Here's my first contribution to the Show and Shine forum. My daily driver, 2005 Pontiac G6 GT with 111000 km. It has been hand washed maybe twice in that time... once for sure. I have been lazy, er, busy for the last few years... going to school (again), building a house, making an addition to our family... In a way my laziness (doh!) was a blessing. The only time I washed the car was with the local No Touch at the gas station... the paint was dirty as you'll see, but the random scratches were not too bad, mostly from my snow brush I think. The whole process went smoothly. I should have asked about product for the black plastic. I had a bad experience in the past with the "black again" type of product so i didn't use anything on this car for that and it shows... Any how, the list of stuff used, Optimum Car Wash Riccardo Clay, Blue ONR as clay lube Optimum Power clean mixed in various ratios PC 7424xp Megs 105 with LC Orange pad Megs 205 with LC White pad Menzerna Power Lock with LC Black pad Collinite 845 applied by hand micro fibre applicator Sonus Tire dressing An old jar of Mothers metal polish 1z Einszett Cockpit premium Invisible Glass Dirty Exterior before by J M Gale, on Flickr Driver before by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_3640 by J M Gale, on Flickr Look at that water! this was pre wash, IMG_3651 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_3652 by J M Gale, on Flickr After wash IMG_3661 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_3658 by J M Gale, on Flickr Rim before Rim Before by J M Gale, on Flickr Rim after Rim after by J M Gale, on Flickr Taped and ready to go, IMG_3715 by J M Gale, on Flickr Hmm, is this bad? IMG_3663 by J M Gale, on Flickr Pre correction, IMG_3721 by J M Gale, on Flickr Time for some 50/50's. The 50/50's are just showing work done with Megs 105 and 205, no PL or 845 yet. I found it really hard to get the lighting just right to show the defects during the correction stage and also to show 50/50's. It's something I'll have to work on. IMG_3729 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_3727 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_3728 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_3734 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_3732 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_1937 by J M Gale, on Flickr Trunk lid before, IMG_1943 by J M Gale, on Flickr Trunk lid after IMG_1955 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_1974 by J M Gale, on Flickr Bumper before, IMG_1957 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_1964 by J M Gale, on Flickr Bumper after, IMG_1972 by J M Gale, on Flickr Look at this fine factory finish! Anyone in the mood for orange peels? You don't notice this stuff when the car is dirty... IMG_1966 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_1969 by J M Gale, on Flickr Driver door before, IMG_1981 by J M Gale, on Flickr Driver door after, IMG_1985 by J M Gale, on Flickr Hood before, IMG_1989 by J M Gale, on Flickr Hood 50/50 IMG_2001 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_2012 by J M Gale, on Flickr Hood finished, IMG_2021 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_2022 by J M Gale, on Flickr Finished, IMG_3746 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_3745 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_3747 by J M Gale, on Flickr Outside, the sun was not cooperating, IMG_3750 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_3753 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_3767 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_3756 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_3759 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_3771 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_3768 by J M Gale, on Flickr Found the sun... behind those clouds, (hood shot) IMG_3769 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_3755 by J M Gale, on Flickr IMG_3770 by J M Gale, on Flickr Thanks for looking!
Thanks! Time taken... Forever, give or take a couple of hours Honestly I'm not sure. I think about 20-25 hours including a full interior detail. It really felt like forever because I was looking after my little guy in the morning, taking him to daycare around lunch time, then doing other stuff around the house, not getting out to the garage until about 1:30 pm and working until supper time. I could easily spend another 5+ hours getting things in better shape. The back of the rims need more cleaning, the inner fenders need to be detailed too. I'll tackle these when I put the winter rims/tires on in November. I still have some old salt stains on the carpet I couldn't get out. Looking at getting a LGM or a steamer? I'm not sure if the steamer will help with that? You get the idea...
Yep, that's pretty much what I expected. I'm just looking forward to the day when i can dig into my SLK.
Ditto the orange peel. Just seems like more recent cars are showing a lot more orange peel than the older ones. My 93 Camry had no orange peel while the factory paint on the 10 yr newer Highlander is crap.
Gale Force -- Excellent work !! You really clarified the paintwork - it looks great !! What I like to do with the 2-halogen light fixture like you have is to put one light in the corrected section and the other light in the not corrected section, placing the tape removed line right in the center of each light so you get a good pic of both sides. Then stand directly in the middle behind the lights and take the pic and it comes out great. You did a super job, of pics, documenting, and downright amazing work on that G6 ! Thanks for sharing. DanF
Really work Mr. Gale, I'm just looking forward to your write up on your 370, capturing defects on silver is quite hard.
You're absolutely right. I worked in the paint shop of a major automobile manufacturer and can tell you that orange peel is not high on the priority list.
Thanks for the compliments and the advice for the lights. I will try that lighting set up next correction I do. I was able to learn a lot from this correction, hopefully my next one will be better and quicker. I'll document and share it as well.
Thanks! I'm looking forward to working on the 370z as well. I'm saving it for next month (November) after it comes off the road for winter. My next correction is my wife's HHR, it's silver too, colour is between the G6 and the 370z... looks like they'll get harder as I go. doh! I'll run the car in and out of the garage using the sun like Bryan suggested. Do you have any advice for capturing the defects on the light silver?
We finally got the sun to come out today so I dusted the car off and took some shots. The light created a wicked flair with my lens, looks cool. Once again, thanks! I would not have gotten this kind of finish if it wasn't for all the information found within this forum! G6 in the sun by J M Gale, on Flickr hood sun by J M Gale, on Flickr Trunk sun 1 by J M Gale, on Flickr reflection by J M Gale, on Flickr reflection 2 by J M Gale, on Flickr rim in the sun by J M Gale, on Flickr
I am really impressed with the improvement made on that rear bumper. Very nice work - the car looks like molten graphite.
I have a silver car too, and standard halogen shop lights do pretty decent with capturing any defects.......... just get the 20.00 one at lowes, or home depot, that is all you really need.
