8 hour detail on my car, not totally satisfied.

[Grifftech]

The other day I spent a good 8 hours on my car and got it looking pretty amazing, but I can still see some RIDs and couldn't seem to get them out.

I initially foamed the car with Honeydew with a bit of Glossworkz Gloss Booster in it and let it dwell (pressure washer + MTM Hydro is so awesome!!), rinsed it off, refoamed then 2 bucket hand washed and rinsed. Dried with Master Blaster then clay barred the surface and re-rinsed and dried again. Probably overkill but I wanted a nice pristine surface.

I initally started to polish with Chemical Guys V38 and a White LC CCS pad as I thought I just had some minor halos and swirls. After I did the whole car I still saw a few swirls but mostly RIDs. I switched to V36 and an Orange LC CCS pad and it got some but not all of them.

The paint is on a 2011 Mustang GT, Kona Blue. I am thinking I may have to get the V34 and try that with the Orange Pad and go to the V32 if that doesn't get it all out.

But since I had spent that much time already on the car and I don't have the V34 or V32 on hand, I decided to go ahead and continue on with the detail and will redo in a couple weeks.

So after I got the surface all polished I went with 2 coats of Blacklight with about 30 minutes between coats. While the first coat was curing I meticulously cleaned the rims (gloss black powder coat) and then hit them with JetSeal and let that sit and went back to put another coat of Blacklight on. After I was done with the BL, I buffed out the JetSeal and HOLY CRAP those rims are glossier than I ever thought they would be.

Once done with the BL, I hit the car with V7, man that stuff is awesome. I detailed the interior with CG InnerClean and CG Leather Conditioner.

I cleaned the engine bay up and used V7 on all the plastic and rubber and it looks great!!

All of the exterior trim and tires I used Meguiar's Tire and Gel, that stuff is AMAZING!!! No slinging and it lasts a LONG time.

Yesterday I went out to the garage and gave it a quick qipe down and decided I wanted to top it with the Dodo Juice limited edition Caranuba Egg wax stuff and man does that paint look incredible.

All I can say is I am a CG nut now, I can't wait to try more stuff.

My next project is to wet sand a small area on the front bumper that got scuffed and has some touch up paint on it that doens't look the best.

Will try to get some pics of the car up tonight.

[rider9195]

Sounds successful. Sometimes you will have to live with those RIDS. Even though you notice them, nobody else will! Unless they know what they are looking for.

[cleanmycorolla]

Like the guy above said, RIDS, just deal with them! I guarantee you your ride, is 99.99999% better cared for right now than all those other cars out there! Seeking perfection is hard, so don't get to down. I bet the car looks fantastic, so enjoy it!

[truckbutt]

What I get from the above is a reinforcement of the utility of doing a test area on the car first before moving on to do the rest of the car and being unhappy with the results. I have an '11 black Mustang and the paint is very soft. There isn't anything short of needing a body shop that won't come out with M105 and an orange LC light cutting pad. If you pick a 16x16 section of the worst paint that you have and correct that first by trying different pad and compound combinations, then the rest of the car is easy.

[Grifftech]

What I get from the above is a reinforcement of the utility of doing a test area on the car first before moving on to do the rest of the car and being unhappy with the results. I have an '11 black Mustang and the paint is very soft. There isn't anything short of needing a body shop that won't come out with M105 and an orange LC light cutting pad. If you pick a 16x16 section of the worst paint that you have and correct that first by trying different pad and compound combinations, then the rest of the car is easy.

I will pick up some M105 also

[Blackthorn One]

RIDS are basically something you must learn to live with on a street car. They are very often too deep to polish out without going through the clear. The rids are also camouflaged by the swirls, so when you buff out the swirls, the RIDS stick out like a sore thumb.

[builthatch]

I will pick up some M105 also

imo try optimum sprays instead. i love them - the working time is incredible - you only need a little bit to get going and stay going. and once you get familiar with the product you really can do anything with them - the polish can be relatively aggressive paired with an orange pad or can be used as a finish polish with a no cut pad. the hyper compound is also very flexible. it will destroy wetsand marks or will finish almost LSP ready sometimes, depending on the pad and paint.

as far as RIDS, it really is just a matter of getting most of the light defects out with the least aggressive method possible and then going back over each area to attack the areas with remaining defects. sometimes it's only a matter of a change in pad to one step more aggressive with an additional pass to get rid of those areas. i like this order of operations because it means you are only attacking the areas necessary with the more aggressive method instead of taking all of the paint down to the deepest defects.

[aqcivic]

cant wait to see the pics! Kona Blue is an awesome color!

[Grifftech]

cant wait to see the pics! Kona Blue is an awesome color!

Just got my DSLR back from Nikon for a shutter repair so I will try to get some pics tonight

[Grifftech]

RIDS are basically something you must learn to live with on a street car. They are very often too deep to polish out without going through the clear. The rids are also camouflaged by the swirls, so when you buff out the swirls, the RIDS stick out like a sore thumb.

Yeah, this is my daily driver year round, so I think the condition I have it in after almost 20k miles is pretty darn good.

[RZJZA80]

You know you're a detailer when: you're never totally satisfied with your own work.

[Vegas Transplant]

Do ya think that Leonardo and Michelangelo were content with their masterpieces?

[Grifftech]

Yeah, I noticed the rear deck lid needs some more work. My lighting wasn't the best. I need to get some better lights so I can really see what i am missing. Cause trying to compound during the day in the sun when it is 90+ degrees does not work

[arkus]

Yeah, I noticed the rear deck lid needs some more work. My lighting wasn't the best. I need to get some better lights so I can really see what i am missing. Cause trying to compound during the day in the sun when it is 90+ degrees does not work

In the sun ?

[builthatch]

You know you're a detailer when: you're never totally satisfied with your own work.

i don't know - my problem is i don't stop until i'm completely satisfied with the job, and that is why i don't do this on anything other than a semi-pro "hobby" basis. i can't do something like this NOT to 100% spec.