Hey guys, just wanted to share some of my detail results..... sorry I don't have before pictures, just this 1....... I kind of started right away not wasting any time. The car is an 03 Super Black w/ 73k miles. The only thing that sucks is that my paint is littered with these white spots, a lot on my hood and roof. I have no idea what they are. They wont clay off, nor buff off. I'm guessing the car is just old and it's damage done over time. Also, my front bumper is completely thrashed... so I didn't get any shine off it. I settled with just removing the swirls. My car was in absolutely horrible shape before I did this. To give you an idea, the whole car was covered with this:





You can see my test spot to the left, and the untouched area on the right. That gives you an idea how bad the car was. Swirls........ everywhere. Lots, lots and lots........ this detail job took me two full days. I put my heart and soul into it. End results:





























My headlights were also thrashed, multiple applications and a little elbow grease with Meguires PlastX really brought them back.


ANY tips on detailing are welcome. I'm so glad I did this.... my 03 Z looks so beautiful now

 

Lookin' clean Mike!

 

Thanks a lot man I really tried!!!!!!!

 

73K miles. I am impressed.

 

Thanks a lot David... many thanks. It took a really long time....

 

Lol great job!!

 

There's a deer in your yard lol

 

You can see the deer head reflection on my hood above my house entrance... haha. That made me smile. And yeah... that thing is really heavy.

 

I spy a Terminator 2 arcade game!

 

And it works! 2 players! Level 1 boss is HARD!!

 

very very nice detail job. did u sand and buff the clear? looks like it. there is nooooo orange peel what so ever lol or has it beenpainted before? nice job

 

looks good man. What products did you use?

 

very nice. black cars look great after a detail. great work.

 

Nice slippers haha the car looks great

 

Good work!

What did you use?

 

Z Enthusiast:

Actually, just a thorough claybar is all I did....... car has never been repainted. I guess I got lucky with the orange peel! How do those develop anyway? I kept my hands clean, constantly. Also, I made sure to wipe thoroughly each and every single time I did anything to the car. Maybe that helped prevent orange peel?


Thanks for the kind words everyone.


I used a Porter Cable 7424

For cutting, I used a 5.5" orange pad with Menzerna Power Gloss. I started with a speed setting of 5, and worked the compound into the paint. When it was worked in after two section passes, I bumped the speed up to 6 and really went at it, making an additional 4 section passes. This worked like a charm in removing all swirls, and correcting some of those fine scratches.

Next, I used Menzerna Power Finish PO203S with a green pad. Any imperfections that were still there were removed with this combination. I set the speed to 4.5 with this combination.

Then to top it off, I finished with Menzerna PO106FA Nano Polish (Super Finish) and a blue pad, speed was set to 4.

I find the Porter Cable difficult to use when you come across curves. The rotation of the pads just stops and I had to always adjust. Doing my fenders took some effort, I broke them up into many small sections. Took some time, but it did the trick.

I sealed her up with Menzerna Polymer Power Lock Sealant with a black pad, and added a thin layer of Poorboy's Natty Blue Paste Wax by hand about 10 hours later. Boy that stuff goes on very easy, but takes a little elbow grease to take it off. Nothing too hard

It just took me a very long time..... very long. And a lot of sweat. Especially because its been hot here the last few days, had to put my polish inside a refrigerator because they started acting funny. My garage is a mess right now, all that compound dust.... sheesh. But it makes me so happy to see my car shine again. I can't believe how many swirls I had!!

 

Hey man I've heard great things about Menzerna products. And not bad for a first detail, I'm actually about to give it a go for my first time as well. Problem is if yours took a long time, mine will take forever because I'll probably do it by hand :/

 

You should just invest in a dual action buffer and some pads. You will thank yourself once you do a complete detail.

 

I have a buffer I got like 5 years ago that I never used just sitting in the garage. It's nothing special by any means

 

good job man, looks great!!!