Bella Strada
New member
I'm new to the forum but have been lurking for a couple months and have learned a LOT from all of you. I come from a restoration background and was a jack of all trades for years. Recently I took over the management of a private collection and encountered a steep detailing learning curve. Most of the cars had been driven but not professionally detailed for quite some time, and all had minor issues that needed attention.
Back when I had a shop, our detailing needs were a little different - polishing was mainly done on fresh paint after wetsanding to remove 1500-2000 grit marks and give a nice final finish. I generally used wool pads on a rotary machine and followed up with 3m ultrafine on a waffle pad. The results were very nice but I always thought they could 'pop' better. And most clients were at the end of their budgets by this point and didn't want to spring for additional work if they already thought it looked good...And unfortunately, with fresh paint you're advised not to wax or seal for 30 days after the paint is applied, so often we didn't get to see the full potential of the final finish.
Ordered a bunch of supplies from PAC and just dived in... Now I'm in the middle of several detail jobs, but these are the first results
Our subject is a '69 Lamborghini Miura S, which was completely restored 2 years ago, used lightly but never detailed. The paint has a slight whitish haze under flourescent lights, and light swirl marks in strong daylight. I only had about 10 hours before an upcoming show, so after some trial and error I ended up starting with m105 on the PC with an orange pad, then 3m ultrafine on a rotary with a super soft 3m waffle pad on low speed. Final polish was with Blackfire gloss enhancing polish and Wet Diamond was used as a sealer.
The m105 took out most of the haze and swirl, although there's still stray marks that need attention. I possibly could have skipped the 3m, but it seemed to bring out the color and gloss slightly. The Blackfire treatment added the final pop though, and really set it off. The orange came out much bolder and brighter.
My method may be a little different, but it worked well for the material involved - single stage urethane, not clearcoated.
The end result - a best in class win at the Louisville Concours held at the Churchill Downs horse track. The competition was stiff but I think the correction work made the difference. Most other cars in our class suffered from swirling, holograms, etc that really showed in the sunlight. I also learned that I like to win :scared:
Last pic is the show winner, custom bodied Bugatti.
Input is welcome! Hopefully I'll have our daily driver '63 vette correction done soon. I'm about 30 hours in to it with more to go.
Back when I had a shop, our detailing needs were a little different - polishing was mainly done on fresh paint after wetsanding to remove 1500-2000 grit marks and give a nice final finish. I generally used wool pads on a rotary machine and followed up with 3m ultrafine on a waffle pad. The results were very nice but I always thought they could 'pop' better. And most clients were at the end of their budgets by this point and didn't want to spring for additional work if they already thought it looked good...And unfortunately, with fresh paint you're advised not to wax or seal for 30 days after the paint is applied, so often we didn't get to see the full potential of the final finish.
Ordered a bunch of supplies from PAC and just dived in... Now I'm in the middle of several detail jobs, but these are the first results
Our subject is a '69 Lamborghini Miura S, which was completely restored 2 years ago, used lightly but never detailed. The paint has a slight whitish haze under flourescent lights, and light swirl marks in strong daylight. I only had about 10 hours before an upcoming show, so after some trial and error I ended up starting with m105 on the PC with an orange pad, then 3m ultrafine on a rotary with a super soft 3m waffle pad on low speed. Final polish was with Blackfire gloss enhancing polish and Wet Diamond was used as a sealer.
The m105 took out most of the haze and swirl, although there's still stray marks that need attention. I possibly could have skipped the 3m, but it seemed to bring out the color and gloss slightly. The Blackfire treatment added the final pop though, and really set it off. The orange came out much bolder and brighter.
My method may be a little different, but it worked well for the material involved - single stage urethane, not clearcoated.
The end result - a best in class win at the Louisville Concours held at the Churchill Downs horse track. The competition was stiff but I think the correction work made the difference. Most other cars in our class suffered from swirling, holograms, etc that really showed in the sunlight. I also learned that I like to win :scared:
Last pic is the show winner, custom bodied Bugatti.
Input is welcome! Hopefully I'll have our daily driver '63 vette correction done soon. I'm about 30 hours in to it with more to go.
