1959 Impala - Mothers Extreme Makeover! - Pictures & Comments

[Mike Phillips]

1959 Impala - Mothers Extreme Makeover! - Pictures & Comments!


Here's the products we used....

• Nanoskin Autoscrub Pads and Towels to mechanically decontaminate the paint using Detailer's Universal Clay Lube.
• Flex PE14 with LC 7.5" Wool Cutting Pads and Mothers Heavy Duty Rubbing Compound
• Flex 3401 with LC 6.5" Black Hybrid Foam Finishing Pads with Mothers Foam Pad Polish
• Porter Cable 7424XP with LC 5.5" Orange Cutting pads with Mothers Rubbing Compound
• Porter Cable 7424XP with LC 5.5" White Polishing pads with Mothers Finishing Polish
• Mothers Synthetic Paste Wax machine applied using Griot's 3" Mini Polisher with 4" Rupes White Foam Finishing Pads.
• Mothers Chrome Polish
• Mothers Glass Polish

Here's what the basecoat/clearcoat finish looked like when this car arrived to Autogeek's garage...

The paint is dull and hazy and this is caused by millions of swirls, scratches and water spots in the clear layer of paint. The hazy clear coat blocks your eyes from seeing the true red color of the base coat.


Bright Sun Light
Swirl finder lights are handy when it's cloudy or dark outside like during the winter. If it is sunny outside, you can use bright overhead sun to inspect the true condition of the paint.



































Flex Swirl Finder Light
The clearcoat finish on this Impala is absolutely horrible as you can see with the new Flex Swirl Finder Light Nick is using....











Shiny but millions of miles away from perfect...
The paint is dull and lifeless due to the mass swirls in the clearcoat. Our goal will be to remove the swirls using Mothers Professional Line of products and create a deep, dark red finish that looks like it just came out of the paint booth.





I think the pictures above have fully docmented the "before" condition of the car.

[Mike Phillips]

First things first and that is we need to mechanically decontaminate the paint to remove whatever the contaminants on it are. Could be overspray paint, could be years of air-borne pollution, could be New York industrial fallout.

To do this we used the Nanoskin Autoscrub towels and pads...


Here's Frank using a 6" Medium Grade NAP on a Porter Cable 7424XP

NAP - Nanoskin Autoscrub Pad



Here's Ray using a NAT on the fenderskirt

NAT = Nanoskin Autoscrub Towel



Here's Matt using a 4" Nanoskin Autoscrub Medium Pad on a Rupes Mini 12




I think Matt was on the 1 speed setting and the pad rotated easily...

[Mike Phillips]

Flex PE14 Rotary Polisher & Mothers Heavy Duty Rubbing Compound
Next it's time to remove the swirls, scratches, water spots and oxidation using Mothers Heavy Duty Rubbing Compound on Lake Country 7.5" 100% Twisted Wool Cutting pads mounted to the Flex PE14 Rotary Polisher.

Both the Mothers Heavy Duty Rubbing Compound and Rubbing Compound cut fast, have a long buffing cycle and very low dusting, (actually didn't see any dusting), plus... EASY WIPE OFF! (my favorite feature when it comes to compounds).

When you feel the compounds between your fingers the first thing you'll notice is there is NO GRITTY FEELING. In fact they feel like Jergans Hand Lotion.




Here's Robert Diterlizzi from Impressions Fine Automotive Detailing working the major gloss panel on car... the hood.

Note: ALWAYS do your best work on the major gloss panels and gloss points as this is what your customer will see as well as judges and attendees at car shows. If you don't know what the major gloss panels and gloss points are, get a copy of my how-to book.

The complete guide to a show car shine


Robert Diterlizzi



Den short for Dennis
Here's Den working the trunk, another major gloss panel. Den recently showed off his hotrod a 1969 GTO that he perfected the paint using Pinnacle polishes and Souveran wax. You can see Den's GTO here.

Back in Black! 1969 GTO!!!




John
John's is the definition of meticulous when machine buffing, every picture I take of John shows him with focused concentration at the task at hand.





Matt
Matt working the Flex PE14 over the passenger side hood. I did some testing in this area before everyone arrived but only with Mothers polishes so there were still plenty of swirls and scratches to remove.







Working the Flex PE14 to get to the paint below the chrome trim ends protruding off the front fender...



Ray
Ray works here at Autogeek in the warehouse and has been dying to get out to the garage for one of our Thursday night projects. Turns out Ray's pretty good at machine buffing!

If you look carefully, Ray is getting ready to pick up a bead of product using the 10 @ 10 Technique. Kind of looks like the 0 at 10 Technique in this picture and if it is he's going to sling splatter all over the place but that's okay. We've all done this before and doing things the wrong way is part of how you learn to do them the right way.

Later, Ray's going to help us cut the oxidation off the 1965 Ford and by then he was picking up his bead of product like a Pro.




Learn how to use the 10 @ 10 Technique
Don't know how to do or use the 10 @ 10 Technique? That's okay, you can learn by clicking the link below.

The 10 @ 10 technique for picking up a bead of product with a rotary buffer




Den and Ray
When we do these cool projects everyone has to work together as a team...




NEW Mothers Rubbing Compound and Finishing Polish
While some of the guys are tackling the upper portions of the Impala with rotary buffers, some of the other guys are going to check out the NEW Mothers Rubbing Compound and Finishing Polish which can be used with dual action polishers.





Here's Ray using the Porter Cable 7424XP with the new Mothers Rubbing Compound to tackle the fender skirts.






Tim
Here's Tim working the lower portions of th driver's door. Tim's been attending our Thursday night classes for a long time now and we even used one of Tim's old 2-door Chevys for a project. Check out Tim's old 2-door Chevy here...

1957 Chevy Extreme Makeover - Pictures & Videos




Josue
Josue drove all the way down from Miami to help with the project. Hosea was very kind to tell me that he learned how to detail cars by reading my articles, watching my how-to videos as well as reading my how-to book on his iPad that he downloaded from the Apple iBookstore.

Said he wanted to learn how to use the rotary buffer first hand and he got plenty of time behind the Flex PE14 last night on the Impala and the 1965 Ford. In this picture he's helping out with the lower panels by compounding them with the PC a foam cutting pad and the Mothers Rubbing Compound.

[Mike Phillips]

Continued...


After the compounding step, the paint looked great! Clear and glossy. But the fibers in the wool pads are also cutters or abrasives and they leave behind their own scratch pattern called holograms.

Next we're going to do three things,

1. Change the action of the tool
We do this by switching over to the Flex 3401 which rotates the pad and oscillates the pad at the same time. This will remove the holograms while squeezing even more shine, gloss and clarity out of the clearcoat finish.

2. Switch to a less aggressive product
We do this by using Mothers Foam Pad Polish. This is a fine cut polish that will remove the holograms left by the wool pad and rotary buffer step.

3. Switch to foam buffing pads
Now that the heavy correction step is behind us it's time to get smooth and soft and for this we're using Lake Country Black Foam Hybrid Finishing Pads, which work great on the factor 5.5" backing plate that comes with the Flex 3401.


Chris
Here's Chris DelGiudice from Auto Cleanse Custom Auto Detailing in ST. Cloud, Florida, (thanks for driving 3 hours to be here with us), using a 5" Hybrid pad on the Flex 3401.




Here's Ray also using the 5" Hybrid pad on the Flex 3401...




Den
Here's Den using the 6.5" Hybrid pad on the Flex 3401...




Josue
Here's Josue working the Flex 3401 to maximize the gloss and clarity of the clearcoat on the hood.










John
John's on the tall side and that's why you see him in so many of our projects tackling the roof of our project cars. Thanks John!






Chris working the sides of the car...




John working the sides of the car...






Look at how wet and glossy the paint is starting to look!





Check Ray out as he works the underside of the Bat Wing Fins iconic to the 1959 Impala...








Steven
Here's Steven working the passenger side of the Impala. Steven also works in the warehouse but not for long as he's been accepted at the Police Academy and will be leaving for school soon.

Steven has helped us out on a number of car projects in the past and is very good at machine polishing.

[Mike Phillips]

Continued...


Next up it's time to seal the paint. For this we're going to use the brand new Mothers Synthetic Paste Wax.

I do everything by machine including applying waxes and synthetic sealants, so for this step we're using the Griot's Garage 3" Mini Polisher as a Mini Waxes. It's faster, easier and does a MUCH better job than anyone can ever do by hand.

The pad you see is a very soft Rupes 4" white foam finishing pad which fits perfectly on the factory backing plate on the Griot's Garage polisher.





This works so well....

Simply place the face of the pad in the wax can with LIGHT pressure as the wax is very soft. Next blip the on/off switch for just a few seconds.




Ready to start machine waxing...








Sealing the paint
The guys are going to lay down a thin, uniform layer of wax and then stop and let the wax dry to a haze.

















The Robert DiTerlizzi Method
This is a technique my buddy Robert shared with me and I like it so much I show it at all my classes and always give him due credit as I don't steal other guys stuff.

After you've done all the hard work the last thing you want to do is to put any swirls or scratches back into the paint. Now I wash all the microfiber towels we use here at the garage myself and I'm very meticulous and careful about the entire washing and drying process because the last thing I want to have happen is for Max to come out here to get a few microfiber towels to work on his cars and have some kind of contaminant in the towel.

That said, before using any microfiber towel it's important to inspect it two ways.

Visually Inspect
First look closely at the towel, especially if the towel has a plush nap and inspect for any type of foreign contaminant that might be lodged in the nap. If discovered either remove the contaminant or get a different towel.

Tactically Inspect
Second, take your clean hand and run it over the face of the towel on both sides. Often times your sense of touch will detect foreign particles or contaminants that your eyes cannot see. If discovered, remove the contaminant or get a different towel.

Do this for each towel. It only takes a few seconds to inspect your towels and it can save you a lot of heartache.






Microfiber Gloves
These are the coolest thing when wiping off waxes, sealants and coatings and I guarantee that once you wear a pair of microfiber gloves while wiping down a car you'll never want to be without them. It's one of those things you have to experience in order to get it.


Hosea wiping off the Mothers Synthetic Paste Wax...




Tim wiping off the Mothers Synthetic Paste Wax...



Chris wiping off the Mothers Synthetic Paste Wax...



That's Paul Grosso of Grosso's Garage, local hot rod builder and custom car fabricator and painter wiping down the Impala...





Teamwork...

[Mike Phillips]

And here are the beauty shots...








Bubble Top
If you've ever heard the term bubble top when referring to a classic car, this is what they are talking about. This is a Bubble Top Impala.








Check out the HUGE back window...




And the HUGE hood.... (actually everything about the car is h-u-g-e)













Time to go...
And here's the owner Ray getting ready to drive the car out of the garage. Note what's on the screen on the wall? It's a picture of the swirls as I jogged his memory to remind him what the paint looked like before we worked on it.









The A Team
And I know Chip Foose has his "A-Team" for rebuilding their car projects but we have our too... fact is local car guys that come to Autogeek on Thursday nights and at my Detailing Boot Camp Classes get to work on the same types of cars you see on Overhaulin. That's the difference though... at Autogeek you get to actually work on them... with Overhaulin you can only watch other guys work on them...

Ray and Steven had to leave early...

From left to right...

John, Josue, Robert, Chris, Den, Tim, Frank




I have some sun shots to add, give me a few mintutes...

[Mike Phillips]

The tools, products, pads etc.

Below are the links to the AG store where you can get everything we used to take this diamond in the rough and turn it into a glistening gemstone.


Autogeek Customer Care - Here to help...
If you like, you can also call our Customer Care Staff as they are all acquainted with the projects we work on here at Autogeek as well as everything we used and they can help you get exactly what you need for your car project.


1-800-869-3011


On Autogeek.net

Flex Power Tools

Mothers Products

Nanoskin Products

Lake Country Pads

Microfiber Products



Sun Shots
It's cloudy outside today but the sun was trying to poke his head out... here's what I got for sun shots...


















I'd love to hear your comments and questions?

[Caleb@ImpeccableImage]

Awesome results! What did you think of the new synthetic paste wax?

[Chris@AutoCleanse]

This classic car made a 360 turnaround. From wool to foam using the mothers product line with excellent results. The mothers synthetic paste wax was easy to spread using the griots 3 inch polisher and even easier to remove. Once again it was a pleasure working with the usual guys and the newer ones. Mike brought in another car that went from average to showcar appearance.

[Mike Phillips]

Awesome results! What did you think of the new synthetic paste wax?

Machine applied very easy but I also did some test spots with it by hand and found the same thing, glides on effortlessly.

Need to let it dry to a haze...

Wipes off really easy and leaves a very slick, glossy finish.