Very Brief Look at my weekend project - 2009 Pontiac G8 GT Paint Correction

[zmcgovern45]

The owner of this car contacted me through my Facebook Page and was interested in cleaning up this gorgeous red G8. This car is driven most of the year, but gets put away for bad weather and in the winter. It is a lower mileage vehicle, with the odometer reading under 30k, and needed a bit of work to restore some lost gloss and depth in the bright red paint.

The majority of the defects were typical swirls that I would assume had been introduced during washing and drying. They were fine scratches, but they covered every square inch of the paint which created a duller appearance. This vehicle is also used to haul the owner's kids to and from various sporting events, so it showed some signs of abuse that comes with carrying passengers and equipment on a regular basis.


Process

Exterior

Wheels: CG Diablo Gel (4:1) with various brushes and wheel woolies
Tires: Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner
Pre-Wash Foam: CG Citrus Wash via Gilmour Foammaster II Foam Gun
Bug & Tar Removal: Stoner's Tarminator
Wash: CG Citrus Wash
Iron/Fallout Removal: Iron X
Decontamination: Nanoskin Fine Grade Mitt
Dry: DI Waffle Weave Towels
Tape: Automotive Masking Tape
Paint Thickness Readings Taken
Polish: Optimum Hyper Polish on an Orange Light Cutting Pad via Rupes LHR21ES w/ 5.5" Pads and PC7424XP w/ 3" & 4" Pads
IPA Wipe Down: ~15% IPA Solution (diluted with distilled water)
Paint Protection: Sonax Polymer Net Shield
Tire & Trim Dressing: Optimum Opti-Bond Tire Gel
Glass: CarPro Fast Glass Towels
Exhaust Tips: CG Metal Polish + Protection via #0000 Steel Wool


Interior
Thorough Vacuum
Rubber Floor Mats: Scrubbed with Meguiar's D103 (10:1), Rinsed, Then Blown Dry
Trim & Door Jams: Cleaned with Megiar's D103 (10:1) then dressed with 303 Aerospace Protectant
Leather: 303 Aerospace Protectant
Vinyl & Plastic: 303 Aerospace Protectant
Glass: CarPro Fast Glass Towels



This is just a very brief look at what was done to this car. The rest of the photos will be featured in a full length article on the Detailed Image Ask-A-Pro Blog in the near future.




Before

Wheels were in pretty good shape. Typical brake dust buildup, and the barrels needed a good cleaning.

Hard water spots all over.

During

Tar spots were safely removed with tarminator. You can see the tar deposits dissolving as they react with the tar remover. They are then easily wiped away.

After the car was washed and decontaminated, the true condition of the paint was revealed. A very swirled finish that left the paint looking dull.

Clarity and depth were restored with a one-stage polishing process that removed the majority of lighter swirls and defects.

Fender before correction - notice how dull the reflections are.

Fender after correction. Notice how clear and vivid the reflection is after polishing. What a great transformation!

As usual... Had to snap a pic of my car looking good outside while I'm working (my car was recently washed, decontaminated with IronX and then topped with CarPro ReLoad).

Interior door trim before cleaning. Plenty of built up dirt and dust.

Interior door trim after cleaning with Mequir's D103 and dressing/protecting with 303 Aerospace Protectant.

After

Paint was incredibly smooth and glossy. Looked fantastic! Stay tuned for the complete write up that will be published in the near future!

Thanks for looking!

 

[Wors]

Great work Zach! The G6 looks very nice.

How do you like 303 Protectant on Leather?

 

[zmcgovern45]

Great work Zach! The G6 looks very nice.

How do you like 303 Protectant on Leather?

Thanks!

303 works as a quick and easy way to darken and protect black leather, but I don't personally use it on my own leather too often.

 

[Wors]

I have some 303 but always use Leatherique. I will have to try 303 on some leather.

What do you use on your personal leather?

Thanks!

303 works as a quick and easy way to darken and protect black leather, but I don't personally use it on my own leather too often.

 

[zmcgovern45]

I have some 303 but always use Leatherique. I will have to try 303 on some leather.

What do you use on your personal leather?

I've been using Griot's Leather care lately... I wanted to try something different. Not sure if I am a big fan of it... I really like Leatherique though.

 

[mrclean81]

Wow that looks great

 

[sjb89]

Looks great. Did you use a finishing pad after the orange polishing pad for the marks left by the orange pad ?? Any finer polish ??

 

[zmcgovern45]

Looks great. Did you use a finishing pad after the orange polishing pad for the marks left by the orange pad ?? Any finer polish ??

Thanks!

Definitely no need for a finishing step after a light cutting pad and medium polish on this type of paint. The orange light cutting pad is one of my favorite pads to use for one stage corrections like this.

 

[kantonburg]

Thanks!

Definitely no need for a finishing step after a light cutting pad and medium polish on this type of paint. The orange light cutting pad is one of my favorite pads to use for one stage corrections like this.

When you say "this type of paint" do you mean the color or hardness?

 

[zmcgovern45]

When you say "this type of paint" do you mean the color or hardness?

Mostly hardness, but color does play a factor as well... this paint was very nice to work with. It is possible that the same product/pad combo would have left marring on soft, dark paint... but that is why test spots are so important.

Knowing that I was only doing a one-stage correction on this car, I wanted to maximize correction ability without sacrificing finishing ability. This light cutting pad allowed me to get a bit more cut out of an otherwise mild polish and still finish down flawlessly (ie without any haze or marring left behind).

 

[Ronkh]

Beautiful !

 

[zmcgovern45]

Thanks!