This car was a referral from another customer. This is the first car I've done since my knee operation 5 weeks ago. It was ok but I had to spend some serious time icing it after both nights that I worked on it. This car had a stone chip in the right front fender that was pretty big and it had rusted too. I compounded the spot with PG to clean it up and wiped it down with ISA after. I got to use a few new products and tools during this project namely my new flat black bumper treatment from DG as well as my Raceglaze brushes I got from Ken. The pics aren't great b/c the file size was set to minimum..I was not happy to see that!! The good news is I finally figured out why my shots were getting washed out by the sun. If I increase the aperture, it darkened up the shot..figured that one out at the end. My future shots should be better I hope. The Process: Wheels/Barrels/Wells: Wheel faces got DG wheel cleaner using various brushes Wheel barrels got same Wells were cleaned using Zep APC and various brushes Tires were cleaned with Zep also. Wheels subsequently polished with DG 501 Tires dressed with DP gel Wells dressed with Adams Undercarriage Wash: Foamed using a mix of Optimum and Zep Washed 2 BM Dried with Vroom Clayed with CM blue..this shot is only after the small roof!! Head/Tail Lights: Compounded with UCCL and yellow 3M pad Polished with DG plastic polish Sealed with DG 105 Exhaust: Cleaned with DG wheel cleaner and Raceglaze brush Subsequently polished with Blue Magic and sealed with DG 501 Exterior Trim: Treated with DG Flat Black treatment Interior: Mats: Vacuumed, power washed, vacuumed again, steam cleaned Carpeting vacuumed and steam cleaned Here's me getting to use my new folding bench: Leather: Cleaned with 303 cleaner and treated with DG leather treatment Plastic trim: Vacuumed and treated with 303 Aerospace Glass: Stoners IG Paint: Multiple touch ups Compound with either SIP or Megs 105 with PFW pad and rotary Polished with Menz 106 using rotary and blue pad Glazed with Menz glaze (forgot I had that stuff, LOL), using rotary and new red LCC pad Sealed with DG 601/105 combo by hand BEFORES: Bumper Scratch Chip In Fender: AFTERS: Some reflection shots: Interior:
Wow excellent work! That black paint is stunning! Have any close-up shots of the touched up areas like the chip in the fender?
I thought I did but I was getting pissed off with my camera so I may have forgot. It did not completely disappear but it was improved by 90-95% I'd say. The customer was happy.
Wow. that might be one of the best turnarounds I have ever seen! I can't wait to get a dirty car to work on, so far all I have done is my own car (was clean to begin with) and a clean Legend.
Looks great Richy, glad to see up and moving around. I personally like the one handed wheel cleaning and the other hand with a cigar shot.
Well done, Richy! I really like those interior shots and reflection shots. How many cigars did you have to make it through the day? By the way, I hope your knee gets better and doesn't cause you any pain, it hurts me just to look at it...
That was just nasty! You did a great job of bringing it back around!! sidenote- what type of cigar do you prefer to smoke?
Spyral..thank you very much. The nice thing with getting one dirty is the change looks even more dramatic. Ha ha..thought you'd like that!! I almost took one where I was using the buffing wheel one handed and puffing away while I was working in the 106. Thanks a lot..I appreciate it. Thanks Doc..We are very fortunate to live in such a neighbourhood that has big mature trees and decent sized lots. I hate seeing big houses 10 feet away from each other!:thumbdown: Buddy..thanks very much for your kind words! Thanks..I a see from your avatar you're a fellow Infiniti driver..the best kept secret those cars are if you ask me. You know, it's all relative. I've been dealing with knee pain for so many many years that you get immune to it and just do what you have to do and deal with the pain later. I need to differentiate between that and pushing too hard after the operation...that's why I waited a few more weeks before doing my 1st car. And for the cigars, well I actually had 3 full days to do it so I spaced it out to minimize the pain. I went through 3 medium sized ones for this job (and ONLY when I'm doing the outside!!). Thanks a bunch Bryan. Due to my cheap prick (lets rephrase that: parsimonious) nature, I buy ones at the duty free. The latest box was a box of Punch which I enjoyed. I find after a few puffs, it's hard to differentiate between a medium priced cigar and a more expensive one. The punch's cost about $3 each if I recall.
One of my favorite casual cigars is the CAO Moontrance (bourbon-vanilla dipped). It's got a great taste and an even better aroma...and they're pretty cheap too. I usually buy a tin of the cigarillos because they are quick if I just want a quick hit.
