I polish a fair amount of cars and get paid for alot of them, but I don't really consider myself a pro. I usually wind up helping out people I know, friends of friends, etc and making a few bucks in the process. Some jobs are bigger and I get to stash away a few hundred bucks but most of them I can pay for some new products and justify trying them out and learning new things. Anyway, I live in a very densely populated part of the twin cities and all that separates me from my neighbor is a 2 foot strip of grass between our driveways. I got real lucky and have a fantastic retired couple and their daughter next to me, and I really couldn't ask for better neighbors. Jake is a veteran, and has done a lot for our country and still does alot for our community and I try to help them out when I can. He also gives me quite a bit of crap for all the cars that go through my place and reminds me that "You're gonna rub the paint off that damn thing!" So when he finally asked me to work over his Lucerne I couldn't say no. I was gonna do a quick one step, but I really felt like I wanted to get as much correction as I could in the time I had. I enlisted the help of my buddy who is getting pretty proficient with the buffer and we knocked it out in an afternoon.
The paint itself was in pretty rough shape. We saw some swirls but there were a lot of pretty deep RIDS and defects that were really visible from all angles. Once we got the paint stripped, we realized how bad the swirls really were. There were a lot of marks that looked like cat claws on horizontal surfaces as well. The test panels on the hood basically told us there was no way a one step was going to do anything, so we went to the d300/105/mf plan, which did a pretty good job and got us probably 75% correction. Process was:
- Wheels got OPC 3:1 w/ez detail brush
- Tires cleaned with OPC 3:1 and dressed with Optimum Tire Shine
- Foamed with Chemical Guys Citrus Wash via Gilmour Foamaster II
- Washed via 2bm with Chemical Guys Citrus Wash and sheepskin mitts
- D300 (or 105 where needed) on 5.5" MF disc via GGDA
- M205 on 5.5" black lc pad via PC7424
- Blackfire Wet Diamond on lc Blue pad via PC7424
- Glass got SIG w/short nap glass towel
- Jambs cleaned with Griots Speedshine/OPC
- Door panels/leathers cleaned with OPC 3:1 (man that stuff is great on leather!)
Condition before:
A test panel and a half and half of the hood (my camera is nice, but my photography skills suck, so sorry in advance):
Left side after 2 passes with D300/5.5" microfiber disc
All done after glass and a coat of blackfire (shame about the wheel wells, I know, just totally forgot about them):
I think he likes it
Felt good to do something for someone who really deserves it. Thanks for looking!
The paint itself was in pretty rough shape. We saw some swirls but there were a lot of pretty deep RIDS and defects that were really visible from all angles. Once we got the paint stripped, we realized how bad the swirls really were. There were a lot of marks that looked like cat claws on horizontal surfaces as well. The test panels on the hood basically told us there was no way a one step was going to do anything, so we went to the d300/105/mf plan, which did a pretty good job and got us probably 75% correction. Process was:
- Wheels got OPC 3:1 w/ez detail brush
- Tires cleaned with OPC 3:1 and dressed with Optimum Tire Shine
- Foamed with Chemical Guys Citrus Wash via Gilmour Foamaster II
- Washed via 2bm with Chemical Guys Citrus Wash and sheepskin mitts
- D300 (or 105 where needed) on 5.5" MF disc via GGDA
- M205 on 5.5" black lc pad via PC7424
- Blackfire Wet Diamond on lc Blue pad via PC7424
- Glass got SIG w/short nap glass towel
- Jambs cleaned with Griots Speedshine/OPC
- Door panels/leathers cleaned with OPC 3:1 (man that stuff is great on leather!)
Condition before:
A test panel and a half and half of the hood (my camera is nice, but my photography skills suck, so sorry in advance):
Left side after 2 passes with D300/5.5" microfiber disc
All done after glass and a coat of blackfire (shame about the wheel wells, I know, just totally forgot about them):
I think he likes it
Felt good to do something for someone who really deserves it. Thanks for looking!
