GT/CS detailed: Before & After pics

[AJ]

thanks anticubicle... i'm loving it

 

[anticubicle]

MAN you make me want to wash mine!! i hate you, cuz mine doesnt look like that right now.

lol!

 

[07calspecial]

How's the claybar work? I bought some, and i'm just waiting for a little better/warmer weather.

 

[Redwolf]

anticubicle, the car looks terrific!



I just had my hood painted, and the painter did an excellent job on the paint except it looks like he might have had a dirty pad or wrong pad when he buffed the clearcoat. There is buff marks, swirl marks, and halo images. I am getting ready to get a Porter Cable, pads, and polish/glaze. I'm not sure to get the Pinnacle or XMT to do the job. Opinions?

 

[anticubicle]

anticubicle, the car looks terrific!



I just had my hood painted, and the painter did an excellent job on the paint except it looks like he might have had a dirty pad or wrong pad when he buffed the clearcoat. There is buff marks, swirl marks, and halo images. I am getting ready to get a Porter Cable, pads, and polish/glaze. I'm not sure to get the Pinnacle or XMT to do the job. Opinions?

Seeing as you are just starting out, the XMT is good stuff.

Here is what I'd do....

XMT Swirl Remover #3 (or something comparable) w/ a White Foam Cutting Pad. The White pad is not overly aggresive. If you do not remove the swirls/halos then step it up to an Orange pad. After you do that, repeat with the white pad again. Keep the pads clean.

Skip the glaze. Do a Sealant instead. A good, affordable sealant is Wolfgang Paint Sealant 3.0. Apply that with a Black Foam pad.

Top it all off with a carnuba wax of some sort. I currently use Pinnacle Signature Series however if you wanna research it, there are several other good waxes out there but be ready to drop some $$$. Apply it by hand foam applicator.

Be sure to use clean microfibers and if you do need it, claybar before the polish.

Hope that helps.

 

[anticubicle]

How's the claybar work? I bought some, and i'm just waiting for a little better/warmer weather.

Well, let's put it this way — before I did the claybar on this car, the rear bumper felt like sandpaper. It's now silky smooth!

 

[alloy6ix]

Not if you plan on doing it a few times a year. Plus, I know where he's coming from - I like to do everything myself if at all possible. I don't like people dicking with my car or anything else for that matter. With the wealth of - and easy accessibility to - knowledge out there, there is not much you can't do. Plus there's nothing better than the satisfaction of putting your name on a quality piece of work.

+2 on those things. Don't like others dicking with it, especially when you hand them the keys and they have that stupid ferris beuller valet parker smirk on their face.. And I just washed mine a few hours ago and I'm glad I did it myself. After seeing those pics, I wish I had taken some before pics. I felt like it was the unofficial avian restroom of my town.


/thread jack




The car looks damn good! And I've actually never clayed the car but when the weather gets a little better and I get some time it's on the for sure to do list, the results look amazing.

 

[TexasKyle]

I have no issue with buying a good buffer, pads, etc. I just have no idea what pads to use for which steps. What's a good, solid source of info for this? I have read a ton, but no two sites seem to ever agree.

 

[anticubicle]

I have no issue with buying a good buffer, pads, etc. I just have no idea what pads to use for which steps. What's a good, solid source of info for this? I have read a ton, but no two sites seem to ever agree.

Autopia.org

Autogeek.com has a good forum as well.

 

[anticubicle]

+2 on those things. Don't like others dicking with it, especially when you hand them the keys and they have that stupid ferris beuller valet parker smirk on their face.. And I just washed mine a few hours ago and I'm glad I did it myself. After seeing those pics, I wish I had taken some before pics. I felt like it was the unofficial avian restroom of my town.


/thread jack




The car looks damn good! And I've actually never clayed the car but when the weather gets a little better and I get some time it's on the for sure to do list, the results look amazing.

Not to knock your wash but hand washing it and claybarring isn't going to get swirls, hazing and other imperfections out.

A full process is going to produce better results than just a wash. The polish is what — well Polishes the paint. It brings out it's full potential. Under a UV light (gas station, shop light, garage light etc) you can see the difference between the paint on an un-corrected car and one that's had the time taken to have paint correction done.

 

[TexasKyle]

Autopia.org

Autogeek.com has a good forum as well.

Thanks!

 

[alloy6ix]

Not to knock your wash but hand washing it and claybarring isn't going to get swirls, hazing and other imperfections out.

A full process is going to produce better results than just a wash. The polish is what — well Polishes the paint. It brings out it's full potential. Under a UV light (gas station, shop light, garage light etc) you can see the difference between the paint on an un-corrected car and one that's had the time taken to have paint correction done.

Oh not at all man, I just finally got like an extra 20 mins in my day yesterday and it really needed it. Like I said, when the time comes around for pretty much all you did, I'll get it done and get all the swirls out with clay and polish and whatnot. I've seen a buddies car after he clayed it. It was stupid clean, I didn't even wanna look at it for fear of getting it dirty. lol.