Detailed: 2009 Cadillac CTS-V - Black Raven (Trashed)

Marc08EX

New member
Wheels/Tires:
CG Citrus Wash And Gloss on wheels
Meguiar's APC on tires and wheel wells
Surf City Garage Tire Pro on tires
Swissvax Wheel brush for wheels, calipers and small crevices

Wash:
CG Citrus Wash and Gloss via Foam Gun and 2BM
Meguiar's Microfiber Wash Mitt
Meguiar's Water Magnet

Clay:
DP Clay
Meguiar's Last Touch

Paint Correction:
Meguair's G110v2 / W68DA / W67DA / 3" LC Backing Plate
Meguiar's M105
Meguiar's D300 / Meguiar's 5" Microfiber Cutting Discs
Meguiar's M205 / W8207 Pads
Pad Conditioning Brush / Air Compressor
Craftsman 500W Halogen Lights
Brinkmann Dual Xenon Lights

LSP:
Carpro Eraser
Optimum Opti-coat 2.0

Interior:
Meguiar's Quik Interior Detailer
Vacuum

The owner of this car had the recommendation of the 2013 BMW M5 I did recently (Thanks James!!!) They are buddies from the same car club. I love getting clients that are from word of mouth. It means you're doing something right. :)

This beautiful and powerful vehicle has low miles. Only 26k miles on the clock. However, the owner purchased the vehicle from Connecticut so you know it has gone through hell during the winter months. Salt, rock chips, debris, you name it and this has it. The owner was so sick of looking at how much swirls the paint had and wanted it perfected as much as possible. He said that he knows it might not come out 100% perfect but he wants me to do what I can. It's an honor and privilege to be able to work on his car. Thanks for the opportunity!

Upon the car's arrival, the heavy swirl marks were visible from a mile away. Not only did it have heavy swirl marks from the snow conditions of the north east but it also had buffer trails every where!!! I couldn't believe that a car this nice was left in such condition especially from the dealership. I guess the buffer trails could have come from the dealer :lol2. Anyway, I'll stop talking and show you the before condition of this car below:

01%2520-%2520Before%2520%25281280x857%2529.jpg


The car doesn't really look that bad from a far but once you get close and in the right angle, you'll be horrified!!!

02%2520-%2520Before%2520%25281280x857%2529.jpg


Buffer Trails:

03%2520-%2520Before%2520%25281280x857%2529.jpg


04%2520-%2520Before%2520%25281280x857%2529.jpg


05%2520-%2520Before%2520%25281280x857%2529.jpg


06%2520-%2520Before%2520%25281280x857%2529.jpg


07%2520-%2520Before%2520%25281280x857%2529.jpg


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09%2520-%2520Before%2520%25281280x857%2529.jpg


10%2520-%2520Before%2520%25281280x857%2529.jpg


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16%2520-%2520Before%2520%25281280x857%2529.jpg


The front bumper was resprayed. I can't believe what I saw.... Unbelievable... Seriously, rotary buffer users are required to have a license to operate.

17%2520-%2520Before%2520%25281280x857%2529.jpg


Interior Before:

18%2520-%2520Before%2520Interior%2520%25281280x857%2529.jpg


I started by washing the wheels, tires an fender liner. I normally use my Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner. I know it's safe but the wheels are plasti-dipped (I think) therefore I wanted to be as gentle as possible. I used CG Citrus Wash and Gloss to clean the wheels and brake calipers.

19%2520-%2520Wheel%2520Cleaning%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


20%2520-%2520Brake%2520Caliper%2520Cleaning%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Tires being cleaned with Meguiar's APC and a generic brush:

21%2520-%2520Tire%2520Cleaning%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Fender wells are cleaned with Meguiar's APC and a long handled brush:

22%2520-%2520Fender%2520Well%2520Cleaning%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Look at all the gunk that came out of the backside of the front fender. It hasn't even been rinsed yet.

23%2520-%2520Fender%2520Well%2520Gunk%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Gas tank being cleaned as well:

24%2520-%2520Gas%2520Tank%2520Cleaning%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Car being foamed before the 2 bucket wash:

25%2520-%2520Foaming%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


The paint was originally beading while I did the first rinse. However, look at what happened after foaming and washing the car with CG citrus wash and gloss. The paint has no beading whatsoever and it literally looks dripping wet. LOL!!!

26%2520-%2520Wet%2520Look%2520No%2520Protection%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


After, I clayed the entire vehicle. The picture below shows the clay after half the hood. It's still contaminated but it wasn't so bad...

28%2520-%2520Clay%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


However, things got a lot worse as I went lower into the vertical panels. This is just from the lower half of the driver side front door. This is uniform all over the car.

29%2520-%2520Clay%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


It's pretty safe to say that the car has a lot of bonded contaminants.

Here are the tools and products of choice for this detail. M105 isn't pictured because I brought it in in the middle of the detail.

27%2520-%2520Materials%2520Used%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg
 
Onto the process pictures. I was first using D300 exclusively with the microfiber cutting discs. But it got really frustrating half way down the car because this had so much RIDS!!!! There were sections where I had to do 2-3 section passes in order to clear it up. I guess that's just the OCD in me. So at some point, I brought out my M105 and mixed it with my D300 (1 drop M105 and 2 drops of D300) while buffing. It definitely cut the paint faster but I didn't like it because it was drying up the fibers of the cutting pad a lot quicker. I ended up going back to using D300 exclusively.

Driver Side Rear Quarter Before:
30%2520-%2520Driver%2520Side%2520Rear%2520Quarter%2520Before%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Driver Side Rear Quarter 50/50:
31%2520-%2520Driver%2520Side%2520Rear%2520Quarter%2520Half%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Driver Side Rear Quarter After:
32%2520-%2520Driver%2520Side%2520Rear%2520Quarter%2520After%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Driver Side Rear Door Before:
33%2520-%2520Driver%2520Side%2520Rear%2520Door%2520Before%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Driver Side Rear Door 50/50:
34%2520-%2520Driver%2520Side%2520Rear%2520Door%2520Half%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Driver Side Rear Door After:
35%2520-%2520Driver%2520Side%2520Rear%2520Door%2520After%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Driver Side Front Door Before:
36%2520-%2520Driver%2520Side%2520Front%2520Door%2520Before%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Driver Side Front Door 50/50:
37%2520-%2520Driver%2520Side%2520Front%2520Door%2520Half%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Driver Side Front Door After:
38%2520-%2520Driver%2520Side%2520Front%2520Door%2520After%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Driver Side Front Door Underneath The Handle Before:
39%2520-%2520Driver%2520Side%2520Front%2520Door%2520Below%2520Handle%2520Before%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Driver Side Front Door Underneath The Handle After:
40%2520-%2520Driver%2520Side%2520Front%2520Door%2520Below%2520Handle%2520After%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Driver Side Front Fender Before:
41%2520-%2520Driver%2520Side%2520Front%2520Fender%2520Before%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Driver Side Front Fender 50/50:
42%2520-%2520Driver%2520Side%2520Front%2520Fender%2520Half%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Driver Side Front Fender After:
43%2520-%2520Driver%2520Side%2520Front%2520Fender%2520After%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Driver Side Front Fender Front Part Before:
44%2520-%2520Driver%2520Side%2520Front%2520Fender%2520Before%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Driver Side Front Fender Front Part After:
45%2520-%2520Driver%2520Side%2520Front%2520Fender%2520After%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Trunk Before:
46%2520-%2520Trunk%2520Before%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Trunk 50/50:
47%2520-%2520Trunk%2520Half%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Trunk After:
48%2520-%2520Trunk%2520After%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Passenger Side Rear Quarter Before:
49%2520-%2520Passenger%2520Side%2520Rear%2520Quarter%2520Before%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Passenger Side Rear Quarter 50/50:
50%2520-%2520Passenger%2520Side%2520Rear%2520Quarter%2520Half%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Passenger Side Rear Quarter Under The Sun Before:
51%2520-%2520Passenger%2520Side%2520Rear%2520Quarter%2520Under%2520Sun%2520Before%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Passenger Side Rear Quarter Under The Sun After:
52%2520-%2520Passenger%2520Side%2520Rear%2520Quarter%2520Under%2520Sun%2520After%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Passenger Side Rear Door Before:
53%2520-%2520Passenger%2520Side%2520Rear%2520Door%2520Before%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Passenger Side Rear Door 50/50:
54%2520-%2520Passenger%2520Side%2520Rear%2520Door%2520Half%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Passenger Side Rear Door After:
55%2520-%2520Passenger%2520Side%2520Rear%2520Door%2520After%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Passenger Side Front Door Before:
56%2520-%2520Passenger%2520Side%2520Front%2520Door%2520Before%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Passenger Side Front Door 50/50:
57%2520-%2520Passenger%2520Side%2520Front%2520Door%2520Half%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Passenger Side Front Door After:
58%2520-%2520Passenger%2520Side%2520Front%2520Door%2520After%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg
 
Passenger Side Front Fender Before:
59%2520-%2520Passenger%2520Side%2520Front%2520Fender%2520Before%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Passenger Side Front Fender 50/50:
60%2520-%2520Passenger%2520Side%2520Front%2520Fender%2520Half%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Passenger Side Front Fender After:
61%2520-%2520Passenger%2520Side%2520Front%2520Fender%2520After%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Passenger Side Front Fender Front Part Before:
62%2520-%2520Passenger%2520Side%2520Front%2520Fender%2520Before%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Passenger Side Front Fender Front Part After:
63%2520-%2520Passenger%2520Side%2520Front%2520Fender%2520After%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Hood Passenger Side Before:
64%2520-%2520Hood%2520Right%2520Side%2520Before%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Hood Passenger Side 50/50:
65%2520-%2520Hood%2520Right%2520Side%2520Half%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Hood Passenger Side After:
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Hood Center Before:
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Hood Center 50/50:
68%2520-%2520Hood%2520Middle%2520Half%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Hood Center After:
69%2520-%2520Hood%2520Middle%2520After%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Hood Driver Side Before:
70%2520-%2520Hood%2520Left%2520Side%2520Before%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Hood Driver Side After:
71%2520-%2520Hood%2520Left%2520Side%2520After%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Driver Side Door Pillar Before:
72%2520-%2520Roof%2520Pillar%2520Before%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Driver Side Door Pillar After:
73%2520-%2520Roof%2520Pillar%2520After%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


The side skirts couldn't be forgotten of course.

Side Skirts Before:
74%2520-%2520Side%2520Skirt%2520Before%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Side Skirts During:
75%2520-%2520Side%2520Skirt%2520During%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Side Skirts After:
76%2520-%2520Side%2520Skirt%2520After%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Front Bumper Before: Looks like a disco in there right?!?!?!
77%2520-%2520Front%2520Bumper%2520Before%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Front Bumper After:
78%2520-%2520Front%2520Bumper%2520After%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Taillights 50/50
79%2520-%2520Tail%2520Light%2520Half%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


What you can't see is that the D300 and microfiber cutting discs left behind some hazing in the paint. M205 with a W9207 Softbuff 2.0 Black Finishing pad took care of that and left the paint looking very glossy. I didn't take pictures after this step because the camera wasn't really picking it up.

LSP of choice:
80%2520-%2520LSP%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Opti-coat 2.0 Dripping To The Applicator Pad:
81%2520-%2520OC%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg


Opti-coat 2.0 Being Applied To The Paint:
82%2520-%2520OC%2520Application%2520%25281280x960%2529.jpg
 
127%2520-%2520Photoshoot%2520%25281280x857%2529.jpg


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131%2520-%2520Photoshoot%2520%25281280x857%2529.jpg


Interior After:
132%2520-%2520Interior%2520After%2520%25281280x857%2529.jpg


Approximate time: 19-20 Hours.
Location: Phoenix, AZ

What do you guys think? Opinions, comments and criticisms are welcome!
 
Wow..amazing turn around. Great job !!!

Thanks a lot, Pat! Hope you saw the after pics.

Awesome work!

Thank you, mjlinane!! Much appreciated!

Looks great! You really brought it back!

Thanks, Nizmo!

Nice Save!

Thank you, Jsmooth! You do great work yourself.

Awesome car and amazing work!

Thanks, ihaveacamaro.

Very nice work.

Thank you, Wors!

You did an awesome job and made that car look gorgeous! What was the owner's reaction when he saw it?

Thanks a lot, peachypan! The owner was ecstatic when he saw the car. He couldn't believe that it look brand new. He didn't expect it to be corrected like that.

Swirls and water spots a thing of the past, looks great.

Thanks a lot, GearHead!

very nice work. beautiful final finish with the opti coat.

Thank you, Steve! OC2.0 is a great product and gives a nice finish.

Awesome work Marc! The customer must have been thrilled. WOW!

Thank you so much, dfbjr1! The client was indeed very happy.

Great job.:bigups

Thanks, Don!
 
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