So I had a monster of a detail this past weekend…lol. A customer contacted me about getting some work done on his black Chevy Tahoe. He said it had never been detailed, and was taken through tunnel washes on a regular basis. So I, of course, expected the finish to be pretty bad, but not nearly as bad as it ended up being…. Upon initial inspection we agreed to a two-step correction. A one step would not have removed enough of the swirls to make it worth it, and a full correction was not worth it since this vehicle is used to tow a boat, and sometimes go off-road. I soon found out that a two-step wasn’t going to work on this vehicle. The paint wasn’t overly hard, or overly soft (didn’t mar while wiping or anything) BUT it was nearly impossible to get the paint to finish without micro-marring. I tried M205 and even the new Blackfire AIO and both left a lot of micro-marring. I finally tried Menzerna 106fa on speed 2 and it seemed to work. I guess the SMAT abrasives in the other products just weren’t fine enough to finish off well. At the same time there were some very deep rids that ultimately required wet sanding…so, some spots on the car actually got 5 steps (2 wetsanding and 3 polishing) while the rest of the vehicle got 3 polishing steps. I want to say up front that the car was brought to me clean, so I didn’t have to do any sort of wash. I did a quick wipedown with Blackfire Waterless Wash, and then moved right onto claying with the Ultima Clay Block with Chemical Guys Luber for lube. Here is how the paint looked after being prepped for polish. First I decided to address the sections that needed wet sanding since they would take the longest, and most likely be the messiest. The worst sections were actually both rear quarter panels. Not 100% sure why, but they were both riddled with RIDS. I started wetsanding with 1500grit on my PC and finished up with 2500 grit on the PC. I then compounded the wetsanding marks out with M105 on the Meguiars Mf cutting pad with the PCXP, followed by Menzerna SIP on a Tangerine pad with the PCXP and finally finished with Menzerna 106fa on a black LC pad with the PCXP. Here are a few 50/50 pics of the wetsanding. Next up I tackled the rest of the vehicle. For compounding I used Menzerna’s newest product FG500 on a Cyan pad on my Dewalt rotary, followed by the SIP on a tangerine pad with the PCXP, and again finished with 106fa on a black LC pad with the PCXP. Here are some 50/50’s of the polishing. Most of them are just after compounding, so there is some haze in some of the pics. Next are just some random reflection pictures I took through the course of the detail. These are all during the detail, so excuse any dust or smudges; they were all cleaned up before returning to the customer. Here are some random sun pictures. Most of these were also taking during the detail, so there may be some dust present from all the compounding and polishing. After all the correction was done there was a good bit of dust on the vehicle so I did a quick wash with XMT soap, then blew the vehicle dry. I then did a quick wipe down with Eraser to make sure nothing would affect the bonding of my LSP. The LSP that I chose was the new Crystal Seal from Blackfire. This product is a WOWA LSP that applies just like UPGP and Opti Seal. Here are some final pictures. First is the wheels and tires. They were just wiped down with BF WW sealed with the Crystal Seal, and the tires were dressed with the new Blackfire Total Eclipse Tire Gel That’s about it I think. I look forward to any questions or comments you may have! Thanks for looking!
What a turnaround!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, that is as bad as it gets and now the vehicle is "As new". Outstanding work.
WOW!! That is some crazy turnaround! Great job! The heavy RIDS on those rear panels is where the brushes pause in a wash tunnel on longer vehicles.Dont quote me on that, but I have seen it before on the bigger trucks and its always in the same spot for vehicles 18+ feet long that have been tunnel washed to death their whole life. Thanks for sharing. Darren
superb work man! now it's a rolling mirror...:thumb: question: by wetsanding only the rear quarter, there is no more OP in the paint, it gave a very nice reflection shot of the husky light. but the rest of the panels still have OP...i know it obviously wasn't in your scope of work to wetsand the entire vehicle...but doesn't it look "weird"? keep up the good work. :applause:
Holy shit.... Looking at the before pics I almost started crying and thought to myself "noway this can be saved". You've proven me wrong. It looks brand new now. WOW.
TwistedFrame -- Congratulations on a beautiful paint restoration here ! You absolutely killed the defects ! This had to be a long, laborious labor-intensive session with everything including the kitchen sink in your path. But you looked it square in the eye, and went through it, not over it, not around it, through it !!! I am so proud of you ! Thanks for sharing ! Dan F
Thanks Bob! I appreciate the kind words! Thanks Kody! Thank you! Thanks man! I never knew that, but it makes perfect sense! Thank you. And very good question. I actually did some light wet sanding on the adjacent panels to help make the transition not as noticeable. However the truck has 4 different paint jobs on it, so the OP already varied quite a bit. I made sure it would be ok with the customer first, and he said go for it. Good catch though! Thanks! thank you! Thank you! I was a big job, but well worth the effort! LOL, thanks!
Wow, thanks Dan! It was a big job, and at times I it got a bit boring working on those huge panels seemed like it was going to last forever...lol Thanks G! When are you gonna be up in my neck of the woods?
