Fellow MOL'ers Bri (Marc) and AudionutMike (Mike) came over yesterday to help, and we got alot done! We started with the wheels. They were so badly cached with brake dust they had to be removed from the car to be cleaned:
This was the first time I used All Wheel Cleaner. I absolutely love it! It suds up nicely when agitated:
...and you sure can't beat the results:
Who knew these wheels were chrome? We thought they were aluminum!
Next we powerwashed the engine bay. 3 times. Marc scrubbed on it and got excellent results.
Before:
After:
Next we powerwashed the exterior. We kept getting dirt pouring out from under the moldings!
After claying, we set up some test spots. Notice that the paint is so oxidized, that any beam of light that strays onto the paint is never seen or heard from again! It was a veritable black hole!
In this picture you can barely see a reflection of 2 high power hologen lights:
The left spot was using the Flex with an Orange LC pad (can't wait to get some of the new Meg's pads!) and M105. The right spot was with the rotary and a red solo wool pad using D151.
M105 was the real star of this show - cut through the oxidation in a single pass with amazing results, leaving an LSP-ready finish using both the Flex and the Rotary.
Marc got an opportunity to learn the rotary with no risk so he buffed out his side using the rotary while Mike used Marc's Flex on the other side:
Rear quarter after clay:
Here's some 50/50 shots after M105:
Needless to say, Marc learned the rotary very quickly!
Even though M105 left a finish nice enough to apply the LSP over, we wanted to experiment a little to see what would work well to refine the finish even more. We tried M83 and M80 on a polishing pad, but they hazed the finish. After a little head scratching, we thought that wool might be the way to go. Out came the purple foamed wool pad and the new D151 Paint Reconditioning Cream - this is great stuff! It went on nicely with no dusting and finished up beautifully.
Here's some shots after 151:
After the polishing was finished, my wife came out to see her car and almost had a heart attack! She absolutely couldn't believe it was the same car. By this time we had called the game due to heat and Marc and Mike had already left. Seeing her enthusiasm re-energized me so we went out to finish the job.
I decided that even though the convertible top was beyond help and had to be replaced due to holes, we may as well try and clean it up. I used APC+ at 10:1:
We went over the painted trim with M105 by hand (this stuff is amazing!) and re-washed it to get all of the compounding dust and splatter off:
By the time we were finished it was too dark to take "after" pictures. I'll get some good shots out in the sun today and will post them up.
It was a very long and productive day and we learned a lot:
- This highly oxidized single stage paint loved M105 for oxidation removal
- The paint hated foam pads for finishing
- D151 worked beautifully as a finishing product with a wool pad on the rotary
- When working in 105+ degree heat with high humidity, you drink gallons of water and never have to use the restroom.
Seeing the look on my wife's face and her sudden enthusiasm for the project made it all worth it. Thanks a TON to Marc and Mike for helping!
More pics to come, so stay tuned!
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