My new car: 2002 Cadillac DTS

[exploreco]

Wow, awesome work there Eldo! That ride sure looks nice. Always fun to see those transformations. I will have to give that dub cleaner a try sometime.

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[RTexasF]

Turnaround? No a resurrection! I hope the previous owner was better with mechanical maintenance than he/she was with cleaning.

[Paul A.]

Absolutely stunning now, Eldo! Beautiful work on a LOT of real estate. Congratulations on the new acquisition and best of luck with it.

I have a mental list of pro's i keep as referrals...got a Porsche? Take it to Scott Harle...got a Caddie? Bring it to ELDO!!!

[MadMerc]

Wow! Great turn around!
Congratulations on the new car. They don't make them like that anymore.

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[Breese147]

Love the work. Projects like this so enjoyable you chase away oxidation instead of swirls and transformation is always awesome! Great job


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[showbbq]

Very nice! Maybe for bragging rights you should sell it back to the previous owner at a profit.

[BadgerRivFan]

Your thread brought back fond memories of my ‘02 DTS. Here’s a pic from back in 2004:



Great job on the turnaround and saving a classic.

[Bill1234]

Nice job. does that have the north start engine in it? I heard they were a bit of trouble. Dub is good but I prefer ultimate wheel cleaner now, a bit thicker

[Eldorado2k]

Awesome work and write up and pictures Eldorado!

And man was that paint contaminant or what! Like how you did go over it again to control the how the first decon worked. It showed you what have been solved and not. You got it look awesome inside and out!

Congrats to your new car again.

/Tony

Thanks! And yea, proof that an iron remover doesn’t have to stink like rotten eggs to be effective.

Wow!

Be proud man, that was a major turnaround! That’s gotta feel really good to have done. And seriously, what a difference on the before and afters!

Was the steering wheel damaged at all after cleaning up after the cover was off? My wife bought a car that had one; under the cover there was a spot worn through the leather coating (not sure if from the cover, or just that’s why it had one).

What cutting process did you use for the rest of the car? You mention D300/M205 and FCC/M205 on the hood, which did you prefer? Are you able to share your LSP?

Do you do paint thickness measurements? Just curious.

Last - good call on replacing the emblems and pillar trims - really brought the car back to looking (better than) brand new!

Again - Awesome work! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you! As far as the cutting process, I must say that the D300 w/microfiber pad was most effective by the slightest of margins. If you look at the after shot of the hood you might be able to see that the left side is ever so slightly sharper, but it’s so minimal that it’s not enough to bother me and I don’t plan on compounding it any further.

As far as the rest of the car: I used several different cutting pads on the rest of the horizontal panels as I was in experimental mode, I used an HD Orbital Blue Foam Cutting Pad w/FCC on the roof, and a Megs Burgundy Foam Cutting Pad on the trunklid, then I went over the roof once again with an Orange light cutting foam Boss pad, all with FCC.

The vertical panels of the car weren’t as bad, so all I did was use M205 w/Orange Lake Country HD Orbital Foam Polishing Pads and it cleaned up the paint real good and eliminated any minor swirling.

I have this paint meter, but it hasn’t been working correctly lately, I think it needs new batteries but I keep forgetting to pick some up. I didn’t take any readings figuring I was going to have to do what I had to do regardless... Plus I shouldn’t need to polish this paint again for the next 3yrs. or so maybe longer as long as I maintain it properly.



I used my favorite sealant as lsp. The 1 I always use but was never sold on AG so I don’t ever mention it.

Really enjoyed this post. Great turn around and solid work!! Bet that car drives smooth as ever too!

Thanks! I had a new water pump installed, along with the thermostat + everything else that goes along with that assembly to fix a minor coolant leak. So yea it’s running as it should + the new set of tires and all in all it’s smooth as can be.

Wow, fantastic job! Did you actually replace those B-pillar covers? Or just polished them so they looked like new? What did you finally do with the steering wheel, as oneheadlight asked? Was it damaged under there or just dirty?

Thanks! The B Pillars really are brand new pieces. You know how some vehicles have those chrome pillars? Well I looked at those, but quickly decided against them because quite frankly they look a bit cheesy. But just like you can get chrome pillars you can also get these black acrylic pillars which are thin panels that stick on over your existing pillars. They’re specifically made for your car model so they’re an exact fit, and the adhesive is super strong. The original pillars were matt black and peeling in some areas... I wish I would’ve taken a before shot.

As far as the steering wheel: There really wasn’t anything wrong with it underneath that cover besides that little rash on the left side and alot of nasty grime which cleaned off pretty easily. Check it out now that it’s been cleaned.





I put that steering wheel cover on my other Caddy, which was in major need of a cover.



Not bad.

The "CaddyMaster" strikes again! What an awesome turnaround on her. Headlight restoration impressed me the most. Did you sand by hand or use a buffer?

Thanks WaxMaster! I started off sanding with the polisher, but quickly switched to hand sanding as I prefer the feel and precise control that it offers.

Wow, awesome work there Eldo! That ride sure looks nice. Always fun to see those transformations. I will have to give that dub cleaner a try sometime.

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Thanks! And yea, I’ve been telling people for the longest, that stuff is flat out good!

Turnaround? No a resurrection! I hope the previous owner was better with mechanical maintenance than he/she was with cleaning.

It’s pretty funny because while the guy was bad with the keeping it clean part, he was surprisingly better than average at maintaining it under the hood. He provided a bunch of receipts for random maintenance repairs mostly all done at the Chevy dealership.

Absolutely stunning now, Eldo! Beautiful work on a LOT of real estate. Congratulations on the new acquisition and best of luck with it.

I have a mental list of pro's i keep as referrals...got a Porsche? Take it to Scott Harle...got a Caddie? Bring it to ELDO!!!

This car has the biggest windshield I’ve ever seen on a car. It’s almost like a truck sized windshield.

Thanks for the good luck wishes. I appreciate it!

Wow! Great turn around!
Congratulations on the new car. They don't make them like that anymore.

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Thank you. And yea, this model Deville, along with the 2006-2011 DTS were the last of the largest Cadillacs they made, both measuring in at a length of 211” inches. The new CT6 measures 205” inches.

Love the work. Projects like this so enjoyable you chase away oxidation instead of swirls and transformation is always awesome! Great job


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Thanks! Yea the oxidation was no joke on this car. It was quite shocking when I 1st went to look at the car and couldn’t get even a faint reflection from the paint using my bright led flashlight... The owner laughed and said “oh don’t worry it’s dirty” I said hold on... It’s beyond just dirty! This is rare! Lol. I knew there had to be shiny paint underneath, but even I wasn’t 100% sure. Lol.

Very nice! Maybe for bragging rights you should sell it back to the previous owner at a profit.

I think the previous owner would be pretty shocked to see it now.

Your thread brought back fond memories of my ‘02 DTS. Here’s a pic from back in 2004:



Great job on the turnaround and saving a classic.

Awesome! I love it.

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate your replies.

[Sizzle Chest]

Excellent, excellent work, pics and write up! Great transformation! Congrats on your new ride! It looks great now!

Again, superb job.