RaydiantDetail
New member
Hey Autopia Fam
Firstly, thanks for reading and secondly I apologize about the long write up. Please feel free to skip forward I won`t take offense.
Background
This Nissan 350z belongs to someone I work with. We got to talking a month ago about cars and he mentioned his show car. He started talking about detailing it (he did not know I did detailing at this point) and was saying how he had just bought a clay kit but was nervous about using it. Well there I went on about asking him about the car and how he details it today etc. and then I started going on about proper detailing methods and claying, polishing etc. I told him to bring his car by sometime and I could help him with the wash and decontamination and show him how to take care of the car. I did not hear from him for for a while then last week he came over to my desk and said he had a show coming up and if I could work on the car. Hell yah I never turn down a detail job, unless its a really horrible interior lol. Anyway, we talked a bit more and I talked to him about a minor paint correction since he said the car is barely driven, mostly parked in the garage and he trailers it to shows (later come to find out its an open trailer lol). He was getting it ready for a show in Charlotte on the 26th so we booked it for this weekend.
Some challenges
This was a challenging paint correction because the panels just behaved different with my initial combo which worked really well on the front driver fender - Sonax Perfect Finish and Rupes yellow pad. That combo didnt cut too well on the hood so I tried s20 black with blue scholl pad. No bueno, left haze which is odd because s20 always gives me a nice cut and great finish. Then I decided whatever I did I was going to finish with CarPro Essence on gloss pad on the entire car just to give it that extra. At some point, I think the driver side fender perfect finish again wasn`t giving me a good finish, too many swirls remained compared to other panels I finished. so I switched to Sonax Cut and Finish and the Rupes yellow pad to try, good but I thought it could be better. Then I tried it with a boss orange, better correction. Nice! Then the door. Same combo no bueno! I was not getting the same cut and finish ha. The hell is going on! Ok more aggressive - Rupes Blue Pad and Cut and Finish - There it is! Finally. This combo thankfully worked on the rest of the car! In all honesty looking back I should have just hit the entire car with FCC or similar and finished up with CP Essence. Live and learn. BTW Sonax Cut and Finish. Awesome product! Will definitely be one of my go to one step products from now on. A little goes a long way, tons of working time, literally no dusting, and easy to wipe off.
Another challenging part was the amount of sanding marks left by the body shops so close to the panel edges. I had to be careful and took my time with the ibrid but I was not able to remove them in some instances. Lots of edge work was done with time due to the curvy panels.
I apologize about the crazy amount of writing. If you read it I appreciate it. On to the good stuff:
Products/ Tools Used
Wheels/ Exhaust tips-
Iron X and CG Citrus WG in the bucket - Assortment of wheel whoolies, dedicated mitt, and dedicated brush
Chrome lips polished with Mckees 37 Fast Metal Polish
Exhaust tips polished with Fast Metal Polish and #0000 steel wool
Paintwork -
Foam presoak with PB Super Slick and Foam
Megs Hyperwash with 2BM
Gyeon Wash Mitt and second MF wash mitt for lower panels
Assortment of brushes and Megs APC 4:1
Decontamination - Iron X and Tarminator, Clay - Griots Garage Paint Clay and Nano Skin pad on the PC with Nanoskin Glide as lube. It needed two round of clay and took roughly 2 hours just to clay the car fully to remove the contaminants.
Paint correction - Assortment of Pads and Polishes - Sonax Perfect Finish, Sonax Cut and Finish, CarPro Essence, Rupes Yellow Pad, Rupes Blue Pad, Boss Orange Pad, Boss White Pad, CP Gloss Pads, BnS Urofiber pads. All in an assortment of sizes.
Rupes LHR21 MK2 (W/ Kamikaze Beast Backing Plate), Boss G15, but mostly the Rupes LHR75 and Ibrid Nano 12mm DA mode
LSP - Polish Angel Master Sealant followed by AngelWax Desirable Paste Wax
Headlights/ Taillights polished with McKees AIO headlight polish and purple wool pads
Kamikaze Door/ Engine Props (These are really amazing tools)
Assortment of lighting - Scangrip sunmatch, Rupes pen light, LED lights.
LSP -
Polish Angel Master Sealant
AngelWax Desirable Paste Wax
Car as delivered:
Here is a nice relaxing video of the foam dripping off the car lol
Once the car was cleaned and dried I inspected the paint. Wash marring, Holograms and sanding marks.
Firstly, thanks for reading and secondly I apologize about the long write up. Please feel free to skip forward I won`t take offense.
Background
This Nissan 350z belongs to someone I work with. We got to talking a month ago about cars and he mentioned his show car. He started talking about detailing it (he did not know I did detailing at this point) and was saying how he had just bought a clay kit but was nervous about using it. Well there I went on about asking him about the car and how he details it today etc. and then I started going on about proper detailing methods and claying, polishing etc. I told him to bring his car by sometime and I could help him with the wash and decontamination and show him how to take care of the car. I did not hear from him for for a while then last week he came over to my desk and said he had a show coming up and if I could work on the car. Hell yah I never turn down a detail job, unless its a really horrible interior lol. Anyway, we talked a bit more and I talked to him about a minor paint correction since he said the car is barely driven, mostly parked in the garage and he trailers it to shows (later come to find out its an open trailer lol). He was getting it ready for a show in Charlotte on the 26th so we booked it for this weekend.
Some challenges
This was a challenging paint correction because the panels just behaved different with my initial combo which worked really well on the front driver fender - Sonax Perfect Finish and Rupes yellow pad. That combo didnt cut too well on the hood so I tried s20 black with blue scholl pad. No bueno, left haze which is odd because s20 always gives me a nice cut and great finish. Then I decided whatever I did I was going to finish with CarPro Essence on gloss pad on the entire car just to give it that extra. At some point, I think the driver side fender perfect finish again wasn`t giving me a good finish, too many swirls remained compared to other panels I finished. so I switched to Sonax Cut and Finish and the Rupes yellow pad to try, good but I thought it could be better. Then I tried it with a boss orange, better correction. Nice! Then the door. Same combo no bueno! I was not getting the same cut and finish ha. The hell is going on! Ok more aggressive - Rupes Blue Pad and Cut and Finish - There it is! Finally. This combo thankfully worked on the rest of the car! In all honesty looking back I should have just hit the entire car with FCC or similar and finished up with CP Essence. Live and learn. BTW Sonax Cut and Finish. Awesome product! Will definitely be one of my go to one step products from now on. A little goes a long way, tons of working time, literally no dusting, and easy to wipe off.
Another challenging part was the amount of sanding marks left by the body shops so close to the panel edges. I had to be careful and took my time with the ibrid but I was not able to remove them in some instances. Lots of edge work was done with time due to the curvy panels.
I apologize about the crazy amount of writing. If you read it I appreciate it. On to the good stuff:
Products/ Tools Used
Wheels/ Exhaust tips-
Iron X and CG Citrus WG in the bucket - Assortment of wheel whoolies, dedicated mitt, and dedicated brush
Chrome lips polished with Mckees 37 Fast Metal Polish
Exhaust tips polished with Fast Metal Polish and #0000 steel wool
Paintwork -
Foam presoak with PB Super Slick and Foam
Megs Hyperwash with 2BM
Gyeon Wash Mitt and second MF wash mitt for lower panels
Assortment of brushes and Megs APC 4:1
Decontamination - Iron X and Tarminator, Clay - Griots Garage Paint Clay and Nano Skin pad on the PC with Nanoskin Glide as lube. It needed two round of clay and took roughly 2 hours just to clay the car fully to remove the contaminants.
Paint correction - Assortment of Pads and Polishes - Sonax Perfect Finish, Sonax Cut and Finish, CarPro Essence, Rupes Yellow Pad, Rupes Blue Pad, Boss Orange Pad, Boss White Pad, CP Gloss Pads, BnS Urofiber pads. All in an assortment of sizes.
Rupes LHR21 MK2 (W/ Kamikaze Beast Backing Plate), Boss G15, but mostly the Rupes LHR75 and Ibrid Nano 12mm DA mode
LSP - Polish Angel Master Sealant followed by AngelWax Desirable Paste Wax
Headlights/ Taillights polished with McKees AIO headlight polish and purple wool pads
Kamikaze Door/ Engine Props (These are really amazing tools)
Assortment of lighting - Scangrip sunmatch, Rupes pen light, LED lights.
LSP -
Polish Angel Master Sealant
AngelWax Desirable Paste Wax
Car as delivered:
Here is a nice relaxing video of the foam dripping off the car lol
Once the car was cleaned and dried I inspected the paint. Wash marring, Holograms and sanding marks.
