cf2121
New member
2008 G37 Correction
This was my biggest job to date, and I want to thank the owner of the vehicle for driving over an hour to come to me to let me work on his car. As you can see from the pictures, it was absolutely hammered with swirls and defects.
The night it was dropped off I gave it a wash, decontamination, taking paint readings, and started playing around with test spots. The contamination was so bad I could see purple dripping off the paint onto the ground.
Paint readings were consistent, but on the low side. The passenger side ranged from 98-115 microns, while the driver side I discovered had been completely repainted. I got measurements anywhere from 200-400 microns. The roof was especially low, being under 100 all the way around.
I did test spots with my Rupes 21 and a combination of pads and compounds and polishes, but eventually settled on a microfiber cutting pad and Carpro Essence for the bulk of the work. Some spots were further refined with a Rupes Yellow Pad or Uber Blue Finishing Pad. The soft paint made it easy to correct, but further, deeper defects remain that I did not feel comfortable chasing given the measurements I took.
I had someone from reddit come down to help me the next night and I greatly appreciated it. Together we were able to knock out 90% of the correction in about 3 hours.
The heat and humidity the first night I had the car made it a total pain to do any correction with. 105 & 205 would flash very quickly, even when I had it in my garage where it was cooler (but not less humid). Essence worked better, which surprised me considering I’ve read people saying they have trouble using it in the heat.
Since Essence is essentially a LSP in itself, I decided to top it with Poorboy’s Natty Black Paste Wax. It was a pleasure to use and smells like a Yankee Candle store.
Exhaust was cleaned up with Meguiar’s APC, clay bar, and HD Metal Polish with 0000 steel wool.
Products used:
Wheels, tires, wheel wells:
Meguiar’s Hyper Wash
Optimum Ferrex
P21S Gel Wheel Cleaner
Meguiar’s APC 4:1
Iron X Gel
Hydro2 (lsp)
Gyeon Q2 Tire Gel
Various brushes
Wash:
Kwazar Venus Foamer
Carpro IX Snow Soap
Carpro Reset
Decontamination:
Optimum Ferrex
Adam’s Visco Clay
Optimum No Rinse – clay lube dilution
Correction:
Rupes 21
Rupes Mini
Blackfire SRC Compound & Finishing Polish
M105 & M205
Carpro Essence
Meguiar’s Microfiber cutting pads – 6, 5, & 3 inch
Rupes Yellow Foam Pads
Uber Blue Foam Finishing Pads
3M automotive tape
LSP:
Carpro Essence
Poorboy’s Natty Black Wax
Nanoskin Rain
Hydro2 (wheels)
Exhaust tips:
Meguiar’s APC 4:1
Meguiar’s mild clay
ONR – clay lube dilution
HD Metal Polish & Cleaner
0000 Steel Wool
HD Proxy
Glass:
Rupes Glass Cleaner
Interior:
Vacuum & wipedown
Thanks for looking/reading!
Owner tried to sand out scratches...
Here too
50/50 after two stepping with the Blackfire Duo
Yuck. The owner also debadged and left deep scratches in the trunk
Passenger fender 50/50
Luckily he didn`t go too deep with the sanding
The whole driver side was repainted.
Before
After, HD Metal & 0000 steel wool
Essence left some crisp reflection afterwards
This was my biggest job to date, and I want to thank the owner of the vehicle for driving over an hour to come to me to let me work on his car. As you can see from the pictures, it was absolutely hammered with swirls and defects.
The night it was dropped off I gave it a wash, decontamination, taking paint readings, and started playing around with test spots. The contamination was so bad I could see purple dripping off the paint onto the ground.
Paint readings were consistent, but on the low side. The passenger side ranged from 98-115 microns, while the driver side I discovered had been completely repainted. I got measurements anywhere from 200-400 microns. The roof was especially low, being under 100 all the way around.
I did test spots with my Rupes 21 and a combination of pads and compounds and polishes, but eventually settled on a microfiber cutting pad and Carpro Essence for the bulk of the work. Some spots were further refined with a Rupes Yellow Pad or Uber Blue Finishing Pad. The soft paint made it easy to correct, but further, deeper defects remain that I did not feel comfortable chasing given the measurements I took.
I had someone from reddit come down to help me the next night and I greatly appreciated it. Together we were able to knock out 90% of the correction in about 3 hours.
The heat and humidity the first night I had the car made it a total pain to do any correction with. 105 & 205 would flash very quickly, even when I had it in my garage where it was cooler (but not less humid). Essence worked better, which surprised me considering I’ve read people saying they have trouble using it in the heat.
Since Essence is essentially a LSP in itself, I decided to top it with Poorboy’s Natty Black Paste Wax. It was a pleasure to use and smells like a Yankee Candle store.
Exhaust was cleaned up with Meguiar’s APC, clay bar, and HD Metal Polish with 0000 steel wool.
Products used:
Wheels, tires, wheel wells:
Meguiar’s Hyper Wash
Optimum Ferrex
P21S Gel Wheel Cleaner
Meguiar’s APC 4:1
Iron X Gel
Hydro2 (lsp)
Gyeon Q2 Tire Gel
Various brushes
Wash:
Kwazar Venus Foamer
Carpro IX Snow Soap
Carpro Reset
Decontamination:
Optimum Ferrex
Adam’s Visco Clay
Optimum No Rinse – clay lube dilution
Correction:
Rupes 21
Rupes Mini
Blackfire SRC Compound & Finishing Polish
M105 & M205
Carpro Essence
Meguiar’s Microfiber cutting pads – 6, 5, & 3 inch
Rupes Yellow Foam Pads
Uber Blue Foam Finishing Pads
3M automotive tape
LSP:
Carpro Essence
Poorboy’s Natty Black Wax
Nanoskin Rain
Hydro2 (wheels)
Exhaust tips:
Meguiar’s APC 4:1
Meguiar’s mild clay
ONR – clay lube dilution
HD Metal Polish & Cleaner
0000 Steel Wool
HD Proxy
Glass:
Rupes Glass Cleaner
Interior:
Vacuum & wipedown
Thanks for looking/reading!
Owner tried to sand out scratches...
Here too
50/50 after two stepping with the Blackfire Duo
Yuck. The owner also debadged and left deep scratches in the trunk
Passenger fender 50/50
Luckily he didn`t go too deep with the sanding
The whole driver side was repainted.
Before
After, HD Metal & 0000 steel wool
Essence left some crisp reflection afterwards
Just yesterday I was practicing on a 1990ish Honda Civic door panel. Some parts had lost the clear and were reading in the 121-125 range. Parts that still had clear were averaging about 185.
