Outside the Box Paint Polishing: 2014 Camaro SS

[richy]

The couple who brought me this car are a referral. She drives this (stick-shift:How cool is THAT??) Camaro and he a pickup. Both were scheduled in September for CQF jobs, but I had a cancellation and they had requested to be moved up if possible. Indeed it was. The only problem is that I have a chest infection right now and am violently coughing often. Not much fun to be like that regardless of what you're doing.
Anyway, this was to be a wheels-off coating job plus a one step or two depending on what best brought out the paint. It looked mildly swirled when I first saw it. It turned out to be better than I thought. This job in fact was a real blessing to me. I had the Midas touch with everything I did to this car. Everything went easily and quickly. With my physical state, I needed that and it couldn't have come at a better time! The car was only mildly dirty when it arrived. Her she is:


Loving the lights on the 14 models:








Wheels looking pretty good, even the barrels!











So, first up was to wash the wheels. The faces and barrels were first done with Tarminator and that was followed by Zep Citrus. The wells were cleaned with LATA. I've been shooting the wells (if they're plastic) with Hydro to protect them and even though I was going to be pulling them, I still did. The tires were cleaned with Zep 505.


The car was hand washed with DG 901 followed by a second decontamination wash using IronX paste on an Incredimitt.

The car was then clayed with the Speedy Prep Towel and then blown off with the Master Blaster. All these steps usually take me 3 hours. I was 1/2 hour ahead of schedule; things were already looking up!


The car was then jacked up individually at each wheel and the wheel was then the barrel was then cleaned again using ONR. That was followed by DG Squeaky Clean. 2 coats of CQF were then applied.
After the completion of each wheel, it was torqued to spec (110 ft/lbs according to the owner's manual-thanks for having it in the car!). Here is a barrel having been just coated:






The wheel was turned over and then the face was chemically cleaned with DG SC and then given 2 coats of CQF. Here is the first wheel after being coated:





While the wheel was off the car, I coated the caliper (which didn't really help the appearance as the paint on it was kinda flat) but it is protected nonetheless. The full inner plastic wells were then shot with Permanon from my paint gun (the most cost efficient way of using it there is). It was wiped down with an ONR soaked mf and then dried. Here's how the well looked afterward:






The only visible swirls on the car were on the plastic piece that is forward of the hood. I used by black TB wool and M105 and my Flex to quickly put an end to that nonsense. Next I stared on the rest of the hood with M105 + yellow B/S + Flex. It was doing OK, but it did not give me the type of clarity that the wool did to the front piece. I can't state this strongly enough: the clarity that the TB pad gives to paint is unbelievable! Now, this is where my "Outside the Box" thinking reference comes in. I was going to follow my yellow pad + 105 stage with my usual M205 stage. However, I did not really need to bite into the paint. There was no correction needed, I just needed to clear the paint up and make the clarity jump. So, I reached for a bottle of Reflect and put that on my black TB wool and had at it. The result? OMG! Wow! I was in love! It finished down so incredibly well, I think I could have only done that step. However, I wanted this paint to be perfect so the extra step of M205 + white B/S + Flex 3401 was used. I wondered if anyone had tried this before, so in spite of being 10 pm on July 4th, I called Corey and he was just thrilled to hear the news of how it worked. He says I'm the first one he knows of to use Reflect with the TB pad. Maybe yes, maybe no, but it sure won't be the last time I do!!

I wanted to show how truly wonderful this combo looked and shot both inside and out shots prior to coating it to give you an idea. Check it out! (Can you tell I'm still excited, LOL)



Side of car:





Hood:











Outside:









Sun Shots:








Got Reflection?














OK, so now you can see why I was so stoked about this combo!

[richy]

Next was the prep for coating. It was wiped down with ONR and then Eraser was used as a precaution. The windshield was coated first with Fly-By-30. The paint, remaining glass, head and tail lights were all coated with a double coat of CQF. The trim was done with DLux. The tires were shot with Opti Bond straight through my mini paint gun and leveled. The exhaust tips were cleaned with Collinite Metal Wax.


Here she is all finished:













































Thanks for looking. I'm very excited to see her reaction tomorrow morning when they come to get it! I know he's going to be super psyched to get his Chevy Extended cab pickup done now too!!

[VISITOR]

nice job rich, i'm sure the customer will be thrilled!

[EVOlved]

Fantastic looking ride!! Great work as always Richy, hope the sickness clears soon.

[richy]

Thanks guys! Yes, here it is at 2:19 am and I can't sleep due to my coughing.


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[fly07sti]

Great work as usual Richy. I do love those pads. Never would have believed they could finish down that nice, until I saw this.

[The Critic]

Get better soon!

My guess is that the TB pad had a "leveling effect" on the paint, which is why it brought out the gloss. I have had this happened to me before on a rotary/wool combo, and given the forced-rotation nature of the 3401, a similar effect may have occurred.

[Don M]

Awesome job and car AND a stick shift driven by a woman, gotta love that LOL.

[dpk20x]

Good stuff Richy those TB pads rock!

Used one for the first time last week on my Mom's Hyundai. Took care of some pretty heavy swirls and finished out LSP ready in my eyes. This was with my Rupes LHR15 .. can only imagine how much better these pads are with a Flex.

Anyways thanks for letting us know about these great pads and good job on that Camaro

[Paul Mitchell]

Great job! Looks better than new.