2007 Solstice CQuartz'd

**richy** · 05-02-2011, 03:46 PM

The customers had talked to me about doing this car in the winter. They were as excited as I was to see it get transformed. The notable challenges were the wheels and the paint. Typical rock hard GM clear too did not make it any easier.
I discovered a neat method to help with the steam cleaning too for nasty surfaces...more on that in a bit.

Here's how it arrived to me:

BEFORES:

Wheels:

A usual amount of time for me to do wheels/wells/barrels and tires is about an hour. The barrels and the faces had surface rust on them which was a challenge to remove. It took 3 hours just to do the wheels, wash and clay. It took me an hour alone just to do the barrels. The surface rust on them took a combo of Megs WB and Zep Citrus to remove:

The wheel barrels and faces were cleaned with WB and a RG brush followed by Zep Citrus to neutralize the acid. The tires were cleaned with Zep Purple and the wells were cleaned with Zep Citrus and the large EZ wheel brush. Finished result after washing. Most of the surface rust on the faces had been removed but they still needed polishing. That was done subsequently with M205.

FOAM/WASH/CLAY:

Foamed with Duragloss 901 followed by a 2 bucket method wash with 901. It was immediately clayed after with Clay Magic blue. I had to use the microwave again to get it as supple as I wanted. There was lots of tar on this car that the clay removed, mostly along the bottom of the panels.

OUTSIDE AFTER CLAY:

CHIPS AND SCRATCHES:

PAINT CORRECTION:

The first thing I did was the stained area. No idea what it was, but my Duragloss beta sample of the chemical compound got rid of it using my rotary and a B & S white pad.
To correct this rock hard GM clear, several different combos were tried until I got to my 3M white wool pad and either M105 or PG depending on how bad the area was. The scratches got wet sanded with 2000 grit, followed by a Magic Eraser. The correction following the wool was M105 with yellow B & S then M205 with white B & S pad. All these stages were done with the Dynabrade rotary. The last step was 3M Ultrafina using a blue B & S pad and my DA. Multiple (and I mean multiple) touch ups were done after the polishing. This was done section by section to allow it the greatest amount of time to dry. The customers had been requested to bring touch up paint with them.
Here is the rear deck corrected without any LSP:

The head and tail lights were polished with M105 and the yellow pad followed by M205 and a the blue pad.

CQuartz Protection:

After being polished, the car was re-washed using a combo of Duragloss 901 and dish soap to remove any oils.
The wheels, glass and paint all got CQ'd. The paint received 2 coats. As mentioned, the chrome was polished with M205 and a mf after being washed. The CQ was applied with makeup pads and allowed to dry for an hour. The garage was about 60°F at the time. Here's what it looked like in the drying stage:

**Elite Pro** · 05-02-2011, 03:53 PM

Great Work!!

**richy** · 05-02-2011, 03:58 PM

INTERIOR:

The carpet mats were steam cleaned using my Gaia. They were vacuumed first with my new PF51 (loving that more and more!) and then steamed. This did not get out all the stains on the driver's side so I treated it with Folex and allowed it to dwell. That was extracted and then re-steamed.
The rubber mats were power washed and cleaned with Zep Citrus and treated with tire spray.
The carpet was vacuumed.
The plastic surfaces including the door panels were steam cleaned and then treated to PERL at 1:5. The seats were done the same way. The glass was steamed clean. The vents were steamed for about 30 seconds to clear out the AC system.
There was a very dirty section of a plastic storage tray that I would have just normally steamed and then wiped, but it was narrow and about 2 feet long so I did something different. With the vacuum in one hand and the steamer in another, I followed the steamer with the vacuum and sucked up the dirt that way. I did the pedals the same way. They were very dirty so I placed the vacuum at the bottom and the steamer at the top and worked it down, vacuuming up all the gunk that was on them. It worked very well. For those who do not have a vacuum as part of their steamer, this is a good method for pedals and whatnot. It's quicker and more effective, IMO. A final wipedown was all that was needed and saved on a few towels that would have been nasty to clean.

CONVERTIBLE TOP:

The top was washed during the car wash stage and was brushed to agitate the soap. DG 901 was used as well as the foam to clean it. Afterward it was vacuumed dry with the PF51. It was subsequently treated with 303 Fabric Guard to water-proof it. It was stowed for the presentation to the customer.

EXTERIOR TRIM:

This was treated with UTTG. Here are 2 inside shots with it on the cowl. It was also used on the bottom rear section. It darkened the trim nicely.

INSIDE AFTER SHOTS:

OUTSIDE AFTERS:

My girls wanting to get in on the action:

Thanks for looking. Comments, criticisms always welcomed.

**Elite Pro** · 05-02-2011, 04:01 PM

Outstanding!

**thedirtyshow** · 05-02-2011, 04:02 PM

cute kids. good work on the solstice.

**richy** · 05-02-2011, 04:07 PM

Originally Posted by Elite Pro

Great Work!!

Originally Posted by Elite Pro

Outstanding!

Thanks..both times, LOL.

Originally Posted by thedirtyshow

cute kids. good work on the solstice.

Thanks man.

Mike Phillips · 05-02-2011, 04:35 PM

Wow!

Absolutely amazing!

Besides the incredible before and after results, (looks like wet paint), your pictures and detailed explanation of your process are 5 star.

Doing the detail project is a lot of work, stopping and taking pictures makes the project take longer and then processing the pictures and creating a write-up that showcases your work and helps others is over the top.

Very nicely done.

And as a side note, I'm really liking the CQuartz

**IID** · 05-02-2011, 04:36 PM

Excellent work Richy!

Curious,I see you followed 105 up with 205 and a white pad on the paint.IME,Pontiac paint is too soft for finishing with a white pad?Must be different hardness between different years.
(Edit:seen you used 3M ultrafina and blue B&S pad to finish)

What did you use to buff off the CQuartz after curing (as to induce no swirls/marring?

Thanks

**richy** · 05-02-2011, 04:51 PM

Originally Posted by Mike.Phillips@Autogeek

Wow!

Absolutely amazing!

Besides the incredible before and after results, (looks like wet paint), your pictures and detailed explanation of your process are 5 star.

Doing the detail project is a lot of work, stopping and taking pictures makes the project take longer and then processing the pictures and creating a write-up that showcases your work and helps others is over the top.

Very nicely done.

And as a side note, I'm really liking the CQuartz

Mike, thank you very much for the kind words. They mean a lot to me, especially coming from you!! CQ is an amazing product. There is a reason I have that on my personal vehicle. It feels good to be back participating more over here too..I had been away for a while.

Originally Posted by ImpressiveImageDetailing

Excellent work Richy!

Curious,I see you followed 105 up with 205 and a white pad on the paint.IME,Pontiac paint is too soft for finishing with a white pad?Must be different hardness between different years.
What did you use to buff off the CQuartz after curing (as to induce no swirls/marring?
The reason I followed up the M205 with a white B & S pad with the 3M Ultrafina and a blue pad is that it seemed to improve the paint somewhat. Not a huge amount mind you, but for such a small car, it really did not add much time to do that step. I really wanted to make the paint jump on it.
I used a soft medium nap mf followed up with a very soft long nap mf for removal. I used very light pressure on both. Even applying it, I would rather use a little too much and have the makeup pad glide smoothly over the surface then try to wring out every microscopic bit and risk rubbing a dried out pad over the paint. Unlike OC, there really is no danger to applying the CQ a bit heavily. You just waste a bit of product, and I don't think a whole lot either. To me, it's worth it.
And Chris, thanks for the compliment!
Thanks