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  1. #1
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    Detailed Infinity G35 Coupe - **PICS**

    Hi All;

    I did this detail for my son today. I don't do this professionally, so be kind, but let me know what I've missed. I'll apologise in advance, there are no before pictures, I got so involved in getting the work done, I forgot to take them. I'll do better next time.

    The story behind this detail is that my son, who works at a Saturn dealer decided he was ready for a "real" car rather than his 95 Mazda MX6-POS. After much looking and consternation, he was down to a GTO, or a G35, but after reading the horror stories about the GTO and the front struts and such, he made the decision to find a G35. We found a nice black 03 G35 coupe with only 26K miles on another dealers lot. He was able to buy the car for wholesale and made the deal. After the sale, the dealer said they would have it detailed and ready the next day. I said no thank you, I don't need any more work to do, and we took it home less than clean, but not that bad, or so I thought. There were a few holograms but nothing that concerned me at all. I've also got a black BMW 540, and have a reasonable system for caring for the black paint.

    DAY 1

    Any way, we get the car home about 6pm, and wash it still looks OK, but feels very rough. Out comes the polyclay from pinnacle and away we go. I had just finished the hood and my wife walks out and says "what in the hell did you do to the hood, it looks like you took sandpaper to it, and she was right, it looked like the hood had bee not so spot sanded. Remember that thread about the magical mystery detail that washed off after a few washes? Well you guessed it. The car had been detailed shortly after arriving on the lot and some touchup and other blemish treatments were done (poorly) using someting with a lot of fillers, and I mean a lot. The clay after just the hood was so bad I tossed it. The car was loaded with swirls, scratches, some not so micro, holograms, you name it, it was there.

    I had the pleasure of working with Todd from Trop Detailing a few weeks ago on my BMW and even with the mess I found, I still felt confident I could figure out the right system, and if I couldn't, he would bail me out. So, starting with a "least agressive approach", and reading that the Infinity clear is fairly soft, I started with the XMT stuff, #3 with a white pad on my rotary and did a test spot, no luck, stepped up to an orange pad, some better, but no luck, tried #4, better still, but still would take many passes to get it right. Went back to the white pad and tried Menzerna SIP, and saw there was hope. Bumped back up to the orange pad with the SIP, and that got me there, I thought. I was runnning the rotary at about 1200 rpms and proceeded to do the hood last night. Called it a night wanting to wait for some sun to be sure.

    DAY 2

    This morning, son goes off to work (which was OK with me,as he has to make the car payment,) so I pulled the G35 out into the sun and decided that the SIP/Orange was about right for the rest of the car, but the hood still didn't satisfy me. I tried another pass with the SIP, but still wasn't satisfied. I pulled out the Menzerna PG and the white pad, and ultimately decided to stick with the orange pad. Two full passes with the PG/Orange and now we're talking some shine strating to emerge. I did the rest of the car with SIP and the orange (a different one) pad after it started getting hot so I pulled the car back into the garage to finish. One pass around the rest of the car and it was polish time. I used the Menzerna 106FF with a blue polish pad, and boy did I like the results. Two passes on the hood and once around the rest of the car and I was good to go.

    I had taped off the car pretty heavily to avoid any more residue on the trim, but I spent the next 2 hours cleaning up after my precedessors. stuff everywhere. I used a series of small nylon, foam and soft bristle brushes and MF towels to work my way arountd the car to remove all the crap from every edge, nook, cranny and trim piece I could find. INFINITY has a lot of letters to clean around. The rear emblems alone took about 30 minutes. I polished all the light plastic with Novus 2 Fine scratch remover for plastic, and did the exhaust tips with simichrome metal polish.

    At this point, I turned to the rubber trim, and the engine compartment so I could QD the car and get any residue off before sealing. The engine compartment was one thing the dealer did fairly well the first time, or the PO had done regularly, so not much was done there. I just used some 303 protectant to dress the cowl and the plastic under the hood. 303 all around on the rubber door trim and the trunk interior trim.

    Finally, about 3:30 this afternoon (I started about 7:30am), I put the first of 2 coats of Wolfgang DG Sealant, let it haze for about 30 minutes and wiped it off. Polished the rims, dressed the tires (I use a foam brush, so no overspray on the paint, and the wheel wells were done the night before) and gave it a final wipe down or 2. Pulled it back out into the sun and was pretty pleased with the final result. This is only one coat of the Wolfgang product. Another is planned followed by a coat of souveran. Son arrives home about 5:45pm just as I finished taking the pictures. He was thrilled, now he has to keep it the way he got it!


    Front End


    Rear End

    Rear Deck - thats not hazing just in front of the spoiler, just bad photography


    Exhaust Tips Polished with Simichrome Polish-there are 2 obviously, but I thought 1 pic sufficient.


    You will notice some of the original holograms that I didn't get this time around. Before I put the second sealant coat on, I'll re treat this area and make sure they are gone and check in the sun again and then re seal the area and do the next sealant coat a day later.


    Pretty good reflections for late in the afternoon

    Nice Side View with a good clear reflection







    Based on where it started, I know, I forgot the before pictures, the hood turned out pretty good. That's my son in the reflection, I'm much, well more mature

    This is one of my favorite shots



    All told, this project took about 14 hours, including maybe 3 hours for accumulated breaks (it was only 98 here today), and watching a smattering of Tiger lapping the field again. Thanks for looking, let me know if I've missed anything... like you wouldn't anyway (LOL).

    Don
    Last edited by DAL1955; 08-05-2007 at 10:55 PM.

  2. #2
    Super Member 07ImpalaSS's Avatar
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    I like that reflection shot on the passenger door, looks pretty cool.

  3. #3
    Super Member Nica's Avatar
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    Very nice results, really like the way you finished the exaust tips and the rims. Now the reflection very nice I like the side reflection of the bushes looks wicked, just wicked.

    Thank you for sharing, very nice detail.

  4. #4
    Super Member klumzypinoy's Avatar
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    Awesome work . I agree with 07ImpalaSS, the reflection on the passenger side is great.

  5. #5
    Super Member supercharged's Avatar
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    Beautiful work! Here is the money shot:

    2008 Acura MDX Sport white pearl (daily driver)
    2009 BMW E70 X5 4.8i jet black (garage queen)
    2013 BMW F25 X3 2.8 jet black (wife's car)

  6. #6
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    Car looks great, good work.

  7. #7
    Regular Member LazerRed1's Avatar
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    Looks very nice. Black is so tough. I've done my G35 a couple of times now and still have some visible marks. Very hard to get everything with a PC, so your job is excellent.

  8. #8
    Junior Member rscpa's Avatar
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    Also have an 06 black G35 so I can appreciate the time and attention that took to detail. You made that baby shine!!

    Wish I had a car like that when I was his age!! Had to wait until I was much older.....

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by rscpa
    Also have an 06 black G35 so I can appreciate the time and attention that took to detail. You made that baby shine!!

    Wish I had a car like that when I was his age!! Had to wait until I was much older.....
    He's had to suffer through hand me down cars since he started driving, first was an '85 BMW325 that he had to rebuild before he could drive it, then when that engine blew, I bought him the Mazda MX6, which he has driven for about 3 1/2 years. Early on he had to rebuild the front end after an altercation with a telephone pole as a result of a blown tire, so he has had to suffer through some less than desireable rides for a while. He bought this on his own, with his own financing and down payment saved over the last 6 months from car sales commission. I'm pretty proud of him for managing all this on his own so I did the detail for him and taught him a bit along the way.

    He's 22, and making reasonable money selling cars for the Cadillac/Saturn dealership. Still lives with us so he doesn't have rent/utilities/food to pay for. He's also starting back to school and wants to be a lawyer, but his work hours are going to be a challenge as he works a steady 50+ hours a week...

    BTW, he took it in to his dealership this morning, and they want me to come talk to them about doing some of their cars...... their dark cars look OK after their detail shop finishes with them, but about 1 in 3 come back after about 3 weeks with complaints that the finish washed off. I doubt that they can afford me though, as my usualy work rate it $200 / hour! (I'm a consulting Engineer)

    Don

  10. #10
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    Used a Rotary

    Quote Originally Posted by LazerRed1
    Looks very nice. Black is so tough. I've done my G35 a couple of times now and still have some visible marks. Very hard to get everything with a PC, so your job is excellent.
    On this car, it would have been very difficult to impossible to achieve the results I was looking for. I used a rotary machine.

    Don

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