The Gloss Boss
You Mirin'?
A buddy of mine who has done some graphic design work for me asked me to do a major detail on his ’12 CTS-4. Despite being only 2 years old with 27k miles, the car appeared to have been treated with less than adequate care and had never been properly detailed. The interior wasn’t too bad except for some scuffs and scrapes. However, there was a lackluster repair to the entire passenger side of the vehicle from a wreck. More on the paint later…
I started with the engine bay. The extensive plastic covering made it a breeze to whip back into shape.
Before
After
Next up was the interior. The leather was a bit stiff and there was some minor dust and debris throughout. The owner wanted utmost thoroughness so I removed the seats to ensure maximum results. Good thing I did because I found a few things that I wouldn’t have been able to access otherwise. Headliner was wiped down with Folex. Leather and vinyl trim were given a full Leatherique treatment with both RO and PC. Carpets were thoroughly vacuumed then cleaned and freshened with the steamer. Rubber mats were wiped down with Super Degreaser 8:1. Rubber seals and gaskets were cleaned up with Leatherique PC and door jambs were steamed. Dressed and protected interior with 303 Aerospace and 303 Fabric Guard.
Interior Pics. I didn’t get many afters because I always forget to. Sigh.
Leather here was oily and dirty
Seating before Leatherique
I also Leatherique'd the trim.
The conditions were not ideal for the Leatherique to work it's best (we had a few days of unusually chilly temps last week) but with 20 hours of dwell time it made a marked improvement to the color and feel.
Wash and Prep
First up were the wheels, tires, and wells. In preparation for Tuff Shine Tire coating later, I gave the tires 3 heavy scrubbings each using the Tuff Shine brush and Bleach White. Wells were cleaned with Super Degreaser 4:1 and a generic long handle brush. Wheels received an IronX treatment and were cleaned up with Chemical Guys Honeydew Snow Foam.
Car was pressure rinsed and given a strong foam bath with Dawn. After some dwell time, the car was re-rinsed and then re-foamed and hand washed with CGHDSF. After yet another rinse and foam I scrubbed the car down with a Nanoskin fine grade mitt and did an IronX treatment. Car was rinsed and then dried off with a Dry Me Crazy waffle weave MF towel.
The tires had their fair share of gunked up tire dressing
Time for some correction…This is where the real neglect was evident. Evidence of some shoddy bodywork, painting, and “finishing” were easy to spot in addition to usual dose of swirls and rids.
The entire passenger side had a lot of texture, but it was very excessive on the front passenger fender, passenger side view mirror and rear passenger quarter. Since I was asked to keep the detail within a certain budget I just tackled the worst of the texture. The trunk lid and several isolate scratches were sanded down as well. I machine wet sanded (GG6 and GG3) with 1500 then 3000 Unigrit discs using an interface as to not remove too much texture and match the rest of the vehicle.
Excellent repaint, eh? Not...
Heavy rear quarter texture
Factory texture, for reference
Repainted side again. Not good.
Notice texture difference here too...
Several RIDS back here were addressed
Took a break Friday and went to the Cards V Braves game.
Restoring gloss and factory-like texture...
Much better
The paint ended up being a pain to correct. The repainted section was much softer than the factory side and only required M105 on an orange LC pad at speed 4 (GG6) to correct, and finished with Menzerna 4500 on a black finishing pad. The factory side was rock hard and required M101 and MF cutting discs on speed 6 for compounding and 205/white polishing pad to finish. Tight area compounding was done on my Harbor Freight rotary with a maroon pad and either 105 or Menzerna 2500. This has become my preferred method for small area compounding because the GG3 just doesn’t quite cut it for correction most of the time for me. It is however an awesome sander.
Took this pic immediately after finishing. This was at like 4AM. I nearly pulled an all nighter. I woke up around 11AM and drove down to the shop with my buddy so he could get his car.
I started with the engine bay. The extensive plastic covering made it a breeze to whip back into shape.
- · Rinsed with garden hose
- · Sprayed with Super Degreaser cut 8:1 (water:degreaser)
- · Agitated with Boar’s hair wheel brush, EZ-detail brush for tighter areas and Wheel Woolies round head brush for intricate areas.
- · Rinsed, dried with compressor
- · Dressed with 303 Aerospace
Before
After
Next up was the interior. The leather was a bit stiff and there was some minor dust and debris throughout. The owner wanted utmost thoroughness so I removed the seats to ensure maximum results. Good thing I did because I found a few things that I wouldn’t have been able to access otherwise. Headliner was wiped down with Folex. Leather and vinyl trim were given a full Leatherique treatment with both RO and PC. Carpets were thoroughly vacuumed then cleaned and freshened with the steamer. Rubber mats were wiped down with Super Degreaser 8:1. Rubber seals and gaskets were cleaned up with Leatherique PC and door jambs were steamed. Dressed and protected interior with 303 Aerospace and 303 Fabric Guard.
Interior Pics. I didn’t get many afters because I always forget to. Sigh.
Leather here was oily and dirty
Seating before Leatherique
I also Leatherique'd the trim.
The conditions were not ideal for the Leatherique to work it's best (we had a few days of unusually chilly temps last week) but with 20 hours of dwell time it made a marked improvement to the color and feel.
Wash and Prep
First up were the wheels, tires, and wells. In preparation for Tuff Shine Tire coating later, I gave the tires 3 heavy scrubbings each using the Tuff Shine brush and Bleach White. Wells were cleaned with Super Degreaser 4:1 and a generic long handle brush. Wheels received an IronX treatment and were cleaned up with Chemical Guys Honeydew Snow Foam.
Car was pressure rinsed and given a strong foam bath with Dawn. After some dwell time, the car was re-rinsed and then re-foamed and hand washed with CGHDSF. After yet another rinse and foam I scrubbed the car down with a Nanoskin fine grade mitt and did an IronX treatment. Car was rinsed and then dried off with a Dry Me Crazy waffle weave MF towel.
The tires had their fair share of gunked up tire dressing
Time for some correction…This is where the real neglect was evident. Evidence of some shoddy bodywork, painting, and “finishing” were easy to spot in addition to usual dose of swirls and rids.
The entire passenger side had a lot of texture, but it was very excessive on the front passenger fender, passenger side view mirror and rear passenger quarter. Since I was asked to keep the detail within a certain budget I just tackled the worst of the texture. The trunk lid and several isolate scratches were sanded down as well. I machine wet sanded (GG6 and GG3) with 1500 then 3000 Unigrit discs using an interface as to not remove too much texture and match the rest of the vehicle.
Excellent repaint, eh? Not...
Heavy rear quarter texture
Factory texture, for reference
Repainted side again. Not good.
Notice texture difference here too...
Several RIDS back here were addressed
Took a break Friday and went to the Cards V Braves game.
Restoring gloss and factory-like texture...
Much better
The paint ended up being a pain to correct. The repainted section was much softer than the factory side and only required M105 on an orange LC pad at speed 4 (GG6) to correct, and finished with Menzerna 4500 on a black finishing pad. The factory side was rock hard and required M101 and MF cutting discs on speed 6 for compounding and 205/white polishing pad to finish. Tight area compounding was done on my Harbor Freight rotary with a maroon pad and either 105 or Menzerna 2500. This has become my preferred method for small area compounding because the GG3 just doesn’t quite cut it for correction most of the time for me. It is however an awesome sander.
Took this pic immediately after finishing. This was at like 4AM. I nearly pulled an all nighter. I woke up around 11AM and drove down to the shop with my buddy so he could get his car.
