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2002 Camaro SS Coated

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  • 2002 Camaro SS Coated

    Well this is my personal car. Before I go on to the photos I would like to give a little background story about this car.

    I am technically the third owner. The first owner was a car collector who had this car in his personal collection. He passed away and the second owner picked it up at a car auction and then I purchased it.

    When I purchased it, the odometer read 3,000 miles. I could not pass the deal and low mileage. I have had it for about 10 years and it's currently sitting at 14,XXX miles. This is the garage queen as they say.

    I've made some changes throughout the years. It has the full hotchkis suspension (sway bars, lowering springs, trailing arms, front strut bar), koni single adjustable shocks, 35th anniversary wheels and an original rear center lip with a Magnaflow cat back exhaust that I modified to be center mount. I only have an intake, exhaust and a tune. I don't want to go all out crazy with the engine mods. This is as far as I am going with those.

    It's been about a year and half since I last did any sort of paint correction/polishing. Since it sits in the garage a lot more the paint stays clean and LSP just lasts. A year and a half ago I used M21/M26 and there was still something on the paint with maybe a spray wax here and there.

    Onto the detail specifics.

    This is what I used:

    Wash: Adams New Car Shampoo, Meguiar's Wash Mitt

    Paint Decon: Ironx, Clay, D155 clay lube

    Wheels: Adams New Car Shampoo, various brushes

    Tires: Meguiar's D143, Blackfire Total Eclipse Tire Gel

    Polish: M205 with a Meguiar's thin yellow polishing pad, D302 with a foam finishing pad

    Coating: Ameriarmour by Americana Car Care

    Tools: Meguiar's MT300 (died in the middle of polishing), PC7424XP

    I started off by using Mike Philips wash method. It is not the first time I used it and it won't be the last. It just saves time. Here's the link to that. Helps if one has a foam gun.

    The Aggressive Approach to Washing a Car In my first and second editions of my how-to book I teach two ways to wash a car, The Aggressive Approach - T


    Here's ironx at work on the rear bumper



    The one issue that this car has is the typical sail panel adhesive issue. The adhesive seeps through from under the panel. GM no longer replaces the panel under the TSB. Repainting it will not fix it. The only real fix is replacing the panel with one from a 93-97 model. In the heat the adhesive starts to melt and stains the surrounding area. It becomes an eye sore.



    The paint looked pretty good with very minor defects or love marks. It was a bit hard to capture them but they were easily polished out.



    This is the combo I used. M205 on a Meguiar's yellow thin polishing pad and D302 on a black thin finishing pad. I have always been curious about using D302 on a foam finishing pad as it was talked about so long ago on the Meguiar's forum. I wanted to see if I could amp up the gloss and refine the finish even more.



    I was using my Meguiar's MT300 at the beginning and as I was using it for a better part on the front end, it started bogging down and eventually stopped working with the trigger in the on position while on the drivers side fender. Turns out the cord is causing the machine to not operate properly (I have a thread on this if you search under my name). I was bummed as I had only used it on 3 cars and 1 truck prior to this one. It's a good machine when it's working properly. I had to resort to plan B and use my PC7424XP. It's a good thing I had it as a back up.

    I do have to say the new thin pads work very well with the PC. It utilizes it's power more efficiently. I was impressed with the results I was getting. It took a little longer but the PC was a workhorse and got the job done.

    I followed up polishing with Car Pro Eraser and 2 coats of Ameriarmour.

    Sun shot of the corrected paint.



    Here are a few reflection shots in the garage after it was coated.



    The passenger side of the sail panel with more bubbling. No more adhesive residue.










    Pulled the car outside and took some various photos. There is no flake in this paint.









    Various gloss shots. Not bad considering it's white.












    Tires dressed with Blackfire Total Eclipse



    With the engine bay so clean I just used Blackfire All In One Trim & Tire Protectant

    99 Grand Prix
    02 Camaro SS

  • #2
    Re: 2002 Camaro SS Coated

    Very nice Michael, the car looks great!

    Is this the first time you've coated it?

    How did you like the Blackfire Total Eclipse compared to Meguiars D163?
    Originally posted by Blueline
    I own a silver vehicle and a black vehicle owns me. The black one demands attention, washing, detailing, waxing and an occasional dinner out at a nice restaurant. The silver one demands nothing and it looks just fine. I think the black vehicle is taking advantage of me, and the silver car is more my style. We can go out for a drive without her makeup and she looks fine. If I want to take the black one out, it is three or four hours in the "bathroom" to get ready.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: 2002 Camaro SS Coated

      Thanks.

      Yeah this is the first time I coated it. I was going to do the sealant/wax combo again but with the little maintenance this gets, a coating made sense.

      I like the Blackfire tire gel. It's a thinner consistency than D163 so it's a little easier to spread out. Durability is about the same. What you see is 2 coats and that's as glossy as it gets.
      99 Grand Prix
      02 Camaro SS

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: 2002 Camaro SS Coated

        What a cool car! I had a red 1999 Z28, but it didn't look near as good as yours.
        2021 BMW X3M Competition - Donington Gray
        2020 Chevy Bolt - Arctic White
        2019 Fiat 124 Spider - Brillante

        Some look better than others....

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: 2002 Camaro SS Coated

          Originally posted by DAC17 View Post
          What a cool car! I had a red 1999 Z28, but it didn't look near as good as yours.
          Thanks.
          99 Grand Prix
          02 Camaro SS

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: 2002 Camaro SS Coated

            So did the D302 on the finishing pad amp up the gloss?

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: 2002 Camaro SS Coated

              Hard to tell on white. The paint on this car is hard and M205 alone finished out nicely. The black sail panel is softer paint and M205 left some marring on it. D302 on the finishing pad took care of that. So I am going to say yes.
              99 Grand Prix
              02 Camaro SS

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: 2002 Camaro SS Coated

                Wow the car looks Nice!

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: 2002 Camaro SS Coated

                  Originally posted by OTBMD View Post
                  Wow the car looks Nice!
                  Thanks. It's hard to believe the coating has been on the paint for over a year already ( 14 1/2 months). It's performing quite well on my car. Much better than when I had it on my dad's Camaro that was exposed to the elements 24/7.
                  99 Grand Prix
                  02 Camaro SS

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: 2002 Camaro SS Coated

                    You always post fantastic work, Guz!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: 2002 Camaro SS Coated

                      Originally posted by drumdan View Post
                      You always post fantastic work, Guz!
                      Thanks.
                      99 Grand Prix
                      02 Camaro SS

                      Comment

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