Detroit's Finest: CTS-V + AutoLavish + Steven Pham

Sorry for the lack of posting. My CPU died in January and the replacement I got died after just two weeks of use. Living without a laptop has been tough! Anyways, thought I'd share the latest and greatest with the community.


The Cadillac CTS-V has grown in popularity and gained quite a following since it came out featuring an LS-series engine and 400hp in an entry luxury sedan. I'm personally a fan of not only the engine, but the comfortable interior and subtle exterior changes - the front grill is the hallmark of the "V-series" look and transforms the CTS from an ordinary ho-hum look to a force to be reckoned with: luxury mixed with Motor-City Muscle.

This owner purchased his V used last fall, and with the Spring quickly approaching, was looking to bring it back to its former glory. In addition to the work performed, the owner will be bringing it back within the next two months for a touch-up and a clear-bra application to the front end.

The owner brought it over and before we wanted to begin the clean-up, we wanted to ensure the wheels and brake components were cool enough to work on.




Mid 60's - so everything is ok. Next we walked around to check out the work we had in store for us.












Headlamp housings weren't too bad, but could certainly use some love




Jacob continued the inspection process with the dual-LED Brinkmann while I got the wheels prepped with some CG Sticky Gel: no acidic wheel cleaners being used on these.




The Xenon and LED Brinkmann's are both great... but excel in different areas. The exact reason we use both.






Nothing too bad, but in need of a little love




Getting the party started




After using a combo of the Zymol Wheel Brush, EZ Detail Brush, and a general purpose brush on the wheels, Jacob hit the wells with APC and a black Shmitt before I hit everything with the pressure washer






Bring on the foam!




...and then I washed




Following the rinse, Dodo Juice born Slippery was used with Meg's clay to take care of surface contamination.




Finally prepped, we could take a look at what we truly had to work with. No more hidding. The results weren't good with some mystery nasty spots and a swirled-up car in general.






Our goal was a quality two-step process to bring back the finish to a like-new state. Jacob started with the heavy polishing step using the limited edition Makita and Meguiar's 105




I followed with the PC using Meguiar's 205. Yup... that works:




Xenon Brinkmann




Indirect light:




I was able to get the chance to tape of the headlamp assemblies and show them a little love. To see how much of a difference there is - look at the difference in the reflection of me taking the picture:

 

Polishing finished, we started to see the result of the work we put in










I used the break from the action to catch up on my scholarly duties as shown in this reflection shot:





Even the formerly dull tail-lamp housings had a big turn-around






As did the exhaust tips






The true final results were captured almost two weeks later when we paired up with up-and-coming local photographer Steven Pham to truly capture the timeless beauty of this Cadillac. While I think our photo's are fine, when you bring in an artist with the proper equipment, you can often get much more dramatic results.

Once everything was set to go, we headed out to a coin-op Do-it-Yourself car wash. I prepped all the detailing supplies I would need both at the wash and at various locations to keep the car in proper order. Two 5-gallon buckets with Grit guards and sealable lids filled with hot water were brought to the car wash bay, as were mitts to wash, drying towels, quick detailer, wheel cleaner, wheel cleaning brushes, plush microfiber towels, diluted ONR in a chemical sprayer, gloves, tire dressing, etc.
Once arrived, I got busy and Steven got to take a few shots to show the transformation.

Here are some of my favorite shots Steven took at the car wash - such tight and zoomed-in images capture how clean the surface really was.

Dodo Juice Red Mist Tropical

Some of Steven's personal favorite shots can be seen at http://stevenphamphoto.com

You can check out his other random photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sil3ntp8nd8/

For additional questions or comments, please contact Steven directly: stevenphamphoto@gmail.com


Thanks for looking!!!

 

great write up. congrats.

 

Sick!

 

Absolutely lovely photography. Love the Tokina!

 

love the pictures

 

Great work and photography!

 

Great work guys... way to represent!

Beautiful pictures..

I don't think people realize the work that goes into properly documenting this like you guys do...

These beasts clean up real nice... I have a black V to post up soon....:whistle:

 

Great work guys ... awesome pics of D-town!!

 

You are so lucky! Great work btw!!

 

Great work guys. I know so much thought and time was put into getting all of this together. But this simple (well not simple but you know what I mean) thread just shows a bit of everytinng you did for the car. Great work!

 

Beautiful pics! lol at studying while on the job, good for you. Question though is that really a limited edition 9227 or did you guys customize it cause that is sick!

 

Love the pic in front of the stadium!!! great job Marc and crew.

 

nice work and nice pics man.

 

Thanks for the comments guys. Surely a lot of moving parts with Jacob's and my own schedule, then the owner's schedule, then the photographer's schedule all being put together to plan things out.

 

What exactly is so special about the gold makita? just the color?

 

yeah whats up with that?

I have the silver colored brinkmann. where did you get the other one? link?

Nice work as always guys, and great pics too! thanks for sharing :thumb:

 

nice photos

 

Nice looking CTS-V! GOOD WORK!!!!!

 

great work, came out beautiful! Love those last shots!!!