Summer is coming to an end and unfortunately I wasn't able to spend as many weekends as I had hoped with the rotary. I started the summer with my s2k, in August polished my brother's new MDX, and last weekend I finally got a chance to work on my girlfriend's (carrie's) new Mazda 3. Unfortunately I was pressed for time the weekend I worked on the MDX and didn't take any pictures, but it turned out beautifully. I'm not sure if you all remember, but the first car I polished was Carrie's red Mercury Tracer. Even though it looked great, it was getting a little old, so she decided to give it to her sister and get a new car. She decided on new 2009 Mazda 3 (the last year before the smiley face 2010 mazda 3). Stormy blue is a beautiful color, nice and dark, but with bright blue metalic fleck. The color was actually hard to find and the one car we did find locally had a lot of swirls from the dealer! We got it anyways hoping I could buff it away. To my suprise the Mazda 3 paint is very thin, on average around 80-90 microns around the car. This would be my first experience with trying to polish a car without much room for error. After some testing I went with SIP with a 3M UK yellow pad, followed up with 85RD on a 3M UK blue pad. I tried my best not to chase any RIDs and I think it came out great. Also this was my first time with 85RD because this is the first dark car I have worked on. From what I can tell it isn't worth it for lighter colored vehicles so I didn't bother. But with this car, it really made the metalic fleck pop and the reflections were even clearer. As for the LSP I finally got to try out Victoria's Red. I talked Carrie into applying the wax by hand and I think she had a good time. The results was a deep and warm paint, definitely the glossiest wax I have tried. As for the interior, I cleaned up the interior and the engine bay on a previous weekend and didn't take any pictures. There wasn't much to clean because it was new, but I protected everything. Enough of my babbling, here are the results. Products: Wash -CG CWC -LC grout sponge -Two bucket, grit guards Wheel wash -P21s wheel gel -Swissvax wheel brush -OTC nylon wheel brush -DD spoke brush Clay -CG blue clay -CG speedwipe Polish -Menz SIP -3M UK yellow 150mm -Menz 85RD -3M UK blue 150mm -3M UK green 75mm -3M perfect-it backplate yellow -Gloss-it 3" BP -Craftsmen halogen light -50/50 IPA -Makita 9227C -Highline PTG Glass -Sprayway Trim -1Z rubber/vinyl -CG fade2black LSP -Victoria's red Towels -DD Uber red WW drying towels -DD Uber red -DD Glass towels Before: Not too bad, I gave it a foam wash two nights prior. Before SIP: After SIP: Jeweling with 85RD: Applying Victoria's Red: Immediate results in the garage: The next morning, outside and swirl free: I think she likes it :applause2:
I was looking through the pictures, and I saw your girlfriend applying wax to the car by hand. I was thinking.... no way! Then I reread your initial comments and realized that it is actually her car. I thought you had got your girlfriend to help you detail someone else's car, haha! That was an amazing feat by itself! The results look really nice. I pretty much use victoria red for everything now. It's so easy to use!
