanks much, Spiney-Dave

 

[excalibur]

Great Job, that car looks completely different ! I too have a paint chip question. I have the paint chip bottle ordered from the factory, it has the color match on one end and clear coat on the other. Could you walk me through the steps on that, so it will look right ? Brand new Sportage Turbo signal red and I drove 400 miles to St. Louis to buy it for my wife and got a dang stone chip on the hood on the way home. It is smaller than a match head so I am hoping I can fix it. Feed back please

 

[hoyt66]

Nice turnaround! It always amazes me how some owners of these very nice cars don't take

care of them. I'm not saying everyone has to be a "geek" but for crying out loud.....

 

[pennstate08]

Great turn around...the car looks fantastic! The garage makeover looks awesome too...great trade off!

 

[richy]

Only good comment I can think of would get me reported so I will just say meeeeeeeeeoowwwwwwwww

Good job!!! She looks great!

Thank you very much! I get banned often by Nick for my comments, so I hear ya!

Dang man, you worked that paint LIKE A BOSS! Very nice job.

Thanks man, I appreciate it!

Incredible turn around of a neglected kitty. Some clarification please for a newbie.

When talking about the chips you said something like not even the Lankgar(sp?) could pull out? What does that mean?

In order to clean the barrels must you pull the wheels?

You initially cleaned the tips with Meg's WB. Is that Wheel Bright?

What paint did you use to touch up the chips? I have some, not that many thank God, I need to fix on my 96 Cobra black when I correct it. I bought the DR Colorchip system. I was told to wait a few weeks after touch up before I do a seal & wax.

Thanks much, Spiney-Dave

Dave, thanks for your feedback! Now for your questions:
Langka is a product to chemically level the paint. You rub it very gently across the dried touch up to flatten or level the fill in so it's less obvious. Here's an AG link to it:
LANGKA Paint Chip and Scratch Repair - The paint chip repair products made by LANGKA have been used in the auto repair industry for the last 15 years,
No, I don't have to pull the wheels to clean the barrels. Either the wheel woolies, Daytona speed brush or the Raceglaze XL will all do it. WW's are great b/c you get 3 of them that will fit in any wheel opening. If you do pull them, that is the very best way to do it although most customers won't pay for that priviledge. Usually it's only if the wheels are spectacular will they do so. I seal the barrels and the calipers with OG when I pull the wheels for a customer.
Yes, a great tip for cleaning chrome exhaust tips is to spray Megs Wheel Brightener, agitate slightly and rinse well. Works like a charm.
For paint, I use touch up paint that I have mixed at a local body shop supply house. If the car needs painting, the body shops get their paint from the same place I do. It's also cheaper than the factory touch up paint and I've never had an issue with matching. I did a one-owner 1990 Z28 a month ago or so, and it took a lot of touch ups, and the paint matched beautifully on a 22 year old car. Having said that, Dr Chip is fine, just more expensive. You do get a leveling agent (bottle with pink liquid in it) as well. I find it more forgiving than Langka. If you have the luxury of time, by all means wait a few weeks prior to leveling it or you run the risk of pulling the paint out of the chip. Hope that helps.

Great Job, that car looks completely different ! I too have a paint chip question. I have the paint chip bottle ordered from the factory, it has the color match on one end and clear coat on the other. Could you walk me through the steps on that, so it will look right ? Brand new Sportage Turbo signal red and I drove 400 miles to St. Louis to buy it for my wife and got a dang stone chip on the hood on the way home. It is smaller than a match head so I am hoping I can fix it. Feed back please

The car comes with base/clear so they sell the touch ups with the same system with European cars in particular. You need to be very careful and lay down a very small amount of colour and let it dry completely. A few days later, lay down a small amount of clear. Try to have the clear get to the surrounding level and then use Langka or something similar to level it if you get it above the surrounding surface. Dr Colour Chip is a good product, I'd recommend that over the factory sticks.

Nice turnaround! It always amazes me how some owners of these very nice cars don't take

care of them. I'm not saying everyone has to be a "geek" but for crying out loud.....

Thank you. I'm sure they don't get that way quickly and it just detiorates over time. As long as the owner is willing to take it to someone like me to correct it and keep it looking nice, then I am much more forgiving, LOL.

Great turn around...the car looks fantastic! The garage makeover looks awesome too...great trade off!

Thank you. The crowning touch for me was getting my banner up. I posted a thread about that too.

 

[RaskyR1]

Great work as always Richy! Don't see to many kitties like that one driving around. (Kitty tattoo video stuck in my head now BTW)


For some reason the red leather seems a bit out of place to me...I think it's because of the wood trim inside, just throws it off a bit. :dunno:

 

[richy]

Great work as always Richy! Don't see to many kitties like that one driving around. (Kitty tattoo video stuck in my head now BTW)


For some reason the red leather seems a bit out of place to me...I think it's because of the wood trim inside, just throws it off a bit. :dunno:

Chad, thanks very much. PM me the video!! In person, the red works. I was very fond of this car. The wood was perfect too. Thanks again.

 

[RaskyR1]

Chad, thanks very much. PM me the video!! In person, the red works. I was very fond of this car. The wood was perfect too. Thanks again.

I figured that much about the red leather....things always seem to look better in person.


You originally sent me the video quite a while back, it just popped into my head when I read the thread title and you were the one posting it.

 

[RTexasF]

I've looked at much of the beautiful work you have done but this one tops them all. The workmanship and the car itself are both drool worthy. The many photos were indeed warranted.

 

[BobbyG]

Hey Richy,

Man, that finish was in tough shape when you got it!

The before and after shots really hit home for some that don't realize just how much work auto detailing is if done correctly. The finish is now like a mirror and I expect some jaw dropping photos when the owner drops by to pick it up!

Other then chip repair, the chips and deep scratches are there and not much you can do about them.

This Jag came out Awesome!! rops:

 

[Bill1234]

License and registration meow, lol, that looks much better than before. Shows how a true car owner would take car of a car