'00 Neon that was in BAD shape (lots of before/after and 50/50 pics)

[FinalTouchAuto]

Detailed a 2000 Plymouth Neon yesterday.

This 2000 neon has NEVER been under cover out of the elements, has NEVER seen a coat of wax and hadn't been washed in at least 3 years.

The car was dropped off to me at 10 and I took about 30 minutes worth of pictures before getting into this mess.

I first let the car soak in a low dilution Chemical Guys Wash and Gloss (applied with a foam gun) while I cleaned the tires with Chemical Guys Grime Reaper and an adjustable wheel brush. I dressed the wheels and wheel-wells with Meguiars Hot Shine Gel.

When I was done with the wheels I refoamed the car and began a SERIOUS washing. I scrubbed all over the car (not caring if I made any small scratches because it COULDN'T get worse, so I just tried to clean it the best I could).

I then Clayed the car with Claymagic Blue Clay

Now was the moment of truth to begin polishing. I alternated different spots with Menzerna SIP and Meguiar's 105 depending on the severity of the area. He was only paying for a single-stage polish so I tried to get it to finish off the best I could. When I was done with polishing (1 complete pass over the car took me just over 3 hours) I did an initial wipe-down with Chemical Guys Acrylic Detailer.

I then applied Chemical Guys EZ-Creme Glaze/Acrylic Sealant by PC on a black pad and let it sit for about 45 minutes before removing it.

After it was completely removed I did a final wipedown with Meguiars Ultimate Quick Wax and called it a day, 6 hours later.

No question about it, this car needed wet-sanding and multiple stages of polishing, but the customer got what he wanted to pay for and it came out much better than he was expecting. I was pleased with the results for the work put in.


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This is the trunk area...keep this in mind when you see how it finished out

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The roof had some severe oxidation that I wasn't able to remove here.

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Now on to the detail...

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Clean Clay...

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After doing 1/2 of the hood...

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Done washing and claying...drying for polishing now.

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Hood section before:

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Hood Section After (Keep in mind he was only paying for a single stage polish, so I couldn't spend all the time needed to completely refine it...it got the majority of the major issues though):

The hood LITERALLY changed colors in front of me it was so oxidized...it was great.

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Rear Quarter Panel Before:

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After 1 stage polish:

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Trunk with direct lighting before:

http://www.finaltouchautodetail.com/uploads/4/7/1/2/4712070/8866468_orig.jpg

Trunk after 1 stage polish:

http://www.finaltouchautodetail.com/uploads/4/7/1/2/4712070/13146_orig.jpg


In this next picture both the top and bottom of the door looked the same after washing....guess which portion has been polished at this point (this is my favorite picture I have taken to date, ha ha...my wife loved how drastic it is)

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Passenger side 50/50:

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Wheels/tires after cleaning and dressing:

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I use TW ICE liquid polish to dress plastic trim...I like how easily it applies and how black it makes plastic pieces.

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Headlight after wash, clay and PlastX applied via PC and 4" orange pad:

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All done :wave:

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It was IMPOSSIBLE to finish the roof down at all. It desperately needed wet sanding, but I did what I could. It regained a lot of clarity and removed a lot of major swirls, but you can only do so much with a single pass.

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Hood finished up nicely.

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Hood again with overhead halogens (each one 300w). This is before I polished the headlight up though.

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Thanks for looking. This car was a LOT of work and could still use another 6 hours of labor into it, but the customer was ecstatic with the transformation when he came back after work to pick it up and I was happy to do what I could while staying in the parameters of what I was being paid to do (which is sometimes very difficult when you know it would finish off better with another 2 hours of finishing polish).

[Pyrocite]

Nice job, I bet the owner is gonna love it. :dblthumb2:

[FinalTouchAuto]

Thanks :)

He was certainly impressed. He didn't think it would get the clarity that it did.

[rwisejr]

Great turn around !!!

[Munich77]

Wow that turned out great - incredible that a beat up old car can look like this!

[Jenn1270]

Great work. It looks like a brand new car. I love the pictures with the top and bottom panels showing the difference.

Jenn

[fancyfootwork]

Whoa, crazy good turn around. Reminds me of my buddies 03 black cavalier at work. Ive never seen so many swirls! I want to detail his car but he doesn't want to spend the money, unfortunately.

[FinalTouchAuto]

Thanks for the compliments.

The amount of swirls in the paint was unbelievable; I dont even think the pictures I took do it justice because you're only seeing pieces of it. When that thing was sitting in the sun in all it's glory it was truly a swirly site to behold.

[Wills.WindowsAndWheels]

Thanks for the compliments.

The amount of swirls in the paint was unbelievable; I dont even think the pictures I took do it justice because you're only seeing pieces of it. When that thing was sitting in the sun in all it's glory it was truly a swirly site to behold.

Man even with just the sections you showed its obvious you did an awesome job.

So did you use 4" pads on the whole thing...what type did you use? Were they as filthy and nasty as i think they would be after buffing out that much oxidation?

Nice job man!:dblthumb2:

[FinalTouchAuto]

Nope, I actually used 6.5" CCS Pads on the PC (not the XP model) on speed 6 the entire time (only orange) over the entire car, and yes, they were pretty gross :P I had to do a lot of "cleaning on the fly" while I was going over the panels and switched pads a couple times.

The ol tried and true PC can still tackle some serious crap. My next purchase is going to be a Flex DA though to speed up more serious correction.

[Wills.WindowsAndWheels]

Nope, I actually used 6.5" CCS Pads on the PC (not the XP model) on speed 6 the entire time (only orange) over the entire car, and yes, they were pretty gross :P I had to do a lot of "cleaning on the fly" while I was going over the panels and switched pads a couple times.

The ol tried and true PC can still tackle some serious crap. My next purchase is going to be a Flex DA though to speed up more serious correction.

Your in the same boat as me. I'd love a flex but for now i have my PC (original also).
So do you prefer CCS over Flat pads?
Have you ever tried and all in one like D151. I'm kinda anxious to try it (i bought a sample bottle) on a whole car and see how it turns out. Ive seen good results on here from using it.

[FinalTouchAuto]

Yeah, I have a gallon of 151 and that is what I started with on the hood of this car just to see what it would do. It removed a lot of the oxidation immediately, brought back the color and removed some swirling, but nowhere near what was necessary.

151 seems like an absolutely incredible AIO product, but it can't handle something like this :P I definitely plan on making it a staple in my arsenal on customer cars that need a single-stage touch-up.

I can't comment on how well the sealant aspect of it holds up, but I hear the durability is pretty decent.

I am detailing a 2000 Camaro in about a week and a half that only has minor swirling and has been fairly well maintained (Regular hand washing and wax application with the occasional claybar) and will be using solely D151. I look forward to seeing how it goes.

[Wills.WindowsAndWheels]

Yeah, I have a gallon of 151 and that is what I started with on the hood of this car just to see what it would do. It removed a lot of the oxidation immediately, brought back the color and removed some swirling, but nowhere near what was necessary.

151 seems like an absolutely incredible AIO product, but it can't handle something like this :P I definitely plan on making it a staple in my arsenal on customer cars that need a single-stage touch-up.

I can't comment on how well the sealant aspect of it holds up, but I hear the durability is pretty decent.

I am detailing a 2000 Camaro in about a week and a half that only has minor swirling and has been fairly well maintained (Regular hand washing and wax application with the occasional claybar) and will be using solely D151. I look forward to seeing how it goes.

So did you use mostly 105 on it then? You got it to finish down quite nice if you did.

When i bought my 151 i was told the sealant wasnt bad...but was recommended to me that an exclusive sealant be applied on top of it.

If the customer had wanted a full 3 stage what would've you followed up with after 105 (and im guessing you would have done a few more passes with 105 than what you already did?)

Really appreciate the info and the pics...good stuff!

[FinalTouchAuto]

On the severe areas I used only 105 (roof, hood and trunk) starting with quite heavy pressure on speed 6 with the porter cable and I lightened the pressure for each pass over the section until the product was totally broken down. For 105 and an orange pad it did finish off pretty well, but I've always found 105 to finish off decently for as tough as it is. Most of the side panels were done using SIP with the same procedure.

My concern with applying sealant over 151 would be that it isn't able to bond directly to the paint and it would probably reduce the sealants durability.

If I were to do 3 stage on it I would've gone with 105 on a yellow pad and occasionally using the lake country hybrid foam/wool purple kompressor pad, SIP on an orange pad and then P40 Pro Polish from chemical guys on a white pad.

Like I mentioned though, all the polishing in the world wouldn't overcome the fact that it needed to be wetsanded.

[Wills.WindowsAndWheels]

On the severe areas I used only 105 (roof, hood and trunk) starting with quite heavy pressure on speed 6 with the porter cable and I lightened the pressure for each pass over the section until the product was totally broken down. For 105 and an orange pad it did finish off pretty well, but I've always found 105 to finish off decently for as tough as it is. Most of the side panels were done using SIP with the same procedure.

My concern with applying sealant over 151 would be that it isn't able to bond directly to the paint and it would probably reduce the sealants durability.

If I were to do 3 stage on it I would've gone with 105 on a yellow pad and occasionally using the lake country hybrid foam/wool purple kompressor pad, SIP on an orange pad and then P40 Pro Polish from chemical guys on a white pad.

Like I mentioned though, all the polishing in the world wouldn't overcome the fact that it needed to be wetsanded.

Yeah i saw it was covered with RIDS...thats a whole different ballgame there.

Thats a good concern about it not being able to bond directly...but then again ive polished paint...and didn't do a alcohol wipe down...and then sealed it and it bonded quite well. I would assume that there was some polish left behind but the sealant still bonded with no problem.

So you have used a hybrid foam/wool pad on your PC? I've been curious as to how using any type of wool pad on a PC would work out...thought it might leave a lot of marring