I’ve been wanting to polish this vehicle for about a year and finally the day came :woo: The vehicle: 2008 Infinity G37S Here is the vehicle: I didn’t pay much attention to these rims as they are to be replaced with summer rims oh and yes these are still the winter tires :shrug: Well the owner was kind enough to give the vehicle a good rinse before bring it to me, so the vehicle was washed via ONR: Once I was done washing the vehicle, it was time to clay and the vehicle really needed it. The choice of clay is Yellow Riccardo: Next, paint gauge readings and the readings were not what I was expecting, first PosiTector 6000: Here is what I found: This reading came from the roof of the vehicle and I was very shocked when I saw the readings, I thought it was a mistake so I took more reading closer together and the readings were consistent. I know the owner well and I know for a fact this vehicle has not been polished before, so the readings I got came from factory :shakehead: As you can see by the chart, the readings were quite low and to make maters worse here is what I’m upagainst: The vehicle had lots and lots of deep scratches, so deep I didn’t even need my 3M Sun Gun to see them, this is what I mean: So the challenge is this, deep scratches/swirls/imperfections and with limited clear coat :thumb: I do like a challenge. Like always, vehicle is taped up and a test section is selected. I choose the driver side fender as the test panel. Now to find a combo that will remove as many deep scratches/swirls/imperfections with out removing too much clear coat…:shead:…well when in doubt use what has performed well for me in the past and the first combo is: Menzerna Intensive Polish, 3M UK Black Polishing foam pad partnered up with my Metabo and 3M UK Backing Plate. It took two passes with Intensive Polish to get the following results: A closer look: Well I’ll be, two passes and it removed just about all the deep scratches. That’s a relieve because I did not want to remove too much clear coat. Well I now have my polishing combo so I proceeded to finish of the driver side fender, before: After: Two passes did a great job but like I said not all deep scratches were removed with two passes. It took two more passes to get it just right, a total of four passes to completely remove all the deep scratches :shead: Even though four passes seemed like a waist of time I stuck with it because using this combo removed 5 to 7microns of clear coat. Now you might be thinking what’s 5 to 7microns, well it’s significant when you only have 64microns to begin with. So polishing this vehicle was going to be quite the task :shrug: Well on with the show, before: After: This only took three passes :thumb: Passenger side, before: After: The trunk, boy did the trunk take some time, here is a 50/50: To get these results it took four passes and there were still many deep scratches left, her is a closer look with the 3M Sun Gun: It looks good but if you look closer you’ll see all the deep scratches: Wish I could say I completely removed all the deep scratches on the trunk, after seven passes I moved on. Some deep scratches still remained :shakehead: A tad disappointed on the trunk, I thought I’d try my luck on the bumper, driver side before: After: This is after two passes :wall: again it took four passes to get it looking presentable. Well I polished the entire rear bumper, then I went up to the passenger door here is a 50/50: Closer look: As you can see still many deep scratches :scared: Exact same area after five passes: Working my way back, here is the quarter panel before: After: Oh look more deep scratches :doh: Well passenger side is now complete, now to the driver side before: After: Finally a break…only took two passes :yippie: Driver side was a bit easer to correct an average of four passes to make it presentable. Now to finish of the trunk area. For starters even the tail lights had some serious swirls/scratches on them before: After: Before: After: Even the tail lights took four passes…mind you I could have bumped the aggressiveness pad or polish on the tail lights but by this point I had tunnel vision, I mean I got used to giving the same area four, five or six passes :crasy: Any who, reasonable results. All that was left is the last peace in the trunk, for tight areas I used my Ultimate foam pads with the same polish, Menzerna Intensive Polish: Before: After: Before After: Before: After: Finally paint correction complete :thumb: Now comes the fun stuff, refining the finish. For this I decided to go with Menzerna 106FA partnered, 3M UK Blue Finishing pad, 3M UK Gray Finishing Backing Plate with Metabo: Odd how the bottles of Menerna all look alike but here is how I make sure I grabbed the right bottle: I decided to go with 106FA because it would have a little bit more bite compared to 85RD. Well once the refining step was done all polishing dust was removed with my Zymol Duster. The final wipe down was done with various micro fiber towels and Menzerna Top Inspection. Once the wipe down was done it was time to put the cheery on top of this vehicle, LSP time :cheerl: The owner of this vehicle is quite fond of DG, all thanks to me, so first I applied a coat of DG#601: This was followed up with DG#105: Both were applied with separate Ultimate pads. I let my favorite DG combo to cure over night: Next day the sealant was buffed of with various Cookie Monster towels and time to finish of minor things on the vehicle, such as the exhaust tips. For this Autosol was used: Lastly I gave the vehicle a final wipe down with DG Aquawax and here are the end results: The next few pictures I was trying to apply what I’ve learned so far at photography school. The instructor(s) have said it many times that a window facing North provides great lighting for taking pictures. Now this technique is supposed to be for taking portrait pictures, meaning a person…well I figured if it works on a person why wouldn’t it work on a car and I didn’t think the pictures turned out too bad, take a look: Well these were the only ones that turned out presentable, to take these four pictures I turned off all my lights. I used a long exposure and camera was set on my tripod of course. Have to admit pictures turned out nice, the vehicle was very reflective but the light coming in through my garage windows was plenty to high light the vehicles curves best part no harsh lights beaming down on the reflective surface of the vehicle :thumb: Good to see I’m getting my money’s worth of the photography classes :cheerl: and the instructors know what they are talking about :thumb: Well not done yet with the pictures :whistle: I took the vehicle outside but it was cloudy out side but still managed to get the following pictures: Who put that Lexus there :giggle: I didn’t realize how good this picture turned out, I liked the reflection of the bumper :thumb: Well that concludes this detail, best part is that I got to drive this vehicle back to the owner. Fun vehicle to drive but I couldn’t help but admire the exterior curves it has :druling: The bad thing is that as I was driving the vehicle back to the owner, it started raining :thumbdown: The good thing about the rain I was enjoying watching the water just fly of the vehicle and lovely beads too :woo:
I couldn't pass the opportunity on this vehicle, I detailed it when it was brand new and I wanted to polish it then but owner felt it was too early. The opportunity finally came around and I couldn't resists...but it's a shame the readings were so low. The owner would like to keep this vehicle so I had to remove as little as clear coat as possible, best part is that I'll be taking care of the vehicle from here on in. No more owner washing it :thumb:
Great turn around Nica, I got tired just going through all the pictures, so I can only imagine what you felt like when you got done.
lol..yea this one was a challenge but the end results were worth it, thanks for the feed back Rocket eace:
Carlos..first of all..great save! Several things come to mind here. Did you read my S&S post of the S class I did? It had really low readings as well. ken had advised that he'd seen that on a G35 or 37 so I wasn't surprised to see you post that here. Damned glad you used your PTG, eh? I know I was!! Also, I'm assuming it did not have the sticky clear? For a 2008, I would have thought so? Oh well, I haven't had a chance to do one of those yet. His choice of winter wheels is awesome, I love them. And this shot is my fav from your post:
:nod: yes I remember that post richy and it's shocking to see vehicles with such low readings, I'm very glad I have my paint gauge. I too was expecting sticky clear coat, but not so on this vehicle. Glad you enjoyed the detail richy and thank you for the feed back eace:
great work Carlos. I have an 08 G and I have low readings immediately off the lot. So I thought maybe they missed a coat of clear so I went to the dealer and asked around and took some of my own measurements. They were all low. At the moment most of the readings on my own car hovers around the 92 area. I have no idea why they cheaped out on the clear layer. Anyways great detail as always !
:shakehead: shame because these vehicles are fine looking vehicles, just means you can't cut polish them too often. Glad you enjoyed the detail.
:nod: sure was, but I enjoyed my self with this vehicle, fun vehicle to drive too. Glad you enjoyed it and thank you for the feed back eace:
Nice job...turned out good! Dayum...that took a lot of persistence to complete the job the right way!
Seems you always have a hell of a time with the Infiniti's :applause2: Great work as usual! Though seeing that crazy low paint reading makes me curious as to what mine is at since it's an 09 :shead: Might have to look into a Positector!
Great job Nica, I love this site. There never seems to be a shortage of things to learn. My cousin has a 08 G37S Coupe as well and it's black. I have been wondering how to treat it and correct a couple of scratches (rubbing the side coming out of the garage or having the garbage pail put beside the doors...:shrug! He's Mister Finicky, and will stand over the shoulder to see what's happening, which makes me wonder how his car has gotten to that state (I bet he'll blame it on the wife). Anyhow before the summer is out I'm going to try and spend some time detailing it before storage for the winter. The car drives absolutely fantastic, something you can go on long drives and not get tired of it. Incredible! Nice work. I like how you guys are showing you skills and steps for us new to the game.
