Protection Detail 2011 Jetta - Many Pics

[Jsuro]

Hi All,

There is an interesting story to this vehicle. This 2011 Jetta was the Christmas present for my daughter (well deserved as she has maintained a 4.1 GPA) so it’s only a couple of months old. It’s a dark blue metallic color – very pretty.

Back in early January we had a strong cold front come through before dawn with lots of rain and wind. The sprinklers had come on at the same time and when the storm passed and the sun came out we noticed that the car was completely covered with water spots. No big deal we thought. My wife’s car also lives outside and the spots always come off when I wash it.

Well the spots on the Jetta did not come off after washing. I tried a number of things, including vinegar, Klasse AIO and other cleaners to no avail. At this point panic set in. A brand new car with a ruined paint job!!??

There was one thing that kept coming up in my mind. My wife’s car had no such problem. I started researching on the net and found a reference to this issue in a BMW forum. Apparently the water was going underneath the clear coat and getting trapped in there. Following their suggestion I put a blow dryer to the smallest panel on the car (the gas lid) and lo and behold, the spots disappeared like magic and did not return when the paint cooled down.

Aha! So the next morning I took the car to the VW dealer, very nice people there. The paint shop manager agreed that the issue was an improperly cured paint and he took the car into the paint boot and heated it for two hours. All the spots disappeared except for a small area on the hood where I had tested the Klasse AIO. This tells me that if the AIO did not let the water out of the paint it won’t let it in either – good thing to know! The paint shop manager told me to leave the car outside without any paint protection on it for at least 60-days so that the paint would fully cure. Had it been summer it would have been only a couple of weeks.

Fast forward to yesterday, it was time to do the protection detail. The dealer had offered to do the detail but I wanted to do it myself so I could use the products I wanted on the car. Without any protection for two months, the paint had lost quite a bit of its sparkle. It wasn’t in bad shape at all but it no longer had that showroom new “pop”. Here are the before pictures:


http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1214643703_4GaiF-O.jpg


http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1214643720_ygPQp-O.jpg


http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1214643744_kFbuR-O.jpg


I first did the wheels and tires with Griot’s Wheel cleaner and assorted brushes, including the great Daytona brush. I then washed the car with Meguiar’s Gold Shampoo and dried with a waffle MF towel. Passing my hand over the paint I could feel small sharp bumps all over so I clayed the complete car. Claying made the paint super smooth but you could still see the haze from having the car sit outside with no protection:

http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1214643769_zBaAq-O.jpg


After claying it was time to start polishing. This is the first car I have ever polished, just having received my Griot Polisher last week, so I was a bit nervous. Following all of the great advice in this forum I taped and did a test spot on the hood. The paint was in pretty good condition, with some water spots here and there but with a mild haze to it, so I decided to start with Menzerna’s Final Finish and an Orange Hydro-tech pad.

No dice! The paint is VERY hard. Menz FF did not even take the spots off. So, changed to another Orange HT pad and tried the same spot with Menzerna’s Power Finish. That did the trick. All the spots were now coming off. I had a very few RIDS here and there that Menz PF did not take out, even with two passes so I left them alone. I was VERY surprised to see how well this product finished with the HT pads. Incredible clarity with zero haze. It comes off very easily, with very little dusting. It is truly a one step polish on these hard paints! Some pictures after polishing:

http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1214643791_vHgVE-O.jpg


http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1214643804_4NjL9-O.jpg


http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1214643844_6SrLC-O.jpg


http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1214643867_oKQA5-O.jpg


After the polish work was done I switched to a crimson HT pad and applied a coat of Klasse AIO. Things were looking even better now - did all the light lenses too:

http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1214644100_cK86Z-O.jpg


http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1214644116_CYAv3-O.jpg



The AIO was followed by a hand application of Klasse High Gloss Sealant Glaze. I applied it to the whole car before removing it. I’ve done this in the past and even with the utmost of care I still get too much product on and it becomes hard to remove. The problem is that the applicator pad gets really saturated quickly and it is hard to not overdo the application. I came up with a really good solutionJ. I now remove the glaze using Pinnacle Crystal Mist Detail Spray with two of the really nice blue MF towels, one damp one dry. The damp one with the Crystal Mist also has some of the excess Klasse product in it that comes off the paint so I follow it with a dry one so I am not re-applying the glaze and for a super gloss :).

Twelve hours total time but very enjoyable and rewarding! And the car is now protected to the hilt. In a couple of weeks or so I will put some Souveran Carnuba wax on it :xyxthumbs:.

Here are the finished car pictures:


http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1214644171_XmboD-O.jpg


http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1214644190_yDPBz-O.jpg




http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1214644204_p2Qf5-O.jpg




http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1214644220_vYtHb-O.jpg




http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1214644372_Dskey-O.jpg




http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1214644392_3GSVv-O.jpg




http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1214644409_Hc6hj-O.jpg


Thanks for looking!


Jose

[Mazda.Mark]

I wish I could take those kind of pics!

[mdb917]

Nice save!

After reading the list of products that could not get the spots off I began to think it might be a lost cause for you. Great to have a dealer that helped you solve the problem too.

Great pictures that show the beautiful paint. You should be proud. :props:

[guccigucci]

great job but just wondering after you polish and put the high gloss sealant, did you put any swirls or scratches to the paint because i find it real hard to do a perfect finish when you are removing some sealant that is hard to remove.

[Jsuro]

Some say, and I agree, that the real test of a finish is out in the bright Sun. I finished the detail in the evening so I took the car out in the Sun this morning to check it out. Well the RIDs are still there and that kind of bothers me. I'd like to know what the next step is to get rid of RIDs (pun intended) - more research on these hard clear coats is my next step. It's a new car so I don't want to start by taking a lot of paint off. Suggestions are more than welcome. Any way here are the daylight pictures in out in the Sun:

http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1215179317_osmSi-O.jpg

http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1215179366_8vhkt-O.jpg

http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1215179394_Csp6m-O.jpg

http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1215179451_WaNGN-O.jpg

http://www.josesuroeditorial.com/photos/1215179497_t5HNM-O.jpg

Best,

Jose

[termigator]

You said you used the orange HT pad with Powerfinish but you still have RIDs. I'm guessing the Powerfinish is not finishing down well enough. Maybe you should try the Final Finish with the orange pad again and see how that works out. I haven't worked with Hydrotech pads, so this is kind of a shot in the dark for me, but going with a polish that finishes down better seemed like a logical step.

BTW, that's a very nice tree with red flowers reflecting off the Jetta. What kind of tree is it?

[Jsuro]

You said you used the orange HT pad with Powerfinish but you still have RIDs. I'm guessing the Powerfinish is not finishing down well enough. Maybe you should try the Final Finish with the orange pad again and see how that works out. I haven't worked with Hydrotech pads, so this is kind of a shot in the dark for me, but going with a polish that finishes down better seemed like a logical step.

BTW, that's a very nice tree with red flowers reflecting off the Jetta. What kind of tree is it?

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried the Final Finish first and it didn't make much of a dent. Beings this was my first time doing this I did not want to force the issue so I left the RIDs alone after a second pass with Power Finish. Maybe a Cyan pad would work better? The HT pads seem to finish really well but I did see some very slight holograms when I took the car out in the Sun, only on the hood though, and only on the top right corner where I applied the PF twice. Can't really see them unless you look really close though and they are invisible in all other light.

The tree is really a bush that we are trying to grow into a tree :). It's a Bougainvillea. We've had it for over ten years! It needs no water (actually prefers that) and comes back from the cold nicely.

Thanks again,

Jose

[RTexasF]

I've never heard of a new car with factory paint that wasn't cured allowing moisture to intrude below the clear. Is this a VW thing? Fixed with a blow dryer/heat? That would have never occurred to me, never.

Beautiful color and excellent work to make it so. Taught daughter how to check oil, etc?

[sparkie]

Awesome Job....Great pics too...:dblthumb2:

[burgundyman]

Nice job. Did you have any SIP to try?

[Jsuro]

I've never heard of a new car with factory paint that wasn't cured allowing moisture to intrude below the clear. Is this a VW thing? Fixed with a blow dryer/heat? That would have never occurred to me, never.

Beautiful color and excellent work to make it so. Taught daughter how to check oil, etc?

Thanks! This was a very weird thing and I did find more than one instance where the same thing had happened, but only to BMWs. And, in some instances if the car was allowed to sit outside in the heat for a long while - days or weeks, the spots would come out of the clear coat as well.

The scenario that the paint shop manager gave to me was that in some of these plants the paint ovens go over 400 degrees and are gas fired. If for any reason the gas shuts off, if they have to stop the line for example, then some cars might not get a full cure. They don't think that is a huge problem because the cars can cure if they sit out for a number of weeks out in the Sun, but not in winter..... I bought this car on December 23rd.

I made my daughter read the whole manual and then we had a Quiz :).

Thanks again,

Jose

[Jsuro]

Nice job. Did you have any SIP to try?

Unfortunately I didn't :(. Thinking my cars are all well maintained I never thought I would need a heavy polish. Guess I was erring on the side of caution and wasn't counting on the hardness of the clear coat! I will buy some now though! My new BMW X5 is bound to be just as hard.

Best,

Jose

[Jsuro]

great job but just wondering after you polish and put the high gloss sealant, did you put any swirls or scratches to the paint because i find it real hard to do a perfect finish when you are removing some sealant that is hard to remove.

I don't think I follow you but the car had no protection whatsoever after the dealer put it in the paint booth and heated it up. This is the first time I've polished the car.

[cbsb]

[QUOTE=Jsuro;432879]

... Griot Polisher last week, so I was a bit nervous ...

Great job! What size polisher did you get?

After the polish work was done I switched to a crimson HT pad and applied a coat of Klasse AIO. Things were looking even better now - did all the light lenses too ...

How did you apply Klasse AIO to the lenses? Tips?

The AIO was followed by a hand application of Klasse High Gloss Sealant Glaze. I applied it to the whole car before removing it. I’ve done this in the past and even with the utmost of care I still get too much product on and it becomes hard to remove ...

How long did you leave the High Gloss Sealant Glaze on before you stated the removal process?

Really nice,
Chris

[Jsuro]

[QUOTE=Jsuro;432879]

... Griot Polisher last week, so I was a bit nervous ...

Great job! What size polisher did you get?

After the polish work was done I switched to a crimson HT pad and applied a coat of Klasse AIO. Things were looking even better now - did all the light lenses too ...

How did you apply Klasse AIO to the lenses? Tips?

The AIO was followed by a hand application of Klasse High Gloss Sealant Glaze. I applied it to the whole car before removing it. I’ve done this in the past and even with the utmost of care I still get too much product on and it becomes hard to remove ...

How long did you leave the High Gloss Sealant Glaze on before you stated the removal process?

Really nice,
Chris


Thanks Chris!

I used the standard Griot backing plate with the 6.5-inch Hydro-tech pads. This being my first time doing this and the paint being in pretty good shape I did not want to use smaller/thinner pads that supposedly cut even more paint. A few areas, underneath the side mirrors for example, were done by hand because the polisher/pad would not fit in there.

For the lenses I used the same HT Crimson pad I used for the rest of the car. AIO has no cut that I can tell so I just kept going over the lenses when doing the hood and trun areas. No need to tape because this product will not stain anything.

I left the High Gloss Sealant on about 45-minutes to an hour before starting to remove it. It was quite dry by that time.

Thanks again,

Jose