This car is a 2007 Infiniti FX35. It belongs to the salesgirl from whom I purcahsed my FX35. She has been great sending me several clients so when she asked me to do hers, I was determined to hit this one out of the park. When I got it, the pearl white colour was stained with black marks and such. I thought, no biggie, and proceeded to foam it with my Optimum/Zep combo of LSP strip. There were also bugs across the front. I used my bug sponge and that was my first clue. The paint felt so rough! The black crap that was on the paint was so hard to remove that I used my bug sponge ON THE ENTIRE CAR! Never done that before! Afterward I thought that this would be a great candidate for the ABC Decontamination wash. There were thousands of little yellow fallout spots all over the whole vehicle, including right at the edge of the mouldings and everything. I have never had the ABC let me down....Guess what? The damned spots were still there!! Those of you who know me are now thinking "Now Richy starts to cuss"...You'd be right! Anyway, I pull it into the garage and use CM blue...the spots laughed at it. I moved up to the CM red and FINALLY it got rid of them. 4, yes FOUR, bloody hours just to clean the paint! Never have I had a car that difficult to remove contamination from the surface. The good news is that after I had it clean and smooth, the finish itself was relatively swirl free and scratch free. The rest of it went just fine. I was very, very pleased at the outcome and believe I accomplished my goal. The metallic was jumping right off hte surface. I tried to capture it in the pics but the reflections of the sun were so bright, the camera had a hard time focusing. Hopefully you can see what I mean. The Process: Wheels/Tires/Wells: Wheels got DG wheel cleaner Wells got Zep Citrus Tires got the same Wheels subsequently hand polished with DG 501 Tires dressed with DP gel. Wells dressed with Adams Undercarriage Headlights/Taillights: Headlights compounded with X3 and 3" yellow foam pad using rotary Headlights polished with 3" black foam pad and DG plastic polish Sealed with DG 105 Tails were polished with 3'' black foam pad and XMT 360 Sealed with DG 105 Grille: Hand polished with DG 501 Paint: Compounded with Menz power finish using rotary and orange pad Polished with DG 501 and green foam pad with rotary Sealed by hand with DG 601/105 combo Subsequently treated with AW Trim: Treated with DG flat black dressing Interior: She had advised the car belonged to a smoker. I sprayed DG odour remover to the carpeting and headliner. I also put the steamer into the AC vents and blasted them for about 30 seconds. She advised later that the smell seems to be gone. The carpeting had chlorine spilled in several spots that ate it away. There was nothing that could help that but it at least got cleaned up. Rubber Mats were cleaned with Zep and treated with Simonize tire spray Carpeting thoroughly vacuumed. Carpet steam cleaned and spot treated with Folex where needed. Leather cleaned with 303 cleaner (32:1) Leather treated with DG leather conditioner Plastic cleaned with 303 cleaner and treated wiht 303 Aerospace. Glass cleaned with Stoners and 2 mf method. BEFORES: (not too many as it was dark) AFTERS:
HOLY CRAP! Theres flake in that paint. I would have never guessed. Excellent work, just give the tires a wipedown nextime
Thanks! Believe it or not, those tires were dressed the night before. DP gel leaves a wet look but it's dry to the touch..I really like it. Thanks Dana..I appreciate it!
Wow Rich that thing was nasty but you did a bang up job on it. Still haven't found anything that looks as good on white as the DG501/601/105 combo. I know she was thrilled with it.
you think thats bad lol try almost 7 hours of cleaning grime off the paint of a white civic.:yikes: White Civic Great job on the paint :thumb: that car was filthy
Well done there richy vehicle looks great. Red Clay Magic huh, boy I haven't used that stuff for quite some time now. The vehicles I've been detailed haven't been in too rough shape lately but this clay has an incredible bite to it. Spending four hours on prepping the paint is significant though but well worth it :thumb:
Gorgeous work, look at how that paint is back to where it needed to be. I really like that metallic pearl paint, looks beautiful...
Karl..thanks a lot. She thought it was from the trees in her area. That could explain the black stuff, but the yellow was fallout. Thanks Ketil! I was hoping for that reaction. Doc..I appreciate the compliment! Yukon..hey local boy, you gotta come over one of these weekends for a cold one while I'm working on something!! Thanks for the comment. Thanks, man! I think they were from trees. They stuck to the paint. The grout sponge did nothing..the bug sponge was needed in this case. JL..you know I love that combo b/c it always works for me! Being white, I was looking forward to seeing the end result. I'll check out your link too. The extraordinary thing, in my view, was that the ABC system usually deals with that stuff like it was nothing. It's a great time saver for dirty paint and why I went to it right away. I still think it's a great tool but was disappointed it didn't remove the contamination in this case. If you routinely deal with dirty cars, this is a tool you'll need. You're right Carlos, I haven't used my red clay in a while either. I'm so stubborn, I wouldn't quit until I had it the way I wanted. Thanks for your kind words.
Nice work there, Richy! I never had to be using red clay before, I never came across paint that was this filthy!
WOW... Now I see why this one stands out for you!! This job looks like a practice in patience and preseverance for sure... Top notch Rich!!!
