cardaddy
12-15-2013, 07:08 PM
Y’all know I’m not one to put up photos of correction jobs, more like just when it’s something I had trouble with. That trouble doesn’t have to be the paint itself…. Could just be having a bad day. :dunno: In any event, this is indeed a correction thread. Not sure I wanted to put it in “show and shine” as to me (at least) it’s more “detailing 101”. IOW’s, it’s what the PROFESSIONAL’S SHOULD HAVE DONE, JOB 101.
This little car a 2012 Mazdaspeed 3 “Hot Hatch” (as they call them in Great Britain) in Black Mica. Snappy driving little turbo car with a ton of torque steer! Which if you ask me is EXACTLY how his Father ended up wrecking the little sucker. (See below for the “wrecking” part.) :rolleyes:
The owner is a regular customer, first time I did any correction on it was about 8 months or so ago, (my old brain really doesn’t remember). :laughing: Back then it was just your basic swirls and he was looking for an AIO solution, something he could keep up with. Especially as it’s his daily driver. He was interested in learning proper washing techniques, 2BM and so on. Did a thorough walk around in good sunlight, along with my trusty Brinkmann and pointed out his problems and what possible solutions we could come up with. Overall it really wasn’t all *that* bad, certainly I’ve/we’ve seen worse. With that, I figured it’d be easy enough to give him an 85%~90% solution inside of a good days work and get it in and out.
Ended up doing D300 for the most part, with a little Megs UP right quick and topped it with M21 2.0 which turned out awesome. Next day, after curing overnight, I went to his place (they own a local oil change shop) and showed him how to go over it with Megs UQD, as he can get that next door (Advance Auto Parts). Also gave him a couple ounces of Collinite 845 for his wheels and told him to have at it.
That was then, and this is now. In between it’s been back in for a little refresher wash with a light Nanoskin treatment and topped with a bit more sealant but that’s about it. (Honestly I don’t remember what sealant I put on it that time, I’m thinking it was a sample bottle of either BFWD All Finish Paint Protection or WGDGPS.) :dunno:
Then not long after the last ‘refresher’ his father was driving, left the road and took out a telephone pole! :eek: Front end, entire right side and back bumper cover all replaced. It was in the shop something like 6~7 weeks to the tune of $12K+ in body work!!!
Once he FINALLY got it back he had me come inspect it. OMG… where do we start? :rolleyes:
The good part, yeah that’s it. The replaced the hood and bumper cover, not with a crappy LKQ knock-off part but a crash part. That’s both good and bad. The good, really good in this instance is being real Mazda parts they FIT! Then they were both the SAME color as his so they basically didn’t repaint them. They color blended and shot clear over them for the most part, especially the hood. The bumper cover was partially painted though. The rear bumper cover was repaired and painted.
So that’s the good part. Now the bad; Orange peel was horrific! No worries about it not having enough paint on it, far from it. That puppy had some darned paint on it, good golly! Being as the shop manager I’ve known for years I made some phone calls for the kid and told him how bad it was. Remember when I said this was what the professionals should have done? That’s because the shop is a well respected group of dealerships. Here in Atlanta they sell Buick, Cadillac, GMC, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda, Porsche and Rolls (just off the top of my head). Actually they own a ton of different dealerships not just around Atlanta, and sell most everything you can think of. In any event, the paint *job* itself wasn’t a problem. No trash to speak of, NONE and I’ve freaking LOOKED! Two very minute runs at the edges of body panels and that was it. But OMG at the orange peel on the repaired side.
So with my help we called the shop manager, took it up there and they fixed all the orange peel. I told him once it was cured we would take another look at it and for winter we needed to get it sealed up. Since then the PBL coatings have come out and he decided he wanted that instead. So…. I was waiting for the paint to cure and we ended up the last month plus turning into monsoon season. Heck up until a couple of days ago it rained for NINE DAYS STRAIGHT! :rolleyes:
So Wednesday afternoon I went by his shop to see if he was ready, (raining again this weekend). Told him I could come get it Thursday morning and knock it out, giving it time to cure before we had any rain come Saturday. Problem is…. It was getting dark and it hadn’t been washed in 2+ weeks with all the rain.
Ladies and gentlemen I stand before you humbled, embarrassed, and swearing before all things shiny and slick that I’ll NEVER tell someone I’ll turn around a coating job in a single day again on a NEW PAINT JOB that I’ve not seen in bright sunlight, and before it has been washed, while covered up under 2 weeks of rain driven road sludge!
While the body shop had indeed smoothed out the right side and removed the orange peel, they hid their work with good old fashioned 3M glaze! :doh:
I’d not seen the car in over a month, and it looked fairly good last time I saw it, nice and shiny to say the least. :) Now OTOH it was covered in more freaking buffer trails and holograms than one car should even be able to carry around at one time! Holy sweet Jesus, it was just amazing. Hood was almost burned through next to the LF headlight, buffer trails everywhere, and the right side looked like a drunken zebra going down the road.
But oh boy…. It gets even better. How you ask?
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_01906.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69259)
What was under the holograms? Where do I start…. RIDS, lots and lots of RIDS. Along with their fair share of swirls. Really there was an amazing amount of swirls that the shop managed to instill into the freshly painted surface, I'm assuming when it was back at the shop. :dunno: And now that the paint is dried and cured a bit more, there are some ever so slight sanding marks on the passenger door, but you have to REALLY be looking to even find them.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_01913.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69260)
And of course the “crash parts”..... the used hood and front bumper… they were covered in massive and severe swirls that were never buffed out in the first place! They (of course) just glazed over all that!
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_01996.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69267)
Come to find out after I got it home.... the ENTIRE LEFT SIDE was covered in clear overspray. Are you freaking KIDDING ME!?!?! OMG it really doesn’t get any better now. Rear bumper cover, more swirls of course. Thank the good Lord that they didn’t paint the roof. That was the ONLY part that was anywhere near the way I left it back in early summer. Minimal swirls and for some reason, it wasn’t eat up with overspray.
There is only one more thing, and these are something he’s going to have to go back to the shop with. Still has tape lines/overspray in the door jambs, not my problem. (As in I'm not getting paid to remove all that.) I did some work on them but there is only so much freaking work I’m going to give away.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02034.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69270)Oh, and he also decided he wanted the glass coated whilst we were at it. :D Might as well do the wheels at this point! :laughing:
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02143.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69278)
So, as I now stand humbled by my bumbling around Wednesday night in the dark thinking to myself, (after seeing it the day he brought it back all nice, slick, and buttery smooth covered in glaze) that I’d be able to knock it down with 205 right quick…. I AM A BEATEN MAN! :laughing:
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02174.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69280)
My last recollection of it was that it may be a 1.5 step where I changed out the pads from say cutting (orange) to less (white, green, blue) or whatever just to get the worst spots then finish it on down. WR----OOOO-N-G! :eek:
But how did it turn out we may wonder? And this is why I tend not to post threads like this. I’m in too much pain that’s why! ;)
By now surely the most of you are screaming at your computer screens, saying things like “How stupid is our cardaddy?”, and “Why didn’t he just do the AIO, or 1.5 like he planned?”.
Well guys (and you too Monica) ;) y’all know by now that I’m not going to let that pass. I still do this for MY enjoyment. Sure I am NOT going in the hole doing it, but I’m far from getting rich, that’s for sure. (Remember I *AM* retired after all!) :)
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02204.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69283)
So you’re saying by now; “My God man, what did you do? Get on with it!”. ;)
And I will. But do remember that I did looooooooooong ago contact the owner with the photos both during and after washing letting him know how bad it really was. He had already told me “Do what you must, PLEASE”. So yes, I had the go-ahead to make it happen. Even though it’s a daily driver, he wanted, and expected AT LEAST 90%+ correction. (Which to me turns into of course, 95%+, and on this one is every bit that and then some.)
That out of the way….. What *we* ended up with, (my wife and I… as she took off from Thursday till Tuesday next week) was of course doing the wheels first. Then snow foamed, clayed and Nanoskinned the entire thing. (That’s when I found the overspray all over the left side.)
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02233.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69285)
I knew the OEM paint from before, and that it’d do GREAT with D300 and the MF pad so figured that’d be a good start. Just wasn’t doing enough, fast enough, (and my old compressor took a dump on me, leaving me with a little pancake compressor that spends more time running than pushing out air when cleaning Microfiber pads. Sure it’d work on the left side, (WITHOUT ALL THE OVERSPRAY perhaps) but the right is no longer OEM so I played around a bit more. Ended up, orange pads and 101…. lots and lots of orange pads. ;)
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02264.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69286)
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02345.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69289)
Honestly the D300 knocked the trails/holograms down REALLY quickly, (on the right side) but that darned crash part hood and front bumper were so freaking swirled out that 101 was the only way to go. Where is that new Duetto when I needed it? (Are you listening honey, wife, family??????) :D
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02393.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69290)
What was killing me was the DISO’s, right? Nope…. not DISO's.... Body Shop Instilled Random Isolated Deep Scratches “BSIRIDS” combined with LOADS of swirls of course!
The good part was once I finally got it all done with 101 it was much closer to 95% and honestly I should have stopped long before that. However this kid is a good customer, his dad is a customer, and his siblings are coming on as customers (with his sisters Mini scheduled for a Christmas present). That and I just like the kid.
We started working on it at/around 12:00 noon Thursday. Rain was coming in Friday night and all the freaking PBL coatings need 12 hours cure time. ESPECIALLY in these low temps!
No doubt 205 was next, and actually once all the 101 was done I got the wife back out in the garage to start pulling tape off. I’d already finished the roof and pillars, rear spoiler, along with the glass all around. Got her to pulling tape and off I went with the 205 and a green CCS. Yes… a GREEN CCS was plenty to get it where it needed to be. Wanted to use a white flat or CCS but tried green first and low-and-behold it worked! Remember boys and girls, “work backwards” and “do as little as possible”. :)
But wanna’ know what time it was when all that started happening? I honestly don’t freaking know!
He came by around 8:30 and we grabbed a quick taco/burrito the wife and daughter had run to get. Then he inspected where we were, and how it was going. Shortly afterwards I handed him the keys to my wife’s Denali so he had a way home and we went back to it. I know we went for freaking EVER. Normally I’d spend two days, take my time and that would be that. But we had rain coming and needed it to sit as long in my heated garage as possible to cure. If I’d finished it Friday he wouldn’t have picked it up till late and that just wouldn’t work.
By the time I was wrapping up Friday morning the SUN was already up! This was 19 hours after we started! Not all of them my wife helped, but 8+ she was doing something. Lots of taping, wheels, washing, jambs, (and we didn’t even do the interior). How many threads have we had on whether the jambs are part of an interior or an exterior detail? :laughing: Either way, I'm doing them!
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02442.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69292)
The one thing about the entire PBL system that I, we, haven’t gotten an answer to, (other than it’s a synergy thing) is using one product versus another to prep and clean the paint prior to PBL Paint Coating. The “synergy” crowd would fall to using the PBL Surface Cleansing Polish. I’ve used it before, and didn’t want to take a chance with all this freaking work, but it is a ROYAL PITA to remove! When you’ve used IPA, Eraser or the like... this stuff is tricky. I mentioned in another thread that I started using the Wolfgang Polish-n-Wax applicator for the PBL Surface Polish. I use the black side for application and I feel it’s softer than the cheap yellow ones, (provided with the kit) but uses less product when doing so than say if you do it by machine (with a black pad). Plus it allows you to apply with one hand (and if you need to) remove with another. IMHO this ‘polish’ is way too hard to remove if it dries AT ALL! You REALLY have to be on the ball with it, and remove it both quickly and carefully. Not a bad idea to have a bottle of IPA or Eraser on hand for some areas. Jus’ sayin’…. In any event, my beautiful and fastidious wife applied and removed the PBL Paint Cleansing Polish to every square inch of this vehicle. :)
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02503.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69296)
Next, and FINALLY by the Grace of God it was time. Time to coat the entire exterior with PBL paint coating. All the glass was done with PBL class coating. Wheels, PBL wheel coating (spokes only at this point, they’ll be coming off next week for a REAL cleaning and coating). Jambs around the hood, doors, lift gate (WGDGLS). All the trim, rubber & plastic - UTTGP. Tires - OptiCoat.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02544.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69305)
Something tells me it takes as long to read this one as it did me to actually do it! :laughing: Did we go in the hole doing it? Not really. The way I put it to an old school buddy of mine that has known us both since we were teenagers; She (the wife) made $14.71 per hour for her work (which is about 26% of what she normally makes). And I can live with what I got out of it if need be. ;) Would I drop 25+ man hours into another one? Well DUH, that’s why I do this after all! Will I do it NON FREAKING STOP (19 straight)? Not going to happen! Doesn’t pay well enough! :rolleyes:
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02613.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69312)
So without any further adieu, I’ll get on to a whole boatload of photos. :)
They’ll be pretty self explanatory. From the first washing you’ll see the bugs, buffer trails and holograms. Moving through you’ll see, (what I hope is) a major improvement as we go. ;) The end results speak for themselves.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02554.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69306)
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02564.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69307)
Not that PBL would look as good without a TON of prep work underneath. Especially as bad as this was going in. But even my wife couldn’t believe how the PBL coating changed the ‘look’. Even though I've put it on part of her Denali already as a 'test', just not the part that she looks at. ;) FWIW she usually sees sealants, a LOT of sealants, WOWO to WOWA and this was her first prep on *this* coating. But I can tell ya’ ladies and gents, given the chance to work with my girl again, we’ll sure jump on another one. Just won’t be staying up all freaking night doing it!
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02574.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69308)
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02584.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69309)
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02604.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69311)
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02663.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69317)
This little car a 2012 Mazdaspeed 3 “Hot Hatch” (as they call them in Great Britain) in Black Mica. Snappy driving little turbo car with a ton of torque steer! Which if you ask me is EXACTLY how his Father ended up wrecking the little sucker. (See below for the “wrecking” part.) :rolleyes:
The owner is a regular customer, first time I did any correction on it was about 8 months or so ago, (my old brain really doesn’t remember). :laughing: Back then it was just your basic swirls and he was looking for an AIO solution, something he could keep up with. Especially as it’s his daily driver. He was interested in learning proper washing techniques, 2BM and so on. Did a thorough walk around in good sunlight, along with my trusty Brinkmann and pointed out his problems and what possible solutions we could come up with. Overall it really wasn’t all *that* bad, certainly I’ve/we’ve seen worse. With that, I figured it’d be easy enough to give him an 85%~90% solution inside of a good days work and get it in and out.
Ended up doing D300 for the most part, with a little Megs UP right quick and topped it with M21 2.0 which turned out awesome. Next day, after curing overnight, I went to his place (they own a local oil change shop) and showed him how to go over it with Megs UQD, as he can get that next door (Advance Auto Parts). Also gave him a couple ounces of Collinite 845 for his wheels and told him to have at it.
That was then, and this is now. In between it’s been back in for a little refresher wash with a light Nanoskin treatment and topped with a bit more sealant but that’s about it. (Honestly I don’t remember what sealant I put on it that time, I’m thinking it was a sample bottle of either BFWD All Finish Paint Protection or WGDGPS.) :dunno:
Then not long after the last ‘refresher’ his father was driving, left the road and took out a telephone pole! :eek: Front end, entire right side and back bumper cover all replaced. It was in the shop something like 6~7 weeks to the tune of $12K+ in body work!!!
Once he FINALLY got it back he had me come inspect it. OMG… where do we start? :rolleyes:
The good part, yeah that’s it. The replaced the hood and bumper cover, not with a crappy LKQ knock-off part but a crash part. That’s both good and bad. The good, really good in this instance is being real Mazda parts they FIT! Then they were both the SAME color as his so they basically didn’t repaint them. They color blended and shot clear over them for the most part, especially the hood. The bumper cover was partially painted though. The rear bumper cover was repaired and painted.
So that’s the good part. Now the bad; Orange peel was horrific! No worries about it not having enough paint on it, far from it. That puppy had some darned paint on it, good golly! Being as the shop manager I’ve known for years I made some phone calls for the kid and told him how bad it was. Remember when I said this was what the professionals should have done? That’s because the shop is a well respected group of dealerships. Here in Atlanta they sell Buick, Cadillac, GMC, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda, Porsche and Rolls (just off the top of my head). Actually they own a ton of different dealerships not just around Atlanta, and sell most everything you can think of. In any event, the paint *job* itself wasn’t a problem. No trash to speak of, NONE and I’ve freaking LOOKED! Two very minute runs at the edges of body panels and that was it. But OMG at the orange peel on the repaired side.
So with my help we called the shop manager, took it up there and they fixed all the orange peel. I told him once it was cured we would take another look at it and for winter we needed to get it sealed up. Since then the PBL coatings have come out and he decided he wanted that instead. So…. I was waiting for the paint to cure and we ended up the last month plus turning into monsoon season. Heck up until a couple of days ago it rained for NINE DAYS STRAIGHT! :rolleyes:
So Wednesday afternoon I went by his shop to see if he was ready, (raining again this weekend). Told him I could come get it Thursday morning and knock it out, giving it time to cure before we had any rain come Saturday. Problem is…. It was getting dark and it hadn’t been washed in 2+ weeks with all the rain.
Ladies and gentlemen I stand before you humbled, embarrassed, and swearing before all things shiny and slick that I’ll NEVER tell someone I’ll turn around a coating job in a single day again on a NEW PAINT JOB that I’ve not seen in bright sunlight, and before it has been washed, while covered up under 2 weeks of rain driven road sludge!
While the body shop had indeed smoothed out the right side and removed the orange peel, they hid their work with good old fashioned 3M glaze! :doh:
I’d not seen the car in over a month, and it looked fairly good last time I saw it, nice and shiny to say the least. :) Now OTOH it was covered in more freaking buffer trails and holograms than one car should even be able to carry around at one time! Holy sweet Jesus, it was just amazing. Hood was almost burned through next to the LF headlight, buffer trails everywhere, and the right side looked like a drunken zebra going down the road.
But oh boy…. It gets even better. How you ask?
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_01906.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69259)
What was under the holograms? Where do I start…. RIDS, lots and lots of RIDS. Along with their fair share of swirls. Really there was an amazing amount of swirls that the shop managed to instill into the freshly painted surface, I'm assuming when it was back at the shop. :dunno: And now that the paint is dried and cured a bit more, there are some ever so slight sanding marks on the passenger door, but you have to REALLY be looking to even find them.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_01913.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69260)
And of course the “crash parts”..... the used hood and front bumper… they were covered in massive and severe swirls that were never buffed out in the first place! They (of course) just glazed over all that!
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_01996.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69267)
Come to find out after I got it home.... the ENTIRE LEFT SIDE was covered in clear overspray. Are you freaking KIDDING ME!?!?! OMG it really doesn’t get any better now. Rear bumper cover, more swirls of course. Thank the good Lord that they didn’t paint the roof. That was the ONLY part that was anywhere near the way I left it back in early summer. Minimal swirls and for some reason, it wasn’t eat up with overspray.
There is only one more thing, and these are something he’s going to have to go back to the shop with. Still has tape lines/overspray in the door jambs, not my problem. (As in I'm not getting paid to remove all that.) I did some work on them but there is only so much freaking work I’m going to give away.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02034.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69270)Oh, and he also decided he wanted the glass coated whilst we were at it. :D Might as well do the wheels at this point! :laughing:
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02143.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69278)
So, as I now stand humbled by my bumbling around Wednesday night in the dark thinking to myself, (after seeing it the day he brought it back all nice, slick, and buttery smooth covered in glaze) that I’d be able to knock it down with 205 right quick…. I AM A BEATEN MAN! :laughing:
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02174.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69280)
My last recollection of it was that it may be a 1.5 step where I changed out the pads from say cutting (orange) to less (white, green, blue) or whatever just to get the worst spots then finish it on down. WR----OOOO-N-G! :eek:
But how did it turn out we may wonder? And this is why I tend not to post threads like this. I’m in too much pain that’s why! ;)
By now surely the most of you are screaming at your computer screens, saying things like “How stupid is our cardaddy?”, and “Why didn’t he just do the AIO, or 1.5 like he planned?”.
Well guys (and you too Monica) ;) y’all know by now that I’m not going to let that pass. I still do this for MY enjoyment. Sure I am NOT going in the hole doing it, but I’m far from getting rich, that’s for sure. (Remember I *AM* retired after all!) :)
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02204.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69283)
So you’re saying by now; “My God man, what did you do? Get on with it!”. ;)
And I will. But do remember that I did looooooooooong ago contact the owner with the photos both during and after washing letting him know how bad it really was. He had already told me “Do what you must, PLEASE”. So yes, I had the go-ahead to make it happen. Even though it’s a daily driver, he wanted, and expected AT LEAST 90%+ correction. (Which to me turns into of course, 95%+, and on this one is every bit that and then some.)
That out of the way….. What *we* ended up with, (my wife and I… as she took off from Thursday till Tuesday next week) was of course doing the wheels first. Then snow foamed, clayed and Nanoskinned the entire thing. (That’s when I found the overspray all over the left side.)
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02233.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69285)
I knew the OEM paint from before, and that it’d do GREAT with D300 and the MF pad so figured that’d be a good start. Just wasn’t doing enough, fast enough, (and my old compressor took a dump on me, leaving me with a little pancake compressor that spends more time running than pushing out air when cleaning Microfiber pads. Sure it’d work on the left side, (WITHOUT ALL THE OVERSPRAY perhaps) but the right is no longer OEM so I played around a bit more. Ended up, orange pads and 101…. lots and lots of orange pads. ;)
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02264.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69286)
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/2193/IMG_02345.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/69289)
Honestly the D300 knocked the trails/holograms down REALLY quickly, (on the right side) but that darned crash part hood and front bumper were so freaking swirled out that 101 was the only way to go. Where is that new Duetto when I needed it? (Are you listening honey, wife, family??????) :D
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What was killing me was the DISO’s, right? Nope…. not DISO's.... Body Shop Instilled Random Isolated Deep Scratches “BSIRIDS” combined with LOADS of swirls of course!
The good part was once I finally got it all done with 101 it was much closer to 95% and honestly I should have stopped long before that. However this kid is a good customer, his dad is a customer, and his siblings are coming on as customers (with his sisters Mini scheduled for a Christmas present). That and I just like the kid.
We started working on it at/around 12:00 noon Thursday. Rain was coming in Friday night and all the freaking PBL coatings need 12 hours cure time. ESPECIALLY in these low temps!
No doubt 205 was next, and actually once all the 101 was done I got the wife back out in the garage to start pulling tape off. I’d already finished the roof and pillars, rear spoiler, along with the glass all around. Got her to pulling tape and off I went with the 205 and a green CCS. Yes… a GREEN CCS was plenty to get it where it needed to be. Wanted to use a white flat or CCS but tried green first and low-and-behold it worked! Remember boys and girls, “work backwards” and “do as little as possible”. :)
But wanna’ know what time it was when all that started happening? I honestly don’t freaking know!
He came by around 8:30 and we grabbed a quick taco/burrito the wife and daughter had run to get. Then he inspected where we were, and how it was going. Shortly afterwards I handed him the keys to my wife’s Denali so he had a way home and we went back to it. I know we went for freaking EVER. Normally I’d spend two days, take my time and that would be that. But we had rain coming and needed it to sit as long in my heated garage as possible to cure. If I’d finished it Friday he wouldn’t have picked it up till late and that just wouldn’t work.
By the time I was wrapping up Friday morning the SUN was already up! This was 19 hours after we started! Not all of them my wife helped, but 8+ she was doing something. Lots of taping, wheels, washing, jambs, (and we didn’t even do the interior). How many threads have we had on whether the jambs are part of an interior or an exterior detail? :laughing: Either way, I'm doing them!
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The one thing about the entire PBL system that I, we, haven’t gotten an answer to, (other than it’s a synergy thing) is using one product versus another to prep and clean the paint prior to PBL Paint Coating. The “synergy” crowd would fall to using the PBL Surface Cleansing Polish. I’ve used it before, and didn’t want to take a chance with all this freaking work, but it is a ROYAL PITA to remove! When you’ve used IPA, Eraser or the like... this stuff is tricky. I mentioned in another thread that I started using the Wolfgang Polish-n-Wax applicator for the PBL Surface Polish. I use the black side for application and I feel it’s softer than the cheap yellow ones, (provided with the kit) but uses less product when doing so than say if you do it by machine (with a black pad). Plus it allows you to apply with one hand (and if you need to) remove with another. IMHO this ‘polish’ is way too hard to remove if it dries AT ALL! You REALLY have to be on the ball with it, and remove it both quickly and carefully. Not a bad idea to have a bottle of IPA or Eraser on hand for some areas. Jus’ sayin’…. In any event, my beautiful and fastidious wife applied and removed the PBL Paint Cleansing Polish to every square inch of this vehicle. :)
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Next, and FINALLY by the Grace of God it was time. Time to coat the entire exterior with PBL paint coating. All the glass was done with PBL class coating. Wheels, PBL wheel coating (spokes only at this point, they’ll be coming off next week for a REAL cleaning and coating). Jambs around the hood, doors, lift gate (WGDGLS). All the trim, rubber & plastic - UTTGP. Tires - OptiCoat.
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Something tells me it takes as long to read this one as it did me to actually do it! :laughing: Did we go in the hole doing it? Not really. The way I put it to an old school buddy of mine that has known us both since we were teenagers; She (the wife) made $14.71 per hour for her work (which is about 26% of what she normally makes). And I can live with what I got out of it if need be. ;) Would I drop 25+ man hours into another one? Well DUH, that’s why I do this after all! Will I do it NON FREAKING STOP (19 straight)? Not going to happen! Doesn’t pay well enough! :rolleyes:
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So without any further adieu, I’ll get on to a whole boatload of photos. :)
They’ll be pretty self explanatory. From the first washing you’ll see the bugs, buffer trails and holograms. Moving through you’ll see, (what I hope is) a major improvement as we go. ;) The end results speak for themselves.
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Not that PBL would look as good without a TON of prep work underneath. Especially as bad as this was going in. But even my wife couldn’t believe how the PBL coating changed the ‘look’. Even though I've put it on part of her Denali already as a 'test', just not the part that she looks at. ;) FWIW she usually sees sealants, a LOT of sealants, WOWO to WOWA and this was her first prep on *this* coating. But I can tell ya’ ladies and gents, given the chance to work with my girl again, we’ll sure jump on another one. Just won’t be staying up all freaking night doing it!
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