MirrorDetailing
New member
Customer traded up his '09 SRT10 for this beautiful '99 GTS. Other than the color...I love these cars. Amazing sound, amazing body lines...just amazing car. lol.
Anyways, owner got the car and for a 10k mileage car...it had the appearance of 200k mileage. He wanted to get close to 100% correction as possible and wanting the clear bra removed. After talking with him, learning what he wanted in the end and what his budget was; we agreed on doing my Exterior Level 1/2 Package. Not a full Exterior level 2 Package, but as close as possible. Since the clear bra removal is not cheap and time consuming since this one had the appearance of a cheap Chinese one. Plus an area that he wanted full wet sanded and any major spots that I might find. Owner dropped off the car and I got started on it.
Car turned into a nightmare as the clear bra was what I thought it was and it came off in small 1/4" silvers. A few areas came off in larger hunks but mainly 75% came off a 1/4" at a time. So after letting the car warm up in the sun for 30 minutes and then spending over 2 hours in the nice hot sun..I was able to get it all off. Afterwards it would take me about 2-3 hours just to be all the adhesive off behind it. Followed up by some hard to correct paint and a few areas that needed wet sanding...it took roughly about 32 hours too completely finish.
Owner also had many concerns with the true condition of the paint, as he said the original owner was an idiot and that he was told it was "lightly" damaged at a Dodge Dealership when a tech took it for a joy ride. Dealership told owner that he lost control of it and it ran off road but only lightly damaged the front valiance. Owner thought the story was odd with the condition of the paint, but did not go with his gut and bought the car after talking him down a lot. While I was going through the car, I found what appeared to be tape lines and 3 areas of improper clear blend. Once Joey joined me on the last day while we were finishing we were able to figure out that slight parts of the paint the black color is not the same. Its off by a few shades and under a white LED light its easily noticeable. One of the biggest factors was that the stripes are different. The front bumper, hood and roof are vinyl stripes cleared over and the trunk and rear bumper are painted on stripes that are probably an 1/18 of an inch wider and a very slight shade darker. After showing the owner, he was glad to know he was not just paranoid when he was looking at it. Luckily it does not show on carfax, for the owner and after the detail its extremely hard to notice unless your looking for it.
Process:
Clear Bra - The Sun - Plastic Razorblade - What is left of the skin on my fingers now
Wash - CG Citrus Wash'n'Gloss
Clayed w/ DI Medium Clay via ONR Lube
Wheels w/ Diablo Wheel Gel
Paint Correction:
GG DA w/ Surbuff w/ M105/300 Mixture - Areas I did
GG DA w/ Microfiber Cutting Pad w/ M101/300 mixture - Areas Joey "smoknfastlegend" did
DW849 w/ Uber Orange Pad w/ SIP - Me
DW849 w/ LC Black Pad w/ PO85RD - Me
Wet Sanding Areas:
3" Meguiars Unigrit Sanding Disc via GG DA Speed 2-4
DW849 w/ LC PFW Pad w/ M105
DW849 w/ Uber Orange w/ SIP
DW849 w/ LC Black w/ PO85RD
Finished:
Pressure Foam Wash w/ CG Citrus Wash
Blow Dry
Meguiars Window Concentrate for Windows
Optimum Tire Shine for Tires
P21 on Exhaust
LSP w/ Wolfgangs Deep Gloss Paint Sealant overnight.
As always the before pictures Wednesday morning when it was actually sunny out.
Condition of the paint in the sun...
In the sun, the paint did not look extremely bad...after getting it inside and washed/clayed this is what the paint looked like. Owner said the previous owner he just got it from had it detailed prior to him getting there...
After removing the clear bra, this shows you what can be hidden underneath a clear bra. Its also a good reason why you should have any area prepped prior to laying on clear bra.
Under the front of the hood and front bumper...
After getting into the vehicle and starting the next two days of correction, I found an area on the roof that needed too be wet sanded. Tried to correct it with a rotary/wool pad/compound first and did not make a difference.
Area before buffing...
Scratches after buffing the area to see what it would take. Best picture I could get out of them that showed the area...
Wet sanding the area...
After correcting all the wet sanding marks...scratches are gone.
The rear spoiler/bill the customer had big concerns with. It showed some really serious scratching and a lot of it was easy to tell buffing would not get it. After testing the area with the owner and showing him the results, he gave the go ahead too just wet sand the whole area too clean it up.
Condition before...
After wet sanding the area...
After wet sanding I continued to work on the rest of the car as I would get pictures of the afters when I was finished. Unfortunately I forgot. So no afters like the roof.
While I was working around the car, I came across this interesting thing on the hood. A literal line of clear that was perfectly sanded from one end of the hood to the next. At one end it formed a slight curve running at an angel towards the other edge of the panel. It was the exact same on each side of the bumper. If you notice in this picture , close up of the sky light, you will see a break in the orange peel.
Now after getting everything done and finally getting the car where it should. It was late Friday night and already dark so only got some quick inside shots before heading home...
Got in this morning and before taking it outside for some finished pictures in the little sun that was out, got some more inside shots plus some shots of the paint after, as I knew the sun was not going to be enough...
Now out into the daylight to get some over all finished pictures.
Anyways, owner got the car and for a 10k mileage car...it had the appearance of 200k mileage. He wanted to get close to 100% correction as possible and wanting the clear bra removed. After talking with him, learning what he wanted in the end and what his budget was; we agreed on doing my Exterior Level 1/2 Package. Not a full Exterior level 2 Package, but as close as possible. Since the clear bra removal is not cheap and time consuming since this one had the appearance of a cheap Chinese one. Plus an area that he wanted full wet sanded and any major spots that I might find. Owner dropped off the car and I got started on it.
Car turned into a nightmare as the clear bra was what I thought it was and it came off in small 1/4" silvers. A few areas came off in larger hunks but mainly 75% came off a 1/4" at a time. So after letting the car warm up in the sun for 30 minutes and then spending over 2 hours in the nice hot sun..I was able to get it all off. Afterwards it would take me about 2-3 hours just to be all the adhesive off behind it. Followed up by some hard to correct paint and a few areas that needed wet sanding...it took roughly about 32 hours too completely finish.
Owner also had many concerns with the true condition of the paint, as he said the original owner was an idiot and that he was told it was "lightly" damaged at a Dodge Dealership when a tech took it for a joy ride. Dealership told owner that he lost control of it and it ran off road but only lightly damaged the front valiance. Owner thought the story was odd with the condition of the paint, but did not go with his gut and bought the car after talking him down a lot. While I was going through the car, I found what appeared to be tape lines and 3 areas of improper clear blend. Once Joey joined me on the last day while we were finishing we were able to figure out that slight parts of the paint the black color is not the same. Its off by a few shades and under a white LED light its easily noticeable. One of the biggest factors was that the stripes are different. The front bumper, hood and roof are vinyl stripes cleared over and the trunk and rear bumper are painted on stripes that are probably an 1/18 of an inch wider and a very slight shade darker. After showing the owner, he was glad to know he was not just paranoid when he was looking at it. Luckily it does not show on carfax, for the owner and after the detail its extremely hard to notice unless your looking for it.
Process:
Clear Bra - The Sun - Plastic Razorblade - What is left of the skin on my fingers now
Wash - CG Citrus Wash'n'Gloss
Clayed w/ DI Medium Clay via ONR Lube
Wheels w/ Diablo Wheel Gel
Paint Correction:
GG DA w/ Surbuff w/ M105/300 Mixture - Areas I did
GG DA w/ Microfiber Cutting Pad w/ M101/300 mixture - Areas Joey "smoknfastlegend" did
DW849 w/ Uber Orange Pad w/ SIP - Me
DW849 w/ LC Black Pad w/ PO85RD - Me
Wet Sanding Areas:
3" Meguiars Unigrit Sanding Disc via GG DA Speed 2-4
DW849 w/ LC PFW Pad w/ M105
DW849 w/ Uber Orange w/ SIP
DW849 w/ LC Black w/ PO85RD
Finished:
Pressure Foam Wash w/ CG Citrus Wash
Blow Dry
Meguiars Window Concentrate for Windows
Optimum Tire Shine for Tires
P21 on Exhaust
LSP w/ Wolfgangs Deep Gloss Paint Sealant overnight.
As always the before pictures Wednesday morning when it was actually sunny out.
Condition of the paint in the sun...
In the sun, the paint did not look extremely bad...after getting it inside and washed/clayed this is what the paint looked like. Owner said the previous owner he just got it from had it detailed prior to him getting there...
After removing the clear bra, this shows you what can be hidden underneath a clear bra. Its also a good reason why you should have any area prepped prior to laying on clear bra.
Under the front of the hood and front bumper...
After getting into the vehicle and starting the next two days of correction, I found an area on the roof that needed too be wet sanded. Tried to correct it with a rotary/wool pad/compound first and did not make a difference.
Area before buffing...
Scratches after buffing the area to see what it would take. Best picture I could get out of them that showed the area...
Wet sanding the area...
After correcting all the wet sanding marks...scratches are gone.
The rear spoiler/bill the customer had big concerns with. It showed some really serious scratching and a lot of it was easy to tell buffing would not get it. After testing the area with the owner and showing him the results, he gave the go ahead too just wet sand the whole area too clean it up.
Condition before...
After wet sanding the area...
After wet sanding I continued to work on the rest of the car as I would get pictures of the afters when I was finished. Unfortunately I forgot. So no afters like the roof.
While I was working around the car, I came across this interesting thing on the hood. A literal line of clear that was perfectly sanded from one end of the hood to the next. At one end it formed a slight curve running at an angel towards the other edge of the panel. It was the exact same on each side of the bumper. If you notice in this picture , close up of the sky light, you will see a break in the orange peel.
Now after getting everything done and finally getting the car where it should. It was late Friday night and already dark so only got some quick inside shots before heading home...
Got in this morning and before taking it outside for some finished pictures in the little sun that was out, got some more inside shots plus some shots of the paint after, as I knew the sun was not going to be enough...
Now out into the daylight to get some over all finished pictures.
