2002 Panoz Esperante Gets Blackfire Pro Ceramic Coating After 3 Years

[FrankS]

This Panoz had a makeover done to it at the Autogeek Show Car Garage about 3 years ago.

Here's the original write-up: https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...ighlight=Panoz

The owner recently had some work done to the rocker panels since they were showing signs of rust and had them repainted. He contacted me since I was part of the makeover team and wanted it re-coated again. This Panoz is a garage queen, the owner takes good care of it and never takes it out in the rain. It was in good condition with some minor swirls. The owner washed the wheels and the car before I came to cut down the time and the cost of the project.

I had the opportunity to use the new Blackfire Pro Ceramic Coating on a couple of cars before it was released and I decided to go with the BF coating again.

Steps:

1. Wash - waterless wash with McKee's 37 N-914 and some MF towels, just to remove the dust.

2. Polish - Flex 3401, Flex 4.5" Mini Backing Plate, 5.5" LC White Force Pads, McKee's 37 Fast Polish.

3. Wipe Down - CarPro Eraser.

4. Ceramic Coating - the new Blackfire Pro Ceramic Coating.

5. Tire - the owner used Blackfire All-In-One Trim & Tire Protectant (not available anymore).

I Didn't take any before pictures. The polish combination with the 3401, White Force Pads and McKee's Fast Polish worked great to remove the minor swirls and remove the previous BF coating.

Here are some final shots.











Final Thoughts:

When I first coated the car it was in his garage and the lighting was not great. I thought I did a good job of buffing off any high spots from the coating but when I was done we pulled the car outside in overcast/cloudy conditions (the perfect lighting for seeing high spots) and I saw various areas where I did not remove the high spots (or excess) sufficiently. I tried to buff off the high spots with a MF towel but they weren't coming off, they had to be polished off.

In a way that's a good sign...the coating doesn't come off easy. The bad thing is, it was already late in the afternoon and I would have to come back another day to re-polish and re-coat those areas, which was done today since we had a break with the rainy weather.

Moral of the story:

When applying a coating make sure you have the correct lighting! I already knew this but was trying to rush it. I like the new BF coating, it's easy to work with when you follow the directions. I tried to tackle too large of a section the first time and I was trying to knock it out quickly. Better to take your time and get it right the first time.

It came out looking great and the owner was very pleased.

[rlmccarty2000]

What was the approximate flash to wipe off time for Blackfire Coating? I realize it is humidity dependent, but it will give me an idea of time in my high humidity region. Thanks.

[Dan Tran]

Frank S,

Thank you for this write-up. I thoroughly enjoyed it!


Dan Tran
Car Care Specialist
The Buffing Moose Detailing: High-Quality Mobile Car Detailing

[FrankS]

What was the approximate flash to wipe off time for Blackfire Coating? I realize it is humidity dependent, but it will give me an idea of time in my high humidity region. Thanks.

I didn't really time it but I would say about 1 minute from the time you begin to apply it.

What I did the 2nd time, that worked good, was I worked about a 2' x 2' area and cross hatched it by going up and down and then side to side for about 2 to 3 times until it began to level out on its own and begin to flash (like oil slick on water appearance...rainbow affect) and then wipe off. Some panels were smaller and I couldn't do a 2' x 2' area so I would just work that section up and down and then side to side until it began to flash and there was little left. Wiped off easy that way.

For example, I broke the hood up in to 4 sections and the trunk lid in to 2 sections.

[PaulMys]

Incredible looking!

[fly07sti]

Lookin good! Lucky you guys have all those palm trees to get those Merlin shots.

[Sizzle Chest]

Nice Frank! Looks great! Really like those SBF powered Panoz's! Cool cars!

[FrankS]

Lookin good! Lucky you guys have all those palm trees to get those Merlin shots.

Yeah, they're everywhere here in Palm Beach County.

[FrankS]

Nice Frank! Looks great! Really like those SBF powered Panoz's! Cool cars!

Thanks Scott!

They are cool looking cars, and got some power.

Apparently they are the street version of the race cars and only about 300 built.

[FrankS]

Here are some good tips by Mike Phillips for installing the coating. Particularly post #6.

Review & How-to: BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating by Mike Phillips