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2013 Chevy Malibu


BRZN

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I picked up my new Company Car on Wednesday, a 2013 Chevy Malibu with 3 miles on the odometer, Reichler drove me up as I’m purchasing, not returning the 2007 Magnum. One of the keys has a plastic fob attached that has 8/22 on it; this car appears to have been in their possession for slightly less than one month.

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Thursday evening I took care of a little personalization:

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I’d asked them not to install the front license bracket and plate, guess they didn’t care or had already installed it.

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Nice

It cleaned/polished up okay. I'll get some plugs and color match them.

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Friday late afternoon/evening she got a bath with 271 miles on her.

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Two Bucket Grit Guard strip wash using 2oz of Car Shampoo and 4oz of APC. A Merino Wool mitt on the upper portion of the car, a 9x9 through the mid section and another 9x9 on the front bumper, rocker panels, lower rear quarters, lower portion of the rear bumper and on the wheels/tires.

Wheels, tires and inner fender wells had the use of a Fender brush, Wheel brush, Deep Clean Tire brush and a Trim & Lug brush. The tires had an application of a high silicone glossy tire dressing from the dealership that was also all over the wheels:

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APC and Green Wheel Cleaner here, took care of the mess:

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Here's how much Tire Dressing they had on. The spots inside the door handle are tire dressing that made its way into the cabin while I drove home Wednesday with the window down:

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I dried it with my Master Blaster and wiped it down with DS and two Waterless Wash towels.

Clay Bar? On a brand new car? You bet, she failed the baggie test:

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My first time with Adam’s new clay.

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I’d used Riccardo before and this new clay reminded me of it. Very soft and sticky and as it wore out it would stick to my fingers.

Still 200 grams in the package, packaged as two separate 100 gram bars.

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I tore one in half and was able to do the entire car with just 50 grams.

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This was after the windshield and half the hood:

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Bright and early Saturday morning I brought her into the garage, wiped her down again and got ready to polish. Taped off all the textured plastics:

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I took care of all the chrome with Metal Polish #2 and a Metal Polish towel:

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The tools I planned to use on the paint, with the pads I thought I'd use:

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Nope, not as soon as I saw this:

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They were all over the roof. My guess, the dealership washes their new cars with a brush, and whoever washed this car used the brush on the roof going from side to side. One pass with the Orange Foam pad on the Flex with PCP did nothing. I right away jumped up to the microfiber pad:

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Three passes and the roof is perfect.

There were other marks, scratches, and gouges as well as several defects in the paint; fish eyes, runs and debris in the paint, oh well. All that could be corrected were.

I polished out the entire car with the Paint Correcting Polish, Orange Microfiber with the Flex except tight areas where the Cyclo did the job. With the Cyclo I got away with the foam pads as those areas weren’t that bad. I decided not to follow up with Paint Finishing Polish as the Paint Correcting Polish finished down to almost perfection. Next spring I’ll hit her again with the Paint Finishing Polish and white pads.

Next came some sealant. The majority of the car received Machine Super Sealant via a Grey Foam pad with my PC set to 3.

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Some areas I prefer Quick Sealant. Quick Sealant was placed on the front bumper, rocker panels, door jambs, all painted areas under the hood and trunk lid and the wheels.

After wiping the car down she went back outside for the night so the GTO could come back in. Within minutes of switching the cars around it began to rain. We got just over 1” of rain before midnight.

Looks like the MSS is doing its job of protection:

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Out came the Master Blaster again

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and a wipe down with WW. There were several spots where the MSS had hazed back over again and these were taken care of. Once dry, back into the garage.

Brilliant Glaze

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Followed up with Patriot

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The tape was removed and all the trim was dressed with SVRT or In & Out Spray.

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Edited by BRZN
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Chris, An oz of touch up paint has already been ordered and plans are to run up to Lowe's or to a local hardware store to grab an assortment of the push pins before it shows up. If I can wait, Charlie has a handful he's offered. I'll be at his place Sunday.

 

Ryan, I actually did apply QS to the plastic covers on the front bumper where fog lights would go on one equiped with them, the Shark Fin, and to the side view mirrors. Everywhere else I prefer the look of SVRT.

Edited by BRZN
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Touch up paint showed up in the mail today. I picked up the plastic plugs from a local hardware store. Two coats of Plastic Adhesion Promoter, three coats of Atlantis Blue Metallic color, topped with two coats of Clear:

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Edited by BRZN
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Please.  Let's start off the life and story of this Malibu correctly.  The headline of this thread should be: "2013 Chevy Malibu & The Fantastic Voyage".  A 500-some mile road-trip, stop at a good local brewery for lunch, and the hysterical ricer fly-by on our way home deserves mention.  That was indeed a good road-trip.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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