Doing my first "customer" car ever tonight!

T

T. Perinne

New member
I'm really excited, tonight I get to do my first car at the request of somebody outside my family. A friend of mine from the Mustang circles I run in saw my car after my last detail and wants me to work on his 2000 black Mustang GT. His car has never been clayed, never been polished, has spent some time parked outside overnight and is in relatively poor condition. It is extremely swirled and the color is more of a grey now instead of black. I'm thinking that any sort of attempt with my PC should be an improvement, and certainly so in the eyes of a "non" Autopian :).



Here's my tentative plan of attack and I'm very open to suggestions.



- Wash with 1Z Pearls



- Clay with Clay Magic (blue)



- Polish with ASR and LC cutting pad (this is the only aggressive swirl remover I currently have) BTW, this step only as necessary



- Polish with 3M PI-III MG and LC polishing pad



- VM with LC polishing pad (I have the option to use AIO but I kind of like keeping that for my car and my 4* UPP)



- LSP is where I have a couple choices... I may offer him EX or PS depending on if he prefers the beauty treatment or more durability. I'd like to do EX + PS but I don't know if he'll come back after the 24 hr cure time needed for a sealant - we're shooting for an all at one time detail. Is the cure time for EX 100% necessary? I also have NXT, Klasse, 4* UPP, LS, some old Zymol Carbon...



I'm starting at about 5:00 p.m. so it will turn into a night time job quickly. I have a well lit garage to work in with some new Craftsman Halogen work lights I got for Christmas, we'll mainly just do exterior paint - I trust him doing things like interior, wheel & tires, etc.. Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions, I can always stop by O'Reiley and get a Meg's product or two if it sounds better to use - otherwise the products above is about all I have.



BTW, since this is my first job I'm letting it be complimentary. I think I'm actually more excited than my buddy is! Before and after pics will of course be taken :D
 
Yep, I know the feeling of a first detail. I remembered mine. 1995 Ford F150, Red and not so much swirled just badly oxidized. I started out with off the shelf product like Turtle Wax, Coastal Power Cleaner(APC product) and some old cotton towels charging $45-$50





Anyway, your process sounds like a good plan of attack. I have never tried EX so I can't really say much about the cure time and for this I apologize. I can say though that AIO will eat through the oxidation and make that thing shine and from my experiences, AIO provides a good base for most LSP's Good luck and looking foward to pics,,,,,,,AR:up
 
The only thing i wouldn't do is wash with perls. I love the stuff but don't use it before a full detail, you'd really only be wasting it. If you doing a full detail it really doesn't matter what you wash with. Use Megs GC or NXT.



Perls is a little expensive, i really on use it to maintain a finished detail and not to start one.



Just bring plenty of supplies, MF's, Pads etc...



Good Luck!
 
Good idea with the Perls... I've got the big jug of purple Meg's wash (I think that's the Gold Class), I should've thought of that in the first place :). The Meg's jug is like 5 times the size of the little Perls bottle and barely used (probably why I didn't think of it right off).



The car is coming to my place since I have better light, plus I don't have to haul all my products over. All my products, m/f's, pads, etc will be at our disposal - plus my garage stereo is better than his :)
 
Best advice I can offer you is not to take any criticism personally. It is the customers right to do this and they will. Take it with a grain of salt and know that if it was your car you would do the same.



My first was a Porsche 928 whatever the least year that they made them was. Little did I know it was a single stage paint job, man did I freak when the paint started flying off.
 
If he's got a lot of swirls and oxidization, don't you think you might need something more than a swirl remover (maybe Menzerna's Intensive Polish or 3M PI-III Rubbing Compound) to take that down?



My understanding of a swirl remover is that it is a very fine abrasive and won't make much of a dent on actual swirls and cobwebs but will do just fine on slight compound marring.



Perhaps I'm completely off base here - so please correct me if I'm wrong!
 
The ASR from Pinnacle is around the same range as the 3M RC, IP, DACP, 1ZPP, SSR 2.5, etc... it is aggressive enough to haze and require the use of a follow up polish such as the MG I have.
 
I would probably do the EX instead of the PS as your lsp, unless you know that he will slap on another coat or so of PS in a few weeks. If he's not an Autopian like you, give him the longevity of a sealent...
 
whats ASR? Id also becareful w/PI III RC cause the last time i used it w/ a pc it hazed the finish. Judging by what you have you can go AIO/LS but i have never tried EX over VM i dont even know if itll look good or not. I know EX looks great over ProPolish so you can try EX over AIO. then again if you want to mess around you can get some Megs #7 and topp that w/NXT
 
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