2000 Trans Am - the Nano saved me

[lane5515]

The owner of this 2000 Pontiac Trans Am was a referral from a past client. There’s nothing better than referrals from others. The owner wanted the full complement of services for the exterior.


The overall condition of the TA was pretty good but it needed some attention in a lot of overlooked areas of a complete detail.

Condition upon delivery












The paint had the typical tunnel wash scratches and swirls and several rids – some were not worth chasing.

I started this project with the engine bay using M37 Engine Degreaser along with various size Wheel Woolies brushes. The bay was then blown dry with my Metro Master Blaster. When dry I misted with Blackfire Total Trim & Tire Sealant, wiped down with a mf towel and blew out excess product with my Metro Side Kick equipped with the Vac N Blo 3 ft hose. That hose makes using the Side Kick so much nicer.

Before


After


Next I moved on to the Tires, Wheels and Wells

Tires - Shine Supply Wise Guy 1:3 and Tuff Shine Brush.
Wheels - GG HD Wheel Cleaner, Wheel Woolies and CP IncrediFlair Mitt.
Wells - Shine Supply Wise Guy 1:3 and various brushes.

Tires were dressed with GG Black Tire Shine and Wheels sealed with CP Hydr02.


Before



After





Next I moved on to washing and decontaminating the paintwork.

Wash
- 2BM with Optimum Car Wash, Adams Wash Pad, various brushes.

Decon
- IronX
- NanoSkin Medium Grade Wash Mitt

Dried with Metro Master Blaster and GG PFM Towel

After the wash and decon, all lights/markers and vent covers were removed. They were caked with old polish/wax residue.




The plastics were cleaned with M37 APC, various brushes, toothpicks and qtips. The black vent inserts were then dried and sprayed with M37 Trim Detailer.





Lights – before, during and after




50/50








Polishing the Paintwork

Step 1 – compounding

- GG Fast Correcting Cream
- Scholl Concepts Blue Spider Pads (5” and 3.5”)
- CP 2” MF pads
- Flex 3401, Rupes Mini and Nano
- Wipe down with CP Eraser

Step 2 – polishing

- CP Essence
- CP Gloss Pads – 5”, 3.5”, 2”

The Nano got a workout on the bumpers, mirrors and side vent areas. I don’t know how I would have been able to get some of those areas without it.

Examples of the Nano’s work

Mirrors were both beat up pretty bad.

Before



After



Pillars Before



After



Front Hood Vents Before



After




Random Before/After shots of various areas

Before



After




Before



After




Before



After



Rear Bumper Before



After




LSP

- CQuartz Coating


All Rubber and hard plastics were also treated with Sonax Rubber Protectant (GummiPfleger) and WETS

GummiPfleger 50/50



WETS 50/50



Finished Pics (It was raining outside so no outdoor pictures)



















Thanks for looking! All comments and criticism is appreciated.

[fly07sti]

Very nice turnaround. The more jobs I see done with the ibrid, the more I want one or both. Can't decide on the short or the long.

[atgonzales]

Nicely done

[RMM]

Nice work! Congrats!

[dlc95]

Very nice!!

My favorite car of all time!

[Sicoupe]

Beautiful job my friend!

[FlyinLow]

Excellent pictorial! Beautiful work. That engine bay is Primo! Timeframe?

[lane5515]

Excellent pictorial! Beautiful work. That engine bay is Primo! Timeframe?

Thanks! Around 18 hours total.

Beautiful job my friend!

Thanks!

Very nice!!

My favorite car of all time!

Thanks!

Nice work! Congrats!

Thanks!

Nicely done

Thanks!

Very nice turnaround. The more jobs I see done with the ibrid, the more I want one or both. Can't decide on the short or the long.

Thanks! I went with the long neck - figured if I needed the extra length I'd have it.

[TMQ]

That looks so good! Turned out perfect!

Did you polish over the "ram air" decal?

Tom

[Dan K]

Great job and a really nice write up.