Hi everyone, got a special one today...at least it was special to me! Today I've got a 2010 Black Nissan GT-R that is getting a full correction and then a coating of Cquartz Finest.
The owner has the vehicle washed weekly by another detailer in his area who obviously hasn't been doing a great job keeping it swirl free. So I was tasked to correct the paint, and coat it with Finest to help prevent future swirls on this butter soft paint. In addition he will now be bringing it to me for it's washings to make sure it stays swirl free for a long time.
As far as being clean from dirt, the car was in great shape when the owner brought it too me. Not to much dirt or grime, but there were some embedded contaminants that I could feel on the paint. So I started with a foaming using Iron X Snow Foam to see if I could get some of the iron contaminants out of the paint. I want to say that the foaming of this product was great, even in my normal foam gun. It was thick and stuck to the paint very well. The only downside is you have to use a pretty heavy concentration to have it work as an iron remover. It still works great as a normal shampoo at lower concentrations.
While the foam dwelled I went around with a Raceglaze brush and agitated the emblems, trim, body seams, and fuel filler area.
After the foaming i did a traditional wash with Meguiars Hyper Wash then clayed the vehicle with Ricardo Fine clay. Now the vehicle was free of all bonded contaminants and we could see the condition of the paint.
As far as the amount of swirls the paint wasn't really that bad off considering it is very soft paint, but the swirls that were there were very deep and required a rather aggressive approach to remove them. The worst (deepest) swirls were on the hood, roof and trunk.
On the hood, roof, and trunk I went with a three step approach: Menzerna FG500 on a foam wool pad via the Dewalt 849x, Menzerna SIP on a Yellow Uber pad via the Dewalt 849x, and finally Menzerna 106fa on a Tangerine HT pad via the Meguiars G110.
The rest of the vehicle just got the last two steps, Menzerna SIP on a Yellow Uber pad via the Dewalt 849x, and Menzerna 106fa on a Tangerine HT pad via the Meguiars G110.
to illustates how bad the paint was here is a pic from inside my garage with just the T12 lights, lights that normaly don't pick up lost of defects.
Before:
After:
Here is how the paint turned out. These sun shots were taken in process so please excuse the massive amount of dust and some smudges.
The vehicle was then carefully washed again to remove all the dust, dried with the Masterblaster and then carefully wiped down with CarPro Eraser to insure the paint was squeaky clean before I applied CQuartz Finest.
The application of Finest is fairly similar to Opti-Guard, you wipe it on with the supplied black and suede towel, let it self lever for a couple minutes, and then lightly wipe any high spots. With this product it's recommended to apply two coats, so that is exactly what I did.
I must say I like working with the product slightly more than OG. It was very humid on the day I did this detail, and that didn't affect how the Finest worked at all. With OG I would have been chasing streaks all day due to the humiditiy. Also even if you apply it heavy, the Finest levels itself much better than OG. I found that on some panels there were no high spots for me to wipe off. Finnaly it is MUCH slicker than OG. I'm not saying that makes it work better, but there are some customers that wonder why OG doesn't leave a slick finish on the paint like sealants.
So, I was running short on time so I only got a couple after pics. Here is how the vehicle ended up.
So that does it, thanks for taking the time to read my write up. This vehicle was a challenge, but I am very happy with how it turned out, and even happier to have become part of the CarPro family. I can't thank the staff at CarPro enough for taking my calls and helping me understand the product and how to use it best. I think it came out great, and can't wait to use it again!
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