2 Day Makeover (complete vehicle rejuvenation)

This Pontiac Grand Am was brought to me for a complete detail. It was being sold to one of the owners family members, so the owner requested that I did the best I could considering the poor condition it was in. I had a total of two days to perform the work, so I decided to go for as close to 100% paint correction as I could in the time allotted. I know the owner very well, so I decided to really step it up on this car, no matter what I was getting paid for the job. Normally on a car of this caliber and considering what kind of condition it was in when brought to me, a “typical” detailer would have never gone through the steps I did, but lately I have not been interested in detailing unless I can spend at least two days on a vehicle bringing it to as close to perfection as possible.


As you can see, this car was dire need of a complete vehicle rejuvenation. Both the interior and exterior were severely neglected. The exterior was very dirty due to the lovely weather we have been encountering here in New England. Underneath the coating of filth, it had its fair share of heavy scratches, rock chips, swirls, buffer trails, etc..

























































After the vehicle was clayed and prepped for polishing, I tried a variety of products and pads and decided to use Meguiars M105 Ultra Cut Compound for the defect removal.


The picture below shows just how much cut M105 has. These are the results with just 2 passes using a yellow Edge wool pad at 1500rpm. By a pass, I mean two full passes across the paint, not a polishing set (which is a set of passes consisting of overlapping left/right or up/down movements required to cover the whole area). Most people get confused about what a “pass” consists of.



As you can see, there were still some defects present after just 2 passes, so each panel was compounded a total of three to four times (sets) and I was able to remove 99% of the defects.





^Above is me compounding with M105 using a yellow Edge wool pad.


After the compounding was complete I polished the complete exterior with Menzerna Intensive Polish mixed with a bit of Red Moose Glaze using a yellow foam polishing pad at 1400rpm.





^Above is me polishing the bottom areas with 3M Ultrafina using a black 5 inch polishing pad at 1400rpm




^Me polishing with 3M Ultrafina using an 8 inch UF pad at 1500rpm to the rest of the vehicle.





^This was the weather outside while I was working...



Here are some pictures after all of the polishing was complete. The gloss achieved was incredible and I was disappointed that I was not able to get any full sun pictures, but these pictures under the halogens give you a pretty good idea how well it came out.























I took it outside to get a few decent pictures before the darkness set in. After I took the pictures outside, I pulled it back in and spent over an hour touching up all of the stone chips with some factory touch up paint.

































The total process:



Washed, cleaned wheels, tires and wheel wells



Clayed with green Kar Kraft clay bar



Wetsanded a 6 inch area on the trunk lid and a small area on the roof



Compounded complete exterior a total of 4 times in most areas using a yellow Edge wool pad at 1500rpm



Polished complete exterior with Intensive Polish using a bit of RMG using a yellow foam polishing pad at 1400rpm



Polished complete exterior with Ultrafina using a black 5 inch polishing pad at 1400rpm for the lower panels and used an 8 inch UF pad for the rest



Compounded headlights and tail light with M105 followed by 106ff.



Rewashed, removed excess polish from nooks and crannies



Z6 wipedown



Gtechniq hydrophobic glass treatment on all windows



Hand application of Lusso Oro



Super Blue Dressing on tires and wheel wells



Opti-Seal on wheels



Complete interior detail

 

Stunning as always Rick. The last photos don't work for me.

 

wow...

 

whoa awesome transformation What did you use on the side view mirrors?

 

That is some perfect work, took that old bugger back from old to NEW!!!

I wonder if similar results could be achieved with the Flex, using the same pads and polishes? Or this something that really only the rotary could do?

 

sneek- Thanks! I'm not sure why the last pics aren't showing up?

Scott- Thanks!

klumzypinoy- Thanks! My back is still killing me. For the mirrors I used the same process as the painted surfaces. I had to do some areas by hand because I couldn't fit the buffer in the tight spots.

 

I do all of my work by rotary and have never tried a Flex, but I know a lot of people are doing some pretty impressive paint correction with the Flex. I'm sure you could, but it might take you a little longer. I would love to gey my hands on a Flex some day to try out and see how it compares to a rotary.

I might have to order one from Phil one of these days!

 

Stunning results:applause::thud:..... I bet your heart sunk to see it drive off in the salt covered roads!!!

 

Great work, nice turn around.

Any interior shots??

 

:agree:

great job, all that hard work paid off with out a doubt!

I can't even believe the car had enough clear to get all those scratches out without going through it

 

nice write up !!! that was a lot of hard work and patience that definately paid off..Great skills

 

MotorCity- Thanks, and yes it killed me to see it drive off only to get covered in sand and salt on the way home!

jshillin- Thanks! I only have a couple interior shots. I seemed to gotten a little carried away with the exterior shots. I'll post them up in a minute...

Dontsleeponit- Thanks! The car has all factory paint except for the rear bumper, so I felt pretty safe about the correction work.

joe p- Thanks! It was definitely a lot of back-breaking hours to achieve these results!

 

Great work Rick! Your work is always worth a second look.

 

Ha, ha. Thanks Bryan.

Have you done any more cars lately with the 105?

 

Thanks for the reply, I didn't know the side view mirrors were painted . It doesn't seem like there were any rock chips or anything like that on the car...that's pretty amazing considering the condition of the car before the detail .

 

:applause:

Great transformation, Im blown away at how much you were able to remove while still maintaining clear on the car. Great job again.

 

Very nice work! Stunning. The red looks amazing. The before pictures was just horrible!!

 

Here's a couple interior pictures.







As you can see, the floor mats were beat and were ready for the dumpster. When the owner picked up the car and saw how good the rest of the car came out, he said that he was going to buy some new floor mats for it before the new owner received the car.

 

wow...need i say more

bring that to the SO.CAL sunshine and that thing will be turning heads

what a great turn around..love the red!

 

They are not painted but Rickrack treated them with the same process