Tailored Automotive Detailing: Porsche 912 Targa

[D Tailor]

Tailored Automotive Detailing: Porsche 912 Targa

Once a 100 point car, this Porsche was one of the many auction vehicles that suffered from storms in Arizona in January. While it was a tragedy for many owners, buyers, restorers, and collectors, this car manged to escape with less than serious damage. Although, it lost its status of perfection, a good repaint was ordered to put it back into the owners collection.



Prior to delivery I was called up to "close the deal" and get it ready for presentation to the owner.

As I looked the car over, I determined it needed some vinyl and rubber cleaning/dressing and the paint needed finshing. There was sufficient micromarring to bring about concern from me, especially knowing that it was going to be in a private showroom under many different kinds of lights.

Being painted within the last month, the paint was still soft and no LSP was going to be applied, so I had to not only be careful in the selection of my pad/polish combo, but I also knew there was going to be no help from an LSP to hide the any imperfections.



After some prep work and tests, I decided on Menzerna PO106FF and a Blue LC pad. That combo not only raised the gloss several points on my meter, but it left the finish absolutely perfect.

After massaging the paint for several hours to achive the look I was after and wiping it down with IPA to ensure I wasn't just filling, I cleansed the Targa top and the tires with ONR. After letting it dry I dressed anything Black with Poor Boys Natural Dressing and a final wipe with an MF to ensure even application.

I finalized my work by spraying some Chemical Guys Fade to Black in the wheel wells, dressing the tires with some Zaino Z-16, and wiping the stainless steel with Never Dull and a final wipe with a MF.



Here are some final shots:

While not a trendous transformation, it was rewarding to bring out the remaing 5 percent for the owner. It was also very rewarding for me to work on my childhood dream car. Thanks for taking the time to check out the writeup. :xyxthumbs

 

[Barry Theal]

After some prep work and tests, I decided on Menzerna PO106FF and a Blue LC pad. That combo not only raised the gloss several points on my meter, but it left the finish absolutely perfect.

Got any pictures of this gloss meter your using? Car came out nice. What did the customer think when they seen you pull out a gloss meter? How did you explain to them how it works? I'm curious to know these answers as well. I seen the one JOhn Klevin has is your's similar? Can you post pictures of the measurement?

 

[rcrobbins]

Very nice, I love to see these old Porsches still surviving.

 

[D Tailor]

Got any pictures of this gloss meter your using? Car came out nice. What did the customer think when they seen you pull out a gloss meter? How did you explain to them how it works? I'm curious to know these answers as well. I seen the one JOhn Klevin has is your's similar? Can you post pictures of the measurement?

Yeah...here's the before picture:

And here's the after:

This was my first time using the glossmeter and need to keep working with it to be able to use it as a "staple" in my process (It actually came in the mail the day of the detail.) For example, I don't know why the 85 degree reading went down while the 20 and 60 went up. I did mention to them that 60 degree is the angle most commonly seen by the human eye. I actually corresponded a little with John after this detail, to get a better understanding of how to best use the meter and its readings. Looks like we're both learning although he has had his a bit longer.



It was really cool to see an improvement and everyone was impressed but until I play with it some more, and learn more about how it works, I won't pass my final judgement on it. I did explain to them that "Gloss is determined using a gloss meter, which directs a beam light (which has a similar wavelength range as the human eye) at a specific angle to the test surface and measuring the amount of reflection." Initially I would say that it calibration and placement on the car needs to be done with a sniper's touch and cars with curves like the Porsche make that hard.



The readings about were before my test panel and after I made a pass with Optimum Finish Polish. I didn't feel it had done as good of a job as I wanted, so then I switched to Menz P0160FF. It look soooooooo much better. I didn't take a final reading though. I just proceeded as it was getting late. I would have like to see my final reading as well.



If you ever want to try it or talk about it, let me know...you got my digits.:2thumbs:

 

[Concourswanna b]

That's a beautiful old Porsche. Interesting detail with no wax to hide anything...

looks pretty slick. That car's putting out some gloss units :bigups

 

[MarcHarris]

First and foremost: outstanding work on a rare to find Porsche (targas). Good to have such a beauty brought back to life.

Yeah...here's the before picture:



This was my first time using the glossmeter and need to keep working with it to be able to use it as a "staple" in my process (It actually came in the mail the day of the detail.) For example, I don't know why the 85 degree reading went down while the 20 and 60 went up. I did mention to them that 60 degree is the angle most commonly seen by the human eye. I actually corresponded a little with John after this detail, to get a better understanding of how to best use the meter and its readings. Looks like we're both learning although he has had his a bit longer.



It was really cool to see an improvement and everyone was impressed but until I play with it some more, and learn more about how it works, I won't pass my final judgement on it. I did explain to them that "Gloss is determined using a gloss meter, which directs a beam light (which has a similar wavelength range as the human eye) at a specific angle to the test surface and measuring the amount of reflection." Initially I would say that it calibration and placement on the car needs to be done with a sniper's touch and cars with curves like the Porsche make that hard.



The readings about were before my test panel and after I made a pass with Optimum Finish Polish. I didn't feel it had done as good of a job as I wanted, so then I switched to Menz P0160FF. It look soooooooo much better. I didn't take a final reading though. I just proceeded as it was getting late. I would have like to see my final reading as well.



If you ever want to try it or talk about it, let me know...you got my digits.:2thumbs:

Truth be told... I haven't only been researching paint thickness gauges, I've been looking into gloss meters as well.



The different angles are meant to measure the gloss level of different types of surfaces. 60 degress is for mirror like surfaces, while 45 degrees is usually meant for something less than mirror-like quality but still a highly reflective surface. 90 degrees is meant for matte finishes.

The deviation in the readings is hard for me to put any answers to as I haven't yet had the chance to play with one of these babies, so I haven't got to really look into how they perform in which I could then ask the appropriate questions to the company's representatives.

You should find that gloss readings go down with the application of LSPs, and the gloss level should be higher on single-stage paint. Knowing some of these things is one matter, but understanding how and why / the cause is another.

Later in the Summer I should have a good chance to not only use a gloss meter or two, but also to do some testing on an ultrasonic thickness gauge or two as well. Once I do, we'll be making some type of posting on the results and information we got.



Regardless of the unknowns, the knowns are this: the car turned out beautiful and it was a nice post. :2thumbs:

 

[D Tailor]

Thanks a lot guys. I have two more cars for the same collection this coming week, so I am going to play around with the meter more.



Marc, I did find this website: Gloss Meter Introduction

While it's not the site for the meter Kleven and I own, it does have some very good information that I've been studying up on. From whaI've found, the 60 degree is what we should be focused on as long as we have gloss finish and anything over 70 GU should be considered "highlyglossy" (I actually got tha from Myth Busters show where the were using gloss meters...funny enough the were litterallypolishing a turd).

 

[WAS]

As always David, awesome work !!!!

 

[JohnKleven]

Awesome work. I'm glad you're getting to play around with the gloss meter. It's a pretty neat tool. As far as the correct readings the 20 degree angle is most important on a high gloss surface that you're working on.





John