Built C6Z06 & Hacked Up 300c

M

MirrorDetailing

New member
This thing was beautiful. Sounded insane!

Now down to the nitty gritty. Customer has never had it detailed, and finally decided after his 300c, it was time. Hood was in terrible shape, seems it had been repainted before he bought it. Prep work was visible in 30% of the hood, wet sanding marks visible in both fenders and color sanding down on the pass rear door that was never buffed out. So I put about 18-20 hours into this to bring it back to a near factory finish. Customer was very pleased, when he first saw it his only words where "Night and day difference!"

Process:
Wash
Pinnical Ultra Clay with ONR Lube
Men. Power Gloss via GG DA w/ LC Yellow Pad
Men. Power Gloss via GG DA w/ LC Orange Pad
M105 via GG DA w/ LC White Pad
Front Half:
M205 via GG DA w/ LC Black Pad
Rear Half(I ran out of M205):
Men. SIP via GG DA w/ LC White Pad
Men. Super Finish via GG DA w/ LC Black Pad
LSP:
Wiped down with Adam's Detail Spray
Wax = Liquid Souvern

Before:









After
















Customer paid someone a few months ago to detail his vehicle, and this is what he got.

Spent about 15 hours on this thing. Corrected 98% of it. Unforently the car has been up north for awhile and has some serious acid rain on the hood, roof and trunk. Would have needed to wet sand those areas but customer was happy with this level of work, plus did not want to pay to have wet sanding done.

Before:









After wash, inside the building.


 
Well done!! It's amazing the number of crappy businesses that are still around. I mean who doesn't finish the job properly and leave it like that? I'll never understand it.

Those 300C's look so gangster in black, it's kind of hard for me to like it in any other color although it pulls off white nicely.
 
Very, very nice work sir! I am a huge fan of the new 300c. It looks good in "corrected white."

I actually like the yellow lips on the Corvette rims also. It took two looks for me to decide I like them.
 
I would not be a happy customer if I payed a detailer to spend 15 hours on my car and get it back with water spots.

I'm sure you did a great job. I'm not questioning that. I just wish I could find customers willing to pay me for that much time spent and be happy with spotted paint when I gave it back to them. :huh:
 
ArmstrongDetailing said:
I would not be a happy customer if I payed a detailer to spend 15 hours on my car and get it back with water spots.

I'm sure you did a great job. I'm not questioning that. I just wish I could find customers willing to pay me for that much time spent and be happy with spotted paint when I gave it back to them. :huh:
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What are you referring to?
 
MirrorDetailing said:
Spent about 15 hours on this thing. Corrected 98% of it. Unforently the car has been up north for awhile and has some serious acid rain on the hood, roof and trunk. Would have needed to wet sand those areas but customer was happy with this level of work, plus did not want to pay to have wet sanding done.
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I probably should have kept my mouth shut. I know it sounds like I'm criticizing, but I'm really not. Most of my jobs are between 3 and 5 hour details so it's just hard for me to comprehend spending that much time without addressing the water spots.

:cheers:
 
ArmstrongDetailing said:
I probably should have kept my mouth shut. I know it sounds like I'm criticizing, but I'm really not. Most of my jobs are between 3 and 5 hour details so it's just hard for me to comprehend spending that much time without addressing the water spots.

:cheers:
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I knew what you where referring to. But those where not water spots. The 300c lived up north for a few years and had bad acid rain. I maybe should have said that I do not pay by the hour, this was just a package deal. Customer wanted scratches removed and holograms removed. I went alittle further for him and took a few compounds at the acid rain. But it was either spend a good bit on time on the hood, top of the fenders, roof and trunk trying to buff down with my Dewalt to the lowest point of the acid rain or wet sand. Neither of which the customer was wanting to pay for.

So I compounded down twice, got rid of all the scratches and as much of the acid rain as I could in the process.

Also on time, I am not a fast detailer, I try not to be fast. I like to double check my work often so it eats up alot of time. If I was to say how long I was at the car with just buffer was probably 10-11 hours. Rest went to full interior, under the hood and LSP.

Also whats the point of a detailing site if more experienced people dont give their two cents. Hell I am not the best in the world, but dam'ed if I am not striving for it.:bigups
 
You have the right idea. I'm the one who should be re-thinking the time he spends on a car. Working quickly, non-stop through a car is a bad habit I developed to maximize my hourly rate without charging more (This leads to burn out and I don't recommend it).

Seeing how much time some guys spend and the money they get for spending that much time got the wheels in my head turning. I should be less concerned with having a speedy process and more concerned with finding customers willing to pay for the extra time.

BTW, I put acid rain in the water spot category. They are just etched water spots rather than deposits on the surface. I also realize that they can go deep. I have left behind some acid rain that was just too deep at times. Sometimes it's not worth it on many different levels. Either the customer wont spend the money or the finish would be left too thin.
 
ArmstrongDetailing said:
You have the right idea. I'm the one who should be re-thinking the time he spends on a car. Working quickly, non-stop through a car is a bad habit I developed to maximize my hourly rate without charging more (This leads to burn out and I don't recommend it).

Seeing how much time some guys spend and the money they get for spending that much time got the wheels in my head turning. I should be less concerned with having a speedy process and more concerned with finding customers willing to pay for the extra time.

BTW, I put acid rain in the water spot category. They are just etched water spots rather than deposits on the surface. I also realize that they can go deep. I have left behind some acid rain that was just too deep at times. Sometimes it's not worth it on many different levels. Either the customer wont spend the money or the finish would be left too thin.
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Yeah I understand. Its not about making a speedy process. If you can achieve the results you want in 5 hours then thats awesome. But the vette, which was an insanely hard clear and required multiple compounds to remove all the scratches. Then the 300c which had bad scratches and holograms needed to be removed to see the amount of acid rain. Which would have required a good bit of compounding with the Dewalt, which the roof, hood and truck already had one go with Men. Powergloss and a PFW pad.

Also the guy I did these cars for is not a customer to let it slide. He saw it, knew what he paid for and in comparison as to how it was before was more than pleased with how much he paid and what he got in return.

When I finished this car I believe I removed all of 1 mill of finish off, leaving it right around 3.8-4mill average across the car.

Now if you know of a way to remove acid rain completely in under 5 hours and still finish a whole car I would be interested. But to me a terrible finish car to go from wash, clay, correction to wipe down, to sealed and waxed + windows, rims/tires and vacuum interior all inside of 6 hours, then I am very interested in your process. But now if this was a simple case of SIP or M105/205 would have given me the results I wanted then this would have been done much sooner.

:bigups
 
ive got a waterspotted truck coming up soon and i am considering something similar. clay/ compound / polish/ wax ..its a neglected truck and the guy is on a budget so im sure i can improve it also
 
MirrorDetailing said:
Now if you know of a way to remove acid rain completely in under 5 hours and still finish a whole car I would be interested. But to me a terrible finish car to go from wash, clay, correction to wipe down, to sealed and waxed + windows, rims/tires and vacuum interior all inside of 6 hours, then I am very interested in your process. But now if this was a simple case of SIP or M105/205 would have given me the results I wanted then this would have been done much sooner.

:bigups
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One thing that might have gotten better results in quicker time is to replace one of your compound steps with some wet sanding. Depending on how badly it needed claying, you might have been able to for go that step too and spent that time leveling the paint. These are just thoughts or suggestions that could have saved you time without sacrificing the quality of the job. Your test spot would be the best way of knowing what plan of attack to use.

I'm in no way trying to tell you how to detail. I'm just answering the above question. M105 has cut down on my buffing time. Using the FLEX machine has cut down on my buff time as well.
 
ArmstrongDetailing said:
One thing that might have gotten better results in quicker time is to replace one of your compound steps with some wet sanding. Depending on how badly it needed claying, you might have been able to for go that step too and spent that time leveling the paint. These are just thoughts or suggestions that could have saved you time without sacrificing the quality of the job. Your test spot would be the best way of knowing what plan of attack to use.

I'm in no way trying to tell you how to detail. I'm just answering the above question. M105 has cut down on my buffing time. Using the FLEX machine has cut down on my buff time as well.
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Yeah it probably would have been much more simple to just wet sanded and then compounded out. But unforently I was not thinking that direction since the customer was not willing to pay that. Now on the claying side if these where Hard Water stains like what you would be use to in Flordia then that would have removed them. But these etched in acid rain spots had been there awhile and where not going to be coming out from just a clay.

But I understand your not telling me how to detail and I do not see that in any of your post. Just purely two cents from your point of view. But yeah I would imagine the extra three thousand OPMs of the Flex in comparison to my Griots Garage probably makes a huge difference in details. Which in the coming months I plan on getting one for just that reason! :bigups
 
MirrorDetailing said:
But yeah I would imagine the extra three thousand OPMs of the Flex in comparison to my Griots Garage probably makes a huge difference in details. Which in the coming months I plan on getting one for just that reason! :bigups
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It's the forced rotation and larger range of motion that makes it more effective. The faster speed isn't all that important to me. I dial it down most of the time.
 
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