This vehicle was scheduled for a two stage paint correction, the vehicle: 2001 Mustang Cobra Here is the vehicle waiting for me: Cobra not looking so scary :shakehead: Lovely rims, just need some attention. The sun was out so I snapped a few pictures of its impressive swirls, this is prior to washing the vehicle: Engine bay was to receive some attention as well: The shop that I enjoy so much visiting, loves supercharging vehicles and this vehicle received a nice supercharge, among other things. Well to start, the rims. Rims received some Red P21S Gel: Wheel wells received some Meg’s APC diluted: I accidently forgot to bring my container of P21S Total Auto Wash :wall: So I improvised and I’m glad to say Meg’s APC got the job done :thumb: Meg’s APC was also used on the tires: Filled my small bucket with water and with various brushes: The rims, tires and wheel wells were agitated: Well this process was carried out to all rims, tires and wheel wells. Next the engine bay was taken care off with Meg’s APC. Once the engine bay was done the vehicle was washed with the two bucket method, prior to washing though I couldn’t help but notice the following: Well signs that the vehicle had been polished before where quite clear oh and the vehicle had stubborn polish spots that did not want to come off :shrug: Well vehicle was washed and areas that had polish residue a Zymol brush was used. Once the vehicle was washed, I proceeded to clay the vehicle. The clay of choice this time around was Yellow Riccardo. Vehicle didn’t feel too rough during the washing process. Since I was outside and it was a nice bright sunny day here is what the sun revealed: Sun was quite worm, so vehicle was brought inside and with my 3M Sun Gun I continued to inspected the vehicle: Now that I knew what I was up against, time to take some paint gauge readings, first up PosiTector 6000: As you can see reasonable readings, not as low as I was expecting :thumb: Next, with the help of my PosiTector 200 I took reading son hood, trunk, front and rear bumper as these areas were composite material: Again reasonable paint gauge readings. All delicate areas of this vehicle were taped off. Now to find the right combo for this vehicle. First I tried my favorite foam pads, 3M UK Black polishing pad partnered up with Menzerna Intensive Polish, this combo made some what of a difference but hardly significant: As you can see it made a reasonable difference but many deep scratches remained. Clear coat didn’t feel hard nor soft, so I was surprised that Intensive Polish did not deliver…well I changed the polish to Menzerna Power Gloss with a Black 3M UK polishing pad again, this combo was too aggressive for the clear coat, it induced even more swirls. So I knew Menzerna Intensive Polish would be the right polish, I just needed to find the right foam pad to work with. So I got my Menzerna polishing foam pad out, gave it a try partnered up with Intensive Polish and hardly put a dent on the deeper scratches, tried two passes but still the deeper scratches remained. Well what to use, I noticed I always carry my Meg’s foam pads, dusted the polishing pad off :giggle: and gave it one pass with 3M UK Extra Fine Compound and here are the results of just one pass: Well I’ll be :what: Meg’s polishing foam pad not only completely removed the deeper scratches I didn’t even need to increase the RPM’s past 1,100. As most correction was done bellow the 1,000 RPM :shead: Felt odd not increasing the RPM’s to at least 1,500 but on this particular vehicle lower RPM”s delivered exceptional results. So I got my combo and I got satisfying results, I’m set to go :thumb: I used the driver side fender as the testing spot, so started off on the passenger side fender, here is a 50/50 of how well this combo delivered with just one pass: Made my way back to the driver side fender and here are some 50/50 of the driver side fender: Well moving on, the roof before: After: Driver side, near quarter panel before: After: This are required two passes to get it just right but like I said one pass was doing wonders to this vehicle. Here are some 50/50 pictures of the driver side door: Again some areas required two passes to completely remove the deep scratches. For tight areas I went with my Ultimate foam pads: Driver side quarter panel, 50/50: Driver side rear bumper before: After: As I made my way to the trunk, I decided to remove the spoiler. Lucky for me, the spoiler was only bolted down, not glued: Here are some 50/50 pictures of the trunk: Even the middle tail light was benefiting from this combo :thumb: Rest of the trunk before: After: Tail lights were done with the small Ultimate foam pad, before: After: Before: After: Making my way around to the passenger side, lower side of the bumper before: After: Passenger rear pillar and area, before: After: Still some deeper scratches remained so a second pass was required: Much better. Passenger side pillar before: After: Again these tight areas were done with the small Ultimate foam pad. Passenger door handle before: After: That leave just the spoiler left to polish, not that it would be an issue seeing as it was off the vehicle ;thumb: Well that completes the paint correction, for the most part the vehicle still required two passes to get it looking just right. Next to refine the finish, for this I went with Blue 3M UK finishing foam pad partnered with 3M UK Ultrafine SE: This process took several ours. Once the finishing stage was complete with Menzerna Top Inspection the vehicle was wiped down to remove all polish residue. Next I applied HD Cleanse Professional, this process took some time. Next, seeing as the vehicle is a solid colour I decided to go with Vintage as LSP. Vintage was applied via applicator, wile Vintage was left to bond I applied a coat of DG#601/105 combo on all rims, all exterior plastic trims received a coat of Black WOW, exhaust pipes were treated to Autosol, engine bay was dressed with 303, tires were dressed with Optimum Tyre. Well all that was left was to buff off Vintage and the sealant on the rims, for this various Cookie Monsters were used. After a few hours I gave the vehicle a Field Glaze wipe down and here are the end results: I didn’t realize how nice these rims were and best of all they compliment the vehicle quite nice, well at least I think so. Cobra is looking much better now :thumb: Engine bay was turned around quite nice, best part it shows off it’s supercharger much better now :thumb: Nice sunny day gives some nice reflections: Sorry, just couldn’t help but admire the rims on this vehicle :druling: DG made them stand out even more :thumb: Well that concludes another vehicle, very interesting vehicle to detail and as soon as I was done this vehicle I went and picked up some more Meg’s foam pads as only had one or two sets of them :thumb:
Awesome job on that Pony! I'm like you Carlos those wheels just really compliment the car when cleaned up!
Good job Carlos! That was one rough cobra... I guess I have to be the oddball guy..those rims do nothing for me at all...
The paint in my opinion was medium hard but found it odd that 3M UK and Menzerna foam pads did not perform well on this vehicle. But no, paint was not hard at all. :nod: vehicle had some serious performance parts in it :thumb: Very nice HRE's for sure, just loved the bling, bling that they added to the vehicle :druling: Regrettably, I never met the owner. Once the shop is done with it's modifications owner would pick the vehicle up. Would of been nice to meet the owner :shrug: Thank you P1et, glad you enjoyed it eace: Not sure what it was about the rims but they just seemed to compliment the vehicle very nice, that and the DG sure made them pop some more :cheerl: Thank you for the feed back, very much appreciated eace: Glad you enjoyed it :hippie: No worries, we all can't like the same thing eace: Glad you enjoyed the detail.
