2012 Black Nissan Murano Paint Correction By Scottwax

Kappy · 08-13-2013, 08:14 PM

No, I'm not Scottwax. But I'd like to give Scott the credit he deserves for his outstanding work, as well as being a truly great guy. And although he posted his version of the work he did on another forum, this is my version, combined with some quotes from his post.

I had every intention of trying to correct the paint on my 2012 Nissan Murano myself. I purchased a GG DA, various pads and some Meguiar's M105 and M205 polish. Two sessions of attempting test spots didn't give me the results I was looking for, and I wrote about it here:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...d-results.html

StuDLei, from this forum, read about my adventures in paint correction, and my decision to seek some help from a local detailer. He put me in touch with Scott from Scottwax, and Scott stopped by one day to offer some of his expertise. He tried a few different products and pads on my car, and told me that the Nissan black is a very difficult paint to work on. In addition, he felt that there would be better products to use than the ones I had purchased, and at that point I decided instead of investing any more time experimenting, as well as more money for additional polishes and pads, I would rather have Scott do the work. Once the paint was corrected, I would continue to maintain the car with ONRWW, sealing, occasional waxing, and polishing with my DA if needed.

Last Saturday was the day. Scott, and his son/assistant Chris, arrived at 9:30 AM to begin their work. It was already approaching 90 degrees - soon to be over 100 - and the work was going to be done in my garage with a halogen light blazing away. Two portable fans barely helped and the conditions were anything but ideal. I had offered to postpone, but Scott said that he was used to working in the heat, and at least we would be out of the sun.

I prepped the car with an ONR wash in the morning before he arrived, and had clayed it previously. When Scott had stopped by the first time he applied Collinite 476, Clearkote Carnauba Moose and Opti-Seal side by side by side on three separate panels. In his write up, Scott wrote, "Looked over the three panels, Carnauba Moose was slightly darker than the other two, Collinite 476 had better depth than CMW, but the winner was Opti-Seal, had more noticeable depth then either carnauba. Real surprise, my expectation would be that the appearance would be wetter than the other two, didn't expect the added depth." I had to agree with Scott, and in fact, had already purchased Opti-Seal after seeing how easy it was to apply.

Here are some before photos:

Driver's Side:

Passenger Side:

After Meguiar's M100, using an Optimum orange foam pad cutting pad with a Rupes 21 DA Polisher:

Half and half:

Both sides compounded (entire car took about 4 hours just to compound)

Full process, from Scott:
"Meguiar's M100 using an Optimum orange foam cutting pad and my Rupes 21 DA
3D HD Polish using a Meguiar's yellow foam polishing pad and my Rupes
ONR wash to remove dust
Optimum Opti-Seal to protect
Armor All on tires

Why foam pads when I usually use microfiber? Too much hazing, even some light hazing with HD Polish and an Optimum MF polishing pad. With foam, it was finishing out just amazing."

I think that the pictures speak for themselves. I know that there are plenty of first-timers who have had great success correcting the paint on their car, and have posted photos showing the excellent results. Watching Scott work was a learning experience for me, and I didn't mind having someone with his expertise and arsenal of products do the job that I had intended to tackle myself. I think that eventually I'll get some use from my DA, even if it's just to occasionally maintain the finish, and by using the correct polish and pads I don't expect to have the same difficulty I did trying to do a full paint correction.

Thanks for reading.

**tuscarora dave** · 08-13-2013, 08:46 PM

That looks great!! Scott has been around the block more than a few times and clearly does outstanding work. I'm glad to see you had him do the work so you can enjoy driving your car instead of pulling your hair out trying to correct the finicky paint. Someone with Scott's experience level makes the work look easy when in reality it takes years of job after job after job to get that good.

The best part (other than the way your car now looks) is that you jumped in with both feet and really tried, learned a lot no doubt and in the end met a great detailer.

Your experience and effort through this deal is very commendable.

**Superman0440** · 08-14-2013, 08:38 AM

Nice job

**Setec Astronomy** · 08-14-2013, 09:00 AM

Scott's a good guy, too bad he doesn't post here. He knows Mike Phillips from way back.

**dpk20x** · 08-14-2013, 09:08 AM

Car looks great! Can't believe Opti Seal gives you that warm Nuba like glow. I hated the look it gave on my black metallic Jeep.

Must be very cool to see how a professional works. I'm sure that will speed up your progress tremendously. I'm just plugging away and learning on my own over here but I know I still have a long way to go.

Thanks for the write up.

Kappy · 08-14-2013, 09:52 AM

Originally Posted by tuscarora dave

That looks great!! Scott has been around the block more than a few times and clearly does outstanding work. I'm glad to see you had him do the work so you can enjoy driving your car instead of pulling your hair out trying to correct the finicky paint. Someone with Scott's experience level makes the work look easy when in reality it takes years of job after job after job to get that good.

The best part (other than the way your car now looks) is that you jumped in with both feet and really tried, learned a lot no doubt and in the end met a great detailer.

Your experience and effort through this deal is very commendable.

Thanks for the feedback.

Since I've had this car, I really enjoy driving it and keeping it clean, more than any other car I've owned. I think that working on the paint correction was starting to remind me of some home improvement jobs I've attempted over the years, that always look so easy when someone else is demonstrating them on TV. I was beginning to think that maybe it wasn't such a good idea for me to be that close to my car with power tools.

Originally Posted by Superman0440

Nice job

I will let Scott know. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy

Scott's a good guy, too bad he doesn't post here. He knows Mike Phillips from way back.

I'm not sure why he's not on this forum, but he's a busy guy and probably found a place where's he's comfortable and has limited time to post.

Originally Posted by dpk20x

Car looks great! Can't believe Opti Seal gives you that warm Nuba like glow. I hated the look it gave on my black metallic Jeep.

Must be very cool to see how a professional works. I'm sure that will speed up your progress tremendously. I'm just plugging away and learning on my own over here but I know I still have a long way to go.

Thanks for the write up.

Thanks for the reply.

From some other posts I've read, and videos I've watched, I think that the polishing itself can make all the difference in how the sealant or wax looks. It could be the result of the HD Polish Scott used, but what really convinced me to go with the Opti-Seal is that it was so easy to apply. At this point I'm trying to limit myself to using products that are easy to work with, give really good results, and there's not much chance that they won't work as intended.

**LatinFG2** · 08-14-2013, 01:53 PM

Looks very nice!!

**sproketser** · 08-14-2013, 01:55 PM

Top job on your Murano mate ! Scott dod a kickass job there .

**StuDLei** · 07-24-2014, 11:10 PM

Hey Kappy, sorry I never posted in your thread man. It's been a long time, how is your Murano holding up? (I'm about to go check out some of your more recent threads!)

I think Scott told me once he doesn't post here simply because he doesn't have the time for it. He already posts on two sites that I know of, and he's posts quite a bit. I think he's a moderator at Autopia.

Anyways, the car looks outstanding. Scott is a huge proponent of anything Optimum. Surprised a little to hear he liked Opti seal best. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I have mixed feelings on it. It is super easy to use for sure, but sometimes I think it doesn't have the glow a carnuba does, other times maybe so. LOL, that's just how it is.

I also think it's funny that as a pro who's been doing his job for a long time (and really knows what he's doing) he still uses Amour All on tires! I think he told me once that the new stuff works great and lasts a decent amount of time. I think he said it's water based too, but don't quote me.

Hopefully you see this thread again.