2002 Camaro SS Coated

[The Guz]

Well this is my personal car. Before I go on to the photos I would like to give a little background story about this car.

I am technically the third owner. The first owner was a car collector who had this car in his personal collection. He passed away and the second owner picked it up at a car auction and then I purchased it.

When I purchased it, the odometer read 3,000 miles. I could not pass the deal and low mileage. I have had it for about 10 years and it's currently sitting at 14,XXX miles. This is the garage queen as they say.

I've made some changes throughout the years. It has the full hotchkis suspension (sway bars, lowering springs, trailing arms, front strut bar), koni single adjustable shocks, 35th anniversary wheels and an original rear center lip with a Magnaflow cat back exhaust that I modified to be center mount. I only have an intake, exhaust and a tune. I don't want to go all out crazy with the engine mods. This is as far as I am going with those.

It's been about a year and half since I last did any sort of paint correction/polishing. Since it sits in the garage a lot more the paint stays clean and LSP just lasts. A year and a half ago I used M21/M26 and there was still something on the paint with maybe a spray wax here and there.

Onto the detail specifics.

This is what I used:

Wash: Adams New Car Shampoo, Meguiar's Wash Mitt

Paint Decon: Ironx, Clay, D155 clay lube

Wheels: Adams New Car Shampoo, various brushes

Tires: Meguiar's D143, Blackfire Total Eclipse Tire Gel

Polish: M205 with a Meguiar's thin yellow polishing pad, D302 with a foam finishing pad

Coating: Ameriarmour by Americana Car Care

Tools: Meguiar's MT300 (died in the middle of polishing), PC7424XP

I started off by using Mike Philips wash method. It is not the first time I used it and it won't be the last. It just saves time. Here's the link to that. Helps if one has a foam gun.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...shing-car.html (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/86146-aggressive-approach-washing-car.html)

Here's ironx at work on the rear bumper

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/IMG_3963a.jpg

The one issue that this car has is the typical sail panel adhesive issue. The adhesive seeps through from under the panel. GM no longer replaces the panel under the TSB. Repainting it will not fix it. The only real fix is replacing the panel with one from a 93-97 model. In the heat the adhesive starts to melt and stains the surrounding area. It becomes an eye sore.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/IMG_3977a.jpg

The paint looked pretty good with very minor defects or love marks. It was a bit hard to capture them but they were easily polished out.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/IMG_3990a.jpg

This is the combo I used. M205 on a Meguiar's yellow thin polishing pad and D302 on a black thin finishing pad. I have always been curious about using D302 on a foam finishing pad as it was talked about so long ago on the Meguiar's forum. I wanted to see if I could amp up the gloss and refine the finish even more.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/IMG_3983a.jpg

I was using my Meguiar's MT300 at the beginning and as I was using it for a better part on the front end, it started bogging down and eventually stopped working with the trigger in the on position while on the drivers side fender. Turns out the cord is causing the machine to not operate properly (I have a thread on this if you search under my name). I was bummed as I had only used it on 3 cars and 1 truck prior to this one. It's a good machine when it's working properly. I had to resort to plan B and use my PC7424XP. It's a good thing I had it as a back up.

I do have to say the new thin pads work very well with the PC. It utilizes it's power more efficiently. I was impressed with the results I was getting. It took a little longer but the PC was a workhorse and got the job done.

I followed up polishing with Car Pro Eraser and 2 coats of Ameriarmour.

Sun shot of the corrected paint.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/DSC_0475a.jpg

Here are a few reflection shots in the garage after it was coated.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/DSC_0465a.jpg

The passenger side of the sail panel with more bubbling. No more adhesive residue.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/IMG_4008a.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/DSC_0434a1.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/DSC_0426a.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/DSC_0432a.jpg


Pulled the car outside and took some various photos. There is no flake in this paint.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/IMG_4025a.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/DSC_0481a.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/DSC_0472a.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/DSC_0466a.jpg

Various gloss shots. Not bad considering it's white.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/DSC_0487a.jpg


http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/DSC_0476a.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/DSC_0467a.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/DSC_0461a.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/DSC_0458a.jpg

Tires dressed with Blackfire Total Eclipse

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/DSC_0450a.jpg

With the engine bay so clean I just used Blackfire All In One Trim & Tire Protectant

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2399/DSC_0494a.jpg

[Sizzle Chest]

Very nice F body!!!

[SeanChav]

BEAUTIFUL!!!.... oh my the things I would do with that car :)

[sumeri28]

Great Job dude! Awesome car

[Marc08EX]

Great job The Guz!!! Your car looks stunning! Mileage is extremely low so I'm sure she's pristine!

[The Guz]

Very nice F body!!!

Thanks.


BEAUTIFUL!!!.... oh my the things I would do with that car :)

Hehe thanks.


Great Job dude! Awesome car

Thanks


Great job The Guz!!! Your car looks stunning! Mileage is extremely low so I'm sure she's pristine!

Thanks. I'm keeping it pristine inside and out.

[fly07sti]

Very nice. Looks better than new!

[davey g-force]

Looking very sharp Mike! :xyxthumbs:

[The Guz]

Very nice. Looks better than new!

Thanks


Looking very sharp Mike! :xyxthumbs:

Thanks

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Your 4th gen looks incredible! Well done!

Is that the SLP Loud Mouth system?

[The Guz]

Your 4th gen looks incredible! Well done!

Is that the SLP Loud Mouth system?

Thanks. It's actually a full Magnaflow cat back exhaust that I had converted to the center mount style. The tips aren't OEM but I am on the hunt for some OEM tips.

[KMG]

Great job man, the SS looks killer! I love the CME on those. Keep up the good work.

[Every_detail]

Looks great! how do you like that coating? Thinking of trying it out on one of my vehicles.

[Jaretr1]

Nice car. I am a little biased towards the 4th Gens myself.

When I polished mine, I found the paint to be super hard. There is only so much that can be done to white, but it looks great!

Here's mine, a 97 with 18k miles:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMAG0442.jpg

[noslef]

I think the last time I saw one of those was almost 9 years ago! You are doing a great job taking care of it. Do you think it will eventually reach collector car status?