JLs Detailing: Cadillac CTS

I had done a guys Suburban a little while back and used Rubbish Boys Juiced Edition wax on it. He was really pleased but told me his wife was really upset that he got his car done and not hers when she saw it. Well I finally had a chance to do another detail for him and he said he wanted another one of his cars done but wifey put the veto on that and her car went in that spot. I only knew that it was a Cadillac and had no idea what color or make, so I had to make my decision on the process and products when it arrived. The paint was in pretty good shape and its a good thing as there was no correction on this detail. Well once I saw it and knowing this is one of my best clients I decided to do a full Zaino on it. Well here's what I did:

Tires/Wheels: Well the first thing I noticed right off the bat is that whoever had been detailing this before loved some cheap solvent based tire dressings. It was all over the lower panels and the wheels looked terrible because of it too. I used Megs Wheel Brightner on the wheels with a Griots wheel scrub, foam finger pocket, lug nut brush, and black magic wheel brush bent 90 degrees for getting behind spokes. I used MS Super Green Stuff on the tires with a black wheel Shmitt. The wheel wells got CGs Grime Reaper via my new Solo handheld Sprayer and a black wheel Shmitt. I love the Solo sprayer and it is 1000x better than the handheld sprayers from Lowes and only $3 more. As a side note I threw away Lowes sprayer #'s 3 and 4 today because like the two predecessors before them they started leaking where the plastic halves are molded together.

As far as dressings go I know the owner wanted a little more bling that what I am used to putting on tires. So I decided to veer away from my normal regimine and put a new product to work. I used some of my newly acquired Megs Hyper Dressing diluted 1:1. Now I had used it on my Jeep before just to see how it looks and it wasn't as shiny as I thought it would be at 1:1 and it really didn't perform as well as I had hoped but I need to use it more. Now I decided to use it as a base coat and then topped it with Optimum Tire Bond Gel. That gave a really bling look and only waterbased products were used to achieve that. The wells got CGs Bare Bones via another Solo Sprayer. The wheels got Z2 Pro.

Engine: I did pretty much the usual here: rinse, spray with MS SGS, agitate, rinse, dry with a leaf blower, and dress. Instead of Stoners Trim Shine I decided to use DG 265 Ultimate Conditioning Spray that I got from Cooter (thanks bro). I had never used this before and really liked it. One other thing I used was a spray handle for the aerosol can. If you use any product in an aerosol can you know how tired your hand can get when dressing a large area. This thing makes it a breeze and I think gives me more even coverage because there is no change in application pressure. I bought it at a local paint store for like $2 and it was worth every penny. Here is a pic:



Wash: Well I wanted to make sure everything was off of this car before I started on the paint so I went with a strong wash. I used my foam cannon with a mixture of 2 oz. of CGs Wash n Clear with an ounce of CGs Strong Wash. I got the Strong Wash from Gemini13 (thanks so much for that as I love this product) and it worked great with the Clear. I'm telling you the dirt and old dressings just rolled off this thing. There was absolutely no chance of any LSP being left, heck if there ever was one considering how it looked from the previous detailer. That was the easiest wash I have ever done and will become my go to for really dirty vehicles. I also used my CR Spotless system. Bugs got a mixture of Demin water and CGs Strong Wash diluted 3:1. Man you could see the bugs just melt away and then when I put the MS bug sponge on it they just vanished. Mother Nature dried the car while I shampooed and extracted the floor mats.

Clay: I used the good stuff with DP 4n1 as a clay lube in another Solo hand held pressurized sprayer. Then I rinsed again with the CR.

Glass: The outside glass got ZAIO while I was polishing and the inside got CGs Glass Cleaner. I wiped on with a Black Magic Glass MF and wiped off with a Walmart WW.

Interior: Interior: The entire interior was wiped down with 1z Cockpit Premium. I do love this stuff as it cleans well and leaves behind a new clean look. The leather seats were cleaned with Leather Mastere Strong diluted 1:1 and scrubbed in with a Megs interior brush. The seats were then conditioned with Surf City Leather Conditioner. Shop vac was used to vacuum everything and the floor mats were treated with Folex and extracted.

Paint: I used the Zaino ZAIO with a HF rotary with a 5" white LC CCS pad on a 3M bp. I used speed 1. I buffed it off with a CGs Yellow and Black MF. I then did a wipedown with Z6. Man the silver was looking really good and I knew it would only get better.

LSP: Well as P1et says it was time to get out the mobile meth lab and make up some ZFX'd Z2 Pro. I applied the Z2 with a blue 4" LC CCS pad on a Polishing Pal. After the first application I did another Z6 wipedown. The 2nd coat always goes on so easy after that Z6 wipedown. After the 2nd coat and just before the owner picked it up I did a Z8 wipedown which really puts it over the top.

The owner was happy and he managed to sneek his Suburban back over here today for a maint. wash. I guess he couldn't stand her car looking better than his, LOL. Well here are the pics:
























My favorite shot:

 

Great work as usual bro. Those wheels looked really dirty, almost like they were not even chrome. The paint looks so much better too. Like it just rolled off the delivery truck. I cant wait to get my MegHD out on my engine bay. Soon!!!!!

Awesome work JL

 

Well done there JL :applause: :applause:

Vehicle looks great and lovely interior :worship2:

 

What a great detail! Whats ur favorite tire dressing now?

Too bad ur package already went out, I need to send you a bottle of SV Pneu..... its amazing....

 

JL..great job on the Caddy!! The Megs did a fantastic job on the wheels..I had to go re-read to see if you had polished them..they sure looked like you did.:applause: I saw what you meant about the tire dressing on the fenders too..it looked like shit. Wifey should be happy now..and now you can get on to doing the rest of his, LOL.

 

Wow, great turnaround JL! I gotta try my Meg's HD too!

 

What a detail! Love it. The interior looks so nice, perfect! And like Phil said, SV pneu is GREAT!

 

Thanks bro! The wheels were covered in brake dust and whatever that tire dressing that the previous detailer used. I really like the Zaino and it made the paint so slick. I haven't tried the Megs HD on an engine bay yet...had to use my DG 265 that a kick ass member sent me!:thumb:

Thanks Nica I know I have a lot to live up to when it comes to the incredible interior jobs you do...I'm learning though!

Thanks, You know this may sound crazy but I have found that different tire dressings that I have look better on different tire manufacturer's tires. I mean SC Beyond black gives a completely different look on my Goodyear Wranglers than it does on another brand. So I guess I don't have a favorite right now but the Megs HD/Optimum Tire Bond looked good especially if you wanted a lot more shine without using a solvent based dressing. Damn hate I missed on that SV Pneu:doh:.

Thanks richy means a lot. It did look like the wheels had been polished. Its amazing that not only does Megs WB clean the wheels like no other it really does brighten them! Then topping with the Z2 I had left over from the car and they looked like I hoped. I can't believe detailers still use dressings that do that when its so obvious on a car.

Thanks Denzil, and you really need to give the Megs HD a try but be prepared to play around with it a lot to get the look you want. I hear that it does really great if you have an air compressor and a air powered paint gun to apply it with.

Thanks pirex, I really appreciate it. I was pleased with the interior and I know most women really care more about that than they do the exterior so I hope she was happy. Wouldn't you know I would miss out on the pneu from Phil. Well yet another thing to add to the list:thumb:!

 

Good work my friend. Glad you liked the strong wash. The HD even at 1:1 isn't very glossy. I just used Opti-Bond this weekend for the first and I thought it was great. Just enough gloss without over doing it (IE Ghetto Gloss...). I'll wait and see about durability. You should have tried the ASD. Couple of coats of that and you're good. Although it is solvent based.

 

From grey back to silver... very nice job.. VERY nice job on the interior as well... very nice JL!!!

 

Man that car looks great very nice job

 

Wow JL, awesome work as usual on that car. I see you are really loving Zaino, I might have to start using mine more often after seeing you put it work. By any chance did you get to try out that stuff I sent you, just was wondering what you thought of it. Again great job buddy!!!

-Corey

 

Awesome work without a doubt, the most incredible before and afters!

 

Great job JL,I know lighter colour paint is much harder to see but I can definitely see the Caddy looking slick with the Zaino product you used,I'm sure the owner is pleased with the result.she's now hooked on you.:applause::applause:

 

Very nice JL... the wheels make the biggest difference!!! Interior work is nice as well... and paint looks like the Silver Surfer!

BTW... please don't tell me you have magnetic signs on you Jeep?!?

 

Thanks bud I really really liked the Strong Wash. I agree with you 100% on the Megs HD and on the Opti-Bond, Ghetto gloss now thats funny. I did try the ADS on wheel wells yesterday and was really impressed with that. Did as good a job as Bare Bones and is a lot cheaper. I definately see that being added to my aresenal.

Thanks bro... I told you it worked really well on silver.

Thanks Bro!

Thanks bud, you should really give the Zaino a shot again. I really like it and its a little more work but the end result is worth it. The only problem I've had with it was on a really humid day so I went and got an AC unit for my garage and that problem has been alleviated. I did use the stuff you sent me. In fact I used all three products on my very next detail after I got it from you. Couldn't wait to use the stuff, lol. I will be posting that detail up here shortly. And everything you sent worked INCREDIBLE! Thanks for making me spend more money, LOL!

Thanks Piet, you helped get me on the Zaino train.

Thanks Ken I was really pleased with how the silver just popped and was super slick. Yeah I think I added another client to the list!

Thanks Dust. And yeah they are magnetic but they are removed almost daily and cleaned and underneath is cleaned as well and so far there are no problems.

 

I've seen people cut ASD 1:1 to make it more viscous and as such able to spray better for wheel well application. As it stands it comes out of the sprayer in a stream.

 

Sweet looking job JL! :applause2: Very nice work! :applause: Thanks for taking the time to share. :thumb:

Dave

 

I didn't cut it at all and used a high volume sprayer and it worked like a champ. The sprayer atomized the ASD very well and I got great coverage. Thats good to know about it though as I have another product that I didn't like because it came out the way you described so I'll try a high volume sprayer and see if that helps. Thanks bro!

Thanks Dave, much appreciated and glad you liked it.

 

Fantastic job JL! Hehe, air freshener much? BTW, did you feel that you went through too much DG265? I emptied my can way too easily through 3 cars.