I received a phone call from a forum member who was interested on having his vehicle detailed. I told him I would like to see his vehicle and go from there. Well we met and I saw the vehicle, lovely vehicle but it was in dire need of a paint correction, so we set up a date and time and best part the owner of the vehicle is a detailer him self. So I offered the owner the opportunity to do a tag team detail, it’s always fun to have company when detailing, not only that the owner was very interested to see his brand new vehicle transformed. Well let the detail begin, first of all the vehicle is a four month old: 2009 G37x The owner was kind enough to give the vehicle a quick wash before bringing it over, so all I had to do is follow it up with ONR with the two bucket method of course: Once the entire vehicle had been washed via ONR, it was time to clay the vehicle, the clay of choice is the Blue Riccardo. The vehicle was quite clean, hardly any contamination: I was so eager to get started on the paint correction process that it was decided the rims were going to be cleansed after the paint correction, not something I’m used to doing as I have a process but I was eager to get going on the paint correction :shrug: Moving right along, it was now time to tape up the vehicle. With the help of the owner we taped up the vehicle oh and the owner learned a few things about taping (sorry I’m picky when it comes to taping :shrug: Once the vehicle was taped up it was time to take paint gauge readings, first up the PosiTector 6000: As expected the vehicle for the most part had healthy paint readings, as you can see on the graph with the help of PosiSoft: Next, all plastic areas are measured with the help of the PosiTector 200: I’m pleased to say the bumpers had consistent paint and clear coat reading as you can see by the graph: Now that we knew how much clear coat/paint we had to play with it was time to see what we were up against. With the help of the 3M Sun Gun here is what we saw: The entire vehicle was covered in swirls, lots and lots of swirls but it also had some deep scratches like ones on this picture The rear tail lights were no expectation either, surprising considering the vehicle is brand new, oh well it will make for great correction pictures :thumb: Found this at the rear bumper and owner explained what caused it. The hood of this vehicle was covered in water sports, not to mention swirls as you can see by this picture: Well now that I knew what we were up against, it was time to find the appropriate combo, I have detailed some Infinities in the past and I was expecting the lovely sticky clear coat, so the first combo I tried was a Black 3M UK Polishing pad with Menzerna 106FA with my Metabo and 3M UK Backing plate. To my surprise, this combo did absolutely nothing. On a positive note, this vehicle did not have the sticky clear coat as I was expecting. So I then bumped the polish up to Menzerna Intensive Polish with another a Black polishing 3M UK foam pad, once again this combo did nothing. Well next I decided to bump up the foam pad, this time I used the Orange 3M UK compounding pad with Menzerna Intensive Polish. Now this combo you’d think would put a dent on the swirls? Regrettably this combo did absolutely nothing, again I couldn’t help but admire this clear coat. So time to bring out the big boy, I decided to bump up to Menzerna Power Gloss with a Orange 3M UK compounding. This combo delivered some results but I wanted to try one more combo on a separate test area of course. Well I got my second go to polish, 3M UK polish that is. So I got my 3M Perfect-it III Fast Cut Plus out and partnered it up with Orange 3M UK compounding foam pad and this combo finally delivered some satisfying results: Well took me over an hour to find the right combo and I couldn’t help but admire how hard this clear coat was. I kept saying “wow” over and over and the owner just kept shaking his head. Well here are all the items I went through: (This picture does not include all the foam pads I went through) Well now to put the owner to work :devil:…I mean edumacate him a little :whistle: The owner is used to using the PC so I though why not bring out my Flex DA out and let the owner share the lovely experience of extremely hard clear coat :giggle: The owner was doing quite well against the tough clear coat I snapped some pictures of his progress, here is the rear driver side door before: After: Now if your thinking that one pass delivered these results that would be a big NO! Here is a 50/50 shot of one pass with the aggressive combo: :nod: yup that’s one pass :doh: :doh: Some panels required up to 5 hits with this aggressive combo :yikes: Well seeing as the owner of the vehicle felt comfortable with the flex along with the foam and polish was working well it was time for me to do some paint correction of my own. I decided to start off on the rear of this vehicle and you’d think the bumper would be easier to correct, no not at all. Lower part of the bumper, passenger side before: After: Now it’s not completely perfect so another pass or two was required Rear quarter panel done by owner before: After: Now remember the tail lights, here is a 50/50 shot: The other tail light before: After: Roof before: After: Before: After: Before: After: Passenger side pillar: After: 50/50 of the rear passenger door: 50/50 of the passenger door: Here is a 50/50 of the hood: Before: After: Before: After: Door pillars before: After: Well the compounding stage took two days to complete and by no means was the vehicle flawless, the next stage was to remove all the holograms being left over from the harsh compound. For this a Black 3M UK Polishing foam pad was used partnered up with Menzerna Intensive Polish, this process took a few hours between the owner and I. Next it was tome to refine the finish even further, for this Blue 3M UK Finishing foam pad was used partnered with Menzerna 85RD: By the third day the owner owned the flex…no I kid you not he loved the flex so much he decided to keep it :shead: I on the other hand stuck to my lovely, sexy Metabo: This vehicle required quite a few foam pads and I had to dip in to my personal stash, here are the empty boxes: Well the vehicle is now corrected and completed, total of three, long days. Now it was time to give the vehicle a wipe down with: The owner wanted protection, so he opted for a sealant…well I would have gone with my go to sealant DG 601 and 105 combo but regrettably I’m all out…so I decided to go with Wolfgang: With the help of the owner we tag teamed the application of the sealant :thumb: I had to take care of the rims, so wile I was finishing up the rims I gave the task of the exhaust tips to the owner :thumb: He used Autosol of course: Owner did a great job on the exhaust tips…er….after I told him how to do it that is :whistle: here’s a before of the exhaust tip: After: Well now it was time for me to make the shoes of this vehicle shine, here are the rims before: For the rims I used my steamer :thumb: Next, Red P21S Gel: Red P21S working it’s majic: EZ brush was used along with a Zymol brush and finished off with the steamer and here are the end results: Please note, I don’t usually leave the rims to last…I was just anxious to correct this vehicle I have to give credit to the owner of the vehicle, he stuck with me for the full three days and best part we had a great time working on his vehicle. All that hard work looked something like this at the end: Now the day we finished the vehicle it was cloudy and over cast but the owner was kind enough to come pay me a visit two days after and it was nice and sunny, best par the vehicle looked just as good as when we finished it, so I snapped some more shots of the vehicle: Owner and I couldn’t help but admire the hood :druling: so I snapped some more pictures of the hood :thumb: Well that concludes this detail, it was long but the owner enjoyed it and best part he was pleased with the end results….oh by the way, we were not able to remove all the deep scratches on this vehicle. Well sorry for the long and loaded with pictures thread but hope you enjoy it eace:
The vehicle and photography look top-notch Carlos! Great detail, the sport-lip looks great on the new sedan.
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it. I know the paint had some lovely swirls and deep scratches, I was in heaven :woo: :woo: :nod: I agree, I couldn't get past the front of this vehicle, the head lights and the hood complimented the vehicle so well I couldn't help but take so many pictures of the front. Glad you enjoyed it and thank you for the feed back eace:
Thank you glad you enjoyed it, the owner and I had a great time detailing this vehicle, best part I gave him some pointers on how to upkeep his vehicle and he's already put an order with eShine...oh and a future order coming up as well as I raved on and on about DG :shrug:
BTW did you use any special method for the exhaust tips? I have some Finish Kare metal polish and doesn't seem to be doing anything to the exhaust tips. Nothing near as the results you got!
Well I politely instructed the owner on how to take care of the exhaust tips, I say politely because I didn't want to come across as bossy...even though I think I can be a bit bossy :shrug: Any who, what I told the owner was the following: Seeing as the exhaust tips didn't look too bad, I instructed the owner to use a Cookie Monster micro fiber towel with a dab of Autosol. Then literally massage the Autosol on the exhaust tip, the key is to not over use Autosol. If you use too much Autosol, you'll just scuff the exhaust tip too much and I only use #0000 still wool when exhaust tips are really bad....well that's just how I do it, I always start with the micro fiber application and I now use a Cookie Monster towel because it's softer then the yellow microfiber towels. I've noticed that most exhaust tips respond well to the soft microfiber towels....but other tips like it rough, sorta speak :shrug: just my :2cents: hope this helps. Oh and this Cookie Monster towel has been demoted to exhaust tips, so it's now the designated exhaust tip towel.
Outstanding work, Carlos! No snow foam fun? I'm all about pressure washer and a snow foam, I mean I like ONR, but love the fun of a snow foam. Hey, that Wolfgang DGPS, is it 3.0 (polycharged)? 3.0 actually improved their durability over previous version. I have both and seen the difference...
great turn around carlos, those vehicles are a bugger to get right If you get another one that is giving you a lot of grief I would try buzzing over it with a trizact P3000 disc first. I have had great luck going that route and very minimal film build removal. The nissan/infinity clear is an odd animal.
Great Carlos! How was it tag-teaming a car with each person using a different type of machine? I'm finding it hard to tag-team a car with one only being proficient on a DA, and not Rotary. Amazing results.. I can't stop staring at that steamer
LOL I don't want to visit Eshine anymore, I already have other products from eshine and now you hooked me on the DG and Wolfgang products, maybe I'll order the foam gun as well lol who knows:thumb:..... Btw you weren't bossy at all, I'm greatful for the pointers you gave me, I did said that I would've been done on the second day lol :headbang:, thanks once again my friend:cig:, hopefully we get to do this again :thumb:. Hey I know :cig: ..I was happy when Carlos offered me the chance of working on the G, I didn't think the damage was that bad, but once we put it under the lights I was shocked :gasp:....I think Carlos started to smile when he saw the damage, but it turned out great and I keep getting looks when I go down the street lol. :headbang:. Thanks Carlos:thumb:
I wish I would have used the pressure washer but the owner did a good job on cleaning the vehicle, it really didn't need another wash, besides I was way too eager to get going on the paint correction. As for foam, I still haven't ordered my foam cannon, not sure if I'll get one but for now I'm enjoying my pressure washer :thumb: As for the Wolfgang, I think I have the older version, I've had this Wolfgang for a few years now but I really like Wolfgang and every time I use it I'm impressed by it...I just don't know why I don't use this sealant more often :shrug: Thank you for the feed back, but to be honest I can be a tad picky some times. I enjoy tag teaming with other individuals as you can always learn something new, besides I'm always willing to share what I know, so feel free to ask and I'll be more then happy to share what I know and learned so far eace: We went through quite a bit of foam pads, I lost count after I saw a stash of boxes in the corner of the garage :shrug: Thats okay though, the old pads needed replacing anyways. Glad you enjoyed it eace: :nod: I would have to agree with you this vehicle was painful to detail, fun but very, very stubborn at times. I had my wet sanding discs ready to go but owner chose not to wet sand, so we made due with foam pads :shrug: I agree though this paint was worse then Vette's clear coat, well I think so :shrug: Glad you enjoyed it eace: Well like I said the owner was comfortable with the PC and in my opinion the Flex DA is just like the PC...a bit stronger but same thing. Any who, the key to our tag team was that I was literally inspecting his work, every single panel he polished with the Flex I was there inspecting it with Menzerna Top Inspection and the 3M Sun Gun....I felt bad because I felt as though I was micro managing but when I detail I set the bar high on my self. Oh the other thing is that I used my rotary and for me to correct some panels took me half the time it took the owner to correct with the Flex, what I mean is that even though the Flex isn't as strong as the rotary it will still correct it just takes longer and in this case not only did it take longer but certain areas it took the owner up to 5 passes to get the panel corrected, others I had to go back and give it one pass with my rotary. But we managed, the reason I call it tag teaming is because the owner helped me along the way, we each learned something new from this experience and we had a great time working together. That's why I called it tag teaming. I'm very glad you stuck with the full detail and you were patient with me, I felt as though I was micromanaging you through out the detail. Some people don't like that others don't mind it but I'm glad you enjoyed the detail and got something out of it. Like I said to you, it's always fun to learn something new and I too learned a few things but I'm glad I was able to open your eyes to a different type of detailing process, not to mention the upkeep after it has been corrected. I too look forward on getting together again, hopefully in a few weeks :thumb: Glad you enjoyed it, wish I could say it come flawless but at least 90%, some deep scratches remained :sorry:
Carlos, you gotta have a foam cannon, otherwise you are missing all the snow foam fun!!! You will love it!!!
