2013 Chevrolet Cruze meets Uber Compound

[Tato]

Dear friends,

Today I'm going to show my latest work on a Chev. Cruze 2013. The car (although new) was severely neglected.

Claying was essentially the one single step that made the huge whole difference. I've used my wash mitts (both medium and fine grade) and my favorite clay lube, Wash and Wax shampoo (sorry for that... lol!). This was by far the most contaminated vehicle I've clayed, feeling like some 100 grit sand paper... Thank god we have the nanoskin! I believe it came with huge contamination since the car lot.

I've polished the whole car using Cyan HT Pad + WG Uber Compound basically trying to make an one-step polish, but I've used tangerine HT on sides and Meguiar's MF (cutting) on some severe defects, also MF finishing disc to apply LSP (D301). I've used white flat pad + M205 on spots I thought useful to improve gloss.

PS: Sorry for the pictures, I have a cell phone camera and limited time, also, I've finished this job exactly on time and couldn't get better AFTER pictures.

By the way, I believe some pictures of the process can somehow enrich the forum.

Hope you enjoy!

Before Pictures:

Hood:






Sides:


Roof:




Thrashed Rear Bumper:




Start of correction and re-touch (preliminary results):


Sorry for stopping taking pictures of the rear bumper correction here, following this picture results I wet sanded with 2000 - 3000 grit and then finished with 2 step polishing using Meg's MF + D300 and HT tangerine + Uber Compound.

To inform, client was very impressed with final results on this scratch, however I've recommended him to seek help with a professional re-toucher. By the way, I doubt he'll seek any improvement, it became barely seen when not looking real close. Anyway, it's his option to go further on this from now on.

Claying:

Prepare the 'arsenal'


Fill the bucket


Lubing the surface:


Go for it!



Priming my pad:




And Here we go!



Before, After, Side:






Hood Partially corrected (notice defects on lamp / superior part of the picture)


Hood Fully Corrected:




Roof Corrected:


Just before last wash prior LSP to remove all compound dust:


Finished Job (really sorry for lack of good pictures)!





PS2: The bonus this time (I always give a bonus!) was polishing the glass with Pinnacle Glasswork Waterspot remover.

PS3: Interior was fully, completely detailed and protected (sorry, no pictures).


This car looks like new again, in and outside, and I have another very happy customer!

Comments, critics, suggestions, please, welcome.

Thank you very much for watching,

Thanks to everyone at Autogeek for all knowledge and product supply / recommendation.

Kind Regards.

[DevilsNDetails]

Amazing turn around! Looks great. I love those wheels on that car.

[hernandez.art13]

Great job on the car. I find it really difficult Detailing and remembering to take pictures lol. I think you got some really nice before and after pictures actually. Overall great work!

[Pureshine]

Great work I'm confused on why you used wash/wax when you where doing paint correction?

[Tato]

Amazing turn around! Looks great. I love those wheels on that car.

Hello. Thank you very much for comments, I really appreciate your thoughts. Those wheels give an 'aggressive' look that fits nicely on that car.

Great job on the car. I find it really difficult Detailing and remembering to take pictures lol. I think you got some really nice before and after pictures actually. Overall great work!

Hi! Not having a specific camera for taking pictures difficult the process. If I take 200 pics with my cell phone I always notice that only a small part of them turn out good for showing defects/correction in detail... By the way, my next investment will be a Rupes or a Flex, so the better camera will have to wait a bit more!

Nonetheless, thank you for approving some pictures, looking better after your comment I found some pictures are good, also.

Great work I'm confused on why you used wash/wax when you where doing paint correction?

Thank you mate! 'Yeah', wash and wax is a controversial product lol! Maybe I've forgot to input the first part of the detail that was a thoroughly wash (equivalent to 3-4 car washes).

I use basically 3 car wash products for my details. Here are my reasonings:

1 - Citrus W&G, for the thoroughly wash. This is the to go for the start. Pre-rinse(s) and wash(es) until the car turn out absolutely clean from top to bottom. I use a somewhat high concentration to improve the cleaning power of this shampoo and don't care for old wax that will be removed.

Just after rinsing the last wash, I go for claying (step demonstrated by pictures above, described bellow).

2 - Wash and Wax: This product is my elected clay lube. I've chose it for several reasons.

- First of all, it gives better slickness for claying than conventional shampoo. I've found little to no marring on black paints when using claying alternatives (mitts, sponges) over this slickness provided.

- It's cost/benefit is great, I've only used 1/5 of that container for completely claying the entire car (filling the bucket freely and using plenty of lube). By the container I mean already diluted W&W shampoo, so I can clay almost 5 entire cars with ~1oz of product, without sacrificing the best outcome...

- It favors the drying after claying, and let the surface of work smoother. It adds only a healthy and thin wax coat that will have functional purposes afterwards.

I personally hate that 'picky' feeling that totally unwaxed and unpolished surfaces have. It's gross on my MF towels.

After drying and start of correction, the car is not 'tacky' like it would be 'without any particle of wax'. This way I can glide my MF towels for buffing compound residue way more gentle, specially around the section I've just compounded.

The compounding procedure will 'obliterate' any wax particle of my W&W shampoo, so there is no loss.

I call this wax of the shampoo as 'functional wax', I mean, I will use it to improve my work and then I'll easily remove it while polishing.

3 - DP Extreme Foam: This is the elected pre-LSP shampoo. I use it to remove compounding dust. The method is simple and straight forward.

After the whole compound/polishing step, I pre-rinse the car with DP foam shampoo and rinse with water. I don't scrub the car anymore at this level, it's only pre-rinse and rinse.

Finally after the DP foam, I have a clayed, compounded, polished and clean / free of dust paint for LSP.

The 'Functional Wax' of the shampoo helps me to prep the surface but did not add any additional step to get rid of it (it goes of naturally on polishing part).

That's the whole reasoning around my love for W&W during details...

Hope I've answered your question, and look forward to hear from you. Any comments and suggestions are really welcome.

I've just founded something I like, and use it often!

Thanks for feedback,

Kind Regards.

[LatinFG2]

Great work!

[Scott@IncrediblyDetailed]

Very nice work! That bumper looks 1000x better.

[Meghan]

Very interesting washing mix, I like it!

[Tato]

Great work!

Thanks for feedback my friend.

Very nice work! That bumper looks 1000x better.

Thanks for that. I've finished the re-touch much later than the first correction picture I've posted... time issues, couldn't document all of the outcome. Glad to hear from you.

Very interesting washing mix, I like it!

Appreciate your thoughts, really. Count on me if you have any question or suggestion regarding my methods.

Kind Regards.

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Looking good Tato! The rear bumper came out great. Only so much you can do to save it.

Glad you were able to get the claying finished. Sounds like it was really bad. For even more claying power, try out the nano skin pads. I have heard they really can cut through the contaminated areas in a hurry. Make sure to use plenty of lube.

Looks like Uber finished out nicely in one step.