Hi everyone. Today we've got a black CTS-V sedan booked for a correction detail. This vehicle has been rode hard, and put up wet, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. This turned out to be a big job, but I was very happy with the outcome. As usual I started with the wheels. These wheels were NASTY! The owner is an avid track enthusiast and had race brake pads on this vehicle. Couple that with the fact that they had never been cleaned before, and there was some MASSIVE baked on brake dust build up. Since these were track wheels the goal was not perfection since the customer did not want to have the wheels removed and cleaned. So, the wheels were first cleaned with Wolfs Decon gel, and the additional spots were taken care of with several applications of IronX gel. The tires and wells were cleaned with Blackfire APC. The wheels were sealed with BFWD, the tires dressed with Dr. Beasley's Tire Gel and the wells dressed with CG Barebones. Before: Decond Gel working: After, the faces came out just about perfect, but the barrels sure left a lot to be desired: Next I moved on to getting the paint cleaned, and prepped for correction. As usual I foamed the vehicle with Megs Gold Class and BF APC. I went pretty heavy on the APC since this vehicle was filthy! Here is how the paint looked before hand. A thick layer of dirt, pollen, and road gunk. Here are a few shots of the foam working. While it dwelled I agitated the fuel filler area, emblems, trim, and body seams to make sure all the hidden dirt was taken care of. After foaming I did a traditional wash with XMT Shampoo and a griots wash mit. After this the paint was clean, but still felt very rough like sand paper. For the claying stage I chose to use the Ultima Clay block. This is very aggressive and leavs some marring, but since A correction was being performed, it was no issue. The clay block really speeds up the claying step in my opinion, and works just as well as traditional clay. Ok, so now we can see the true condition of the paint, and it isn't pretty. So, the hood, roof, and trunk were the worst panels, with the deepest defects. Originally this vehicle was only booked for a one step, but after much testing a one step just wasn't going to cut it on those panels. After discussing it with the customer we decided to do a two step on those panels, and a one step on the rest of the vehicle. Due to the added work time was an issue so I didn't get many more pictures. The nast panels got D300 on an opt cutting pad followed by 106fa on a green uber pad. This gave great correction to those panels. Fortunatly the other panels responded very well to a one step since they didn't have defects as deep. That course of action was Menzerna Powerfinish on a Yellow BS Pad. Here is a quick 50/50 of the Powerfinish. It took care of all the swirls, and just left a few deeper rids behind. And a quick sun shot. Again, time was a factor during the job so I didn't get a lot of pictures that came out well. After correction the LSP of choice was Auto Finesse Spirit. I had a little trouble getting it to wipe clean, but I think it had to do with the paint being warm, and not the product fault. Either way it looked amazing. Here are some reflection and final pictures. some other notes, the chrome and tail pipes were polished with Siwssvax Metal Polish, the glass was cleaned with Auto Finesse Crystal, and the trim was dressed with Auto Finesse Revive. That about does it, I had a great time working on this vehicle, and the customer and I were very happy with the outcome! Thanks for looking, and I look forward to your feedback!
Nice work! I feel like I gotta see one of these cars rolling around northern VA one of these days. Hope you enjoyed the great weather we had this weekend, today isn't so pleasant.
Thanks Chas! I'm sure you've seen some driving around if you're in NOVA. I loved the weather, hate the rain today, but we need it. Thanks Rasky! I know you have done a few of these, in fact I almost sent you a message for some advice, but i ran out of time...lol. Thank you! Thanks man. It's a Raceglaze brush that i got from Ken (911fanatic) Thank you. On the roof, hood, and trunk I used D300 followed by 106, the rest got Powerfinish on a yellow uber pad. Thank buddy! Thank you Cnut! Thanks Charles.
nice work! I love working on black GM paint, it is a little harder so it allows you to really work the paint, and leaves a really nice gloss.
