Black T/A detail
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TECH Regular
iTrader: (4)
Joined: Mar 2002
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From: Schuylkill County PA
Black T/A detail Long story short I traded my buddy Rich some detail work for "go fast" parts 
His car is a 1998 Trans Am with 136,000 miles on the clock, and when I asked what he had been using on the car, he replied "Soap and water". 
So I had my work cut out for me.
Started with a "dish soap" wash and spot clayed the exterior. The usual F-Car trouble spots were surprisingly clean, but the rear bumper more than made up for it! After I pulled Rich's T/A back into his garage, the real work started. I used the Flex polisher with a purple Kompressor pad and Menzerna Super Intensive Polish on the whole car, and then went back over several spots (roof hoop, rear bumper, quarter panels) with a Porter-Cable / 4" yellow pad / 3M rubbing compound combo. I also had to finish some areas (e.g., hood and front bumper) with a Flex / white finishing pad / 3M "machine glaze for dark cars" combo. After a 50/50 IPA wipe-down to remove any polishing residue and check my work, Tropi-Care xP sealant was applied to the exterior (including sealing the wheels), Adam's VRT to the tires, and Rain-X to clean up the glass. This job took about ten hours of work. Rich took some pics the next day. Images are clickable thumbs:
And when I asked for the pics, this is the first one I got:
Entire photo album can be viewed here: http://s458.photobucket.com/albums/q...%20Photoshoot/
Questions, comments, critiques welcome.
His car is a 1998 Trans Am with 136,000 miles on the clock, and when I asked what he had been using on the car, he replied "Soap and water". So I had my work cut out for me. Started with a "dish soap" wash and spot clayed the exterior. The usual F-Car trouble spots were surprisingly clean, but the rear bumper more than made up for it! After I pulled Rich's T/A back into his garage, the real work started. I used the Flex polisher with a purple Kompressor pad and Menzerna Super Intensive Polish on the whole car, and then went back over several spots (roof hoop, rear bumper, quarter panels) with a Porter-Cable / 4" yellow pad / 3M rubbing compound combo. I also had to finish some areas (e.g., hood and front bumper) with a Flex / white finishing pad / 3M "machine glaze for dark cars" combo. After a 50/50 IPA wipe-down to remove any polishing residue and check my work, Tropi-Care xP sealant was applied to the exterior (including sealing the wheels), Adam's VRT to the tires, and Rain-X to clean up the glass. This job took about ten hours of work. Rich took some pics the next day. Images are clickable thumbs:
And when I asked for the pics, this is the first one I got:
Entire photo album can be viewed here: http://s458.photobucket.com/albums/q...%20Photoshoot/
Questions, comments, critiques welcome.
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Thread Starter
TECH Regular
iTrader: (4)
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 414
Likes: 0
From: Schuylkill County PA
Ding ding.. winnah
Yup.. Previous owner installed it years ago.
Steve (PSU98) did an incredible job on the car.. easily took YEARS off the appearance, and made it something I am no longer embarrassed for anyone to get closer than 10 feet to.
Oh by the way, in some closeups, you can see little white "specks" in the paint... It was quite windy that day, and as soon as I'd wipe off the car, more was back on it... those are just little pollen type particles... nothing in the paint.
I should have taken before photos!
Yup.. Previous owner installed it years ago.
Steve (PSU98) did an incredible job on the car.. easily took YEARS off the appearance, and made it something I am no longer embarrassed for anyone to get closer than 10 feet to.
Oh by the way, in some closeups, you can see little white "specks" in the paint... It was quite windy that day, and as soon as I'd wipe off the car, more was back on it... those are just little pollen type particles... nothing in the paint.
I should have taken before photos!
Last edited by Eskimo; Jun 9, 2009 at 07:51 AM.