Clean and Prep:

This was a good opportunity to test out the capabilities of the new Ultimate Detailing Machine. This vehicle had a wide array of mild to moderate surface blemishes on the paint surface. After a thorough washing of the paint surface with the Tropi-Care Car Wash Concentrate and rinsing off all soap residue, I proceeded to use the car wash concentrate and water as my lubricant to clay bar the entire paint surface including glass. Once completed I rinsed the entire vehicle once again.

To insure there is no protective product on the surface before applying last step products such as sealant or waxes, I will swab the entire surface with a 50/50 mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water to remove all residues and oils. Notice the standing water on the surface in picture # 8.

Corrective Action:

For the most part, there were minimal swirl marks/holograms on the panels. As seen on the hood area, you can see a number of random and spider web markings. This was common on the other panels as well. For the most part I used the Ultimate Detailing Machine(UDM) at speed 4.5-5.0 on the dial. Most fine lines disappeared fairly quickly with the Tropi-Care TC-8 Swirl Cutter and moistened orange "cutting/polishing" pad. However, a number of more stubborn lines remained. Stepping up to a Lake Country yellow "medium cutting" pad help to improve the surface condition even more so. At this point, I feel I achieved a 90% surface correction with the UDM on this treatment. Overall I was pretty impressed with the smooth operation and power of the UDM at speed. For those wanting to go that extra mile, a high speed rotary polisher (recommended for experienced users only) can raise the surface condition to another level. The evidence of heavy orange peel can also be addressed with those advance treatment techniques.

After correction, I applied the TC-3 Polish/Sealant xP with a blue Lake Country CCS "final finishing" foam pad at speed 3. For this example, I topped the surface with a carnauba paste wax by hand.

Full photo display with 20 pictures here:

http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/z...ail%20Sept_07/

Before:



After:





Questions and comments welcome.

 

WOW! Nice work

 

Whoa whoa whoa, you mean to tell me that is brake dust on the wheels in the first pic and not gunmetal?????????

Whoever owns that car needs to go buy something else and let me have that Vette.

 

nice work...

 

x2! I thought they were gunmetal too!

 

My thoughts exactly. Nice work though.

 

Looks Beautiful

 

Could you go more in-depth about your 50/50 solution of isopropyl alcohol and water? Jus' mix the solution, spray the area and wipe it down with a microfiber towel?

Thanx.

 

Wow that's puuuuurty!!! How much to do my car like that?

 

Yes. A lot of detailers do this, just to make sure there are no residual oils or wax left on the surface. I keep a mix of 50/50 distilled water and isopropyl alcohol in a clearly labeled spray bottle, right next to the one filled with water.


-Mike

 

Nice work man!!!

 

lol gunmetal? shoot whoever owned that vette and give it to me!

 

 

Why would there would be oil or residue after a clay bar? JW

 

Sometimes the clay bar leaves a little residue. Also while you are using the clay bar or drying etc you put your hands on the car. The mixture will remove the oils from your hands. Starting with a super clean surface allows the polish to do its best work. Especially noticable on dark cars.

 

This is a depiction of how the surface will appear after swabbing down with the isopropyl alcohol/water mix. Notice how it sits as a continuous non-beading solid sheet. This is also known as "wetting".

If you going to be using stronger abrasive scratch removal compounds and micro-abrasive swirl removal products, the mix can then used to remove all the oils and residues of those products from the surface before applying last step protection products such as sealants and waxes.

 

i was actually sitting here thinking.... they shoulda went chrome instead of gunmetal... haha.... then i saw....... wow....

 

Unfortunately that is the brake dust from the stock semi-metallic brake pads.
In addition, the clear coat on the wheels can scratch even easier than the paint surface because of the metallic dust. Over time one would notice how dull the surface becomes. To restore the clarity and shine, you would have to buff it much in the same manner as removing swirls from the paint surface.

 

Wow, what a difference. Once I get my hood repainted (I have nothing to wax ) I will be ordering the full package from you.

Side note, in your sig, you forgot the ] after [/url to make it a link.

 

Just ordered the Porter cable top package and the intermediate detailing package from you guys. I will post my results in here,been doing alot of reading. This is the 1st of read about the 50/50 mix,interesting.