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2003 Pontiac Grand Prix GT
Victory Red
146,000+ miles ….
Nothing too exotic, yet I found myself more excited about this detail than I’ve been about one in a long time. I knew this vehicle would present some challenges and that’s exactly what I encountered. This vehicle now belongs to my girlfriend and was located by her father (who is a GM at a dealership). She was simply looking for something that would get her through her final two years of school and this is what he picked up on a trade-in last week. The car had previously belonged to a physician (original owner) who used it as his daily commuter ( 4 days/week…120 miles roundtrip/day) to the hospital. We picked it up Friday night and I began this project on Saturday afternoon.
Saturday (Day 1):
Interior:
The interior was in good shape, however it showed the typical signs of neglect. Lots of dust, food crumbs, coffee stains, and some dog hair. A thorough vacuuming, via Rigid Pro-Pack, and a mix of the following helped tidy things up:
-Meg’s IQD on dashboard and all plastic paneling
-Edge Detailing swabs for vents and crevices
-Q-tips around window and lock controls
-APC 10:1 on coffee stains w/ a variety of brushes
-Woolite 10:1 on the leather seats via MF
-Sprayway glass cleaner and WW cloth on interior glass, rearview, and gauge cluster
-Weathertech mats washed with a BHB and Megs gold class
Exterior:
The first order of business was to scrap the bra and flaps so I could properly assess the damage. I had a feeling that it had been a while since the front end of this car had seen sunlight....and I was right. This is what I found: (On the plus side, this kept the rock chips to an absolute minimum)
Abrasives provided by the Nebraska/Iowa dept. of transportation.
Then the mudflaps had to go. I had to jack up the front end and remove both front wheels in order to remove the guards. This allowed me to knock down a lot of the accumulated grime and sand in the wells while I had access.
Parking passes and college football stickers were promptly removed from the rear glass with a blow dryer and plastic razor blade. The residue was treated with Surf City Grime destroyer. SCGD works awesome at breaking down residual glue when massaged in by hand and left to dwell for a few minutes. IMO this is a must-have from Surf City and will always be in my arsenal.
I documented some more dirt and dust accumulation in the door and trunk jambs as I made my way around the vehicle.
The exterior treatment began with the following:
-SCGD around bra contaminants
-APC 10:1 presoak on lower panels, engine compartment, and jambs
-Megs GC strongly mixed in the foam gun
-2BM with Dawn and a splash of APC
-Meg’s SD in the wheel wells
-Eagle 1 A2Z on tires
-P21s gel on wheels (the wheels still need additional work- I’ll probably end up claying them in the future)
-Tools: Swissvax brush, Mother’s brushes, EZ-detail brush, Gilmour foam gun, grout sponge, leaf blower, Viking dryer towel, grit guard etc.
After a proper cleaning, I checked the paint condition in the sun…
The trunk:
I then detailed the engine compartment and jambs with the following:
-Black Wow on the cowl
-303 on hoses and plastic covers, fuse boxes, hood and trunk struts, and headlamp housing..etc..etc.
-DG AW on underside of hood and strut towers
Back to the paint- it had certainly seen better days, but I always enjoy a good challenge. After claying with ONR and Meg’s yellow, I took some paint readings with the Highline. Most panels averaged between 140um and 160um, but the roof was a bit on the low side with some spots reading 105-115um.
I taped the car up and called it a day.
Sunday (Day 2):
The morning began by experimenting with several product and pad combinations. I finally decided on SIP/white followed by 205/Black (both by Rotary)- a little old school mixed with some new school. The SIP/white combo was taking care of the majority of defects while finishing down very nicely; several spots required an additional pass or two. There were some RIDS and deep etching that I wasn’t comfortable chasing, but feel this combo gave me ~90% correction. Some sun and halogen 50/50s following several IPA wipedowns:
50/50 of M105 by hand on the B pillars.
1 pass of 106ff/white via UDM on the tail lights: 2 passes were required.
Post-polish wash consisted of:
-Gentle mix of Megs GC in Gilmour (dwell 3-4 mins)
-DG901 in 2BM via grout sponge
I then followed the wash with an additional IPA wipedown: At this point I knew the end was in sight.
I decided on Colly 845 IW as the LSP. I kicked around the idea of applying CG EZ-glaze or Meg’s #7 prior to the wax application but thought this would be a good opportunity to test the durability 845IW as a standalone LSP. I applied two coats (24 hours apart) with the UDM/red CCS. The final touches included:
-Stoner’s more shine on the tires
-Sprayway on all exterior glass
-Adam’s Invisible Undercarriage spray in the wells
-303 on the plastic front and rear air dams
Final shots:
As always, thanks for looking!
Victory Red
146,000+ miles ….
Nothing too exotic, yet I found myself more excited about this detail than I’ve been about one in a long time. I knew this vehicle would present some challenges and that’s exactly what I encountered. This vehicle now belongs to my girlfriend and was located by her father (who is a GM at a dealership). She was simply looking for something that would get her through her final two years of school and this is what he picked up on a trade-in last week. The car had previously belonged to a physician (original owner) who used it as his daily commuter ( 4 days/week…120 miles roundtrip/day) to the hospital. We picked it up Friday night and I began this project on Saturday afternoon.
Saturday (Day 1):
Interior:
The interior was in good shape, however it showed the typical signs of neglect. Lots of dust, food crumbs, coffee stains, and some dog hair. A thorough vacuuming, via Rigid Pro-Pack, and a mix of the following helped tidy things up:
-Meg’s IQD on dashboard and all plastic paneling
-Edge Detailing swabs for vents and crevices
-Q-tips around window and lock controls
-APC 10:1 on coffee stains w/ a variety of brushes
-Woolite 10:1 on the leather seats via MF
-Sprayway glass cleaner and WW cloth on interior glass, rearview, and gauge cluster
-Weathertech mats washed with a BHB and Megs gold class
Exterior:
The first order of business was to scrap the bra and flaps so I could properly assess the damage. I had a feeling that it had been a while since the front end of this car had seen sunlight....and I was right. This is what I found: (On the plus side, this kept the rock chips to an absolute minimum)
Abrasives provided by the Nebraska/Iowa dept. of transportation.
Then the mudflaps had to go. I had to jack up the front end and remove both front wheels in order to remove the guards. This allowed me to knock down a lot of the accumulated grime and sand in the wells while I had access.
Parking passes and college football stickers were promptly removed from the rear glass with a blow dryer and plastic razor blade. The residue was treated with Surf City Grime destroyer. SCGD works awesome at breaking down residual glue when massaged in by hand and left to dwell for a few minutes. IMO this is a must-have from Surf City and will always be in my arsenal.
I documented some more dirt and dust accumulation in the door and trunk jambs as I made my way around the vehicle.
The exterior treatment began with the following:
-SCGD around bra contaminants
-APC 10:1 presoak on lower panels, engine compartment, and jambs
-Megs GC strongly mixed in the foam gun
-2BM with Dawn and a splash of APC
-Meg’s SD in the wheel wells
-Eagle 1 A2Z on tires
-P21s gel on wheels (the wheels still need additional work- I’ll probably end up claying them in the future)
-Tools: Swissvax brush, Mother’s brushes, EZ-detail brush, Gilmour foam gun, grout sponge, leaf blower, Viking dryer towel, grit guard etc.
After a proper cleaning, I checked the paint condition in the sun…
The trunk:
I then detailed the engine compartment and jambs with the following:
-Black Wow on the cowl
-303 on hoses and plastic covers, fuse boxes, hood and trunk struts, and headlamp housing..etc..etc.
-DG AW on underside of hood and strut towers
Back to the paint- it had certainly seen better days, but I always enjoy a good challenge. After claying with ONR and Meg’s yellow, I took some paint readings with the Highline. Most panels averaged between 140um and 160um, but the roof was a bit on the low side with some spots reading 105-115um.
I taped the car up and called it a day.
Sunday (Day 2):
The morning began by experimenting with several product and pad combinations. I finally decided on SIP/white followed by 205/Black (both by Rotary)- a little old school mixed with some new school. The SIP/white combo was taking care of the majority of defects while finishing down very nicely; several spots required an additional pass or two. There were some RIDS and deep etching that I wasn’t comfortable chasing, but feel this combo gave me ~90% correction. Some sun and halogen 50/50s following several IPA wipedowns:
50/50 of M105 by hand on the B pillars.
1 pass of 106ff/white via UDM on the tail lights: 2 passes were required.
Post-polish wash consisted of:
-Gentle mix of Megs GC in Gilmour (dwell 3-4 mins)
-DG901 in 2BM via grout sponge
I then followed the wash with an additional IPA wipedown: At this point I knew the end was in sight.
I decided on Colly 845 IW as the LSP. I kicked around the idea of applying CG EZ-glaze or Meg’s #7 prior to the wax application but thought this would be a good opportunity to test the durability 845IW as a standalone LSP. I applied two coats (24 hours apart) with the UDM/red CCS. The final touches included:
-Stoner’s more shine on the tires
-Sprayway on all exterior glass
-Adam’s Invisible Undercarriage spray in the wells
-303 on the plastic front and rear air dams
Final shots:
As always, thanks for looking!
to MOL!
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