1997 Grand Prix - PB's, Optimum, and Finish Kare

mgm2003

mgm2003

New member
I recently ordered a few Finish Kare sealers and want to see how they hold up. Over the past two weekends, as time permitted, I detailed a neighbours 1997 Black Grand Prix. The car is outside 24 x 7, and doesn’t see a lot of care and attention. I’ll report back on this post from time to time to let you know what I observe. We live in the NE, which is generally exposed to a lot of air pollutants. Depending on the amount of rain, exposure, etc… I’d say a decent wax will last 4 weeks and a decent sealer is about double that (on average).

Process Used:

Polishing Steps:
SSR3 via cyclo & orange pad.
Optimum via Rotary & Orange pad @ 1400 RPM
Optimum via PC & Orange pad @ 5.5
Time: 3 hours

Seal:
Finish Kare #2180 x 1 by hand and the tops & #218 on the sides.
Time: Under 1 hour to apply, haze, wipe off. #218 comes off easier than #2180. Neither wipe off easy like FMJ, UPP, or WG.

Wax:
Finish Kare Pink Wax x 1 by hand.
Time: 30 min. I would apply to a panel or two, mist a MF with #425 and wipe off.

Wheels: Glipton all in one Tire Care & Poorboys PP.
Tires: Glipton Wheel Jelly
Time: 2 hours. The honeycomb wheels took some time to polish out.

QD:
Finish Kare #425 Poly Wipe Spray
Time: 15 minutes. Removed and haze, residue left from the seal/wax steps.

All in all it took 6+ hours over the course of 2 weekends.

Here are a few after shots

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Sweet! I hear the Finish Kare stuff is very durable as the weeks go by. It looks very deep paint, but reflective.
 
That paint looks great! Very clear and wet, yet still holds a very deep black color.

Nice work on the rims/tires too. How do you like the Gliptone Tire Jelly? I think it's looking very comparable (looks) to PB BnB from here.

For those tailpipes, I ended up painting them everytime I did my bro's Grand Prix until he got Borla exhaust. They NEVER clean up.
 
Excellent work! :bigups

So much great work is posted here... to bad we don't have a forum just for these kinds of posts. :D
 
GSRstilez said:
That paint looks great! Very clear and wet, yet still holds a very deep black color.

Nice work on the rims/tires too. How do you like the Gliptone Tire Jelly? I think it's looking very comparable (looks) to PB BnB from here.

For those tailpipes, I ended up painting them everytime I did my bro's Grand Prix until he got Borla exhaust. They NEVER clean up.
Click to expand...
Thanks Sean.

The intention was to hit the pipes with #000 & PPP, but time ran out, and the owner needed his car. Painting them sounds like a good idea
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A little opps on the tires... It's actually the gliptone tire spray (forget what it's called), topped with a coat of gliptone tire jelly. Nice look IMO. Our local Western Auto has started carrying the gliptone line (I believe the consumer line, not pro), so I've been trying them out here and there.

Boss_429 -Thanks for the nice words. My neighbor actually washed his car last night, which is VERY unusual. I think he's pretty happy with the end-results.
 
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