Fairly extreme makeover on a white GSR *56K?* vapor lock

EBPcivicsi

GOT PREP?
Saturday I had to administer automotive CPR to a neglected white GSR. :D The car just needed a little TLC in order to be resurrected from its’ current state.



I spent around eight hours with this car, the majority of that was on the interior.



The process was:



Wash



Clay with Meguiars aggressive clay bar�this took about one hour to complete. The paint was full of bonded contaminants and the clay quickly “chewed� through them.



I then rewashed the car and rinsed



Before I could begin the paint correction process I needed to address a long scratch that traveled the length of the passenger side. After viewing the scratch with my halogen I decided that wet sanding it with Meguiars unigrit paper would be the best option. I soaked one sheet of 3000 grade unigrit paper in Meguiars #00 for about 30 minutes, then wet sanded the scratch.



I then buffed the car with Optimum compound via the rotary polisher and a Meguiars polishing pad @1400 RPM’s



I then applied Meguiars #80 via the porter cable with a SM Arnold light cut polishing pad @speed 5



Finally I applied two thin coats of Meguiars #21 by hand.



All products removed with microfiber towels



The tires were dressed with Meguiars all-season dressing



The glass was deep polished with 1grand glass polish via rotary polisher and 4� foam polishing pad



All trim was cleaned and polished with Klasse all-in-one



The exterior lower trim and mud guards were dressed with Hi-Temp trim restorer



For the interior:



I first vacuumed all of the loose debris, then used Costco all purpose cleaner 10:1 on all carpets. I applied the APC, brushed, allow to dwell for a few minutes, then extracted with hot water.



I then moved to cleaning the vinyl. I used the same APC�sprayed onto panel, agitate with denture brush, then used my steamer to steam the panel. The steamer emulsified the “gunk� and blasted away years of built up dirt, I would then wipe dry with MF towel. I had to change my towels quite often as they turned black very quickly.



After systematically cleaning each panel and seat (same APC mixture on the leahter, but no steamer), I dressed the interior with Meguiars hyper dressing cut 1:1. I dressed the leather with lexol.



I also polished the door jams with klasee all-in-one, and sealed them Meguiars #21.



The engine (no pics as it was in good shape) was degreased, rinsed, and dressed.



Here are the befores:

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Here’s the scratch, this went all the way down the passenger side. It was hard to capture, but you can see it just above the molding

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Dealer installed wax build up. :)

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Full car:

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Interior before:

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Here’s a nice dealer trick—only buff the hood, roof, and rear trunk. The only places that had buffer swirls were these areas; the rest of the car only had wash induced marring. IMO, that is so lazy and inexcusable.

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Close up of buffer swirls:

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Here’s what the paint looked like under halogens—very dull, no gloss.

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Whoa! :faint:



Unbelivable transformation! To say a great job would be an understatement... Those before pics are sickening...





Fantastic work, as always!

:woohoo:







Mike

:)
 
very nice work!! how many weeks did you work on it?????? oh yea, WHAT KIND OF HORSES WERE THEY BREEDING/KEEPING IN THIS CAR??? :)
 
Quickstrike said:
Sorry if you have answered before, but what kind of extractor do you use?



Very nice work! No surprises in results, as expected :).



Sorry man, I used the little green clean machine, followed by a shop vac.



Thanks everyone!!!
 
So you basically blast with steam (no attachment) and then wipe with the towel?



Interesting choice with Hyper 1:1 on the interior. I never thought to use it that way with all the dedicated interior dressings.



Did you do the usual NXT Metal Polysh on the wheels? Since you've done that a few times, I picked up a jar to try out on some neglected clear coated wheels. Eagle One now makes a Nano metal polish that you can use on clear coated wheels. Thought I'd mention that to you because I know you use the NXT on wheels.
 
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