Chronicles of a G8 Detail

[Chewy]

Ok all,

 

So I set off on Saturday to get this thing cleaned and ready for the summer. My wife thought I was nuts last year for spending 12 hours on it. My goal this year was to make her think I need committed. So on Saturday I grabbed three buckets all with grit guards in them and set out to clean her. (the car... Not the wife)

 

I only have two Adams buckets so I found a an old wide bottomed bucket where the grit guard went nearly to the bottom. 2 were filled with straight water and one with Dawn and water. They were also dumped out mid wash and refilled.

 

I also used my foam applicator filled with Dawn and water.

 

This car was VERY dirty. It hadn't been hand washed since 11/06/09. I did however take it through touchless washes that blow dry so NO hands had touched the paint other than a rogue accidental brush against it here and there. Remember... This is my DD so it's not perfect.

 

So I washed it (took about 2 hours) using a new jumbo wash pad, wheel well brush, bores hair wheel brush, and A LOT of water. Then I dried it using a great white drying towel and some DS. The results were amazing... From afar... Up close it's a disaster.

 

The paint is actually pretty decent but there are some very slight scratches in the top surfaces with some longer scratches which I assume came from rogue rocks and salt.

 

So I set out with my 3M adhesive remover and a cheap MF towel to remove ALL the tar and oil from behind the wheels and sides of the car. This is MUCH better than making the clay do it all for you.

 

After removing the tar I set off with a hunk of Adams clay and a bottle of DS. It took a whole bottle of DS to get it done but it came out VERY nice IMO. The pics you'll see below have the DS dried on the car. No big deal... I PC through it.

 

So now for the "fun" stuff...

 

I grabbed the PC a white pad and tried out some FMP on the hood... Nope... Going to need the orange pad. I stuffed the white pad into a ziplock to keep it fresh and went to work. After a couple hours on the hood I think I have it.

 

Went to the top of the car... DANG! It was BAD up there... 3 hours and bam! Done...

 

Trunk and C pillars... 3 hours... Bam... Done.

 

Now ALL I have is the sides, back and nose of the car. The nose has a clear bra so I intend to just use clear polish and an MF applicator on it.

 

The sides of the car are pretty bad so it will take me at least the rest of this week to complete it.

 

So I am driving the truck this week... The car is parked in the middle of the garage.

 

Cheers all and sorry for the LONG post.

 

Chris

 

Photos are in order... All pre-clean and the last one are the buckets set and ready...

 

More to come in a second

[Chewy]

Got home tonight and pulled it out, washed, and put a coat of Americana on it.

 

Super VRT'd everything vinyl and rubber.

 

Came out great IMO.

 

Chris

[Chewy]

Yeah walked out in my socks to take those for AJ... The bumper is better than that now but not great...

 

I've stopped detailing for the last couple of days. Been chilly out and well just a bit bored with it... lol I'll be back at it tonight after I cut the grass I think. We'll see.

 

The top of my bumper is covered with a clear bra JUST for that reason... People dragging crap into the car tend to be stupid. Therefore I usually insist on doing it.

 

Chris

[694doorbird]

Chris,

That car is looking absolutely fantastic Keep up the good work

[GXPimpin]

That thing Looks Sexy Chris... I wish i had the Patients to correct mine to that level. What % is your tint?

[Chewy]

It's killing me man... lol

 

Need to muster up the will to continue...

 

Chris

[whiterp199]

Looks good as always.

[Chewy]

OUT-FREAKIN'-STANDING! :thumbsup:

 

That means a TON coming from you AJ... I know it won't be perfect but for a DD... It'll be better than 99.9% of them out there I bet. Especially here.

 

Very good work!!! Black is one of the harder colors to work (or so I've heard). Is yours a metallic black or black granite? Either way it's one sexy color!

 

It's called Panther Black and it is a metallic black. It's a pretty color but the metallic some how makes the paint lose depth.

 

I bought it because I thought it may disguise the swirls better... NOPE! Don't kid yourself... Black is black...

 

Thanks,

Chris

[GXPaycheck]

Looking Good!

[whiterp199]

Looks good Chris. My detail starts tomorrow night or Wednesday morning depending on how late it is when I get back to Wisconsin tomorrow.

[sixt9stang]

Nice work! Can't wait to start on mine. Should be interesting since it almost has 80k on it. Just got it a few weeks ago. The dealership said they repainted the front and rear bumpers and also the lower portion on the passenger side doors. I guess there were some rock chips and scuffs that they wanted to look better. After I get it all cleaned I am going to have a clear bra put on also.

[Chewy]

That thing Looks Sexy Chris... I wish i had the Patients to correct mine to that level. What % is your tint?

 

THANKS guys!

 

My tint is only 30%, but with the black interior it comes across darker...

 

So far only one ticket... 85 bucks...

[Chewy]

More!

 

Ok so G8 wetted down.... After this I was in a rush with the sun to get it washed and dried before the sun dried it. It was cool but sunny!

 

Then dried and DS'd.

 

Behind the wheel well before using 3M adhesive remover. (it's the BOMB)

 

Behind the wheel cleaned with 3M AR.

 

G8 taped and ready to go!

[Chewy]

Still more...

 

Hood and trunk corrected...

 

I did the Junkman test...

 

A flash shows it all right AJ?

 

Keep in mind this is ONLY SHR and FMP and has NO wax or sealant at all.

 

Ok so I have NO idea why I am doing this to my DD but it's a GREAT learning experience. Next year with a 6-7 month old... I don't expect this level of care...

 

Cheers all!

 

More to come as I detail more of it this week.

 

Chris

[Chris@Adams]

Looks good Christopher!:pc:G8:burnout:

[09G8GT]

Looking good!

 

Can't wait for a long weekend to get mine looking right. Sucks having to ask family for use of their garage overnight. No way can I do it all in 1 day.

[Team Adam's]

You know... you might actually have a handle on this detailing stuff

 

Am I seeing WW in the foam gun canister?

[whiterp199]

Looks good. Dylan I believe that is Dawn.

[Chewy]

You know... you might actually have a handle on this detailing stuff

 

Am I seeing WW in the foam gun canister?

 

Thanks guys!

 

Nah... Dawn... I wanted to strip what ever was left on it. I don't go straight up with my soap like you. I get a heck of a froth too but I am going to try straight with the Adams wash next time.

 

My biggest issue was using less product. It's a hard habit to break. I learned more in the last two days than reading here though. It's not the first time I've done this but it's the first time I tried hard to completely correct the paint.

 

The sides are worse than the top so I can't wait to kill myself on those...

 

I wore my back belt all weekend which helped immensely. (I've had back surgery)

 

Cheers,

Chris

[whiterp199]

I cannot wait for this semester to end. I can go home and put the G8 in the garage and give it some loving. I am going to try and get it perfect except for the couple of stone chips.

[Chewy]

I cannot wait for this semester to end. I can go home and put the G8 in the garage and give it some loving. I am going to try and get it perfect except for the couple of stone chips.

 

Oh ya... I have those as well... The clear bra helps a crap ton but they like the lip in front of the wipers... Oh and the trunk!!!! WTF?

[whiterp199]

I do not have any on the trunk, I do have one on the front pillar, and a nice gouge in my rear bumper right behind the left wheel. Somebody must have hit my car with a snow shovel during all the snow we had. It had to be the girl who was parked next to me. I wanted to kick her door in.

[Captain Slow]

Yeah walked out in my socks to take those for AJ... The bumper is better than that now but not great...

 

I've stopped detailing for the last couple of days. Been chilly out and well just a bit bored with it... lol I'll be back at it tonight after I cut the grass I think. We'll see.

 

The top of my bumper is covered with a clear bra JUST for that reason... People dragging crap into the car tend to be stupid. Therefore I usually insist on doing it.

Chris

 

HMMMMM, clear bra? I've been thinking about that for the trunk area and also for the trim piece below the drivers door. I swear I drag my shoe on that thing at least once a week.....GGGGRRR. Look like rain this weekend so I guess I'll be getting my wish for quiet time in the garage.

[Zeus_SVT]

Looking good so far. I'm gonna be knocking mine out sometime after the first week of may before I leave for vacation. Took an extra few days off just for this. Wanna get it ready for the Texas summer we have coming. I have a few rock chips in my bumper already and only have 5k miles on mine......I have a feelin its gonna look like crap in a few years if I dont do something about it. How is the clear coat on these cars? I haven't hit mine with the PC at all yet.

[Chewy]

It's not bad but it's thin as heck! Overall paint quality sucks on these but the clear is fairly hard and takes some work to correct.

 

Chris

[Chewy]

OK so I tackled a little more last night after our walk so I only had about an hour and a half to get this done before annoying the neighbors became a concern. Everything inside the blue tape was done and all with the 4" pads.

 

What you'll see in these pics are after SHR, and then after FMP as well as how the pads look after doing the whole job. I don't think anyone's ever posted a picture of the used pads so that people can see what they SHOULD look like after correcting. In the picture after the SHR you'll see it's not corrected 100% but all the big stuff is gone. In the picture after the FMP you'll see it's pretty good. I'm not going for flawless here as it IS my DD. If I was a critic I would say it needs another going over with FMP as it's not perfect perfect.

 

I then spritzed some DS on all three pads and put them in a Ziploc® vacuum bag and sucked some of the air out. I plan to do more tonight and saw no reason to clean and dry them.

 

Ok I know the yellow pad is stained... Honestly I don't know with what but something tells me it was car wash... I used the yellow pad only on the deep scratches. The back of this car is really bad.

 

Anyway... Enjoy