Camaro project by Northeast Detailing!

[Kristopher1129]

Hey, guys. Just wanted to share a recent project that came through my shop. Some of you may already know part of this story since I had a thread recently about a pair of rims that were sprayed with acid and needed repair.

Anyways, this vehicle is part of that very same project. Long story short...I had a customer bring me a Camaro that was recently detailed by someone else. The customer was willing to pay for another detailing...and I understand why!

Upon viewing the vehicle, it was obvious that there was heavy damage done to his aluminum Chip Foose rims. These were $2,200 rims that this other detailer pretty much ruined. Here are some before shots (I know some of you may have seen these photos already...but this is for the whole detail, and I can't leave it out, ha).

BIG mistake that this other guy made...holy cow, ha.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMAG0148.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMAG01471.jpg

The rims had to be removed cause of the inner damage in the hub as well...
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMAG01501.jpg

So, the rims are what I tackled first. After testing less aggressive methods...I settled on the following:

- Cleaned with Flitz Pre-Clean
- Scrubbed thoroughly with Pre-Clean and Flitz scuff pads
- Compounded with a wool ball and Wolfgang aluminum compound on a drill
- polished time after time with Megs Hot Rim All Metal Polish, a Mothers cone, and polished one more time with a Megs cone and Optimum metal polish
- topped off with Wheel Glaze

Here are the results before they were remounted
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMAG0153.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMAG0154.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMAG0155_1_.jpg

After a final polish, and Wheel Glaze
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMAG0172.jpg


Now, it was on to the actual detailing. The paint was hazy, and full of buffer trails from my buddy the "other guy", as I'm going to call him. Here's a couple of the issues...

Buffer trails, swirls, blah blah blah
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMAG0158.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMAG0160.jpg

Yeah! Way to go "other guy!"
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMAG01621.jpg

He left me some other surprises that I found later on...but didn't get pictures. I had to remove quite a bit of wax inside crevices, off of plastic, etc.

After discussing with the owner...he opted to just go with a simple one step to remove the buffer trails (they were pretty light). Swirls were not really a concern for him, so he didn't want to pay for a correction being that he was already paying me a pretty penny to fix the rims. We also performed a full interior...which was a piece of cake. This car is never driven, so there wasn't much to do...but here it is.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMAG0169.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMAG0170.jpg

My process on the exterior was as follows...

- Foam cannon wash
- Full clay with ONR as a lube
- AIO high speed buff using Malco Glaze II
- Malco Metal polish for all chrome
- UTTG for trim
- Malco Prizm dressing for tires
- Steam cleaner was used to clean up splatter on the grill from "other guy", then dressed with Malco Appeal dressing

Exterior was short and sweet, but provided excellent results within the customers budget. Drum roll please.....

Just a little reminder of those rims, ha. They took me hours and hours!
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMAG0171.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMAG01731.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMAG01761.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMAG01771.jpg

And my favorite photo...
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMAG01781.jpg


So, there she is folks. I really wish the owner would have paid up for a full correction...but I can understand since the rims were pricey. Thanks for looking! :dblthumb2:

[BobbyG]

Kris,

That must have been a treat to work on a classic Camaro. Was the paint original single stage or has it been restored with color / clear?

I can understand how the owner of this car would be upset especially how those wheels were mistreated! I'm glad you were able to repair all the damage done by the other "detailer" and restore this vintage classic to its rightful place...

Superb work once again Kris! :dblthumb2:

[mg6045]

Kris, I found this thread and the other one linked to it to be amazing. It showed that wheels that look like throw away can be fixed. thanks for these threads.

I have been doing a significant amount of testing on metal polish's. pure polish's, aio polish's, and specific metal type polish's.

I have come to the conclusion that Sonus has one of the best full lines of polish's for metal. AS WELL as a great price. Before the Sonus I had my favorite or favorites, but now they sit in the side of my closet.

The sonus polish is not only a chemical cleaner but also a strong diminishing abrasive that can be used effectively by hand, but once you use the machine, these polish's really shine.

check them out,

Sonus Aluminum Restore, aluminum cleaner, metal spray polish, bare aluminum cleaner (http://www.autogeek.net/sonus-aluminum-restore.html)

Sonus Aluminum Polish, metal polish, wheel polish (http://www.autogeek.net/sonus-aluminum-polish.html)

Sonus Aluminum and Chrome Sealant, metal sealant, wheel sealant (http://www.autogeek.net/sonus-chrome-sealant.html)

Sonus broke up the process into 3 steps. I always like when I see a system like this dedicated to a specific material. IMO, most manufacturers dont put a lot of thought into metal products (as most new cars have coated everything, including metals), but Sonus imo leads the category.

Sonus feels that chrome should be treated with a different product, as you can see they have a specific polish for it

Sonus Chrome Polish, metal polish, wheel polish (http://www.autogeek.net/sonus-chrome-polish.html)

For the price of admission I wanted to suggest this system to you. The sealant probably is not necessary to buy as you probably already know that you could use some other protection products on metal that you might already have (ie: rejex), but if you do a ton of work like you did on these wheels, its probably a good investment .

[tuscarora dave]

Kris, you did a fantastic job saving those awesome looking wheels. What a sweet car!!! I love that year of Camaro especially in that color. The car looks great. I bet that is a fun car to drive too.

[Kristopher1129]

Thanks guys! The car has definitely been repainted with clear.

I will have to give those Sonus products a try. I'm always looking for new stuff on metal. I feel the same way as Mg6405. I feel like most metal products are typically made for ALL metals. I can't imagine why they wouldn't target specific metals especially when chrome and uncoated aluminum are completely different. But, the Megs I used worked pretty good...so no complaints about it.

I always seem to have a new metal polish laying around. I pretty much switch between them. I used Optimum Metal Polish for my final polish on those rims. No specific reason...just for kicks, ha.

[Kristopher1129]

Kris, you did a fantastic job saving those awesome looking wheels. What a sweet car!!! I love that year of Camaro especially in that color. The car looks great. I bet that is a fun car to drive too.

It's absolutely fun to drive. One day I was lucky enough to drive this car from the customers house to my shop! I do a lot of work for this customer so he obviously trusts me. :dblthumb2:

[IOMCAMARO]

Omg what year is that? 72? 73? We have my mom's first car still and it is a 1973 full bumper just like that. Same spoiler and everything. It has a small block 350 in it. It is ss painted red. :props: My favorite body styles for Camaros is the new ones, 66-69, and 70-73. In 74 they got rid of the chrome bumpers and the looks went downhill from their IMO.

[Kristopher1129]

Omg what year is that? 72? 73? We have my mom's first car still and it is a 1973 full bumper just like that. Same spoiler and everything. It has a small block 350 in it. It is ss painted red. :props: My favorite body styles for Camaros is the new ones, 66-69, and 70-73. In 74 they got rid of the chrome bumpers and the looks went downhill from their IMO.

I'm really not sure actually. It was debated back and forth a few times while it was in there. I forgot to actually ask what year it was...oops, ha.

Another cool thing about this car, is that the owner actually has the original motor in a crate with 233 miles on it!!! Unreal that someone would even think to do that back in the day. But, he told me he used to race quite a bit...so I assume the engine was replaced with a bigger one, which resulted in the original just sitting in a crate till even today. Crazy!