I rarely post any of my work, but this 2000 miles old Blue Metallic Model S really got the worst of it. It's was hard to digust the fact that the shop that "detailed" (I won't say where .. If any Tesla owners are reading this and are from the Bay Area, PM me and I'll tell you - so this doesn't happen to you) this car is a highly respected body shop that the Tesla Factory recommends. Now, I'm not saying they're bad painters, because they really did a good job at paint matching the car, but what they failed horribly at was finishing it down correctly and taking that time to get it back to the "like new" condition it deserves to be in. I noticed a few...or many smaller details that the shop failed to address, like misaligned molding, chip in bumper edge, polish dust in most crevice. It was pretty obvious that the detailer probably went with the ol' Rotary + wool with a heavy compound ... which leaves the car looking pretty good under shop lights, but very much to be desired under the sun. The owner brought the car to me and described it as "like new". It was a gloomy day, so I took his word for it and proceeded with the wash Doesn't look too bad does it? CG Citrus & Dawn + Foam Gun (2 bucket) was the choice for the wash as the car was pretty clean already ...Fast forward. Brought the car in for decon & drying .. and here's what I saw. Owner didn't tell me about the repaint initially, so I figured okay- maybe its just a lot of light scratches from improper washes... I proceeded with my usualy one-two punch, but was not happy with the results, so I gave the owner a call back and told him that additional work may be needed. He decided to swing by. By then, the sun had already came out, so I pulled the car out. What we saw was truly disgusting... He didn't even know the car looked like that as the car had been sitting in the garage for the past few weeks after getting it back Swirls, scratches, etching, holograms, holograms, holograms, chrome burned, plastic burned The decision to go forward with an additional step of polish was a no brainer. He left with high hopes that I will get it right. I told him I will. A few process pictures (Most "after" are taken after compounding and before polish) Cut with Scholl Concepts S3+ Gold Polished down with Sonax Perfect Finish After polish, before coating Opticoat Pro was the LSP of choice The molding I mentioned earlier (shop error) Afters (After sunset of first day - few small things not done yet) Afters (In the morning after cleaning up the little things prior to pick up) The owner was ecstatic when he came. "Wow" "Wow" "Look at that" and gave me a hi-five. I don't remember the last time I got a hi-five, but it was pretty epic! Total Time: ~12 hours
Good choice of Lsp with opti. You mentioned the chrome and trim were burned, you take any pics of those?
Maybe "Burned" wasn't the correct term, but it looked and felt very dull like sandpaper. A mild polish was all it needed to bring it back to life. My guess is the shop used a large wool pad on a rotary, and the outside-edge of the pad were spinning against it and Thanks Mike!
