Black '03 Vette, New Canon XSI SLR

While driving down 275 last week heading towards another job, I had the owner of this vehicle call me after seeing my trailer and schedule an appointment. He ended up having me head out to Southfield on Thursday and working on his wife's '04 Black DTS, and her boss' '08 Black DTS. No pics, I was angry and caved in and finally bought a Canon XSI on the way home. I figured after all the years of being mad about having the perfect potential shots and not having a camera, it was time to have one.



The owner of the jewelery store is having me out to his work next week again to work on 2 Range Rovers, and then his house next weekend to do work on his Bentley Flying Spur, Aston Martin DB9, and SL65 AMG so look forward to those writeups. I think we'll be doing a couple wheels off details on those.



This guy has been an absolute goldmine, and a dream to work for. I started working yesterday at 7:30 AM and did not finish until 6:30 due to talking with the owner and his neighbor for a few hours. The neighbor's F150 will be coming into the shop next week also. He has been referring me to a ton of other people.



Back to the Vette. The sun was hiding yesterday morning so the car looked a lot better than it was. By 10 am I knew I was in trouble though. The previous detailer left some holo's on all panels, evident by these pictures taken after the wash.













You can see the past marring and negligence this car has had. When the owner returned, he shared a little of the cars history. To say the least, I am glad I didn't go anymore aggressive than I did without waiting for my PTG to get here because this baby has been used and abused by multiple detailers.



The process was as follow:



Wash with PW and Foam Cannon filled with 10 oz of Automagic Cherry Suds

Wheels cleaned with Meg's WB 4:1, rotated 180 and cleaned behind caliper

Wheel Wells, Door Jambs, and engine cleaned with Meg's Super Degreaser.

Crevices cleaned with APC and detail brush.













Started on the interior first, nothing major; only 15,000 miles but everything was dry vapor steamed followed by a coat of Hyper dressing cut 8-1 sprayed via HVLP paint gun and compressor. No interior after pics :mad:



After steaming, pre vacuuming and dressing:



















After the wash I was left with a smooth surface that got a lite claying before being perfected with Intensive Polish with an LC Orange Light Cutting pad, followed by Final Polish on an LC White Polishing pad. The hood and trunk lid also got treated with XP Polish to help reduce a little left over marring. I don't know about you guys, but the hood and trunk lid always seem to buff funky for me on Vette's. Are these the only fiberglass panels on the vehicle? Everything was sealed with 4* UPP



Before polishing:

















Sun was in and out all day but, after IP:











A couple scratches after multiple passes with IP/Orange:



 
After FP, UPP, befor final touches:



























Rusty Rotors!







All in all it was a very long, back breaking day but one that I think the owner and I both enjoyed. Despite the hard and laborious extra work I put into this detail, I didn't charge him a dime. He has already put me in contact with multiple people so I just wanted to thank him. Hope you all enjoyed.



PS - please feel free to critique the detail, as well as pictures. All pics where taken in full auto mode with an 18-55 mm lens as yesterday where my first pics with the cam.



Shaun

Superior Detailing
 
Shaun- awesome come back on that. Little suprised you used HF cleaner on the vette rims. (hence the rusty calipers) but they seems to have handled it quite nicely. Can't wait to see more write ups from the collection there.



Which steamer is that BTW? Looks like it does a bang up job there.
 
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