2005 Grand Cherokee

**lpklemmer** · 03-16-2015, 09:30 AM

This is my Wife's Jeep, it's a 2005 Grand Cherokee with Inferno red crystal pearl paint and it has never had a professional detail, let alone any kind of paint correction. Last year I decontaminated and clayed it for the first time and it made a world of difference. She takes very good care of her vehicle, but the previous owners were an older couple and clearly had poor washing techniques or LOVED "soft cloth" washes.

I started this as a test project for spring, to see which techniques would be necessary to revive this 10 year old neglected paint. The first step was to get it cleaned up, and since it was 17 degrees outside I opted for a rinseless wash using DP Rinseless wash and gloss. I love how easy to use it is, and even if I don't buff the surface out completely it always dries streak free.

Next I gave the hood a quick claying since it hadn't been done since summer, then I got to work on some test spots on the hood.

Here is what I started with:

My first test spot consisted of Blackfire SRC Finishing polish, a lake country white CCS pad, and my porter cable on a speed of 5. I did 4 passes and these were the results:

I knew right away that I was going to have to step up to something more aggressive. After trying the Blackfire finishing polish on an orange CCS pad, I decided compound was the only way I was going to get this right.

3 passes of Blackfire SRC compound on an orange lake country CCS pad yielded these results:

Before:

After:

There are certainly still a few RIDS that were not removed with this technique, but for a daily driver that has seen 10 years of Michigan winters and a lot of neglect I was very happy with the outcome.

This was another quick test on the rear pillars of the Jeep by the back glass, just 2 passes with blackfire compound on the orange pad.
Before:

After:

I was amazed at how well the Blackfire compound finished even when only working it with the orange pad for a minute or so. Very nice stuff!

Finally I finished up the hood with a coat of CG EZ Creme glaze and collinite 915.

This spring I will be completing the entire vehicle and it should turn out awesome! It will be coated with Blackfire wet diamond all finish paint protection and their midnight sun carnauba wax!