First Detail with a PC

Nacho98

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Finished product can be seen here:

http://sn95forums.com/showthread.php?46946-Pics-of-the-98-GT-stocker&p=916317#post916317

Interior:

Seats:

--CG Leather Cleaner
--CG Leather Conditioner
--CG Fabric Guard on brand new Lloyd's floor/trunk mats

Dash/Doorpanels/Plastics/Etc.:

--CG Green Clean APC
--CG Silk Shine
--CG Lemon Lime Air Freshener

Exterior:

Wheels:

--CG Citrus Wash/Gloss
--CG Diablo
--Clay
--CG Citrus Wash/Gloss again
--CG EZ-Creme Glaze
--CG Jetseal (x2)
--CG Wheelguard (x2)

Body/Paint Correction:

--CG Citrus Wash/Gloss with two-bucket method and two GritGuards using a RaceGlaze Mitt for the body and a PakShak MF mitt for the wheels
--Clay
--CG 778 with PC 7424XP on speed 6 with an orange pad and moderate pressure
--CG P40, speed 5 with white pad and light/moderate pressure
--CG EZ-Creme Glaze, speed 4 with a blue pad and light pressure
--CG Jetseal 109, speed 3 with a black pad and no pressure (x2)
--CG Pete's 53, applied by hand with foam applicators (x2)

Trim/Tires/Etc.:

--CG G6 Hypercoat
--CG Glassworkz

Engine Bay:

--CG Grime Reaper
--CG Bare Bones

MFs of choice are the PakShak line, and I cant say enough good things about their MF. Top quality stuff.

I feel I got about 75% paint correction with the 778/P40. I have the 721, but since this was the first time I ever used a PC, I didn't push my luck, so I feel good about the level of correction I got for my very first time. I had rotary holograms to clear up, and lots of pretty nasty swirls and water etching in the paint, all of which is gone now--I was particularly happy to get rid of the holograms from the dealer. I say 75% correction because the car does have quite a few RIDS but again I didn't want to push my luck. Once I was all finished up with everything I have to say I'm quite satisfied with how it turned out, especially for a first try on 13 year old black paint. The 778 dusted a horrible amount, as did the P40 and even the glaze dusted a bit. Not sure what's up with that, barely used any product, less than most PC tutorial videos. This was a workout. I dialed in the PC and level of correction I wanted within about 15 minutes on the passenger fender, and went to town, but it still took around 5 hours to hit the whole car with the 778, and another 3.5 to hit it with P40. Glaze took a long time too, but each step got quicker. Total time just in paint correction/sealing/waxing on the body only from the time I started buffing to the time I finished waxing was 21 hours straight through the night. Add on the three I spent on the initial interior cleaning with APC and leather cleaner, etc., and the washing/claying, all the work on the wheels, and the time spent under the hood detailing and I'm somewhere in the 40-45 hour ballpark for this full detail. I am damn glad to be done with it.

Now for a couple process pics to go with the thread above:

6177043498_be390c16eb_b.jpg


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Couldn't get much of a side by side shot but this is with just the 778 on the right half of the tape, nothing else. This was the first time I used the PC and was dialing it in. As soon as I saw this level of correction in the direct sunlight with just one product, I decided I was plenty happy with that:

6177043946_25c2f7d073_b.jpg


6177044124_9121078b5e_b.jpg


6177044326_1704ecf601_b.jpg


I wanted some advice on this picture below, another reason I say I got 75% correction and not a higher value. After the 778/P40, I was left with microfine buffer swirls that you could only see under the halogens. Not a huge deal, since you can't see them in direct sunlight (and that was before the glaze/wax/etc) but how can I avoid these next time?

6176516183_1e0055453f_b.jpg


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Sometime in the middle of the process, somewhere around the glaze stage:

6176516577_a7369bea77_b.jpg


Observations:

1) Don't be afraid to crank the PC to speed 6 and push down on it--you almost have to push down on it just to control it. I first tried speed 5, but got little correction. Got some balls, cranked it to 6, and it did a really nice job.

2) Halogens are REQUIRED. Mine were just a paltry $30 at home depot, so don't skimp on this. Yeah they are low quality, but they are 1000W and do what they need to even if the stand is chintzy. Would be nice to have a second set, and maybe an extra one on the floor.

3) Don't let the PC get away from the paint when it's whirring away on speeds 4-6, especially 6. When going around body contours, you have to be very careful not to let the PC lift off the paint, you MUST keep pressing down and being careful around every contour. I wasted an orange pad that way, the PC lifted off the paint and half the pad flung right clean off the velcro backing. Good thing I had another.

4) If possible, having two of each pad on hand might help in the case of the above situation.

5) I didn't like using the handle on the PC and took it off right away.

6) It takes a lot longer to correct than it looks when you watch a youtube video and they seem to do a panel in less than five minutes, and is a lot more tiring than you may think when you are on your knees pressing into the side of your car and keeping it steady the entire time, numerous times around the car.

7) I was worried about what I would do in the tight spots in terms of hand applicators where the PC couldn't reach. Once you correct with that PC's power though, you realize any hand correction you do will be garbage in comparison anyway. However, this problem solved itself--I was surprisingly able to get the entire car with the PC, even the side vents, the hood vents, and the lower body lines by the rocker panels. I wasn't expecting this. The sole place I couldn't get the PC into was under the spoiler. You could take the spoiler off, but I opted not to open that can of worms.

8) Once you get to the glaze you are on easy street, comparatively. From this point on you really want to just let the PC do the work, you shouldn't have to push much if at all, just let the weight of the PC do the work.

9) Break the polishes down all the way. They will get to a point where they are almost dry, where you can almost not see them except like a slight sheen of oil. Make that extra pass. I usually went with 5 passes with the PC, and often 6 to make sure they were broken down.

10) Doesn't seem to be much consensus on hand vs. machine for applying Jetseal 109. I went with the machine, and am happy I did.

11) Pete's 53 is a fantastic wax in every way. Easy on, easy off, no waiting for it to haze, and really deepens a black car. EZ-Creme is also a top quality product IMO. My car has sat outside for over a week now, and it has rained, and I washed it today before taking the pics in the linked thread, and the water still beaded phenomenally.
 

SRT Handz

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Very Good Job!!! Congrats on an excellent detail!! How did you like the CG products?

The reason you still have the light swirls is that they were there in the first place because paint correction 1 is a finishing polish. You really need paint correction 2 to remove swirls like that. Scratch and swirl B-gone is always very good at finishing with an orange pad.
 
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Nacho98

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Very Good Job!!! Congrats on an excellent detail!! How did you like the CG products?

The reason you still have the light swirls is that they were there in the first place because paint correction 1 is a finishing polish. You really need paint correction 2 to remove swirls like that. Scratch and swirl B-gone is always very good at finishing with an orange pad.

I like almost all of the CG stuff a lot, especially the wash soaps, the EZ-Creme, the leather cleaner/conditioners, and the Pete's. Bare Bones is a pretty good undercarriage spray which worked well under the hood. I was a little disappointed in the amount of dusting I got with the 778/P40, but overall I can't complain, they did their jobs. My only real gripe is that the Lemon Lime Air Freshener lasts a whole 3 minutes even with numerous sprays under the seats and in the vents (though the smell is great), and Glassworkz hazes/streaks terribly, which shocked me I admit. Not sure if I got a bad bottle or what, could just have been a bad batch. Had to use some off-the-market Ecolab stuff to clean the Glassworkz haze off the glass. Other than that I'm pretty happy with their product line and will definitely continue to use their stuff.

That's actually good to know, that I didn't put those swirls in it...I guess that means I only corrected and didn't introduce any new problems, which makes me feel good. It was kind of hard to see what all I was dealing with after I clayed the car, the whole passenger side had horrendous water etching when looking closely in the sun, and the whole car had lines of holograms from when the dealer I bought it from buffed it when it came in on trade, and it just had an assortment of swirls/RIDS/etc. It was in need of a good correction, and I seem to have gotten most everything but the RIDS out, which I'd probably need a rotary to do, or maybe CG 700 and an orange or even yellow pad with a PC, which I'm not up to attacking yet. I feel that for my first time, I did pretty damn good and the glaze filled them in great and now that is sealed in with Jetseal so I'm pretty satisfied for now. Car looks fantastic in the high noon sun. I'm glad I bought the halogens though, because they definitely show me stuff that even the high noon sun can't. Plus it allowed me to go on a 21 hour bender through the night. Noobs shouldn't skimp on them. I guess I did a pretty good amount of correction considering I only used a couple of finishing polishes, lol.

I did forget to get a long brush to get in and clean those nasty brown wheel wells, and I forgot to hit the tailpipes with something but ah well, the car came a long way from where it was.
 

mygreengt

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it looks great! i got those little fine swirls as well, except i was using M105/205, turns out i wasnt working in the 105 enough.
 

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