CTS-V Beauty Inside - Major Correction and Coating Done

[TTQ B4U]

So a fellow racing club member picked up a really nice 2013 CTS-V and wanted to get himself a little something for the holidays.

Body wise the car is in great shape and has just over 50k on the ODO but it needed some love on the surface. It's pure black which really shows everything and once it's out in the sun or under lights, the true condition of what he was faced with jumped out. It didn't help that early on in his ownership his little one grabbed a key and tried to put a pin stripe down the entire passenger side of the car http://www.columbusracing.com/ubb/eek.gif

With all that was facing it we decided on my Elite Enhancement Correction Service. This service is geared to greatly reduce the appearance of the marring and defects. Topping it all off would be a dual layer protection of CarPro Cquartz UK v3.0.


Washed: Rinseless Wash with Wolfgang Uber
Decontaminated: Iron-X / Medium Grade Nano-Mitt
Compounded: CarPro ClearCut with a Rupes Mille & UHS Pads
Polished: CarPro Essence with Flex 3401 & Green Hexlogic Pads
Coated: CarPro Cquartz UK v3.0
Trim: WETS used to treat the bits of gray trim work and windshield cowling



Here's what the starting point was:

http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/168558199/original.jpg



Part of what we're seeing here is an attempt by the owner to correct the key marks. Unfortunately when polishing on paint by hand the pressure is never even and will result in the inability of the work to blend properly

http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/168558198/original.jpg



These Swirls and holograms are what prevents the true depth and beauty of pure black from showing

http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/168558200/original.jpg



The hood.....these swirls would dominate under the lights of a gas station or the sunshine at a car meet. Critical to remove them

http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/168558202/original.jpg




Not a problem. Phase one was to lightly compound the surface and remove the defects. Goal here is correction and thus leaving just some minor haze that would easily clear up in the next step of polishing.

http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/168558201/original.jpg



Same here on the door/sides of the vehicle. Here the haze is a little more visible.

http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/168558203/original.jpg




Next comes the polishing. Not only does this serve as a means of ramping up the gloss but the polish I use serves as a primer or base-coat for it's corresponding coating

http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/168558205/original.jpg



The end result becomes a deep black mirror-like surface that will show nicely at a car meet

http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/168558209/original.jpg



Can't skimp on the wheels or calipers

http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/168558208/original.jpg



Knocked about 5yrs off the age of the vehicle IMO

http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/168558207/original.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/168558210/original.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/168558214/original.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/168558216/original.jpg

[camaro2ssblack]

Great job man, love those CTS-V’s!

[Justin at Final Inspection]

Sexy! Still on my list to own. Great job on saving that black paint.

Funny as I just had a inquiry about a correction for a black CTSV for a clients wife.

[RTexasF]

Absolutely incredible results.

[lj993]

Great works. Looks terrific. Phil

[fly07sti]

That paint was BAD. How did the keyed side come out?

[DMW]

That looks great. How many hours did you have in that job?

[TTQ B4U]

That paint was BAD. How did the keyed side come out?See the passenger side above. 95% of it blended away. Thickness started out at 5.5 to 6 miles so I had plenty.
That looks great. How many hours did you have in that job?

9 to 10 total but not straight through. I break it up vs working straight through since I do the work at my home. Started at 8:30 one morning, finished all the wash, decon and compound and polishing at 4pm and left the coating until the next day. Took a couple hours to coat it and then finish up the trim.

[LSNAutoDetailing]

Wow that thing was hammered! Nice save, and sweet ride!

[Rsurfer]

Awesome job. Question, you compounded with the Mille and polished with the 3401. Is one better than the other when compounding or polishing?

[TTQ B4U]

Awesome job. Question, you compounded with the Mille and polished with the 3401. Is one better than the other when compounding or polishing?

Not always. I favor the Mille over the Flex as I feel it corrects faster. I ran Mille for the compound. Speed of rotation while minor on paper is pretty apparent when in use for sure. The reason I chose to use the flex for the polishing is because I am running slightly larger pads and the green hexlogic pads do an excellent job when paired with Essence for polishing. Essencially I covered more surface area which to me was more important than speed of rotation on this job. I'm not sure how much time I spent on polishing but it's not much. The secret IMO is ClearCut. As the pics show it finishes out excellently leaving only a very minor haze. In the end, just making use of multiple polishes since I have both at hand.

[Sizzle Chest]

Great transformation! Owner must have been blown away! That Caddy is looking proper now!