Rescuing a Neglected Black Pony - 2001 Saleen Mustang - Major Correction - 22ple VX Pro2 Glass Coating & CarPro Forte

[zmcgovern45]

The owner of this low mileage (just 38k miles) Saleen Mustang brought it to us with the hope that we could bring some life back into the abused paint. Upon first inspection many months ago, it did not appear to be in such bad shape... but to be perfectly honest, I inspected it at dusk, and without proper lighting... boy was I in for a surprise when it got dropped of for the appointment last week and I took a proper look at it. This vehicle had some of the most severe "other detailer damage" we have ever seen, and it surely gave us a run for our money, but after MANY days & nights of work, we got it looking much better.

Process
Tires: Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner and Tire Brush
Wheels: Sonax FE, Wheel Woolies, EZ Detail Brush & other brushes
Foam Pre-Soak: CarPro Iron X Snow Soap via DI Foam Lance
Wash: Iron X Snow Soap
Chemical Decon: Iron X
Mechanical Decon: Medium Grade Speedy Prep Towel with Glide for lubrication
Paint Thickness Readings Taken
Masked off delicate areas
Correction: M101 & Meguiar's MF Cutting Discs as needed on the worst areas, Blackfire SRC Compound & Orange LC Pads, M205 & White LC Pads via Rupes LHR21ES, Rupes LHR75e, and Griot's Garage 3rd Gen.
Foam Wash/Rinse to remove dust
IPA Wipe Down
Paint Coating: 22ple VX Pro2
Wheels Hand Polished with M205
Wheels wiped down with IPA
Wheel Coating: 22ple VX Pro2
Glass Polish: M205 on Yellow LC Foam
Glass wiped down with IPA
Glass Coating: CarPro Forte (3 coats windshield, 1 elsewhere)
Tires: CarPro PERL
Exhaust Tips: CG Metal Polish
Glass: Meguiar's D120
Basic Interior Cleaning & Wiped down with 303 Aerospace Protectant


The car arrived dirty, but we could already see how dull the paint was.






Wheels & Tires were thoroughly cleaned, then the entire vehicle was covered with a heavy foam of shampoo and degreaser to help break down any dirt before washing.




Once the car had been carefully washed, the paint was treated with IronX chemical to safely dissolve bonded iron contaminates from the paint. You can see the contamination dripping off the vehicle and onto the driveway.







After the paint was clean, it was brought inside for inspection. The paint was incredibly dull and covered with all kinds of defects.











I began my testing to determine the best process for restoring this paint. It was clear that we would be able to make a dramatic improvement in overall clarity and color, though there would still be plenty of defects that remained.








Door before correction. Notice how dull and faded the paint is.




Door after compounding. A dramatic improvement. Look at how much clearer the reflections are.




50/50 shot on the door. Notice how much cleaerer the reflections are after just compounding.




The hood was just repainted ~2 months ago, however the body shop did a poor job at properly finishing the hood. You do not even need direct lighting to see how dull the paint is.







We picked up where they left off and got the paint into good shape.







Again, overhead lighting is all that is needed to see the transformation in color and clarity.





Comparing the corrected hood to the uncorrected fender. We are chaninging this car from grey to black.





Fender before





Fender after compounding.





Working hard!





Matt was going after all the small, harder to reach areas.





Some crazy defects on the rear of this car. After speaking with the owner, these crazy defects which covered the rear quarters, spoiler, and bumper were caused by another detailer that he hired to "buff out the paint" shortly after buying the vehicle. Certainly a sign of what can be done with a machine in the wrong hands.





After a lot of correction work, we got it dialed in.

[zmcgovern45]

Even more deep defects on this rear quarter.





Again, we took care of it and got it looking much better.





50/50 shot on the trunk after compounding.





Trunk after compounding. Looking much better.





Rear quarter before correction.





After compounding.





The bumper was perhaps the most unique looking buffer defects we have seen. Very deep defects on the rear bumper.





After correction. Color and clarity restored.





50/50 on the lip of the rear bumper.





After a tremendous amount of cutting, the car was covered in dust, so we washed it again before polishing.





The entire car was then refined even further with a fine finishing polish to bring out even more clarity and gloss.









I examined my work in the setting sun before I begain installing the protective paint coating.







Clear reflections!





22ple VX Pro 2 was then carefully applied to all painted surfaces and wheels.





The coating was baked with infrared heat lamps to accelerate curing and promote higher gloss and surface hardness.







The car looked great afterwards! While we certainly did not achieve perfection, the difference was dramatic. There are still a great deal of defects in the paint - especially in those complex areas - but overall the color and depth of the paint is absolutely night and day from where we started. I'd say it was a successful restoration. This low mileage car is now ready for many more years of looking good if it is properly maintained.

[zmcgovern45]

Post detail photo shoot in my favorite downtown location.













Thanks for looking!

[Kamakaz1961]

Wow Beautiful!!!! Looks awesome and you guys do incredible work!!

[Heisenberg]

Those are certainly some of the most unusual buffer defects I've ever seen as well. I've seen scotchbrite scrubbing that looked better. You did a tremendous job getting that car back to looking proper. Never disappointed seeing your write-ups!

[custmsprty]

Zach you and Matt are magicians! Now you see it now you don't. And you did it with the Rupes tools and GG6. That's a testament to you guys and the capabilities of the Rupes and GG tools for sure.

Great work.

[rms64]

Unbelievable turnaround! That thing was trashed...well done!

Makes me miss mine

[whavens]

Wow, you are right, night and day difference. Well done!! How many man hours did you all total on this transformation.

Walter

[shadowman]

Amazing work guys!!

[Marc08EX]

Amazing work as always Zach!!! Those 50/50 shots are out of this world. Oh yeah, the photos are incredible as well.