"Hellaflush" and now "Hellaglossy" - 2013 Scion FRS Corrected and Coated with CQuartz UK

[zmcgovern45]

The owner of this vehicle contacted me late last year because he had noticed that his brand new vehicle was already showing swirls in the paint. We had decided to pursue a one-step correction and then top it with a paint coating to remove the majority of the lighter swirls to really maximize the appearance of the paint, and then top it with a coating to protect the surface and keep it looking nice for a long time.

The paint on this vehicle was some of the softest I have ever encountered. After spending an hour testing various product & pad combinations, I finally dialed in my process and was able to achieve some pretty drastic improvement for a one-stage correction process. This paint pushed my patience to the limits at times, as even my softest towels would leave some light marring and then I would have to quickly polish that area again. When it was all said and done, the paint looked great. It was an overwhelming bright red that really popped in the sunlight.

Enjoy the pics!



Process

- Tires: Meguiar's D103 (10:1) w/ Tuf Shine Tire Brush
- Wheels: CG Citrus Wash with various brushes/tools and sheepskin mitt
- Wash: CG Citrus Wash
- Decontamination Step 1: IronX
- Decontamination Step 2: Fine Grade Clay with Nanoskin Glide (10:1) as lube
- Paint Thickness Readings Taken
- Taped Off Trim & Emblems Where Needed
- Correction Process: Menzerna SF4500 on White LC pad via Rupes LHR21ES (5.5" pads) and Rupes LHR75E (3" & 4" pads)
- Coating Surface Prep Step 1: Diluted IPA (~20% solution)
- Coating Surface Prep Step 2: Citrus Wash Foam Soak
- Coating Surface Prep Step 3: Eraser Wipe Down
- Coating Application: CQuartz UK
- Coating Cured in Sunlight
- Coating topped with Reload
- Tires: CarPro PERL





Before


The car arrived fairly clean with just some light dirt and water spots










There was literally no ground clearance on this car... time to get started with the wash.






During

As always, wheels were first. I started by cleaning the barrels of the wheels.






Next I moved onto the faces of the wheels






and finally cleaned up the lug nuts and bore






The vehicle was then degreased, carefully washed, and then blown dry with the Master Blaster








Once the paint was clean, I was able to inspect the condition of the paint. It was definitely in worse shape than you would hope a vehicle with only 3500 miles would be.








The next morning I was able to pull the car out into the sun to truly reveal the condition of the paint. There were a lot of swirls covering the entire vehicle. Significantly more than you would expect for a relatively new car.... this should have been my first clue that I was going to be dealing with soft paint.














After a lot of testing (M205 on white left light marring & even M205 on black left very light marring), I dialed in my process and due to the very soft paint, was able to achieve very good correction with SF4500.






Hood before polishing






Hood after polishing






How about that gloss & depth!






50/50 shot on the pillar








50/50 shot on the door

[zmcgovern45]

It is not often that I work on a vehicle that makes my own look like a giant, but this one certainly did!






Once polishing was complete, tape was removed before I started prepping the paint for the coating






The surface was sprayed with a diluted IPA mixture






Next the car was foamed with a mixture of citrus wash & APC to remove any remaining oils from the surface of the car.










The car was then blown dry and wiped down with Eraser. Then CQuartz UK was applied to the paint.






Once the coating had been applied, I pulled the vehicle out to check for high spots & streaks








The car was then left to cure in the sunlight for several hours... the paint looked great!!









After


The shine was a mile deep!








The red really popped, and the gloss was incredible










Ready for pickup






The paint looked dripping wet








Deep & red!






Wheels cleaned up nicely






low enough?























As Always, Thanks for looking!

[EVOlved]

Looks fantastic!! Crazy how soft that paint was. The stance is a little too aggressive for me but looks great either way.

[JSou]

HARD!

Looks great Zach. You rocked this one. I love me some FRS/BRZ.

[statusdetailing]

That shine really is a mile deep. Thanks for the info on the paint softness. Will remember to start with SF4500 and go from there, when I come across one. It finished out very nicely.

How do you like the gilmour foam gun?

[281]

Wow that FRS is poppin! Thanks for sharing...

[parttimer]

Looks great, but damn that is some major camber on those back tires!

[David at LC Pads]

Looking Good!

[BrianMcLeod]

Nice work!!

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Beautiful work as always Zach! That gloss is 10 miles deep!

Car looks great as well. Like what the owner did with it but the front needs more work. IE, more stance. Lol