Silverado, Camaro, Wrangler, ES350

S

Scottwax

New member
2012 Chevy Silverado, 2012 Chevy Camaro SS 45th Anniversary Edition and 2012 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. All three were recent purchases (one person owns the Chevy's and another owns the Wrangler) and still had dealer plates they were so new. The owners wanted the exteriors prepped and sealed and then want us out every 3 weeks to clean them up (the vehicles will be averaging 400 miles a month), and wax them about every 12 weeks, polishing as needed. The Camaro and Wrangler were pretty much defect free, the Silverado had some light swirls and straight line scratches, most likely from the initial dealer wash.



I wasn't sure if the light defects in the Silverado would take 1 or 2 steps to remove, but a test section with HD Speed and an Optimum microfiber polishing pad removed nearly everything, just didn't seem to be enough left behind to justify doing two polishing steps on a brand new truck. With as relatively few miles per month and only us washing it, the next time we polish it should have it pretty much perfect.



Camaro and Wrangler:



ONR wash, Opti-Raser clay sponge

HD Speed using an Optimum microfiber polishing pad and my PC 7424 XP on speed 5

Optimum Opti-Seal

Armor All on tires/fenderwells, Wrangler's fenders



Silverado:



ONR wash, Opti-Raser clay sponge

HD Speed using an Optimum microfiber polishing pad and my PC 7424 XP on speed 6

3D HD Poxy

Armor All on tires/fenderwells



2012_Chevy_Camaro_front1.jpg




2012_Chevy_Camaro_frontend1.jpg




2012_Chevy_Camaro_rear1.jpg




2012_Chevy_Camaro_front2.jpg




2012_Chevy_Camaro_side1.jpg




2012_Chevy_Camaro_backend1.jpg




2012_Chevy_Camaro_side2.jpg




2012_Chevy_Camaro_sun1.jpg




2012_Chevy_Camaro_sun2.jpg




2012_Chevy_Silverado_front1.jpg




2012_Chevy_Silverado_rear1.jpg




2012_Chevy_Silverado_side2.jpg




2012_Chevy_Silverado_side1.jpg




2012_Chevy_Silverado_fender1.jpg




2012_Chevy_Silverado_sun1.jpg




2012_Jeep_Wrangler_front1.jpg




2012_Jeep_Wrangler_frontend1.jpg




2012_Jeep_Wrangler_rear1.jpg




2012_Jeep_Wrangler_frontend2.jpg




2012_Jeep_Wrangler_side1.jpg




2012_Jeep_Wrangler_front2.jpg




2012_Jeep_Wrangler_side2.jpg
 
2008 Lexus ES350. We were out there to take care of their ES350 plus a brand new '12 Honda Accord coupe, which was an Opti-Coat job. Unfortunately, I didn't notice until after the Accord was polished and then rewashed that at some point I had managed to pull the plunger on the OC syringe back and introduce air into it. Opti-Coat had turned slightly opaque and on a test section, would not clear out at all. Polished off easily enough though. Luckily the owner has enough vehicles that the Accord can sit in the garage until we can come back on Saturday. As luck would have it, the car we are doing then is about 3 miles from where the owner of the Accord lives. An expensive lesson losing 15 cc's of Opti-Coat but at least our customer was very understanding.



This ES350 was also supposed to be an Opti-Coat job, but after inspecting the car after washing and claying it, the paint was just in too poor shape for it to really be worth it. The front end needs a repaint, tons of chips and bug etchings. The buffer swirls all over the car ended up being no big deal for once! After talking it over with the owner, we decided the best course of action would be to do two steps on the paint followed by sealing it. Since at the time I didn't know my Opti-Coat had been ruined and thinking we had less time to wrap everything up than it turned out we had, I didn't take any before shots. In the end, it didn't matter because the clouds rolled in after we finished so we couldn't get sun pics anyway.



ONR wash, Clay Magic blue clay

Optimum Hyper Compound using an Optimum microfiber cutting pad and my PC 7424 XP on speed 6

Optimum Hyper Polish using an Optimum microfiber polishing pad and my PC on speeds 5-6

Optimum Opti-Seal

Armor All on tires/fenderwells



2008_Lexus_ES350_front1.jpg




2008_Lexus_ES350_rear1.jpg




2008_Lexus_ES350_frontend1.jpg




2008_Lexus_ES350_front2.jpg




2008_Lexus_ES350_rear2.jpg




2008_Lexus_ES350_frontend2.jpg




2008_Lexus_ES350_side1.jpg
 
Nice work Scott! Haven't seen one of those Camaro's yet, but it looks like the same paint as VW uses on there GTI's. Very deep looking, when polished they look great, as does the one you did! Last 2 batches of Opti-Coat I've got I have had nothing but strange problems with some of which you experienced? Although to my knowledge no air was introduced? I deep sixed one already as I thought a string of dark colored cars and poor working conditions attributed to the problems. I'm thinking of emailing the Dr. and seeing if there was known bad batch?
 
I'm not aware of any bad batches, the tube I used worked great on the first vehicle I used it on. Been about a month since I used it, probably should keep it out of my car when I'm not using it to prevent problems in the future.



I'm sure Dr. G will be able to offer you some advice, maybe get hold of Chris Thomas too, I know he uses a lot of Opti-Coat/Guard.
 
It was in rough shape, the front 3rd of the hood has a lot of bug etchings. Just don't show up well without the sun on them. Vast improvement over the starting point though, with regard to swirls, it had a ton of holograms all over it.
 
Scottwax said:
It was in rough shape, the front 3rd of the hood has a lot of bug etchings. Just don't show up well without the sun on them. Vast improvement over the starting point though, with regard to swirls, it had a ton of holograms all over it.
Click to expand...



Hey Scott, do you see this issue with other modern Lexus vehicles? I went on a 3 day trip in my ES350 and had a TON of bugs on the front. I had awful etching after I washed it when I came back. Took forever to remove and there are still a couple that a trained eye can see. I've never had that happen to a car before, including older Lexus vehicles and the bugs were washed off as soon as I got home. I can see where if they'd been left even a week or so the paint could have been ruined...



Cars all look great by the way...
 
I have another customer with a black ES350 with horrible bug and bird bomb etching. She bought it used, also came with the typical used car buffer swirls. Only noticed it with the newest model ES350s. Haven't seen it with the RX, IS, LS vehicles.
 
Too funny since I own (3) ES's and so far, Lexus paint is poor/soft...Easy to correct but junk in the long run....for me that is.



Texas sun kills it and salt (northeast) is not much better.
 
Great Job! I have a soft spot for the big american trucks. They don't officially sell em here in Aus, but i do see the odd one driving about.
 
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