Sinister yet Sexy 98 Dodge Viper GTS gets Tru Shine Lovin

[cahlroach]

I had new tires put on my S2000 this week. I am friends with the owner of the tire shop, so I asked him if I could detail the wheels when they were off the car. No problem. He said that his shop does alot of work on high dollar sports cars and while it is not common request, it does come up a few times a month.



I washed the wheels and and then applied Z5 with ZFX, put them out in the sun for a while (on a clean towel), wiped them down and then used a little Z6.



I went into the owners office to talk while the new tires were being installed. About 10 minutes later the guy installing the tires came into the office and asked me what kind of stuff I had put on the wheels. It seems they couldn't get the stick on wheel weights to stay on the wheel. They had not had this problem before.



I showed them the Zaino bottles and gave them this web site and Zaino's.



I have only been using Zaino for about a year now, but I thought that this was very cool. Sorry if it is old news.

 

[Brad B]

Yep, and the brake dust and dirt won't stick as well either! I hope they figured out the moral of the story.



Great story!:up

 

[Redcar GUY]

Ya when I went up to tire rack to get my new BFG's they had the same prob, The funny thing was that they were like "you wax the inside of your wheels!!" Yep

 

[cahlroach]

After I did the wheels, they poped the car up on the lift and I Z6ed the bottom. (not enough time for Z5/ZFX). The owner, a friend, recommended that I seek a 12 step program

 

[Tru_Shine]

What's up everyone, I'm excited to get to show you guys this car. I love the look and design of this model, there is just something so Sexy about it! When I arrived there was a slight overcast and I had thought to myself this car wasn't going to need much work. but after patiently waiting on the sun to pop out. I finally seen what I was looking for. Let 's take a look and see what I had to work with.


As you can tell from this pic, at first glance it looks to be in great condition.

Some of you might ask, What are "Spider Web" scratches or "Swirls" in the paint?

When you see all of the fine scratches in your paint, that is actually the light being reflected back at you from the sun.

a scratch is a microscopic crevice or valley in the paint, and when the sun hits it at the right angle that lines up with your eyes, you see the reflection of the light.

Paint Correction is removing or leveling out these fine scratches, safely removing a very microscopic level of the clear coat. Which let's the light bend around the panel without any disruption. This is what creates the Glossy look.


Now lets start the prepping stage, getting the surface clean and ready for the correction.

The owner wanted this car as mint as possible. So before washing the car, I degreased and treated the engine with 303 protectant.

Using some degreaser I agitated it the engine with a Small EZ detail brush getting into all the tight areas.

you can see here all of the build up

then rinsed

Next I took my Metro Blower and blew out all of the standing water.

Then I liberally sprayed 303 aerospace protectant onto all surfaces and left it there to soak in. (I go back and wipe of the excess at the end)

Now it's time for the wash

First I pre spray the car down knocking off any loose debris.

And then begin spraying the wheels with P21s wheel gel.

After the wheels were cleaned, I foamed the car down using Dawn Ultra Concentrate to strip any oils or previous waxes off the paint.

Then using my 100% sheep skin wash mitt I washed the car going in straight lines.

Then rinsed

Now you can see that there is no beading or sheeting of the water showing that all wax has been removed.

Next I brought the car inside and began to clay it and tape up all of the trim.

For the correction, I used the FLEX 3401 VRG and Meguiars M105 with the Surbuff 6in pad.

here is a 50/50 of the front fender

 

[Tru_Shine]

The owner had mentioned to me that one of the vents on his hood had some faded spots or it was missing a little bit of paint. And he wanted to know if we could do anything about it. So of course I fixed it up for him and made it look brand new.

Here is the hood vent with faded spots/missing paint.

So I lifted up the hood and removed the 4 Philips head screws that hold it in, and removed the vent.

Then I took some Black Satin paint and went over the vent a couple of times to get a good coat on it.

Now how does that look?

Then I continued on around the car correcting the paint

Here is an example of the door pillers before

To fix this area, I used my Griot's 6in orbital DA with a 4in surbuff pad to get around all the tight areas.

Here are the taillights before.

And this is after

So the next day I came back to finish up. This clear coat was very hard and took multiple passes with M105 and the surbuff pad, so it took a lot longer then normal to complete the first step of the correction.

Day 2 consisted of polishing out the paint with M205 and a LC tangerine pad. followed by Black Fire wet Diamond paint sealant.

So this is the LC Tangerine pad on the FLEX 3401 with M205 polish.

After the paint was polished I applied Black Fire Wet Diamond paint sealant using a LC Blue finishing pad.

while the BFWD was curing I applied some REJEX to the wheels, to give them some added protection.

I popped the hood to wipe away all of the dust and excess 303 that was left from earlier.

And moved on to the inside to vacuume it out and treat all surfaces with some 303 aerospace protectant.

Now the Car was finished and it was pulled out for a final walk around and the final pictures.

Thanks for Viewing, Have a Blessed Day!
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask

-Eric

 

[Street Dreams]

Killer work as usual, still love those bodystyle Vipers!

 

[GoFast908Z]

Excellent work again Eric! That red looks dripping wet!

The van looks great too!

 

[BIOLINK]

I was never a Viper fan but you are changing my mind with work like that. Solid!!! Very nicely done!!


:White Horse:

 

[yalerd]

Fantastic job!
Incredible pictures, I really like the angle and how details those picture look.

Car looks flawless, great work

 

[imported_CH.Detailing]

I've never been much for Vipers, but I like that one alot. The black on red with dark tint looks very good.

Excellent work, and very nice job photographing the defects on red, that can be a tricky thing to do sometimes.

 

[CobraKing]

Amazing work Tru_Shine, you're an inspiration on this forum! Keep up the great work!

On a side note, do you dilute your 303 Aerospace or spray it at full strength? Thanks in advance!

 

[Tru_Shine]

Thanks everyone.

I use the 303 at Full strength

 

[imported_juliom2]

no wonder, you'll find spider webbing on Spiderman's mean looking Viper...
Awesome Job!!!
:wizard:

 

[imported_agentf1]

What did you use on the black plastic on the doors? This is the only area on my Viper that has a few swirls and I always look at it and say I have to try to buff it out better. I was going to try some Zaino Plastic Polish on it. Would love to hear what you used and how well it worked.

 

[bmw5541]

Eric,
You are becoming the "Viper King". We have people on this forum that seem to specialize in certain cars, and yours seems to be Vipers. Absolutely outstanding transformation on a really HOT car. Once again, your write-ups are just as impressive as the correction work that you do.

Thanks again for sharing it with us here.:rockon:

 

[Tru_Shine]

What did you use on the black plastic on the doors? This is the only area on my Viper that has a few swirls and I always look at it and say I have to try to buff it out better. I was going to try some Zaino Plastic Polish on it. Would love to hear what you used and how well it worked.

I just used the Griots 6in DA with a 4in backing plate with a 4in surbuff pad with M105 compound then polished it out with M205 and Tangerine pad.

Eric,
You are becoming the "Viper King". We have people on this forum that seem to specialize in certain cars, and yours seems to be Vipers. Absolutely outstanding transformation on a really HOT car. Once again, your write-ups are just as impressive as the correction work that you do.

Thanks again for sharing it with us here.:rockon:

wait till you see my next viper! A crazy rare 1993 black RT/10 with 1500 miles. fully built with some crazy horse power.

dont worry though, ive stocked up on my anti-venom! :thumbup:

no wonder, you'll find spider webbing on Spiderman's mean looking Viper...
Awesome Job!!!
:wizard:

LOL! I bet if spiderman did have a car that this is what it would look like! :thumbup:

 

[GoFast908Z]

wait till you see my next viper! A crazy rare 1993 black RT/10 with 1500 miles. fully built with some crazy horse power.

dont worry though, ive stocked up on my anti-venom! :thumbup:

Lookin forward to that!

 

[MrGolfRider]

Glad I found this forum again, very nice work.

 

[Lazzman]

Damn that thing looks positively Wicked...

What did you use for tire dressing? Very deep black shine- me likey :-c

I second the comment on your detailing van, looks awesome with just enough bling, rims, window tint etc... You've got to have respect for a detailing guy who's work vehicle is detailed to the nines :notworthy: