Here is the 2nd full correction detail Scott and I had this past holiday weekend, 2 black Saturns! Much like the first detail it needed quite a bit of love!

The car is a 2006 Saturn Sky, 90k+ miles on the ticker and paint to show for it.

This car came by way of my normal 9-5 job from a conversation about things people may not know about you. Worked out well and got to bring this little drop top back to being a head turner.

As you will see the paint was in rough, rough shape. Scott and I spent 21 man hours working out as many defects as possible and restoring the finish. We ended up around 92-95% corrected and the heavier stuff blended and hidden in the finish. The car is certainly miles and miles from where it was and doesn't show the nearly 100k on the clock.

The weather didn't help much and a corrupt camera card lost several of the beginning, process, and end shots but I was able to salvage enough to tell the story of the transformation.

Thanks in advance for viewing!





Materials:
Porter Cable 7424XP
Flex Random Orb.
CG Citrus Wash and Gloss
Westley’s Bleach White
Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner
Nano Skin
ONR Clay Bar Dilution
IPA wipe down Dilution
Menzerna PF2500
Menzerna SF4000
Wolf's Hard Body
Spray Away Glass Cleaner
Mequier’s Natural Finish Dressing
Mequier's NXT 2.0
CG Xtreme Shine
CG Bare Bones
CG G6
No. 7 Chrome Polish
Raggtop Cleaner
Raggtop Fabric Top Treatement
Uber 5.5” & 6" Orange
Uber 5.5” Green
Uber 5.5” Black
Uber 3” Orange
Uber 3” Green
Swissvax Wheel Brush
Uber Boar’s head brush
Uber Wheel Brush
Wheel Woolies
Swissvax interior brushes
Uber UFO Red Applicator Pads
Uber UFO Blue Applicator Pad
Misc MF Towels
Shop vac
Pro Heat carpet cleaner
Q-tips
3M Painters Tape




Process

Exterior: CG Citrus Wash w/ Micro Fiber Mitt, dried, taped, Nanoskin, PF2500 w/ Orange (2 passes), SF4000 w/Green (1 pass), IPA wipe down, Wolf's Hardbody by hand, top received Raggtop cleaning and 3 fabric treatments.

Wheels: Sonax Full Effect, Westly’s Bleach White, Wheel Brushes, dried, wheels taped, PF2500 on Orange pad, NXT w/ hand applicator, tires dressed with CG Xtreme Shine

Interior: Vacuum, Door jams cleaned with ONR and sealed with NXT, hard plastic Mequier’s natural finish wipe down, Glass cleaned with Spray Away Glass Cleaner

Engine Compartment: Misc brushes, CG citrus wash by hand, rinse, dried, dressed with CG Bare Bones





As delivered:




















Under the lights for closer inspection








HUGE KEY MARK!























Headlights needed some attention!

 

All better...












Fixing some trim defects..














Rims were in dire need of polishing!
























Tailights refreshed...












Large Key mark on hood








Blended in and hides very well in natural light

 

Continuing down the fender...










Little 50/50s...














Dan working the rear fender










Showing the interior some love...
















All ready and cleaned up...












Hardbody applied and tested










Nearing the home stretch










Ready to step out in style, complete and looking super deep and wet!

 

WOW Was that car beat! I thought my STi was bad, but that thing takes the cake! Nice work as always!!

 

That is amazing, I'm surprised how far a car can be brought back.

 

The difference you made on the rims stood out the most to me, they are usually pitted to the point where you just need to get a new set.

Good stuff.

Did you know that you can clay bar the clear film up front then follow that up with a really light polish? I've seen cars with 4+ year old film and where the raw paint end and the film begins appears seamless. While not every owner wants jokers like us messing around with it, when you find someone who will trust you enough the difference is amazing.

Film these days is so durable and you can really let it get bad then bring it right back. It's pretty fun. Next time you have a car with really bad film just do a little 3 inch section to show the owner how good it can look. It will take alot of time, effort, product and you'll hate the work but the results are amazing. If I was to do it now I'd treat it as a different package. There's a full int/ext detail and if they pay xxx.xx more you can offer a film restoration. Don't sell yourself short and figure out at the end of the day you just busted your *** for 6.50 a hour.

 

Thanks Joe, yeah one guy had to spend almost 3 hrs on the wheels alone, they were bad.

Regarding the 3m clear bra material we did clean it up and hit it with a 4000 grit compound on a mild cut pad. I've done a few cars that like you said blends awesome. This car, it was ready to be replaced, totally road rashed so we didn't waste a lot of time with it. I mean its like 8yrs old with 100k miles, past its prime for sure, but did its job. I wanted to take it off but obviously not my call without consulting. Lot of work to be done on this little car outside of that and like you said, almost needs to be treated as an extra cause its a pain.

 

Thanks everyone else for the comments.
Out of the nearly 50 writeups we've put up this one was up there on effort.

 

You certainly brought that thing back from the abyss. My car is black and I have no garage. I use an orbital and Griot's products to keep it as clean as possible. I'd like a professional detail one day though.

 

If you got the time, a decent random orbital, and the right pads and compounds, along with some lighting its something anybody can do and get some good results. If you take your time and learn the process while being conservative to start you might surprise yourself.

 

Yep, I did that a few months back for the first time. I was using a really conservative polish but it got much of the swirls out. I want to do it again sometime when I have a long day to spend with it

 

excellent work as always guys!

 

No t-shirt comments eh....