2007 Solstice: 4 years later for round 2

[richy]

This car was coming to me for the 2nd time. I did it last 4 years ago. It was a mess then. It was interesting to see the write up on it and how I have changed things. Here is the write up on it from then:

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

It was rough then, and it was rough now. I quoted 14-16 hours for both inside and out. I ended up splitting the difference with her as the total was 19 hours. Unfortunately, there were no before interior shots but it was commensurate with the exterior. I was just shy of 3 hours on that...for such a tiny car!

Here it is as it arrived to me:








Last time the wheels had surface rust on them. Luckily they were not quite that bad this time.




They live in the county and see lots of nasty roads I believe:

















There were a TON of defects with this car. Swirled and scratched to Hell combined with rock-hard GM paint made this a very frustrating effort to get a winning combo. More on that in a bit:

















Oh, and the chips and gravel rash were not kind to her either!





OUCH!





The back deck is as much a showpiece as the hood and both were terrible:

















A Monster chip showing up early for Haloween!










Last up was this strange looking stain on the back edge of the hood. My end result compound took care of it however.






So, I took a lot of pics of the defects to show what kind of challenge this little car was proving to be. First up was the wheels. Tarminator as usual in the barrels. That was followed by Megs WB for the barrels and the faces and it was worked in with a brush. That was power washed off and followed by Zep Citrus for both extra cleaning as well as acid neutralization. The tires were cleaned with LATA as were the wells. The barrels were shot with Aqua bead for some protection since I wasn't pulling them.

Next the car was washed with Megs HW followed by IronX paste wash. It was then brought inside to be clayed with my CarPro clay towel. Afterward it was blown dry with my Master Blaster. After 4 years, there was zero evidence of any of the original Opti Coat (professional) left at all.

Now it was time to play with some paint. I tried a Megs mf pad with 100 + some 101 like I had used with the Porsche. Nada...not worth a damn on this paint. Next I tried M100 with my TB black wool + Rupes 21. Not cutting it well enough (you KNOW it's hard when!!). What ended up working was a surprise to me and kinda a last ditch effort: Flat Top + TB wool + Rupes. I was getting pissed off when nothing was working as well as I wanted to and had spent some time trying all these combos. Yes, it sometimes took 3 or 4 passes to get decent (and not even perfect!) results, but at least it was working. I had even tried M100 with my rotary and wasn't happy with that either. The FT was followed with M205 + white B/S pad + Flex 3401. With its overheating issues, it's been relegated to polishing duty only now. The headlights, tail lights and all paint were treated to this combo.


Here's a 50/50 shot of the process without any coating yet:






The paint, wheel faces, head and tail lights were all given a double coat of Americoat. I also treated the windshield to Fly By 30 and then treated the convertible roof to DG 341. The trim was done with WETS and the tires shot with Opti Bond from my air gun @ 100%.

The interior was first vacuumed and then the plastic was cleaned with my Autoglym knock-off pad + Optimum Power Clean and then wiped down with an ONR wrung out mf. Then it was dried with another mf and once dry, an application of Ultima Interior guard was added. The leather was given the same steps. Stains in the carpet were removed with Folex. I really wished I had taken pics because the interior was every bit as dramatic a turnaround as the exterior was. Oh well <sigh>. The interior took just shy of 3 hours which included doing the top. The total time on this car was 19 hours. She has promised she'll bring it back in 2 years instead of 4 and is planning on keeping the car. I look forward to doing it again. These cars are really cool IMO.

I messed up one thing big time. If you look at the last picture from the previous job, my girls posed in front of the car. I so wanted to have them do it again, 4 years later, and show the difference. But, alas, with rushing to get it ready on time, I forgot. I realized it after she had already left with it. Hopefully I'll remember again in 2 years!

Anyway, here's what 19 hours produced. I took one shot with the top up to show how the DG seemed to darken the top a bit too as well as adding (much needed!) waterproofing to it:





























Some (Flawless) reflection shots:







































Thanks for enduring all the pics. This was quite the job. I'm glad this gorgeous little car is back to looking like it should!!

[VISITOR]

one thing I notice with most who own a convertible soft top is they tend to neglect them and they start to fade and eventually fall apart. I'm sure the owner was pleased after you worked your magic!

p.s. hopefully they don't let it get back to that condition again...

[Joe@NextLevelDetail]

Good job that car was in pretty bad shape.

[fly07sti]

Great work on that little Pontiac. Keep em comin buddy!

[Marc08EX]

Great job as always Richy! That car was trashed but man, you revived to like new condition!

[haris300]

Nice job! It looks like it belongs in a showroom now. Thanks for sharing

[richy]

one thing I notice with most who own a convertible soft top is they tend to neglect them and they start to fade and eventually fall apart. I'm sure the owner was pleased after you worked your magic!

p.s. hopefully they don't let it get back to that condition again...

Thanks kindly! Yes, she has promised that she'll get it back to me in 2 years. And, if she does that, I'll need less time correcting it hopefully. I gave them some recommendations to cleaning it as well. They were using that forbidden self-serve car wash brush that people do just un-holy things with!

Good job that car was in pretty bad shape.

Thanks very much!

Great work on that little Pontiac. Keep em comin buddy!

Thanks Don! Next weekend is a fellow coming 2 hours to see me.

Great job as always Richy! That car was trashed but man, you revived to like new condition!

Thanks Marc! I appreciate you taking the time to comment.

Nice job! It looks like it belongs in a showroom now. Thanks for sharing

Thanks very much!

[Klasse Act]

Great recovery as usual but maybe they need a "check up" every 6 MONTHES!

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[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Incredible transformation Richy! Wow.

Last I checked, those don't come with 4 wheel drive...

[richy]

Great recovery as usual but maybe they need a "check up" every 6 MONTHES!

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Thanks! Hopefully in 2 years it will be an easy save.

Incredible transformation Richy! Wow.

Last I checked, those don't come with 4 wheel drive...

Mike, I seriously LOL'd at that one! Thanks man!