Weekend details: TH Magna and S320 (56k warning)

[Mad iX]

Thought I'd fool around and try Z8 on some non-Zaino LSPs, just for the heck of it.

I hope I don't set off any Zaino fans. I like Zaino products myself, but wanted to see how Z8 does on other LSPs.



Start off with the Magna. Much like mine, same paint colour and similar wheels. Current owner purchased it last year, but it looked like the previous owner had very much neglected it. Paint cracking all over and bird sh*t etching, trim also cracked, boot lid had lots of vertical scratches as if boxes were put on top and dragged off (argh!). Current owner had never waxed it. After first wash, water clung to paint surfaces and did not bead or even sheet off at all. Squeak test indicated no protection evident.

Total disaster. Was completely unable to repair bird sh*t etching and cracked paint. Filled up with touch-up paint and wetsanded with 2000grit on cracked areas. Those areas are still obvious, and will require a few more applications to level the paint surface.



Process:



Wash

Clay (Meg's overspray clay w/ #34)

Wash #2

SSR 2.5 w/ cutting pad

SSR 2.5 w/ polishing pad

#21 w/ polishing pad

Z8 (more on this later)



PB Trim Restorer (applied by owner) - Needs many more applications of this so I gave the owner a small bottle of it and instructed him to apply after each wash. Also showed him the 2-bucket method with mitts and MFs.



AIO/SG on the wheels (applied by owner)

AG Glass Polish on windscreen (applied by owner)

EO Wet Tyre Shine on tyres



On to the pics!



Starting with the bootlid ...

More of the same on the roof.

Hood after wash and clay and wash again.

Hood after 1st pass of SSR2.5 w/ cutting pad.

 

[Mad iX]

Looks like I'll have to split this up into a few posts.







Close-up hood shot after full process.

Hood shot again.

Full car shot. Part of hood just over the grille is etched. Grille is also cracked. Also, front bumper full of deep swirls which I did not attempt to polish out because it's painted plastic. Test of ScratchX showed limited improvement.

Full shot from the side.

Roof shot.

C-pillar.

A wheel. Same as mine except it's silver. I have proper wheel nuts, though.

2 Magnas.

2 Magnas and a Ford XR6T. (Mine in the foreground, currently with 5 week old 3xUPP)

Final group shot.

Detail took 4 hours. Didn't get out the deeper scratches as there were so many of them. Forgot to take pic of clay, but wow was it dirty. Owner and his friend tried the clay for themselves and seemed to be quite impressed, but they kept calling it putty and blu-tack.

#21 is very slick and reflective with nice depth. Z8 made the finish a touch deeper. Nice, let's hope it lasts, even though I shouldn't really expect it to.

 

[Mad iX]

Now the S320, let's start with a pic this time:

Not a fan of the colour, some kind of dull dark metallic green. Looks like it's in decent condition at least.



Then again ...

Owner regularly takes this car through automatic carwashes. :x



As usual, hit a test spot with ScratchX and it looked like I had a case of hard clear. Decided to go with IP/cutting pad and FPII/polishing pad. I didn't have enough SSR2.5, anyway. Squeak test indicated no LSP.



Process:

Wash (getting used to seeing water pooling on cars)

Clay immediately after rinse with some Meg's QD on dry spots, then wipe down

IP/FPII

Wash #2 to clear Menzerna dust and residue

NXT (was gonna go Z2Pro but decided to experiment with the next step)

Z8 :bigups

Souveran



AG Glass Polish on all exterior glass

Meg's Wheel Cleaner and AIO/SG on wheels (argh brake dust :wall)

EO Wet Tyre shine on tyres

Meg's Trim cleaner and 303 on interior trim (where is Quik Interior Detailer!)

Meg's Leather conditioner on seats

DP spray shield on windscreen



Didn't treat exterior trim. That's one good thing about this car, it's all painted.



Few swirls still apparent after Menzerna Twins. Running out of time and daylight so decided to finish it off. Started a bit late at 2pm, and being winter now over here, the sun disappears at about 5pm.



After IP/FPII:

 

[Mad iX]

All done.

Hood.

Hood with camera flash.

Don't forget those door sills! (#34 in case you're wondering)

Roof.

Rear end.

Side.

Side again.

Two 500w halogens reflecting on the hood.

NXT did what it always does. Deepen, darken, hides a few swirls.

I couldn't see if Z8 made a huge difference to the look (too dark), but it made the surface a lot slicker than NXT.

Souveran didn't affect the slickness much. Nice. Also seemed to be deeper and wetter but surprisingly reflective.

Forgot to take pics of the wheels. No interior pics either.



And there's my weekend.

 

[spotpad]

Nice detail!



What speed did you use to apply SSR 2.5?

 

[Mad iX]

4.5 on my GMC orbital.

I guesstimate that would about 5 on a PC.



(and a bump to this thread)

 

[Scottwax]

Nice work on both cars!

 

[spotpad]

nice work! Love the hood flash shot on the S320.