C6 Corvette, Mazda 6, LS460

S

Scottwax

New member
2009 Chevy Corvette. I recently detailed his BMW 328 that he was selling and the Corvette is the replacement. Definitely not stock, cam has a nasty lope and it puts out around 430 HP to the wheels, about what a stock Z06 does. Got a ride after finishing the detail, made my 250 HP Accord feel so slow all the way home. :lol



The paint was definitely swirled up but with a start time of around 2:30 in the afternoon and the owner just looking for a decent amount of improvement, we decided that 1 compounding and 1 polishing step would reach that goal without going over budget and time (as it was, finished about 20 minutes before sunset!). Since it wasn't a full on correction, I didn't take any lighted before and afters, but going over the car after finishing with the LED light in my cellphone, it was obviously a major improvement, a lot more depth and wetness in additional to major swirl removal/reduction. We figure that doing the same in the spring will probably get the paint to 90-95% swirl free.



ONR wash, Opti-Raser mild to clay

Meguiars M100 using a Meguiars MF cutting pad and my Rupes 21 DA polisher

3D HD Polish with an Optimum MF polishing pad and Rupes DA

Optimum Opti-Seal

Optimum Lens Coating on the headlights

Armor All on tires/wheel wells

Optimum Metal Polish on exhaust tips















































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2013 Mazda 6. Owner picked it up Saturday, I was out on Sunday to take care of it. The driver's side was essentially swirl free, passenger side and trunk lid, not so much. Nothing major but enough to detract from the paint's appearance. At least Mazda paint is reasonably soft so everything came out with 1 step.



ONR wash, Opti-Raser mild to clay

Optimum Hyper Polish using an Optimum MF cutting pad and Rupes DA

Optimum Opti-Seal



Wheels were pretty clean (touched them up) and tires still had plenty of dressing from the dealer so nothing there. Just a few pics, owners wife was ready to go somewhere as I was wrapping up.























 
2007 Lexus LS460. Originally the goal was just a basic full detail as the owner was going to have some interior repair done and was told that its best to have the interior cleaned first. Unfortunately, the car had been keyed a while back and when the sun popped out for about 2 minutes in the morning and hit the driver's side of the car, it was obvious by the buffer swirls one polishing step wasn't going to cut it. Of course, then the sun disappeared until about 30 seconds after I finished compounding out the last of the buffer swirls. By the time the car was finished, the sun was out more than hidden by clouds.



Took these with my halogen light, which isn't quite as effective at showing swirls with the vehicle outside in natural light so what you see in the pictures was a lot worse in person.







You can see the haziness from a very poor dealer repaint in this shot







After Meguiars M100 and Optimum Hyper Polish



















As you can see in this shot by the line through where the light is hitting the paint, the body shop just painted over the key marks, didn't sand them down at all. Just pathetic.







Interior was dirty...











After







Seat had been cleaned, steering wheel had not in this shot:







ONR wash, Opti-Raser mild to clay

Meguiars M100 using an Optimum MF cutting pad and my Rupes 21 DA polisher

Optimum Hyper Polish with an Optimum MF cutting pad and Rupes DA

Optimum Opti-Seal

Armor All on tires/wheel wells



Woolite/water diluted 20:1 to clean vinyl and leather

3D Carpet Shampoo diluted 16:1 to clean carpets

Meguiars Interior QD to dress vinyl

Meguiars Gold Class for leather to condition the leather























 
All of the cars look amazing.



I've read many of your detailing recaps, and while you will often start with M100, in some cases you finish with Optimum Hyper Polish, and in others HD Polish. What determines which of these two you choose for a particular project? Is it the hardness of the clear coat or something else? Thanks.
 
Yes its the hardness of the paint in most cases (HD is better on soft) but in the case of the Corvette, HD seems to really make medium and dark blue paints look incredibly wet.
 
Nicely done guys! With the dished rims, the Vette has a mean stance! Paint looks wet! Lexus and Mazda also. I'm always amazed how people will sit in and grab a nasty steering wheel everyday! Lexus looks new inside! Outside cleaned up perfectly! Lexus paint still finishes down fairly easy. Bravo guys!
 
OneQuickGT1 said:
HD polish adds a lot of wetness...agree there. M205, while I love it, seems brighter. If that makes sense.
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Honestly, since I started using HD Polish, I haven't touched #205. Plus HD Polish is water based and well suited as a final polish prior to applying Opti-Coat.



nsticka said:
scott, 2014 Mazda:yo:
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What can I say, I'm old. :lol



maxepr1 said:
Nicely done guys! With the dished rims, the Vette has a mean stance! Paint looks wet! Lexus and Mazda also. I'm always amazed how people will sit in and grab a nasty steering wheel everyday! Lexus looks new inside! Outside cleaned up perfectly! Lexus paint still finishes down fairly easy. Bravo guys!
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The Vette is pretty awesome, agree about the wheels, well suited for the car. The actual paint applied by Lexus was fine on the LS, what was done at the dealer, not so much. The owner is going to point out all the issues to her service advisor at Sewell and insist they make it right.
 
Scottwax said:
Honestly, since I started using HD Polish, I haven't touched #205. Plus HD Polish is water based and well suited as a final polish prior to applying Opti-Coat.







What can I say, I'm old. :lol







The Vette is pretty awesome, agree about the wheels, well suited for the car. The actual paint applied by Lexus was fine on the LS, what was done at the dealer, not so much. The owner is going to point out all the issues to her service advisor at Sewell and insist they make it right.
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Keep your phone handy, Sewell "Making it Right" is going to make you more $$$! LOL! I've seen this before!
 
maxepr1 said:
Keep your phone handy, Sewell "Making it Right" is going to make you more $$$! LOL! I've seen this before!
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I guess Carl Sewell is now too far away from day to day operations to keep up what used to be pretty good standards. His book, Customers for Life is quite good but apparently whoever runs his Lexus dealership hasn't read the book. Damn shame.
 
Scottwax said:
I guess Carl Sewell is now too far away from day to day operations to keep up what used to be pretty good standards. His book, Customers for Life is quite good but apparently whoever runs his Lexus dealership hasn't read the book. Damn shame.
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The guy that runs the Audi dealership needs to read it twice!
 
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