1959 Chevrolet El Camino - Extreme Makeover - Modeled by Christina

[Mike Phillips]

1959 Chevrolet El Camino - Extreme Makeover - Modeled by Christina

[Mike Phillips]

Inspecting the paint visually - Outside


As soon as Al arrived to Autogeek I went outside to do my best to use what was left of overhead sunlight to capture the swirls in the paint. It was almost 5:00pm so the sun is low in the sky making it difficult to get good sun highlighted swirl shots.

Here you can see holograms or what are called rotary buffer swirls...







Wiping car clean
Now we've moved the El Camino into Autogeek's Show Car Garage Studio and started to wiper her down..



Inspecting the paint visually - Inside
After wiping the exterior down using Detailer's Pro Series Waterless Wash it was time to inspect the paint for swirls using artificial lights...

The entire finish looks like this...


















Inspecting the paint physically with your sense of touch




Here's Al feeling the paint using a plastic sandwich baggie...



The Baggie Test




Rough Feel = Paint and smooth surfaces need to be clayed
The paint felt very rough all over, including the vertical sides, under the rear horizontal fins, all over the glass, chrome and even trim, so next up is using detailing clay to clay the exterior.



Here's Jeff claying the trim and the white paint inside the trim strips...



This was the first time Al had ever used detailing clay but it only took a few seconds to get a feel for the technique...





There was all kinds of gunk bonded to the outside of the car, here's a picture of what was coming off the paint and onto the clay...



Al claying like a pro!



Here's Robert claying the custom made and very rare hard tonneau cover...



Even the chrome bumpers had some type of gunk or overspray on them...



As we finished up the claying step I took this picture because you can see even though we have not done any paint polishing the paint is already looking better and more glosssy...




Benefits to claying your car

• Gloss comes from smoothness
• Claying restores smoothness which restores gloss
• Claying also enables your choice of wax to stick or bond better to the paint so it will last longer...

[Mike Phillips]

Continued...

Doing a Test Spot

Next up we did a Test Spot to see what it was going to take to remove the swirls, scratches, water spots and oxidation in order to restore a show car shine...

Before buffing out the entire car we first tested the paint to see what it would take to remove the defects. I did the test spot and started with a Tangerine Polishing Pad with Pinnacle Advanced Swirl Remover on a PC 7424XP on speed setting 6



Robert strips the paint using IPA diluted with water to about 12% dilution strength...



Robert wiping off the panel while Jeff watches...



Here's the before and after difference using the flash from my camera to light up the paint...

Before Side



After Side



Before Side



After Side



Before and after...






The Major Correction Step
While the Tangerine pad worked we switched over the the Cyan Hydro-Tech pads for a more aggressive cut to speed things up.

Robert applying Pinnacle Advanced Swirl Remover to the face of a 6.5" Cyan Hydro-Tech Foam Cutting pad on a Flex 3401



Steve applying Pinnacle Advanced Swirl Remover to the face of a 6.5" Cyan Hydro-Tech Foam Cutting pad on a Meguiar's G110v2 DA Polisher



Jeff working the swirls and scratches out of the hood using a Flex 3401





Rene working swirls and scratches out of the hard tonneau cover...



Steve removing swirls and scratches using a Griot's Garage DA Polisher






Rene working down the side of the bed...



Robert using a Flex 3403 Rotary Buffer with a prototype 4" Cyan Foam Cutting Pad





Me using a wool cutting pad on a Flex PE 15 on the top of the fender...



Me following the wool pad with a prototype foam Cyan Hydro-Tech foam cutting pad...




The Polishing or Minor Correction Step

Al machine polishing with a Porter Cable 7424XP with a Tangerine Polishing pad and Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish


Jeff machine polishing with a Flex 3401 and a 4" Tangerine Hydro-Tech Polishing Pad



Sharif machine polishing with a Porter Cable 7424XP with a Tangerine Polishing pad and Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish



Rene and Sharif machine polishing the roof...

[Mike Phillips]

Continued...


The Sealing or Protection Step

After machine polishing we switched over to Crimson Hydro-Tech Finishing pads to machine apply Detailer's Pro Series Max Wax.

Here's Steve wearing a microfiber glove as he applies a paste wax to the face of a foam pad...






Rene machine waxing the roof...



Jeff machine waxing the hood with a Flex 3401 and a 6.5" Crimson HD Finishing Pad





Steve machine waxing the front passenger side fender using a Griot's Garage DA Polisher...





Rene having way too much fun as usual...



Sharif carefully removing the wax using a Super Soft Deluxe Green Microfiber Towel with a rolled edges...

[Mike Phillips]

Beauty Shots

[Mike Phillips]

On Autogeek.net


Cleaning and Claying
Detailer's Pro Series Waterless Auto Wash
Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay And Clay Lube


Buffing Pads
6.5" Lake Country Hydro-Tech Pads
5.5" Lake Country Hydro-Tech Pads
4" Lake Country Hydro-Tech Pads
5.5" Lake Country Flat Pads


Tools Used
Flex 3401 Forced Rotation Dual Action Polisher
Flex PE 14
Porter Cable 7424XP
Griot's Garage 6" Random Orbital Polisher
Meguiar's G110v2
Optimum Adapter/Extension



Medium Cut Polish
Pinnacle Advanced Swirl Remover



Fine Cut Polish
Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish



Protecting Wax
Detailer's Max Wax Carnauba Wax


Metal Polish
Wolfgang Metallwerks Aluminum Concours Polish


Microfiber Towels
Super Soft Deluxe Green Microfiber Towels with Rolled Edges
Super Soft Deluxe Blue Microfiber Towels with Rolled Edges, 3 Pack
Chinchilla Microfiber Buffing Cloth, 16 x 16 inches



Misc Tools
Kreepstool
Pad Conditioning Brush
Brinkmann Maxfire Dual Xenon Rechargeable Swirl Finder Spotlight
Lake Country Wool Pad Spur
Pad Conditioning Brush
Microfiber Gloves



Resources
The Art of Detailing How-To Book - Paperback

[Mike Phillips]

Swirl Girl #7 - Tina
Like always, I hope everyone will join with me in welcoming Swirl Girl #7

She's kind of a Tomboy as she grew up with a dad that's into cars and she definitely knows her stuff and... brings a little charm to the car world.

She also might join the forum and say "hello" to all of us that are so passionate about this craft so hang tight and I will go through my memory card real quick and pick out a few pics to post...


Here' Tina is wearing Microfiber Gloves which give you extra Grip Strength over the microfiber towels making them much easier to hold and use when wiping off a show car wax off polished paint.






















Swirl Girl #7 - Tina
Here's where the Swirl Girls get their name... Tina is holding the Brinkmann Swirl Finder Light, which is a hand held light that exposes swirls and scratches like the sun.











Handheld Sunlight
It's better than the sun in that you don't have to have a sunny day to be able to inspect your work plus you can use it in your garage. Without the Swirl Finder Light if you want to inspect your car's paint for swirls you would have to first have a sunny day, it would need to be around noon so the sun would be overhead and you would have to move the car out of the garage and into the sun. Avoid all these issues by getting your own Brinkmann Swirl Finder Light.












Thank you to everyone that worked on this project, thank you to All for trusting Autogeek with his very cool car and thank you to Tina for stopping by and lending a hand inspecting our work...

[Mike Phillips]

Continued...

Notice the lip that hangs over the rear portion of the roof, this is the style of a flattop roof...












This is what I call, "The Dreamy Shot" , I try to have all the Swirl Girls do this pose with Ivan behind them...







Max Wax is a true Show Car Wax, that is it has no cleaning ability and should only be used on paint that is clean, smooth and polished to perfection.



Tina's Swirl Guns will be up for auction at the 2012 Detail Fest for charity...







Here's our Motley Crew, from left to right...

Sharif, Al, Rene, me and Robert...
Steve and Jeff...



Robert had to leave right after we wiped off the wax but he had time to pose with Tina...

[Finemess]

Mike, the team did a swell job on a sweet ride. Hello and welcome Tina, nice to have you here.

[Tundra_10]

Cannot wait to see the finished product as this car definitely intrigued me. Welcome to AG Tina!