So I've used a DA in the past, never actually knowing what I was doing and exclusively only on old single stage Volkswagens that had paint that resembled chalk so I didn't really care how it came out, only that the paint had an actual reflection. After watching almost all of Larry Kosilla's videos I finally got the confidence to try it on something with actual "nice" paint.

Overall I have about 30 hours invested in her car, however double or triple to the extent of what she was about to pay someone $250 to do. You'll have to excuse the lack of 50/50's, of before and afters. I was doing the work after 12 hour shifts and staying up to 2-3am trying to get it ready for a British car show for her.

Products used:

Nanoskin Mitt
PC 7424xp
Lake Country CCS pads
Poorboys SSR2.5
Meguiars Ultimate Finishing Polish
Poorboys Ex Sealant w/ Caranuba
Lexol Cleaner + Conditioner
Griot's Garage interior cleaner
3M wet sanding paper & Spar/Urethane mix for headlight UV sealant

As well as the detail, I also installed a blackout beltline kit, removed all the textured trims and painted them with Duplicolor TP70 trim paint, and sanded/buffed the headlights as they were getting pretty yellow.

How do you guys think I did for my first time?





This was after 2 passes of SSR2.5. No matter how hard I tried some of the swirls would just now come out. Other spots of the black roof came out like glass however.



Prime example here of how some swirls wouldn't come out, and 3" to the left it looks like glass.





A pillar before



50/50








Only shot of the headlight before >.<



After



Tapeless 50/50. As you can see, the swirls on her car were atrocious.



All in all I'm not that content with how it came out, but thats because I'm extremely picky. I'll post some more photos this weekend if the sun is out .



Question for you guys, I was told to try a stiff brush with some APC to get rid of the residue on the trim. I didn't secure the tape well enough and the buffer pulled it off. Noob mistake . What are you guys using for APC for stuff like this?