Customer found me online. I went to look at the car 2 weeks ago or so and finally the car was dropped off at luxe Autohaus for 2 days for me to work on. First the color was hiding defects in my before pictures plus time was tight so I really didn't bother with pictures throughout the detail. Naturally, I finished 90 minutes late and by the time we pulled out the car, the sun was long gone. (Same story, different day) Day 1 Started with the interior by vacuuming it for a few hours as the dog hair (from the previous owner) didn't want to budge - the carpet reminded me of subaru. :wall Next step was to clean the interior surface and for that I reached for 3D's Interior APC cut 4:1. Lastly, I steamed everything as well. Protected the leather with 3D Leather Conditioner. I left the windows for day 2 as the outside was really dirty. The trunk area wasn't bad. Just needed a good vacuuming Engine bay was ok as well. It was sprayed down with a degreaser and after a few minutes I used a soft brush to clean it and rinsed it with my pressure washer. Once all this was done, I was able to turn my attention to the outside of the car. As always, wheels & tires were degreased along with the wheel wells. Once done, I foamed the car twice with an apc before it was washed with 3D pink soap. 3D medium clay was used to decontaminate the paint. At this point it was getting pretty late but I wanted to do a test spot before I called it a day so I dried the car and started with an orange pad and HD UNO on the pcxp. This combo cleaned up the paint pretty well but it didn't level the rids. I figured my go to combo should work so out with the flex 3401 and a grey wool pad. That worked just fine. That was day 1 Here are some pictures of the car as it was delivered. Here are the few after pictures
Here are some of the imperfections that I did capture. Here is an area that was corrected AND HERE ARE THE READINGS The highest was 659 microns on the passenger door, but didn't take pictures of that. Overall I am aware of 5 RIDS that were too deep to remove due to the thinness of the paint but otherwise the car should look pretty good in the sun. The engine was dressed with 3D ultra protectant. Once the car was polished with HD UNO, Dodo Juice Lime Prime Lite was used and HD POXY to protect it. Tires received 3D Gel. Thank you for looking.
I get to do one of those tomorrow....... how is the paint to work with? Looks great, that hood looks like a lot of fun to do.
I can't speak for the RX-8, but the first generation of Mazda3's has sticky paint and is a bitch to work on with a rotary polisher....Ironic isn't it?
I love the RX8's, great job bringing it back! Hopefully the owner knows how to wash and dry because there aren't many more corrections to be done to it.
PC, various Menz products and every uber pad available. I just had it dropped off 20 minutes ago, its not bad and Its not going to be corrected except in a few spots.. Mostly straight forward, post winter decon, clay and seal, it is actually really good shape. It was painted when the Fabulous kit was installed 2 years ago, since then she is very meticulous about keeping it up.
You should be fine with PC + menz stuff. I polished my mazda 5 fine with that combination with 85RD + SIP and uber pads the clear coat isnt as soft as some others I would personally say.
I had a 2005 RX8, have also worked on a few 2004-2008 RX8s, the paint is on the sticky side, but not as bad as Subaru. It is also pretty soft, I'm pretty sure the combo you use for your car is an excellent combo for the RX8 as well.
Those PTG readings are all over the place! Great results though - I literally went "whoa!" when I saw the last before and the first after on the same screen. cu2mike - when you say Subaru paint is sticky - what years are you talking about?
