No hiding: This vehicle was finished with Zaino Z-5pro w/ZFX and Poorboy's Natty's Blue. Black is not a forgiving color. You either do it right, or don't do it...
Thanks, Thats an old car I had last year. It did and will stay that clean because its so slick, not much will stick to it.
This is a write up from a car I did a few weeks ago. 2007 Mercedes R63 AMG 2,134 miles Black / Tan This vehicle was about 5 months old and had been put through the automatic car wash weekly since purchased. The owner, a five vehicle customer, couldn’t stomach his wife abusing the car any longer. This was not the car we had on the calendar; he just saw the car under his garage lighting and became ill. The original vehicle, a Gallardo Spyder, was loaned to a client for the weekend. He left the car with me the night before and I got going at 7:00am. The car was solid black and required quite a bit of polishing to remove the nylon bristled broom induced marring from the local car wash. I used my typical schedule of products and procedures. I build a schedule like the one below prior to accepting and final quoting any work. I share it with the owner so we all know and agree what is going on and when. I will be setting up a web-cam so the owners of the vehicles can login and check progress. (I just moved in to this location and really don’t expect people to login, its just marketing over-kill) Following a clock helps me keep motivated and knowing if I am I the green or the red in my quoting. INTERIOR: PROCESS – 30 minutes Blow out debris using compressor Vacuum / Vapor clean interior Spot clean with degreaser 20:1 and brush Dress interior w/ CG Silk Shine and microfiber mitt Dress leather with Zaino Z-10 and microfiber mitt Clean windows with Pro-Detailer and waffle weave WASH: PROCESS – 1 hour Foam car with Dawn, soak for 5 minutes. Wash using grout sponge Spray wheels /wells/ undercarriage with degreaser clean with brush and microfiber mitt Dry car using leaf blower Clay entire car using Z-7 10:1 as lube Foam car using Z-7, soak for 5 minutes. Wash with grout sponge Dry with leaf blower and Pakshak ultra-soft waffle weave Dress wheel wells, trim, and tires with silk shine and Z-16 POLISH: PROCESS – 2 hours 30 minutes Tape trim Polish car using Makita Rotary and 1:4 Optimum Compound / Polish mix (Blue Edge 2000 Wave) Wipe down using 4:1 alcohol/water mix Polish car using Porter Cable and Menzerna 106FF (Blue Edge 200 wave) Wipe down using Z-6 Blow off debris with leaf blower Clean windows w/ Pro-Detailer WAX / FINISH / SEAL: PROCESS – 4 hours Apply Z-5pro w/ ZFX allow 45 minutes to dry (entire car paint, glass, exhaust) Remove w/ Pakshak microfiber Blow off debris with compressor (low pressure) Apply Poorboys Wheel Sealant Apply Z5pro w/ZFX allow 45 minutes to dry Remove w/ Pakshak microfiber Remove Poorboys Wheel Sealant Blow off debris with compressor (low pressure) Pinnacle Souveran – panel by panel “spit shine” 2 times Z-16 on tires – 2nd layer Start Time 7:00am Finish Time: 3:00pm Total Time: 8 hours Charge: $650.00 I was extremely pleased with the results. The interior was basically new and the 106FF finished nicely. I had a few issues with the temperature in the garage and the Souveran, but a few sprays of Z-8 helped resolve the smearing. One thing to note is that this car is a monster in disguise as a mini-van; I believe it has 503HP and 465lb. /ft. of torque. I didn’t drive it other then in and out of my garage as the ground was wet from rain. I need a new car in August of 2008; you can bet this will be on the list. I included a bottle of Z-8, Z-16, and 2 microfiber towels with the detail should the owner feel like doing some cleaning himself. The dealership which sold the car was going to charge $995.00 (I called to verify) to apply a paint sealant to the vehicle. My quote of $650.00 including a serious recondition was a bargain in comparison. I did spend about one hour longer than I wanted on the car, but this vehicle is BIG. What seems to sell most jobs to my customers is the fact that I am not putting anything on the paint to hide or cover defects. I polish until the finish needs none of the Z5pro filling properties to be defect free. A common question I receive is, “How long until it washes off”. My answer, “I do not apply anything to your paint except near optically clear protection. It is massaged until restored to it's factory delivered state”. Pictures to follow, I am at work and don’t a have the camera with me.
nice right up and pictures. WOW that is a lot of work. I may try it one time on the Maggie and see what happens if I am not dead before I am finished. HAHAHAHA
Clean and Prep: Here was a good opportunity to test out the capabilities of the new Ultimate Detailing Machine. This vehicle had a wide array of mild to moderate surface blemishes on the paint surface. After a thorough washing of the paint surface with the Tropi-Care Car Wash Concentrate and rinsing off all soap residue, I proceeded to use the car wash concentrate and water as my lubricant to clay bar the entire paint surface including glass. Once completed I rinsed the entire vehicle once again. To insure there is no protective product on the surface before applying last step products such as sealant or waxes, I swabbed the entire surface with a 50/50 mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water to remove all residues and oils. Notice the standing water on the surface in picture # 8. Corrective Action: For the most part, there were minimal swirl marks/holograms on the panels. As seen on the hood area, you can see a number of random and spider web markings. This was common on the other panels as well. For the most part I used the Ultimate Detailing Machine(UDM) at speed 4.5-5.0 on the dial. Most fine lines disappeared fairly quickly with the Tropi-Care TC-8 Swirl Cutter and moistened orange "cutting/polishing" pad. To further refine the surface, a white polishing pad can improve clarity and surface slickness before applying a last step protection product. However, a number of more stubborn lines remained. Stepping up to a Lake Country yellow "medium cutting" pad help to improve the surface condition even more so. At this point, I feel I achieved a 90% surface correction with the UDM on this treatment. Overall I was pretty impressed with the smooth operation and power of the UDM at speed. For those wanting to go that extra mile, a high speed rotary polisher (recommended for experienced users only) can raise the surface condition to another level. The evidence of heavy orange peel can also be addressed with those advance treatment techniques. After correction, I applied the TC-3 Polish/Sealant xP with a blue Lake Country CCS "final finishing" foam pad at speed 3. For this example, I topped the surface with our carnauba paste wax by hand. Full photo display with 20 pictures here: http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/z...ail Sept_07/ Before: After:
This is so true. Once you achieve that level of satisfaction, now comes the task to maintain to that level.
what are some of your tips to maintain the finished results???? being the owner of a black car, i find it near impossible to ever not have the fine spider webs in the paint under tough lighting.... car has great shine, and is very slick, but i can never seem to rid myself of the fine scratches....
How embarrassing Chris. But a real man to step up and admit that. First off, quit using the scouring pad from the kitchen sink to remove the bird droppings :whistle:. Removing the fine scratches is the last thing to do. Have you determined how you got them in the first place? It could be what you use to wash the car (sponge, mitt, whatever). It could be that you may need the two bucket method and it's coming from grit (washed off the car) in the soap bucket. If you're careful with that then it's likely your towels or applicators. Surely you removed the tags from the micro fiber towels? What are your towel edges stitched with? Is the edging something other than micro fiber? If you're using cotton is it 100%? Doesn't matter if the tag says it's 100% cotton. If it's not completely made in the US it's some fiber blend with a 100% cotton tag on it. Again, the edge stitching and material...
Nice pics of the Corvette. There is no hiding from the 500watt halogen. Wax or seal. That will help in not allowing things to stick to the paint, which will in turn make you wash it less. Washing induces the most marring. Maintaining these results is an art in itself. Washing is what I believe induces the most marring. If you are meticulous in washing and have a well thought out plan, and clean washing media, your polishing will remain in good condition for months. Maybe I or Steve can write up a "Washing Your Car" thread. Ill be using a waterless wash until the temps get back up here in NY.
Anything that comes into contact with the paint surface has a chance to inflict fine scratches. A simple test: Lightly slide your towels or applicators over the back of an old CD. If they leave fine lines, they may also scratch the clear coat. We have been using and selling microfiber towels for several years now. They come in several varieties including waffle weaves for drying, wash mitts, polishing, detailing and a compressed weave for glass cleaning. Check them out at www.tropi-care.com
