2007 Cobalt SS/SC Polish

Hi guys! I had some free time this weekend and was able to get my personal car cleaned up. I did a big two step a little while ago so this time it only needed a light polish to bring back the shine. Enjoy the pictures and as always, any comments are welcome! :)



I took care of the interior on Friday night. I didn't take any pictures of it because it wasn't that dirty. I shampooed and vacuumed the carpets and mats using 409 carpet cleaner (which is great by the way) and a shop vac. The plastics and vinyl were treated with 303 and the seats received a wipe down of Lexol conditioner. The windows were treated with Stoner's Invisble Glass both inside and out.



My process for the exterior was as follows:



Wheels and tires:

P21S Wheel Gel

Uber Spoke brush

Swissvax-like brush

MF mitt

Optimum Opti-Bond



Wash:

Pre-rinse to remove any loose contaminants

Foamed with Dawn and let sit for about 3-5 minutes

2BM with Pinnacle shampoo

Home Depot grout sponge

Dried with PakShak WW drying towels



Clay:

Mother's yellow clay

ONR as lube



Paint:

Dewalt 849

LC backing plate

LC Blue 5.5" CCS pad

3M Ultrafine Finishing Polish

CG Premium MF



LSP:

Poorboy's World Natty's Blue Paste



Onto the pictures!!



Here are what my wheels looked like before and after the cleaning. They were a mess. I was able to use the Uber spoke brush to reach back into the barrel, but I also followed that up with a scrub down using a MF towel as I'm able to reach my hand all the way to the back.



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Here is P21S Gel just dwelling for a little bit:

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The Uber spoke brush is probably the nicest wheel brush I've used. Now I haven't used the EZ Detail brush, but for under $10, the Uber is hard to beat.

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After:

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Here are a few before pictures of just how dirty my car was.



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Next up was to rinse and foam the car. For this I used a healthy dose of Dawn and let sit for 3-5 minutes to loosen up as much contaminants as possible.



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I then washed using the 2BM with a Home Depot grout sponge and Pinnacle shampoo. I then brought it into the garage to clay with Mother's yellow clay and ONR as lube. Here is what the clay looked like after my hood.



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I was planning on doing a two step using M205 as well, but after inspection, I decided that my paint was in amazing condition and two steps wasn't needed. I don't have any during or 50/50 shots because this wasn't a correction detail. I just needed to bring back the gloss that my paint had a few months ago.
 
These are all the after shots of just using 3M Ultrafine polish and a 5.5" Blue LC CCS pad using the Dewalt 849 at 1500 RPMs, and after a coat of Poorboy's Work Natty's Blue paste wax.



I apologize in advance for the bad quality sun shots. It was overcast and the sun was just not cooperating. I even planned on getting a few today, but it's just not sunny out. :(



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Thanks for taking the time to check out my detail! I think it's kind of nice knowing that I really won't have to ever do a big correction again because I'm able to maintain the finish with proper washing techniques. Any comments or questions are welcome!! :D
 
As an update, of course after I posted these up and went to lunch, the sun came out. I snapped a few sun shots. :)



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That is a strand of dog hair from sitting in the garage overnight...not a scratch.

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Vista_Stang said:
Very, very nice!!! :2thumbs:



Mind if I ask where you got your Swissvax-like brush at?



Thanks! I got the brush at Michael's. It wasn't in the brush isle either; I had to search for it. They were like $2.95 and my fiancee had a coupon so they were even cheaper. I ended up getting 3 of them. I've never had any problem with it and all of the bristles are still there lol.
 
Looks great Josh! That color red always looks great with a fresh polish and coat of Natty's. Do you have a tune/software on the Cobalt? Local guy here in Jax does some custom tuning and has gotten some great feedback on Cobalt SS/SC guys.
 
a.k.a. Patrick said:
Get rid of the dog! Nice car BTW......



I could never get rid of the puppy lol. I may just give it a slight buzz cut haha.



dublifecrisis said:
Looks great Josh! That color red always looks great with a fresh polish and coat of Natty's. Do you have a tune/software on the Cobalt? Local guy here in Jax does some custom tuning and has gotten some great feedback on Cobalt SS/SC guys.



Thanks bud! It's completely stock. I've heard great things about tunes, but I don't race it. I would like it to be faster, but I don't want to spend the money just to create more problems down the road....or at least from what I've heard from people modding their cars...they could be wrong though.
 
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