zmcgovern45
New member
The owner of this vehicle was looking to have her car cleaned and properly protected to help make maintenance easier in the future. We decided on a one-step paint correction process to remove the light defects which will help to restore the clarity and depth to the paint. The paint was then coated with Optimum's Opti-Coat 2.0 for long term protection. The car turned out great, and the owner was happy to see it looking as good (or better!) than new 
Process
Exterior
- Tires: Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner & Tire Brush
- Wheels: Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner, Wheel Woolies, EZ Detail Brush, ATLASTA Soft Tip Brush, Boar's Hair Wheel Brush
- Convertible Top Fabric: Raggtop Convertible Top Cleaner
- Pre-Soak: Meguair's D103 (4:1) on heavily soiled areas
- Wash: CG Citrus Wash (2 bucket method) with CarPro Merino Wool Wash Mitt
- Tar Removal: Stoner Tarminator
- Bug Removal: Stoner Tarminator & Meguiar's D103
- Iron/Fallout Removal: CarPro IronX
- Decontamination: Nanoskin Fine Grade Mitt & Fine Grade Clay with Glide as Lubricant (7:1)
- Paint Thickness Readings Taken
- Tape Plastic Trim and Other areas of Concern
- Paint Correction: Meguiar's M205 with Meguiar's MF Finishing Pad via Rupes LHR21ES and Rupes LHR75e
- Coating Prep: CarPro Eraser
- Paint Coating: Optimum Opti-Coat 2.0
- Exhaust Tips: CG Metal Polish + Protection via MF Towel
- Glass: Meguiar's D120
- Wheel Protection: CarPro Hydro2
- Tire Dressing: Optimum Opti-Bond Tire Gel
- Convertible Fabric Top Protection: 303 Fabric Guard
Interior
- Brush and/or Blow out all cracks and crevices
- Wipe down all plastic, leather and vinyl: Einszett Cockpit Premium
- Vacuum Floor mats and Carpet
- Glass: Meguiar's D120
Before
Plenty of bugs on the front end
The wheels don't look so bad from here...
Up close you can see the wheels had a thick layer of brake dust built up on them. They are in fact silver underneath the dirt and grime.
There was large amount of tar and road grime built up behind each wheel.
Exhaust tips needed a little loving, but they were not in bad shape.
During
As always, I began with the wheels and tires. Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner was used to help break up the heavy buildup on the wheels. This wheel cleaner turns purple as it reacts with the brake dust and starts to loosen it.
There was a large amount of grime being removed from the barrels and faces of these wheels.
They cleaned up nicely and turned out to be a completely different color than when we started!
The wheels were sealed to help protect them and make them easier to clean.
After the car was thoroughly washed and decontaminated, it was brought inside for inspection. Although the highly metallic paint does a nice job of hiding defects, they can still be seen under the right type of lighting. Notice the swirls and haziness in the paint.
Here you can see the dramatic difference the polishing process was creating. By removing the swirls from the paint, we are revealing a new layer of paint that is much darker and clearer. This will produce incredible depth and gloss once completed.
You can see the haze in the reflection caused by the swirls in the paint.
After correction it looks great.
This metallic flake is stunning!
Door before correction
After polishing
Trunk before correction
Trunk after polishing. Defects removed.
Starting to look incredible!
50/50 shot on the other door. Very nice improvement for such a light correction process.
This slightly different angle shows the noticeable difference in clarity. Pay attention to the reflection of the polishing pad. The small amount that can be seen in the corrected side is much clearer than the reflection on the unpolished side.
LOVE this metallic flake! Some of the best looking paint I have seen.
The reflections were incredible after the paint was polished
Process
Exterior
- Tires: Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner & Tire Brush
- Wheels: Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner, Wheel Woolies, EZ Detail Brush, ATLASTA Soft Tip Brush, Boar's Hair Wheel Brush
- Convertible Top Fabric: Raggtop Convertible Top Cleaner
- Pre-Soak: Meguair's D103 (4:1) on heavily soiled areas
- Wash: CG Citrus Wash (2 bucket method) with CarPro Merino Wool Wash Mitt
- Tar Removal: Stoner Tarminator
- Bug Removal: Stoner Tarminator & Meguiar's D103
- Iron/Fallout Removal: CarPro IronX
- Decontamination: Nanoskin Fine Grade Mitt & Fine Grade Clay with Glide as Lubricant (7:1)
- Paint Thickness Readings Taken
- Tape Plastic Trim and Other areas of Concern
- Paint Correction: Meguiar's M205 with Meguiar's MF Finishing Pad via Rupes LHR21ES and Rupes LHR75e
- Coating Prep: CarPro Eraser
- Paint Coating: Optimum Opti-Coat 2.0
- Exhaust Tips: CG Metal Polish + Protection via MF Towel
- Glass: Meguiar's D120
- Wheel Protection: CarPro Hydro2
- Tire Dressing: Optimum Opti-Bond Tire Gel
- Convertible Fabric Top Protection: 303 Fabric Guard
Interior
- Brush and/or Blow out all cracks and crevices
- Wipe down all plastic, leather and vinyl: Einszett Cockpit Premium
- Vacuum Floor mats and Carpet
- Glass: Meguiar's D120
Before
Plenty of bugs on the front end
The wheels don't look so bad from here...
Up close you can see the wheels had a thick layer of brake dust built up on them. They are in fact silver underneath the dirt and grime.
There was large amount of tar and road grime built up behind each wheel.
Exhaust tips needed a little loving, but they were not in bad shape.
During
As always, I began with the wheels and tires. Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner was used to help break up the heavy buildup on the wheels. This wheel cleaner turns purple as it reacts with the brake dust and starts to loosen it.
There was a large amount of grime being removed from the barrels and faces of these wheels.
They cleaned up nicely and turned out to be a completely different color than when we started!
The wheels were sealed to help protect them and make them easier to clean.
After the car was thoroughly washed and decontaminated, it was brought inside for inspection. Although the highly metallic paint does a nice job of hiding defects, they can still be seen under the right type of lighting. Notice the swirls and haziness in the paint.
Here you can see the dramatic difference the polishing process was creating. By removing the swirls from the paint, we are revealing a new layer of paint that is much darker and clearer. This will produce incredible depth and gloss once completed.
You can see the haze in the reflection caused by the swirls in the paint.
After correction it looks great.
This metallic flake is stunning!
Door before correction
After polishing
Trunk before correction
Trunk after polishing. Defects removed.
Starting to look incredible!
50/50 shot on the other door. Very nice improvement for such a light correction process.
This slightly different angle shows the noticeable difference in clarity. Pay attention to the reflection of the polishing pad. The small amount that can be seen in the corrected side is much clearer than the reflection on the unpolished side.
LOVE this metallic flake! Some of the best looking paint I have seen.
The reflections were incredible after the paint was polished
