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I got a call from this customer while I was doing another detail. I love it when business picks up!! He wanted some oxidation removed from this car he just bought for his wife. What a gift!
Well, there was more than just a little oxidation..........more on that in the pics.
The process was interesting to say the least and I experimented a bit and had some interesting conclusions.
I began with a nice gentle ONR wash.
The hood was the worst part of the car and the most heavily oxidized. I decided to hit it first with D300 Microfiber Correction Compound and a 5" Microfiber Cutting Disc. I was working on a PC at speed 5. Speed 4 was too slow and wasn't cutting through the oxidation at all. I was monitoring the heat of the pad of course the entire time but that didn't prevent me from making one break but more on that later. This gave me some serious correction on this paint and the fibers cut like heck through the oxidation. The paint was extremely dry and I needed to use the D300 quite liberally. I had to apply about the amount you would use to prime the pad for its first use for every section which was only 1.5' x 1.5'.
There was some haziness in the paint but it was interesting. I had but through all of the oxidation but I could still see the trails of the buffer marks from where I moved the pad. The oxidation was completely gone though. Anyway, I decided to see what M205 would do so I attached a 5.5" LC White CCS pad and went to work at speed 5. The paint loved this combo! It buffed so smooth and the paint came right back to life. The polishing oils in 205 must have conditioned the paint considerably as I could no longer see the movements of the buffer and the red was deep and rich. But, I had to go another step. Throw on a 5.5" LC gray pad and some M07 and went to town at speed 4. Paint was really coming back to life now! It was deep, rich, smooth as glass and looked like Mustang paint. I then topped all of this off with Collinite 915 Marque D'Elegance which worked alright. I wasn't super impressed but had left my Ultimate Wax at home as well as my Collinite 845.
On the side panels, I did some more testing. I used a 5.5" orange light cutting LC pad with D300 at speed 5.5 for everything above the door moldings. This was followed by M07 on an LC green light polishing pad which gave the M07 a little bite and helped brighten, deepen and condition the paint. For below the moldings I used only Ultimate Compound on a 5.5" LC orange pad at speed 5.5. The bottom part of the doors were honestly not that bad and that's all they needed to brighten back up.
The deck lid was the same process as the hood except I didn't add the M07 as I was trying to hurry it up a little. I broke out the 4" burgundy Meguiars cutting pad though to hit the tight spots in between the trim pieces. This and D300 did quick work of the oxidation.
The convertible top was cleaned with APC at 4:1 and then protected with CroftgateUSA Fabric Protector. The APC actually revealed deeper, set-in stains but I was going above and beyond by hitting the convertible cover anyway. It could have used a real good scrubbing though.
The moldings were really weird. I spent a good 10 minutes just staring at them and trying to figure out what material they were. Some places looked to be painted and others were textured. I played it safe and only cleaned them up with some APC and a microfiber making sure they were all clean but did not dress them.
Alright, let's move on to the pictures!
And that's it!!!!
Well, there was more than just a little oxidation..........more on that in the pics.
The process was interesting to say the least and I experimented a bit and had some interesting conclusions.
I began with a nice gentle ONR wash.
The hood was the worst part of the car and the most heavily oxidized. I decided to hit it first with D300 Microfiber Correction Compound and a 5" Microfiber Cutting Disc. I was working on a PC at speed 5. Speed 4 was too slow and wasn't cutting through the oxidation at all. I was monitoring the heat of the pad of course the entire time but that didn't prevent me from making one break but more on that later. This gave me some serious correction on this paint and the fibers cut like heck through the oxidation. The paint was extremely dry and I needed to use the D300 quite liberally. I had to apply about the amount you would use to prime the pad for its first use for every section which was only 1.5' x 1.5'.
There was some haziness in the paint but it was interesting. I had but through all of the oxidation but I could still see the trails of the buffer marks from where I moved the pad. The oxidation was completely gone though. Anyway, I decided to see what M205 would do so I attached a 5.5" LC White CCS pad and went to work at speed 5. The paint loved this combo! It buffed so smooth and the paint came right back to life. The polishing oils in 205 must have conditioned the paint considerably as I could no longer see the movements of the buffer and the red was deep and rich. But, I had to go another step. Throw on a 5.5" LC gray pad and some M07 and went to town at speed 4. Paint was really coming back to life now! It was deep, rich, smooth as glass and looked like Mustang paint. I then topped all of this off with Collinite 915 Marque D'Elegance which worked alright. I wasn't super impressed but had left my Ultimate Wax at home as well as my Collinite 845.
On the side panels, I did some more testing. I used a 5.5" orange light cutting LC pad with D300 at speed 5.5 for everything above the door moldings. This was followed by M07 on an LC green light polishing pad which gave the M07 a little bite and helped brighten, deepen and condition the paint. For below the moldings I used only Ultimate Compound on a 5.5" LC orange pad at speed 5.5. The bottom part of the doors were honestly not that bad and that's all they needed to brighten back up.
The deck lid was the same process as the hood except I didn't add the M07 as I was trying to hurry it up a little. I broke out the 4" burgundy Meguiars cutting pad though to hit the tight spots in between the trim pieces. This and D300 did quick work of the oxidation.
The convertible top was cleaned with APC at 4:1 and then protected with CroftgateUSA Fabric Protector. The APC actually revealed deeper, set-in stains but I was going above and beyond by hitting the convertible cover anyway. It could have used a real good scrubbing though.
The moldings were really weird. I spent a good 10 minutes just staring at them and trying to figure out what material they were. Some places looked to be painted and others were textured. I played it safe and only cleaned them up with some APC and a microfiber making sure they were all clean but did not dress them.
Alright, let's move on to the pictures!
And that's it!!!!
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