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This is my first sort of "makeover"/detail work post, so hope you all enjoy!
My 2009 G8 GT came with a severe case of DISO - Dealer Installed Swirl Option, and even a few terrible scratch touchup attempts. Overall the paint is pretty good and based on my information gathering from here, I went ahead on the suggestion to use Meguiar's Ultimate Compound with my PC 7424.
I just bought this vehicle 2 weeks ago, and it appeared to be nice looking, but after the first rain, the swirls were revealed. They must have used some heavy filler - who knows.
I clayed the car with Meguiar's Quick Clay, it was absolutely filthy. Greenish/brown scum filled the bar, I must have folded the thing a dozen times. I went over all horizontal surfaces, the fenders and quarter panels, the doors seemed good enough.
Just after washing and claying, the swirls:
As you can see, the sunlight reflection is distorted and the swirling is extremely evident.
Another shot of the decklid and C pillar:
I picked up some SONUS pads from Four Star Products and my plan of attack was to first cut using Ultimate Compound on their white Swirl Removing Pad and then polish using Ultimate Compound on their orange Finishing Pad.
Today I was only able to do the first cutting pass as I ran out of time.
I made 5 to 6 passes on each panel with the speed setting on 5, using medium pressure and a slow arm speed, overlapping my passes by 50% except in some of the tighter areas where I couldn't really do that - perfect excuse for some smaller pads I suppose.
After cutting the hood, I wiped off all of the product with a microfiber cloth and then took a few pictures, using the "flash" on my iphone to act as a revealing light.
Hood, after cutting:
This so far is a huge improvement. I proceeded to finish the rest of the car, although halfway through the pad started throwing little bits of product, so it probably would have been good to try and use a plastic knife or something to clean the pad a bit. I'm not sure on that though - advice welcome
After finishing the car, I backed it into the sunny part of the parking lot and took some shots attempting to get as much sun onto the surface as possible. It was late and the sun was fast disappearing!
Swirl-free Front Fender and Hood, Left Side:
Swirl-free Front Fender and Hood, Right Side:
I hope that tomorrow I can finish this, I will go over the car with the Finishing Pad and try to get some better perspective pics for a proper before and after comparison, along with the rest of the car
After the compounding, I will finish the car with Gold Glass liquid wax.
Now, as you can probably see, the front grill, and also on the rear "diffuser", it has this mesh-plastic, that seems like it would be a pain in the *** to get some product into, I've thought about getting a peice of foam and cutting it into 1" squares, saturating that with some natural shine and running it through. Any suggestions on how to efficiently detail that kind of grille?
Will post more tomorrow!
My 2009 G8 GT came with a severe case of DISO - Dealer Installed Swirl Option, and even a few terrible scratch touchup attempts. Overall the paint is pretty good and based on my information gathering from here, I went ahead on the suggestion to use Meguiar's Ultimate Compound with my PC 7424.
I just bought this vehicle 2 weeks ago, and it appeared to be nice looking, but after the first rain, the swirls were revealed. They must have used some heavy filler - who knows.
I clayed the car with Meguiar's Quick Clay, it was absolutely filthy. Greenish/brown scum filled the bar, I must have folded the thing a dozen times. I went over all horizontal surfaces, the fenders and quarter panels, the doors seemed good enough.
Just after washing and claying, the swirls:
As you can see, the sunlight reflection is distorted and the swirling is extremely evident.
Another shot of the decklid and C pillar:
I picked up some SONUS pads from Four Star Products and my plan of attack was to first cut using Ultimate Compound on their white Swirl Removing Pad and then polish using Ultimate Compound on their orange Finishing Pad.
Today I was only able to do the first cutting pass as I ran out of time.
I made 5 to 6 passes on each panel with the speed setting on 5, using medium pressure and a slow arm speed, overlapping my passes by 50% except in some of the tighter areas where I couldn't really do that - perfect excuse for some smaller pads I suppose.
After cutting the hood, I wiped off all of the product with a microfiber cloth and then took a few pictures, using the "flash" on my iphone to act as a revealing light.
Hood, after cutting:
This so far is a huge improvement. I proceeded to finish the rest of the car, although halfway through the pad started throwing little bits of product, so it probably would have been good to try and use a plastic knife or something to clean the pad a bit. I'm not sure on that though - advice welcome
After finishing the car, I backed it into the sunny part of the parking lot and took some shots attempting to get as much sun onto the surface as possible. It was late and the sun was fast disappearing!
Swirl-free Front Fender and Hood, Left Side:
Swirl-free Front Fender and Hood, Right Side:
I hope that tomorrow I can finish this, I will go over the car with the Finishing Pad and try to get some better perspective pics for a proper before and after comparison, along with the rest of the car
After the compounding, I will finish the car with Gold Glass liquid wax.
Now, as you can probably see, the front grill, and also on the rear "diffuser", it has this mesh-plastic, that seems like it would be a pain in the *** to get some product into, I've thought about getting a peice of foam and cutting it into 1" squares, saturating that with some natural shine and running it through. Any suggestions on how to efficiently detail that kind of grille?
Will post more tomorrow!
and 
I just looked at the number of posts and made an incorrect assumption.
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