Nissan 350z Solid Black

Hello, a few days back I had the greatest opportunity to detail a Nissan 350Z. The owner takes care of it and washes it himself. Car is parked indoors most of the time, so the condition shouldn’t be that bad. Or so I thought!. There were horrible buffer marks on the roof and some type of uniformed circular marks that were very deep.



When the car arrived, the interior is cleaned first to let the wheels cool down. Firstly, vacuumed, mats got cleaned with All Purpose Cleaner(4:1), plastics and leather cleaned with APC(10:1). Glass cleaned with Detailer line Glass Cleaner(10:1). Leather dressed with Gold Class Rich Leather Cleaner/Conditioner



Before :









After :

















When the wheels are cool, it is cleaned with Meguiar’s Hot Rims Multi-Piece Wheel Wash (long name…), it was very gentle as to prevent staining the chrome lips on the wheels.















The car is then foamed with Hyper Wash, washed and clayed.









Paintwork Correction



This paint has got me very confused, I assumed that the paint is very soft, so a pass of M83/W8006/600rpms would’ve removed the majority of the defects, it didn’t, it require about 3-4 passes on the hood, and that only removed about 80% of the defects. Then I finished with M82/W9006/600rpms, which left light buffer marks and hologram, but the finish was great. So the car received Optimum Polish/W9006/600rpms, this took care of the buffer marks but still left holograms. The RB was too aggressive for this paint, switched to the ROB and gave it a pass of M82/W8006/Speed 3, no buffer marks or holograms but left some micro-marring, although you can’t see it from far, when looked closely, they are there. Changed pad and tried M82/White/Speed 3, also left some micro-marring, which you’ll have to look very closely to find.



The rest of the car got compounded and polished,

M85/Wool/900rpms

M83/W8006/600rpms

OP/W9006/600rpms

OP/W8006/Speed 3



When the car was about 80% complete, the wire on the machine twisted and got loose, so it stopped functioning, the remaining areas were polished with the Random Orbital, instead of the rotary, hence, lesser correction on the top of the boot and passenger side rear quarter.



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Insides of the tailpipes and the wheels’ chrome lips were polished with Autosol Metal Polished followed by Autoglym’s Super Resin Polish.



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The paint is then sealed and waxed the next day with FK1 Pink Wax.

I have to admit that the overcast skies were hiding some defects and Random Deep Scratches therefore the pictures are not as accurate as seeing the paint under bright sun in person.



After pictures















































 
Great work fish!!! A lot of red x's though.



I have had bad luck with Infiniti/Nissan paint in the past, as it is super soft. I am curious as why you used such low rpm with the rotary. Using a higher speed may have helped break down the abbrasives a little more uniformaly, allowing you to finish on the rotary (the only way I can avoid micromarring on that paint). Then again, the paint mars when you wipe away the polish...



Great work!
 
jtford95, ThEGuN, SilentSamurai, VTechFan02, bwalker25,

thank you guys for the kind compliments :)



TH0001,

hey Todd, thanks! I have been advised to use lower speeds because the heat in my country's tropical climate will cause the polish to dry up too fast before the abrasives has a chance to break down. Then again, I've never experimented with higher speeds, will give it a try someday. Yes I never suspected the paint to be super soft because when M83/w8006/600rpms didn't really cut it, I just assumed the paint was hard, which was a wrong assumption...then only I realised it's super soft as even M82/W-8006/ROB left slight micro-marring into the paint.

Thanks again for your input :)
 
Nice work! The owner's choice of a wing is questionable in my book, but the rest is nice!



Where are you located? The side markers suggest Europe or Australia.
 
Cool! I really wanna see Malaysia. Planning on taking a stopover there the next time I fly to Asia. Malaysian Air flies from LA to KL.
 
Nice finish there Ken, so you got the optimum and FK now from Sean? How do you like it? Optimum polish finish is right up there with menz 106ff, ir really realy like it, better than M80 imo. you forgot to mention what you seal it with and then how long you let it before you waxed with pink wax.
 
fishbonezken said:
TH0001,

hey Todd, thanks! I have been advised to use lower speeds because the heat in my country's tropical climate will cause the polish to dry up too fast before the abrasives has a chance to break down. Then again, I've never experimented with higher speeds, will give it a try someday. Yes I never suspected the paint to be super soft because when M83/w8006/600rpms didn't really cut it, I just assumed the paint was hard, which was a wrong assumption...then only I realised it's super soft as even M82/W-8006/ROB left slight micro-marring into the paint.

Thanks again for your input :)



Hey Fish, do you have access to other polishes besides Megs? I am not sure the avaibilty or product selection based on your location. The reason I bring this up is because I used to use Meg's exclusively in the Florida heat/humidity (tropical climate) and it is very difficult to use. I would constantly have gumming/smearing/caking issues with the polishes.



I switched to mostly Menzerna products and have found that not only are the easier to use and yield superior results IMO, but they are not as heat sensitive. Optimum makes a polish line that works well, but I can only really voche for Menzerna. I have used the SSR polishes in direct sunlight in Miami on a 103 degree day (33 C) in direct sunlight and had few issues.



I'm not trying to change the subject or the thread off your beautiful work, just trying to help out. Great job on a sweet ride:woot:
 
ManiZ said:
Cool! I really wanna see Malaysia. Planning on taking a stopover there the next time I fly to Asia. Malaysian Air flies from LA to KL.

08-28-07 08:51

Come on over, you'll love the place....though it's a bit humid and hot:p





juyang said:
Nice finish there Ken, so you got the optimum and FK now from Sean? How do you like it? Optimum polish finish is right up there with menz 106ff, ir really realy like it, better than M80 imo. you forgot to mention what you seal it with and then how long you let it before you waxed with pink wax.



thanks Juyang, I spoke to Bondi about them. Well Have only used the optimum polish during this detail, for the rotary, I love the fact that it doesn't dry up, will have to try it on other paints as it did leave some hologram on the super soft clear. But still have to get used to using it with the ROB because I never know when it has broken down since it always give the same oily look even after many passes, unlike meg's which will clear up.

Also tried mixing M83+op...didn't like it coz it doesn't cut very well compared to M83 alone.



I sealed it with Poli-Seal...and didn't realise that I used too much until after reading some posts pointed out by Bence that i should be worked clear...

the next day I re-wash the car and wax with FK1 Pink Wax...
 
TH0001 said:
Hey Fish, do you have access to other polishes besides Megs? I am not sure the avaibilty or product selection based on your location. The reason I bring this up is because I used to use Meg's exclusively in the Florida heat/humidity (tropical climate) and it is very difficult to use. I would constantly have gumming/smearing/caking issues with the polishes.



I switched to mostly Menzerna products and have found that not only are the easier to use and yield superior results IMO, but they are not as heat sensitive. Optimum makes a polish line that works well, but I can only really voche for Menzerna. I have used the SSR polishes in direct sunlight in Miami on a 103 degree day (33 C) in direct sunlight and had few issues.



I'm not trying to change the subject or the thread off your beautiful work, just trying to help out. Great job on a sweet ride:woot:



thanks for your comment Todd, appreciate you sharing your experiences. gumming/smearing and caking are the exact reason why I've been advised to use lower speeds and work in smaller areas..but with the optimum...it never dries! :woot2:

Am looking for Menzerna as well, but are a bit to expensive to use and to import for me...

Have you tried Optimum's polishes?
 
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