Today I had to do *my* version of new car prep for a good customer of mine, user 'willroman'. I had detailed his Mazda 626 and more recently, Sonoma Sunset Altima. Will does about 100 miles per day for his commute so he changes vehicles rather reguarly. Anyway, he found a great deal on this 1-year old Maxima. He demanded the cancellation of their "new car prep" as he said he'd rather give me the business and have it done right (
).
The car, only 1 year old, definately saw it's fair share of use. The interior was in really nice shape (no pics), but the exterior had suffered from a lot of swirl-o-matic washes. Due to the color and heavy flake content, Will had a hard time spotting defects until the sun hit. The contaminants were moderate but the swirls were heavy. The hood had *very* deep brush marks and I only felt safe removing about 90% of them as I wanted to give the max balance of good looks and minimal defects with a long clearcoat life. The rest of the panels finished at 95%+.
The weather was like a roller-coaster all day. Here is a shot from the drive up to New Haven, CT over the "Q-Bridge" on the Merritt Parkway. I got there and it was sunny, then when I left, it was drizzling on and off.
My finals to correct the exterior were:
-CG Wash
-Zaino Z18 Clay with CG Wash as lube
-TOL Tire Cleaner cut 50/50 for the tires/wells
-P21s Liquid to clean the wheels
-Hi-Temp Extreme Cut @ 1500-1700 rpm via rotary and LC CCS Orange Cutting to remove scratches
-Hi-Temp Extreme Cut / Optimum Car Polish (50/50) @ 1500 rpm via rotary and LC CCS Orange Cutting
-Zaino Z-PC @ 6 via PC and LC CCS Orange Cutting
-IPA (50/50) wipedown, top to bottom
-CG VRT cut 2:1 in wells
-Zaino Z16 x 2 on tires
-Zaino Z-PC and #0000 Steel Wool on exhaust tips
-Zaino Z5 Pro (ZFX'd) on paint, glass, wheels
Before
After (not perfect, but blended well)
Before
After
Before
After
). The car, only 1 year old, definately saw it's fair share of use. The interior was in really nice shape (no pics), but the exterior had suffered from a lot of swirl-o-matic washes. Due to the color and heavy flake content, Will had a hard time spotting defects until the sun hit. The contaminants were moderate but the swirls were heavy. The hood had *very* deep brush marks and I only felt safe removing about 90% of them as I wanted to give the max balance of good looks and minimal defects with a long clearcoat life. The rest of the panels finished at 95%+.
The weather was like a roller-coaster all day. Here is a shot from the drive up to New Haven, CT over the "Q-Bridge" on the Merritt Parkway. I got there and it was sunny, then when I left, it was drizzling on and off.
My finals to correct the exterior were:
-CG Wash
-Zaino Z18 Clay with CG Wash as lube
-TOL Tire Cleaner cut 50/50 for the tires/wells
-P21s Liquid to clean the wheels
-Hi-Temp Extreme Cut @ 1500-1700 rpm via rotary and LC CCS Orange Cutting to remove scratches
-Hi-Temp Extreme Cut / Optimum Car Polish (50/50) @ 1500 rpm via rotary and LC CCS Orange Cutting
-Zaino Z-PC @ 6 via PC and LC CCS Orange Cutting
-IPA (50/50) wipedown, top to bottom
-CG VRT cut 2:1 in wells
-Zaino Z16 x 2 on tires
-Zaino Z-PC and #0000 Steel Wool on exhaust tips
-Zaino Z5 Pro (ZFX'd) on paint, glass, wheels
Before
After (not perfect, but blended well)
Before
After
Before
After
